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Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v1.c53: Chapter IX: Conclusion

Vāstu-śāstra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v1.c53

Language
English

Chapter IX: Conclusion

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This brief dessertation on the town planning art as promulgated by the ancient Acharyas and practised by the master architects—the town-planners especially as it is hinted in the succint but brief exposition by the Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra, a medieval treatise on the science of architecture, is evidence of the cultural life of the age in which these norms were propounded. A town or a city is the embodiment of the culture of the townsmen and citizens who shape it, build it and beautify it (or make it ugly as the case these days is). Hence a study of the past is an asset for the present. No doubt the present is an outcome of the past, nevertheless the spirit of the age, the influences of the times together with the political, social, religious and spiritual transformations representing the broad cultural waves fostered in a particular age, all these have their deep and abiding influence on any activity, be it an artistic activity or a literary activity. If the literature is the mirror of society, the art can not remain aloof. This is a general dictum and exceptions prove the rule. Because sometimes a Vālmīki or a Vyāsa or a Tulsidas, instead of mirroring the society presents a mirror to it. The basic norms of the Art as founded by the ancient Acharyas of great renown have this characteristic. They are never swayed by the petty urges and petty patterns of new situation affecting the society. What of the measurements, shapes, mouldings, decorations, (paintings) etc. in the art of town-planning all these indicate that a town or a city is not only a symbolic expression of the National culture, a gigantic canvas on which the comunity life is portrayed, but also one of the finest methods of inculcating and propagating culture. The stupendous ostentatious and ornamental buildings with their inspiring arches, ennobling domes, religiousity and spirituality, nationality all round, in the shape of pictorial representations and illustrations of the great soul-inspiring achievements of the heroes of old, the mythology, the poetry and the aesthetics all imbued with harmonising and enobling sentiments. All these have intrinsic value and we can not bid good-bye to them. It is our sublime heritage. To put it in a nut-shell the three words—city, citizen and citizenship are a trinity round which the rising of the cities, there planning and construction and housing habitation should revolve. Therefore, any national planning-scheme sponsored by the State must have these basic considerations for a true synthesis of the cultural background on the one hand; the spirit of the age with its manifold demands on the other, together with the purpose the evolving of a beautiful, truthful and beneficial life.

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With all round development in science and art, there is no dearth of the scientific and systematic canons of the town-planning in the present day world. Though, the fundamental canons of town-planning have not changed, some of the elaborations as per the characteristic requirements of the modern age—the Commerce, the Industry, and the Transport, the means of communication and the like, have revolutionised the very character of town-planning, as we had in ancient India, or for the matter of that in any ancient country of the world. The fortification so elaborately dealt with as a principal feature of the ancient and medieval town-plans has been bidden a goodbye; the temples, the dedication of the plots or wards to the different deities of the Hindu pantheon forming the very back-bone of the site-planning and the folk-planning, have become obsolete and they are only a matter of solitary ritual with no intrinsic value attached to them. In matters of town-planning in India today, the knowledge of the ancient town-planning canons must form an integral and indispensible discipline of a town-plannner. Copying the West is not only bad but injurious also. It can not give us the desired result.

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In a country, like India, where the texture of living and conduct, thought and belief, food and drink, clothes and comforts, privacy and family traditions all these are vitally different from those of the West, a universal standard of the building and amenities of the accommodation thereof can not be visualised, because the climate differs, the soil conditions are divergent and the pattern of living poles apart. Hence the genius of the town-planner is tested in taking basic factors into full account, while constructing a new township in an ancient country like India.

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Now before proceeding with the question how the ancient town-planning system can afford some guidance and contribute some canons in the modern town-plans of India, let me have a bird’s eye view on the modern requirements of a town.

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We know that character of the modern civilization has been revolutionised on acccount of the scientific inventions and thereby affecting the human life in every walk of life. The Railway lines have necessitated the planning of the railway stations; the introduction of the automobiles conveyances like motor-cars, buses, trams, etc. have necessitated the planning of roads in a manner best suited to the traffic circulation and avoidence of accidents and congestion. The Industrial developments, the Inter-State and International commercial transportation have necessitated the establishment of factories and mills with the consequent evil of slums etc. The complex modern structures and functions of the government running into manifold channels requiring the Secretariats, employing thousands of people to carry on the work, together with the modern institutions of Banking and Insurance as well as so many other public departments and offices and lastly (though not least in importance) the rise of educational institutions lying scattered in every part and locality and street of the town, have enormous demands for the suitable buildings and spaces. These are some of the characteristics of a modern town life. Hence in planning of a town all these manifold currents of civilization require major adaptations in the town-plans which we have evolved in the past.

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Hence the modern town-planning is not so much concerned with founding new towns as with the improvement and the extension of the existing ones in order to provide, not only the symmetrical, systematic and comfortable residential houses, the wide roads for transport and traffic, the open spaces for play, recreation, fresh air and plantation, parks, gardens, orchards, etc. as well as the railway lines, pipe-lines, drainage and air landings, etc., but also to improve the living conditions of the labourers—the mass of humanity working in factories and mills, by slum-clearance and providing better houses. To cope with the increasing population it has to extend the town by creating muhallas all round the town and thus laying out a new city altogether. Many cities in India have been transformed beyond recognition in altogether new cities. The modern town-planning has also a responsibility to provide the expert guidance for the site-planning of the new public buildings like educational institutions, laboratories, banks, secretariats, market-places, the town-halls and so on and so forth.

