Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v1.c53.28

v1.c53.28

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.