Chapter 1 - Preliminaries In House-Construction

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

(a) Non-architectural.

1. Vāstupūjana,
2. Balidāna,
3. Halakarṣaṇa,
4. Aṅkurāropaṇa,
5. Śilānyāsa.

(b) Architectural

1. Orientation—Śaṅkusthāpana.,
2. The site-plans—Vāstupada-vinyāsa,
3. Measurements—the Hastalakṣaṇa,
4. Āyādiṣaḍvarga,
5. Patākādiṣaṭchandas.

Let us first take up the so-called 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 Vāstupuruṣa-maṇḍala, 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 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 forcesand 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 Aṅkurāropuṇa 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.

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 Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra already referred to. In the Mānasāra however, Śilānyāsa has been treated in its better and more architectural aspects and readers may read its details 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.

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

N.B.—Architectural preliminaries have already been fully dealt with—vide Fundamental Canons of Hindu Architecture Chapter VI Pt. I.