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For all this the modern town-planning canons suggest the planning of new towns and the improvement of the existing ones by what is called the zoning method. All the respective zones as per requirement of the different and divergent necessities of buildings should be separated and zoned out in separate wards in order to avoid congestion and haphazard look of the town.

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Thus with all the elaborations of the manifold technique of the modern town-planning we find that it fundamentally does not differ from its ancient counter-part. Now the problem as already anticipated as to how far these ancient norms of the town-planning can be adopted by our national town-planning departments to evolve a technique of town-planning characteristic of our genius and also.

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characteristic of our age, the culture and climatic conditions together with the complex currents of life as they exist today.

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I, therefore, suggest that the beginning should be made with villages. The town-planning departments these days are more concerned with the existing cities or establishing new ones. This is not enough. Let the villages form the unit of the national planning of New India. From the point of finances, the greatest hurdle in translating any master-plan, so much talked of in the contemporary India in relation to many cities, the beginning with the villages not only obviates this difficulty but also provides a suitable channel through which the increasing population of the big cities and noted towns may pass out with ease and comfort. It will, therefore, require a Town-Planning Act in which an adequate provision would have to be made for restricting the population of the town. To begin with, let no one, having no connection with the town—service, education or alike, be allowed to occupy the town proper (cf. Rule of the Matsya Purāṇa). The elite, the wealthy, the princes, the retired, all should be asked to occupy the suburbs on the out-skirts of the big cities. Thus in the evolution of the modern towns two norms emerge—planning of the suburbs, as branch-towns, the Śākhā-nagaras in the terminology of the Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra (cf. S. S.’s Kheṭa, Kharvāṭa, Nigama), and the planning of the village as a unit of National Planning (vide S. S. Chapter X. 82-87).

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Another important thing in connection with the remodelling of the existing towns is that the available accommodation in the town should be allotted not to individuals but to groups. This is what the ancient texts on town-planning mean by site-planning and folk-planning. Let the religiousity and the Varṇāśrama-dharma be not adhered to, but the fundamental background of this site-planning and the folk-planning, namely, the housing together with a group of people belonging to a common way of life and conduct, must be there. This will not only evolve the greater brotherhood in people, but also usher a new consciousness of organisation, co-operation, association, the essentials of Democracy which has become the modern slogan as the be all and end all of life.

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What about the centre and the central places? Let the town-hall—the temple of modern Democracy be central scene around which all the movements of the town revolve. Let a big banyan tree or a Peepal or Neem or a shed i. e. Maṇḍapa, the Sabhā—the assembly hall, be substituted for the town-hall in the village-planning for the emergence of new towns in India. Thus two more canons emerge—the folk-planning and the planning of the centre. But the question is that the modern life with such a vast socio-economic patterns like banks, insurance offices; municipal-boards, educational institutions, police outposts, and so many other public departments and establishments, can not be well attended to and accommodated unless some bifurcation of the entire town-plan is re-adjusted to provide the different buildings, for serving these institutions. For this, modern system of zoning should be incorporated in our town-planning canons. They must give good results. They are to some extent a modern edition of our ancient site-planning—housing a particular community or corporation, profession, or institution on a particular site.

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A very pertinent question regarding the location of the railway stations, mills, factories, the cinema-halls and the business centres, the line of shops, stalls, the markets, etc. still remains to be solved. As regards the Railways, they form an essential constituent of any modern town for the transport, the mills and factories however, must not be distributed in every town. For the industrial centres, a separate category of town called Pattana or Puṭabhedana by the ancient masters, should serve as business centres and industrial development. As regards the daily needs, the co-operatives in each and every block of a town should organise these daily necessities of life with an active co-operation from these special towns scattered on a relatively small distance in every part of the zone. This brings us to the zoning plans and regional planning—the fundamental criterion of the ancient town-planning system. So much is regarding the laying out of the new townships, but the problem is not yet solved. What about the existing towns with their clumsy growth, over-population, slums, insanitation, absence of ventilation and congestion etc.? How to improve the town by way of extension?

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In ancient times every king had his own permanent civic architect and city superintendent in his capital with many sub-ordinates and assistants who were well-versed in the art of planning and upkeep of cities. The civic architect, besides his other duties, looked after the improvement of the town according to its requirements. "Though we do not meet with any written records about the existence of an organised board like the modern Improvement Trust and the like, yet we may, without largely drawing upon imagination, fairly presume that the permanent officials of the king such as the civic architect, the city superintendent, together with their assistants constituted the proto-type and served the purpose of the modern institutions organised with cognate objects. The elaborate way in which the treatises on Indo Aryan Town-Planning allot sites and determine the areas and orientation of roads, wards, residential buildings, the royal palace, the council hall, parks and reservoirs and secure proper lighting and ventilation's by fixing the space intervening between two houses or ascertain the number of storeys and the respective heights in case of particular building and edifice, conclusively establishes that the master builder possessed and exercised substantial control over all building-operations in the city. So elaborate and intensive indeed was the control that even absolute private-ownership of land in the city was not allowed to some extent. There seems to have been several departments or divisions of function: one was entrusted with the construction of roads, another with tanks, gardens, artificial forests and palaces; the third with fortification and the fourth with buildings. All these departments had also engineers, to wit, the Sthapati and others were under the charge of a minister called the Gṛhādyadhipati (literally the lord of house and the like), who held the portfolio of Superintendence and Planning of the city. Śukrācārya says (Ś. Nītisāra Chapter II) that he must attend to palaces, moats, forts, parapets, statues, weapons, tanks, wells and reservoirs, pipes and other engineering works. Surely the foregoing are exactly those functions with which the modern Municipalities and Improvement Trusts are concerned" (vide page 169-170, T.P. In Ancient India).

