Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v1.c49.5

v1.c49.5

The 3rd chapter will be devoted to the subject, as already hinted above; where we will proceed with the region, the Deśa and the Deśa-Bhūmis i e. the regional planning and the selection of the site along with so many architectural matters like the orientation, the Vāstu-Pada-vinyāsa (already dealt with in the 1st part) and Kīlaka-Sūtra-pāta etc., etc. and non-architectural ones like the Śodhana, Karṣaṇa, Balis etc., etc. In the 4th chapter we may take up the subject of Road-Planning and the 5th may be devoted to the Folk-planning. The sixth Chapter would be devoted to the planning of the sites of Nagara devatās, the deification of the town and laying out of the temples therein along with its most intimate planning of public parks, gardens, orchards, ponds, Vāpīs, Kūpas—the natural reservoirs not only for the beautification of the towns but also supplying the need of the temples, the flowers for worship. In the seventh chapter we may take up the fortification of the towns so meticulously adhered to, both by practice and precepts. In the eighth chapter we would be competent enough to dwell at some length on the defective towns, the inauspicious ones, after we have grasped a little the norms of good town-planning. In the last chapter we have to philosophise the system in the broader context of Indian culture and the culture of the humanity at large, where the city no more remains a static structure but a dynamo of citizenship which in its turn, in the opinion of the ancient writers like Vātsyāyana, is the fittest place for the cultivation of arts. This is one concluding aspect of our estimate. Yet another very important aspect being the review of the ancient ideals in the context of the modern system and to evaluate how far the ancients can still help us in our present day National Reconstruction especially in our town-planning policy. What are our present requirements ? What are the gifts of our heritage? How can we so combine them, so synthesise them that our living gets evolved good, beautiful and benevolent so that the mission of the art can be fully obtained and perfectly cherished.