Chapter 3 - Origin and Development of Human Houses

[The story of the first House on Earth]:—

Houses, I have already pointed out, are of manifold denotation and connotation. Harmyas, Vimamas 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 (“śālāḥ santi asmin iti śālaḥ”) with its characteristics of courts, chambers, rooms, porticos, etc. as opposed to the storeys (cf. Vimānas and Prāsādas) is used. The name Śalā 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 Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra 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 Par-paṭaka—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 longevity 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 creating 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.

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”.

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-śāla Patnī-śālā, Gośālā, Vājiśālā, Gaja-śālā, etc. etc.

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).

The account of the origin of the house which we find in the Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra 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.

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 Mānasāra 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 Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra 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.

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.