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The peculiar defensive character (walls and ditches all round) of the ancient towns in India stood as a hurdle in its extension. One of the methods of meeting the over-congestion and over-crowding of the population was by expelling the low-class people out of the city. Another way as suggested before, was the Matsya Purāṇa formulae (Ch. 217): No person should be allowed to remain in the city without any necessity or purpose. The rule of the Devī Purāṇa (Ch. 72) is— "The low-class people (Prakṛti) should be quartered outside the city." Another method (as per the account of the Harivaṁśa (Vishṇuparva chapter · 58) is the reconstruction of the town as well as its expansion on the outskirts of the city. This leads to a very sound canon of the improvement. It is laying out the suburb—to put in the terminology of the Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra—the Śākhānagaras (branch-towns) as already spoken of. The Śabda-Kalpadruma gives the following definition of the Śākhānagara—the subsidiary town: "The town which is constructed in the vicinity or on the outskirts of the main city, to accommodate its overflowing population is termed branch town (Śākhānagara) from analogy with the branch of a tree." Instances of its expansion are not unknown in History, and we can adopt this method for the good of our land. We are doing no doubt in cities, but our bold policy should be to make villages as our śākhā-nagaras. These ultimately will result into the garden-villages or garden-cities, so much preferred in the modern world.

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CIVIL OR SECULAR ARCHITECTURE

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(Residential Houses for Middle Class People)

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HOUSE ARCHITECTURE

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House-architecture really has four distinct branches according to ancient Indian tradition. Houses principally may be classified firstly into residential houses for middle class people—vide the folk-planning in which houses in ancient India in a village or town were planned according to the castes and professions; secondly into those gorgeous mansions suited to the nobles and princes—the palaces, the Harmyas and the Rāja-prāsādas; thirdly into what are called abodes of gods, the temples, the Prāsādas and Vimānas and fourthly into the public buildings which are planned and constructed for the common use, like the Viśrāmaśālās, the libraries, the theatres, the picture gallaries etc , The common public pools, ponds, tanks, Vāpīs and wells, etc., will also fall in this last category.

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Now as the genius of architecture in relation to these four classes of buildings has been distinct in nature and definite in its contributions espécially in case of the secular architecture, the aristocratic architecture and the devotional architecture, the Janabhavanas, the Rāja-bhavanas and the Deva-bhavanas, it is, therefore, necessary to treat these three classes of büildings separately. Accordingly these three parts are devoted to the exposition of this genius of the Hindu architect. Public buildings being the concern of the state will be included in the part devoted to palace-architecture.

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It has been wrongly srumized and commented upon that India did not evolve secular planning or the civil architecture. A study of the Samarāṅgaṇa-Sūtradhāra; a medieval treatise on the science and art of architecture is a definite repudiation of this misconceived opinion. This text though written by a king in the atmosphere of palace-court is really the landmark in the civic-planning in India and harbinger of the residential houses most suited to the middle class people what are designated as Śāla-bhavanas ? The story of the śālās is fascinating indeed and their antiquity goes to the socalled primitive age when man evolved the first house on earth.

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Accordingly this part is devoted to the exposition of the Śāla-bhavanas, the residential houses suited to the bulk of the population or the middle class people. It is, therefore, required to briefly indicate the treatment of this part. In the first place it may be remarked that any building operation whether secular or religious was preceeded by some important preliminaries like the examination and selection of the site, its plotting, etc. what is called Vāstupada-vinyāsa, the determining of the sites, the Vāstu-pūjana, the foundation ceremony the formal digging, the Balidāna, Halakarṣaṇa, Aṅkurāro-paṇādi and the placing the Kīlakas and the Sūtrapāta-vidhi etc., along with the festive celebration to honour the architect-mason and the labourers etc., etc., though may be deemed as non-architectural matters in the e days, are really having the fullest of architectural import as the human destinies are always guided by the superhuman agencies and naturally this truth was never lost sight of by architects of old. All these matters will find some treatment in the first chapter of this part entitle ‘Preliminaries’. The second chapter will deal with buildings in general, their different categories etc, and from the 3rd chapter the proper subject matter of this part namely the Śālā-buildings will be taken up which may again be viewed as the exposition of the four principal topics namely the origin and development of the houses of manifold varieties and the general characteristics of the residential houses for the common people the śālas—meaning classification and Gṛhasaṃyojana etc. (Chap. III and IV); the planning of the houses along with the house-plans and build-ing bye-laws and its construction—the material and masonry etc., (Chap. V, and VI); the principal architectural components like the door, the pillar, the roof and so many other accessories like Alindas, Bhadras, Mūṣas, etc., et.c., (Chap. VII, VIII), the decorations and the equipment, the bhavana-bhūṣā and bhavana-sajjā. (IX) and lastly the deffects of the houses, the bhvana-doṣas (X).

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This is the broad indication of the subject-matter to be attemp-ted on this part; in the end however we may conclude with a pur-poseful motive namely how far these Śālas can be accomodoted in our National-house-planning in India today and how far the ancient Indian contributions in the realm of this most vital field of our life can be appreciated by us even now.

