Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v1.c51.s2.2
Vāstu-śāstra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v1.c51.s2.2
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v1.c51.s2.2.1
Again in every text on Vāstu-Śāstra, some account of the unfit soils is found (8. 52-62). The S. S. directs that the soil having the following characteristics should be avoided for the planning of any town: one, which is full of ashes, charcoal, skulls, bones, husks of corns, hair, poison, stones; similarly one abounding in rats, rubbish ant-hills, and gravels. Again lands which are hollow, dry, zig-zag, having decayed wood, and subterranean pits, barren, with water currents moving to the left, devoid of rains, where trees are bitter, thorny, useless, dry, devoid of fruits, abounding in birds eating raw flesh and where worms are also found, are not to be selected; where any religious piety or food, drink, vanish like the sounds of a tūrya (musical instruments); where the river flows towards the East; which smell like oil or a dead body; which have a smoky colour, mixed colour or no colour, dry colour—all these also must be rejected. From the point of view of *taste*, bitter, saltish must be avoided. Land which is sharp and dry, too hot or too cold to the touch, should be rejected. Land that has the *sound* of a jackal, camel, dog or donkey or the torrent or a cruel sound like that of a breaking jar must also be avoided (these sounds are simply symbolic of the sound of the soil).
v1.c51.s2.2.2
The import of all these directions regarding the selection of the ground for town-planning is that impurity, insanitation, sterility or barrenness, hollowness, irregularity of sites and plots must be avoided at all cost, so that laying out of the buildings and the planning of the roads are not affected and the stability of the structures erected on them is ensured. All this is possible when well-planned soil tests and geological surveys are carried out. Again this shows that not only the fertility and the solidity of the ground are ascertained, but also the mineral resources were tapped and the building materials explored. Again this is also necessary from the point of view of the stability of a town, situated on the bank of a river, in order to ward off any possible flood or erosion. This brings us to another point of consideration in the selection of the site, namely, the *proclivity* of the ground. The S. S. (8.66) directs that the ground should have its *proclivity* either to the North or to the North-East or to the East proper and it should resemble a mirror (in its elevation in the middle). The S. S. in two other places also takes this topic of *proclivity* and *declivity* of the ground. In its chapter entitled “Gṛhadoṣa” (the 48th) it opens with the direction that the ground slanting towards the direction presided over by Varuṇa, Yama, Marut, Fire or if depressed in the middle, is unfit and brings poverty, disease and death.
v1.c51.s2.2.3
More pointedly, it says that a ground having its declivity towards the quarter of Fire, suffers from the fear of fire, towards the south from death, towards South-West from ailments, towards the West from the destruction of the grains and. wealth, towards North-West from foreign residence, quarrels and ailments and the one sloping in the middle is the worst of all and is instrumental in bringing total destruction. Again in its 20th Chapter in connection with the raised or low grounds in the vicinity of the house, it has laid down that a house having a low ground on the left and raised on the right, is beset with many ills (cf. wrong orientation—it will be insanitary). Similarly, if it is low on the right and raised on the left that too is unfit. Further, hollowness and a low ground at the back are also bad. Only the ground with westward slope and frontal projection (as much as it can be) is the fittest one. In his Yukti-Kalpataru (vide Nagara-racanā-śāstra verse 136-7), Bhoja is more specific. He says that the ground should be elevated in the middle and slanting towards the East and North-East. A Southern declivity is responsible for all insanitation and brings diseases; a declivity towards North is conducive to wealth, while a westward slope destroys peace and prosperity; a depression of the ground in the middle conveys poverty, while a depression on the border brings in happiness.