2. • Rig VedaRig Veda
• Sam VedaSam Veda
• Yajur VedaYajur Veda
• Athar VedaAthar Veda
3. • Mayamata, Manasara, Vishvakarma - VastuShastra,
Samaranganasutradhara, Aparajita - Priccha,
Manasollasa, Prasadamandana, Shilparatnam etc.
are treatise on Architecture based on Vedic hymns.
• There are innumerable references in Rigveda which indicate a
very advanced Vastushilpa.
4. City and its Functions
• A traditional nagara (city) is one where the sacred and the
secular mingle.
• Temples (mentioned in Yajurveda hymns) - the link between
the cosmic and the human (worship)
– cultural centres; festive and ritual activities
– educational : pathshala
– social life: public meetings and social gatherings
– significant part in the economy of the village: donations
goes for nagara development and employments.
– Mathas: monastic centre of education and pilgrim rest
house.
5. City in literary and epic narratives
• Sanskrit epics
– Ramayana; Ayodhya and Sri Lanka - advanced stage of city
life
– Mahabharata
• Tamil epic poems
– Silappadigaram; city is of technical order - vibrant, wealthy
and a heterogenous city
– Manimegalai
• Kautliya's Arthashastra; a treatise on statecraft and polity,
image of a well-planned city where people of diverse
occupations interact, although within the given framework.
• Kalidasa's play Shakuntala
• Vatsyayana's Kamasutra
6. City as a site of liberation and alienation
• City provides locale for the pursuit and fulfilment of the four
aims of life- Purusharthas
– Dharma- duty, righteousness, morality
– Karma- pleasure
– Artha- wealth
– Moksha- liberation
• In some brahmanical texts, the city is also seen as a place to
be avoided (Apastamba) Dharmasutra (I, 32,21), as the quest
for liberation is impossible in a city.
• The Bauddhayana declares that: "It is impossible for one to
obtain salvation, who lives in a town covered with dust" (II, 3,
6, 33).
7. Town planning
• Sthapatya Veda (part of Atharva Veda); layout of a city
• Smriti Shastra; street layouts (micro & macro)
• Vaastu Shastra - treatises on architectural planning,
construction and design; matters relating to site selection, site
planning and orientation, quality of soil, water resources,
planting of trees and groves.
– Arthashastra; environmental management
– Manasara Shilpa Shastra – Grama Vidhana & Nagara Vidhana
– Mayamata
– Viswakarma.
• A traditional city designed according to the principles of
sacred geometry was based on cosmological theories.
– Vaastu Purush Mandala
8. • Vastu Shastra recommends five shapes of a town;
1. Chandura; square
2. Agatara; rectangle
3. Vritta; circle
4. Kritta Vritta; elliptical
5. Gola Vritta; full circle
Town planning
9. Source: Kautilya The
Arthashastra by
L.N.Rangarajan
Kautalya’sArthshastraKautalya’sArthshastra
Kautilya’s Arthashastra
is considered to be a
comprehensive treaty
and addresses those
entire essential
fundamentals specific
to the practices of
design and
development of
human settlements.
10. • Silpasasthras refers to four distinct categories of habitation
settlements within the forts and fortified cities;
1. Janabhavanas : houses for common mass.
2. Rajbhavanas : palaces and gorgeous mansions for ruling class.
3. Devabhavanas : religious shrines.
4. The public buildings such as public rest house, public gardens, public libraries,
public tents, reservoirs, and wells.
• Silpasasthras do not put more emphasis upon the secular
architecture i.e.,the Janabhavanas
• Manasara, Mayamata and Visvakarma Prakara (later scriptures) laid
emphasis on planning and architecture of Janabhavanas.
• Samaranganasutradhara
– “architect of human dwellings”
– has given a list of 50 establishments including administrative and domestic
structures.
Town planning
11. Hymn ‘Purusa Sukta’ in the Rg Veda, describes the symbolic division of
Purusa, or the Eternal Man, into four varnas or classes;
Town planning
12. Allocation based on Varnashrama dharma or the ideal social & spiritual order. The
Sanskrit word Varnashrama is formed by joining 2 words "Varna" and "Asrama".
There are 4 kinds of Varnas & 4 kinds of Ashramas
Varnas (Social order or caste)
1.Brahamana - Intellectual class
2.Kshatriya - Administrative or ruling class
3.Vaisya - Business class
4.Sudra - Working class
Ashrama (Spiritual order or life’s culture)
1.Sannyasa - Renounced order
2.Vanaprastha - Intermediate stage between Grihasta & Sannyasa
3.Grihasta - an ideal married person, who contributes most to the society
4.Brahmacarya - A celibate, does academic learning under a bonafide Guru.
Town planning
14. Vastu Shastra & Urban Design
– Nagara Vidhana
• Grid –iron pattern: main streets.
• Primary, Secondary & Tertiary street layout.
• Street with green plant borders.
• Pedestrian footpath between street & green belt.
• Junction of main axis: Brahmastana
• Public space ~ public accessibility ~ public building
• discard land that has depression in the middle area corresponding to Brahmastana
• Mixed use on main streets, i.e. residences above commercial/office etc.
• The streets that run round the layout can have buildings on one side. These
buildings can relate to schools, colleges, public libraries and buildings, offices,
guest houses etc.
• The smaller streets can have residential buildings on both sides. Each segment
or block can have houses that are uniform in height and appearance.
• People of similar professions, age groups, health can be housed in the same
quarters.
• Crematoria were placed outside the layout Mandala
15. Vastu Shastra & Urban Design
– Samarangana Sutradhara
• Recommends 34 roads in a model town, running EW & NS.
• importance of gardens (mentions a belt of trees and plants surrounding town).
• banyan tree recommended in centre of a town, serving for a council hall.
• Udaka (source of water)
• most essential primary elements of nature (Panchabhoota).
• Source of life
• Trading routes (sea-shores & rivers)
• The drains and sewers are sloped naturally towards East & North
16. Vastu Shastra & Urban Design
– Manasara
• Towns based on plans ranging from Pechaka (plan of 4 squares) to Asana (plan
of 100 squares).
• It speaks of the street that is on the border of the street (Mangalaveedhi) and
the street that surrounds the Brahmasthana (Brahmaveedhi)
• Laying out should start in the NE (Easanya).
• A prosperous town is normally situated along a sea or river coast.
• A stream on the north border of the city running to the east or the concept of
the mega-city as an island will indeed contribute to its global success.
17. Madurai – “Temple City”
• The City of Madurai, was originally built around the Meenakshi temple .
• Rectangular streets named after the Tamil months of Aadi, Chithirai and Maasi surround the
temple, symbolizing the structure of the cosmos.