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PRELIMINARIES

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Preliminaries in house-construction may be divided into two groups: (a) Non-architectural and (b) architectural. Both may be tabulated as hereunder :

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| (*a*) Non-architectural. | (*b*) Architectural |
| 1. Vāstu-pūjana | 1. Orientation—Śaṅkusthāpana. |
| 2. Balidāna | 2. The site-plans—Vāstu-pada-vinyāsa |
| 3. Halakarṣaṇa | 3. Measurements—the Hastalakṣaṇa. |
| 4. Aṅkurāropāṇa | 4. Āyādiṣaḍvarga. |
| 5. Śilānyāsa | 5. Patākādiṣaṭchandas. |

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Let us first take up the socalled non-architectural preliminaries, which according to fundamental genius of Hindu science of architecture are all equally important. The Vāstupūjana and Balidāna, though ritualistic in performance, are primarily concerned with the philosophy of architecture, where the site is no more a bare earth, but a transformed entity, the Life Divine—this we have already seen—vide Fundamental Canons of Hindu-Architecture (Vāstupada-vinyāsa), Chapter VI Pt. I. The practical application of Vāstu is yantric in nature. The Vāstu-puruṣamaṇḍala, the site-plan-diagram of a building according to Nārada (the Vāstu-Vidhāna VIII 26) is a yantra. It is, therefore, an artifice in which the ground (bhūmi) is converted into the extent of the manifested universe. "The nameless, formless entity which is bound in this case to the spot within the square maṇḍala is henceforth known as Vāstupuruṣa. The components of the artifice are: the ground on which the Maṇḍala is drawn, the form of the Maṇḍala, and its name together with the names compressed in its form. The details of Balidāna-vidhi may be avoided as an indication of it is given in the summary of the Samarāṅgaṇa—Chap. V Pt. I. The imports is: "With offerings gods, spirits and demons are bid to leave. This gracious gesture releases their forces and sets the site free from all particular associations. In this way too, it is steadied and expurgated. Emptied of its former contents, it retains its receptiveness and the power to assimilate new ones", finally it will have to be levelled—vide Halakarṣaṇa to be taken up ahead. Similar details of the Kīlakasūtrapātavidhi are also given in the summary referred to, where an interesting feature is the presents enjoined to be made to the architect masons and labourers, as in their happiness and satisfaction lies the completion of an architectural undertaking. We will have an occasion to see that in the temple-building, the Kartṛ-kāraka-vyavasthā is very important. The Kartṛ, the architect of a temple has a unique position which may be as good as hereditary, therefore, it is no more a wage-earning, it is a dedication from the father to the son and so on and the details of Halakarṣaṇa and Aṅkurāropaṇa are more eloquently found in the texts belonging to the Dravidian School of Indian architecture like the Mānasāra and Mayamata. In the former the concluding part of the fifth chapter gives a minute description of the oxen and the plough to be used in ploughing the selected site. Now when the ground is tilled it is purged of the past and under auspicious stars new life is entrusted to the soil and another cycle of production begins, an assurance that rhythm of nature has not been interfered with. The sowing of the grain—the Aṅkurāropaṇa is a final offering to the memory of the spirits who have left the place and gone elsewhere in peace. It is also the first offering in the newly acquired land where the germination of the seeds leads to the fulfilment of the undertaking.

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The Śilānyāsa has got two aspects—architectural and non-architectural. The latter may be understood as ritualistic, the details of which may be purviewed in the summary and the S.S. already referred to. In the Mānasāra however, Śilānyāsa has been treated in its better and more architectural aspects and readers may read its datails in Dr. Acharya's summary of the Mānasāra—vide H. A. I. and A. pp. 106-8. It would suffice here to say that in the Mānasāra the foundation, the Garbha-nyāsa is classed under three heads—for buildings, for villages etc, and for tanks, etc. The last named foundation meant for tank, well or pool, is said to be as high as the joint palm of man. As regards the foundation of buildings it is first divided into two classes, as it belongs to temples or to human dwellings. Of the human dwellings, there are four classes according to the four castes. The depth of the foundation-pit is stated to be equal to the basement. The best ground selected for foundations is excavated to the depth of a man's height with uplifted arms. The bottom of the pit thus excavated should be rocky or water and the pit is filled with sand and water which are closely pressed and hardened by means of wooden hammers shaped like the elephant's feet. Upon such foundations, the strength whereof varies according to the weight of the construction, various structures are constructed,

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The details in other works like Mayamata, Śilparatna and Tantrasamuccaya and Īśānaśivagurudeva-paddhati to all intents and purposes are identical.

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*N.B.*—Architectural preliminaries have already been fully dealt with—vide Fundamental Canons of H. A. Ch. VI Pt. I.

