Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v1.c53.23

v1.c53.23

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).