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BUILDINGS IN GENERAL

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The very title, the Samarāṅgaṇa-sūtradhāra is an index to its distinct place among the extant manuals of the science of architecture. All the manuals go by the name of the subject or the author. The grand and eloquent title of the book—‘Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra’, literally means an "architect of human dwellings":—

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सम्यञ्चि अराणि समराणि (तथा भूतानि) अङ्गानि (एतादृशानि भवनानि शातभवनानीत्यर्थं), अथवा समराणि संयुक्तानि अङ्गणानि, येषां तानि, (भवनानीत्यर्थः) तेषां सूत्रधारः।

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Thus the house architecture, the secular architecture as opposed to the devotional architecture has got a distinct place in this manual of architecture. A perusal of the extant Śilpa works like Mānasāra, and Mayamata, will convince the reader that buildings in general are described in one category alone. If there are some additional delineations, they are just like appendices to them differing only in degree and not in kind. Let us take for instance either Mānasāra or Mayamata (as the arrangement of the chapters and the subjects treated therein are more or less similar); we find that in Mānasāra all the 98 types of mansions, either may be taken as the residences of gods (the Mānasāra temples) or of men or the gorgeous mansions or princely palaces. Similar is the case of Mayamata or any treatise on the Vāstu Śāstra. In my opinion there is a complete absence of fundamental distinction to be made in the two realms of architectural planning belonging to two different and divergent sets of buildings—Mānava-Vāsa and Deva-Vāsa. In India, or for the matter of that, in any country, the shape, super-structure, decoration and ornamental mouldings and the like, together with the specific materials used and the planning of the accommodation etc. in buildings, like temples, churches, cathedrals, mosques or mausoleums are fundamentally different from the buildings to be used as residential houses: Naturally, therefore, while we have the grandest. and largest of the Prāsādas in the monuments, the specimens of the secular buildings—the residences of the common run of men (barring of course the royal palaces) are hardly found. The thatched houses made of mud, bamboos and easily available materials from the local surroundings which have been our typical residential quarters from times immemorial, should also have some architectural traditions.

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The S. S.'s classifications of the buildings are in keeping with the needs of not only the different strata of men but also the different orders of gods and goddesses. The residential houses for the ordinary run of men as well as those belonging to the middle classes and the higher classes of Brāhmaṇas, Kṣatriyas, Vaiśyas, and the priests, the commander and the like, all comprising both the nobility of the clan and the aristocracy of mind and spirit, are a distinct feature of Bhoja's contribution to the science of architecture. Samarāṅgaṇa's classification of the houses may be grouped into the following three categories:—

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1. Popular residential houses—Śāla-bhavanas.
2. Palaces of the kings—Rāja-Veśmas.
3. Temples—residences of gods, Prāsādas.

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All the manuals other than Samarāṅgaṇa have confused the residences of men and the gods alike, this point needs elaboration. This kind of enumeration or classification of the buildings is not only unscientific but against the tradition. We know that in India for a long time the stone architecture was a taboo for the residential houses of men. It was only for the gods that the stone could be used. That is why the earliest civil architecture is wooden architecture. Later on, as time passed, stone was permitted in the Prāsādas of kings and the other higher people and gradually it was adopted in the secular architecture also.

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Moreover the science of architecture is a social science and it must take into its account the needs of society as a whole. Everyone can not be expected to build a lofty Harmya or high-domed Prāsāda. There must be ordinary houses, secular or popular houses, fit to be the residences of the great populace having ordinary means. Moreover, apart from its economic point, the point of position or station in life also is important. In the S.S. these different sets of buildings with their different locations are characteristic also of the materials to be used in them. The Śāla houses represent the wooden architecture. The time-honoured building material from hoary past has been the wood, hence its nomenclature Śālā (Śākhā, branch of the tree) is after the names of the parts of tree (cf. Kāṇḍa etc.). The ostentatious buildings of the Prāsādas represent the stone architecture in its zenith in the S. S. All these will be fully dealt with in their respective parts.

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Here it is enough to say that this demarcation of the buildings and their categories is a distinct original contribution of this work.

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Out of its 83 chapters, there are about a dozen chapters exclusively devoted to House Architecture (see “The Reconstruction of the S. S. Chap. V). It also devotes two separate chapters to the exposition of palace-architecture—the many-storeyed mansions and large edifices without storeys, serving all kinds of needs of a ruling monarch, the residential quarters (Nivāsabhavanāni, Ch. 30), the pleasure palaces (Vilāsa-bhavanāni, ibid) together with a vast paraphernalia of establishments—the court, the coronation-hall, the abodes of ministers, commanders, queens, princes, princesses and pleasure-gardens, orchards, etc. etc. (vide Ch. 15). Other buildings not falling in these three broad divisions of houses are: the assembly halls, the sheds and stables for elephants and horses. They are also dealt with in separate chapters (see “The Reconstruction of the Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra”).

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Thus the picture of the various varieties of houses dealt with in this treatise emerges in the following tentative classification :—

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1. Common residential houses—Śālā houses.
2. Uncommon houses—the houses of kings.
3. Special houses—Assembly Halls and Council Chambers.
4. Houses of animals—sheds and stables for cows, horses and elephants.
5. Prāsādas or temples may be classed as extra-ordinary houses as residences for Gods together with their accessory buildings for piety, ritual, shelter and the ceremonies of a religious nature—the Maṇḍapās and Jagatīs.

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*NB.*—All these five types of buildings may, however be, reduced to only three broad classifications as treated ahead—vide Pt. IV:—
1. Residential Houses,
2. Palaces and its accessory buildings and
3. The Public and State buildings.

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ORIGIN & DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN HOUSES

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The story of the first House on Earth.

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Houses, I have already pointed out, are of manifold denotation and connotation. *Harmyas*, *Vimānas* and *Prāsādas* are also houses where higher people, the rich people and the gods are housed. Their origin shall be dealt with in a separate chapter (vide Part V. on Temple Architecture). Here in this chapter I have to delimit the universe of discourse to the residential houses of men. And for this latter category, the word Śālā (शालाः सन्ति अस्मिन् इति शालः) with its characteristics of courts, chambers, rooms, porticos, etc. as opposed to the storeys (cf. Vimānas and Prāsādas) is used. The name Śālā for a residential house has a very interesting story. It is also suggestive of a great historical and anthropological truth. In the 6th Chapter of the S. S. entitled “Sahadevādhikāra” Bhoja says that in the hoary past, people living in Bhārata-varṣa, resided in forests, on the banks of rivers, on the mountains, and underneath the shady Nikuñjas. Once they entered heaven and began to roam there and enjoy themselves with the denizens of heaven—the Gods, under the all-producing and all-giving shade of that renowned Heavenly Tree, Kalpa-Vṛkṣa. This went well for a good time. But men as they were, they got arrogant and belittled the glory of the Gods. They, therefore, were condemned to come down to the Earth. Thereupon they were very sorry. For their sustenance, now there arose the Parpaṭaka—a tree, giving tiny fruits. It however, got extinct. Hence their condition was more pitiable than before. Now Śāli-taṇḍulas appeared on earth. They were very delicious to eat. Being afraid, lest this might also get extinct like the Parpaṭaka, they began to hoard it, and hoarding we know is bad for all times. The result was that the lust for hoarding gave birth to other evil consequences—greed, envy, jealousy, and what not. In due course greed became instrumental in giving birth to Manmatha (passion) which led them to have attachment towards women, which in its turn led them to form themselves into couples—*Dvandvas*. This Dvandva—the abode of suffering and misery, is well-known. Misfortune again overtook them, and the Śāli, the main stay of their maintenance became full of husks and chaffs which caused the Mala-pravṛtti due to the eating of the Tuṣa-dhānya. Thus all their glory, all their Puṇyaślokatā, their immortality and longivity were gone. Their bodies then became susceptible to illness. Therefore, in order to ward off the inclemencies of weather and to seek privacy and shelter, they then thought of erecting refuges in the shape of śālās, mainly through the branches, i. e. śākhās. This is the story of the origin of the first house on earth for the man to live in and to be happy.

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Similar accounts in the Mārkaṇḍeya (Ch. 49) and Vāyu (Ch. 8) Purāṇas also corroborate the truth that the primitive house, the first house on earth had the tree as its model. Dr. Acharya in his “Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture” says: “Trees are stated (Matsya Purāṇa VII, 83-120) to have supplied to the primitive men the model of his future house. Śālā (house) is stated (VV. 117-120) to have been derived from Śākhā (branch) because originally branches were arranged lengthwise, breadthwise, crosswise, up and down and thatched to make the first house”.

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Thus it is evident that Śālā primarily means a thatch of straw (Chāla) for shelter of men or their cattle and stores. Later on this acquired more and longer denotation of such stalls and sheds. As time passed and its use was in great vogue, it came to mean a house in general (cf. Śālāpati—house-holder). Finally, as is even today, it has come to mean a single section or a single room of a house as is clear from words like Agni-śālā Patnī-śālā, Gośālā, Vājiśālā, Gajaśālā, etc. etc.

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The Sūtra literature embodying the earliest Vāstu-Vidyā, fully supports this tree-model of a primitive house. In the rituals the central part of the site called Vāstu has been an object of especial veneration from the very earliest times. The existence of a central post as directed by Sūtra writers like Aśvalāyana (II. 8) at this point, has served as a motif for the dwelling places. And “the idea of a central post inside the dwelling indicates that the primitive house was a construction over and around this post. The shape of the construction seems to suggest a close resemblance of a shady tree which provided shelter to the primitive man from sun and rain at a time when house building was unknown” (T. P. Bhattacharya Canons of Architecture, page 4).

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The account of the origin of the house which we find in the S. S. and corroborated by Mārkaṇḍeya, Vāyu and Matsya Purāṇas and the importance attached to the central post as is evident from the rituals, suggests that the primitive building, devised on the model of a tree was one with a central post as the trunk and the thatches in all directions as the outstretched branches of a tree.

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Tree as the model of a house is further supported by the classification of the pillars and other different parts of a house having its basis on the different parts of a tree. In the Mīnasāra in its chapter named Stambha (XV), the five main pillars are called *Brahmakānta*, *Viṣṇukānta*, *Rudrakānta*, *Śivakānta* and *Skandakānta*. As suggested by Dr. Tarapada Bhattacharya, I also believe that the word Kānta points to the trunk of the tree (called Kāṇḍa) being synonymous with the shaft of the pillar. The word Kānta, as is used in the nomenclature of these pillars, is a later variation of the word ‘Kāṇḍa’. Similarly the door jambs in practically all the manuals on the science of architecture (see S. S. Ch. 28) are called *Śākhās* (the branches) from the use of branches of trees in their construction. Again the lintel of the doorway was similarly called as “*Udumbara*” evidently from the use of the fig wood in making these pieces. Thus earliest connections of primitive dwellings with the tree appear all the more probable, as we find that the vegetable kingdom was the first to be utilised for all necessary materials of house building.

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This is in brief the origin of the house and its later development, from the humble cottages of leaves to ostentatious temples and palaces, will form the story of the subsequent pages of the Study.

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(General characteristics—the meaning and classification etc.)

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In the last chapters something has been said of these śālā-houses. I have distinguished them as private houses, residential houses suitable abodes of the common man, the middle class people and the humble people who according to the stratification of society belonged to different castes and professions as opposed to the uncommon houses, the ostentatious buildings and the extra-ordinary houses, the great edifices like temples—Prāsādas, Vimānas; etc., best suited only to kings, to the rich and to the divinity.

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Though from the point of view of the Śāstra, a fulfledged code of house-architecture in relation to the common residential houses did not attain its maturity by the time of the S.S., it nevertheless, cannot be said that this class of buildings did not exist in India. Numerous references in the Epics—Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata (cf. C.I.A. pp. 37.45), the Jātakas (ibid 53) and Kauṭilya's Artha-Śāstra (ibid 81) illustrate the fact that these ordinary dwellings were undoubtedly similar to those which are found in the villages of India even today—thatched houses with wooden construction of the roofs and the masonry of mud-walls having verandah (Alinda) in front and the Koṣṭhas (the śālās) all round the court. They were mostly the Catuśśāla variety, and abounded in the country. Although the plans of these exhibited considerable variety, they were all based on the same principle. According to the S.S., (18.18—19), the unit of their design is the open quadrangle surrounded by chambers (śālās) and this unit is repeated two, three, four or more times according to the needs of the accommodation of the occupants.

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Again it also cannot be said that the Śālā-architecture is completely absent from these works, but the śālā-buildings as described in works like Mānasāra, Mayamata and Kāmikāgama, etc., are at par with the lofty harmya or vimāna class of many-storeyed mansions and thus they represent a later phase of Indian architecture when the use of stone was not taboo in private residential houses. The Kāmikāgama is helpful in supporting this view-point, as will be presently shown. Religious buildings must not and could not be made in the same fashion as the civil ones. All ornaments, all profusion of decorative architectural motifs were reserved in the temple-architecture. The Viṣṇudharmottara clearly lays down that Sudhā and Śilās should be used in houses of gods: Sudhā and Śilā should not be given in gṛha (the residential house) (ibid 30). It is for this reason that ostentatious Prāsādas survive, while no specimens of civil-architecture in stone of the ancient Hindus have survived to our times. Indians did not care to build their residential houses in the ostentatious fashion. They lavished all energy and money in the building of temples, the high edifices, the crowning achievement of Indian architecture, both in the manuals and the monuments.

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Śālā class of buildings on which the S. S. has bestowed so much attention means a residential house and differs not only in shape, materials and construction but also in the use.

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Now the question arises: how do we explain the characteristic of stone architecture in *Śālās* as works like Mānasāra attribute to them; but before proceeding with the examination, let us take a brief notice of the characteristics of Śālā buildings as presented by these works.

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Take for instance the Mānasāra chapter (XXXVI) named *Śālā*. In this chapter *Śālā* is used mostly in the sense of a house. Śālās imply both temples and residential buildings for Brāhmaṇas, Kṣatriyas, Vaiśyas and Śūdras. Their characteristic features as single buildings may be seen :—

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शालायाः परितोऽलिन्दं पृष्ठतो भद्रसंयुतम् ।
पुरतो मण्डपोपेतम् ... ... ... ।
एकानेकतल्रान्तं स्यात् चुल्लीहर्म्यांदिमण्डितम् ।

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Like villages, Śālās are divided into six classes, namely Daṇḍaka, Svastika, Maulika, Caturmukha, Sarvatobhadra, and Vardhamāna. Some of these, with a certain numbers of halls are stated to be temples, while others varying in number of rooms are meant for the residences of different castes. A distinction is made with regard to the number of storeys they should be furnished with. The maximum number of storeys a *śālā* has, is twelve as usual. All the storeys of all these *śālās* are described in detail. Thus this is the picture in bare outline, presented by the Mānasāra as summarised by Dr. P. K. Acharya (vide Encly. of Hindu Architecture, page 485). It may be noted that these *Śālās*—the many-storeyed mansions, consist of rows of buildings from one to ten, and as pointed out they are many-storeyed structures, the number of storeys varying upto twelve. Regarding their use, Dr. Acharya adds, "The huge buildings are naturally meant for kings, to the nine classes of whom they are assigned in accordance with the importance of the mansion and the rank of the king" (Hindu Arch. In India & Abroad, page 121). In my opinion this is a very advanced stage of the evolution of the Śālā type of structure. Its architectural affinity with temple-like super-structure is beyond doubt. The underlying characteristic of the Śālā structure—the rows of buildings from one to ten, moreover, is preserved here. Also their essential components like Alindas and Bhadrās are also there, but the application of the storeys in the śālā houses is against the genius of this class of architecture, as primarily it was meant as an abode of men with limited means and limited requirements.

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The Kāmikāgama as referred to before, is more helpful. There are two important notices to be taken as is evident from the following quotations (Ch. XXXV. 1.193a) :

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(i) एकद्वित्रिचतुःसप्तदशशालाः प्रकीर्तिताः ।
तदूर्ध्वं त्रित्रिवृद्ध्या यावदिष्टं प्रगृह्यताम् ॥
ता एव मालिकाः प्रोक्ता मालावत् क्रियते यथा ।
(ii) शिलास्तम्भं शिलाकुड्यं नरावासे न कारयेत् ।
(cf. Ency. H. A. p. 485-6)

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In the first quotation, the rows of the Śālā are termed as Mālikā—the garland, and the Mālikā is a class of many-storeyed mansion. Therefore, the previous thesis, that these indicate a very advanced development of the śālā-architecture, is again illustrated here. But Kāmikāgama does take śālās to be the residential houses for men; otherwise, tabooing the stone pillars and stone walls in the construction of the śālā buildings must not have come forth (vide second quotation). Because the use of stone in buildings for men was a very late introduction (cf. C. I. A. ch. XXVIII). This contention that śālā buildings were primarily meant to be human dwellings for men, is further supported by the Vāstu-Vidyā. It says :—

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मानवानां गृहाः प्रोक्ता वसवस्ते ककुब्गताः ।
संस्थानभेदेन ते ज्ञेयाः पञ्चधा स्युः प्रमाणतः ॥
स्वयोनिन्यासगतयो दिग्विदिग्षु च संस्थिताः ।
भिन्नशाला च सा प्रोक्ता मनुजानां शुभप्रदा ॥
दिग्विदिग्वेकयौनिस्था पर्यस्तेन तथैव च ।
ज्ञेया चतुश्शालेति शिल्पशास्त्रनिदर्शिभिः ॥ (VIII, 1-3).

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Śālās in the Purāṇas like Matsya (Ch. CCLVI, V. 35) and Skanda, (Vaiṣṇava-Khaṇḍa II Ch. XXV, vv. 3, 26) also favour this conclusion. I am, therefore, of opinion that these Śālā structures in the shape of storeyed mansions are a later phases of development, their prototypes being Maṇḍapas—the pavilions for piety, alms, rest, sermons, education, amusement (cf. dancing halls and theatre etc.) and so on. They, therefore, in their later phase of development, took the Gopura-super-structure, the most common feature of the South Indian temples. Works like Mānasāra and Kāmikāgama—representative compendiums of South Indian architecture, must mirror this phase of development. Śālā as a hall or pavilion architecture is corroborated by a number of inscriptions (vide Ency. Hindu Arch. page 487-489) wherein the word Śālā has been used for halls or pavilions like Nāṭyaśālā, Bhakta-śālā, Japaśālā, Dāna-śālā, Yajña-śālā, and Virūpākṣa-śālā (temple). This is one way in which we can explain this character of the Śālā architecture quite divergent from that of the North Indian works like Viśvakarmīya Śilpa, the Purāṇas and the S.S., the most representative works of this school.

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The most distinctive feature of the residences of men, the Śālā-houses as developed in the Samarāṅgaṇa, is their courts as opposed to the storeys, the latter commonly associated with Prāsādas, Vimānas and Harmyas which are lofty super-structures.

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Meaning and classification of Śālā-houses.

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It may be noted here, that though there are as many as ten classifications of the Śālā buildings—from Ekaśālas to Daśaśālas, the text takes up the fourth classification, namely the Catuśśālas both for its definition and classification. This may be because the Catuśśāla houses are often mentioned in literature and this is the most characteristic type of ancient Indian buildings as the bulk of the middle class people used to live in this type of *śālā*-house.

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As regards the definition of these *śālā*-houses, the text defines Catuśśāla, Triśāla, Dviśāla and Ekaśāla in the 18th Chapter, entitled "Nagarādisañjña" (verses 18-19). That is, a Catuśśāla occupies the four sides of a quadrangle, which is an open space in the centre, the Aṅgaṇa, the Triśāla the three sides, while Dviśāla the two sides and Ekaśāla only one side. These are the principal types, the different combinations of which, give as many as ten broad classifications as we will presently see.

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In the Catuśśāla buildings, there were four rooms arranged on the four sides of a quadrangle which was the open space in the centre. Śālā, as we have seen, is a long structure of one span only. I have remarked that this class of *śālā* house was most common. Sir John Marshall’s account of the ancient city of Sirkap corroborates this: “The city of Sirkap (in the ruins of Taxila) shows several large blocks of dwellings, separated one from the other by narrow side streets. Although the plans of these houses exhibited considerable variety, they were all based on the same principles. The unit of their design is the open quadrangle surrounded by chambers (Catuśśāla) and this unit is repeated two, three, four or more times, according to the amount of accommodation, required by the occupants (A guide to Taxila pages 70-1).

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This leads us to the surmise that these buildings were planned under a systematic code of town-planning and presented a facade both symmetrical and pleasant-looking. “The Triśāla and the Dviśāla can be so adjusted as to accommodate an open space in their front along the road which can be laid out as a flower garden. Thus if all the houses on one or both sides of street recede in the middle as a Triśālā or a Dviśālā contemplates, we get gardens by the roadside. We have no definite materials at hand to inter that such gardens existed in ancient India. Certainly there were open spaces; and the branching blocks of the buildings abutting on the streets relieve the monotony of a wall-like front of the thick-set structures or of the long rows of gardens that otherwise would have been the result (T. P. In Ancient India page 250).

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Now coming to the classification proper, it has already been pointed out that the śālā-buildings admit of ten broad classifications in the S.S., (vide Ch. 19, 21, 22, 23, 25). Kāmikāgama (already referred) is right when it says that they can be classified into any number (Yāvadiṣṭam Pragṛhyatām). The S.S. however, restricts it to only ten, for the simple reason that the people of divergent means and needs, from an humble dweller to his honoured and fortunate counter-part, can all be accommodated in them. These ten broad divisions are:—

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