(ii) The Architecture (Sthāpatya)

The subject matter of the science of architecture from the standpoint of an architect, Sthapati has already been elucidated in the previous pages, but in continuation of the chapter, 44 of the Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra chapter 45th entitled ‘Aṣṭāṅga-lakṣaṇa’ (sec also V.L.) gives the following constitution of the Vāstu-śāstra from the standpoint of an art of Sthapati, the Sthāpatya (sthapateḥ idaṃ sthāpatyam) and the Sthāpatya is synonymous with the science of architecture.

Architecture is what the architect makes:

“This four-fold Sthāpatya—(as described in the previous chapter)—Śāstra, Karma, Prajñā and Śīla—is now being described with its eight-fold limbs” (45-1).

Among them the first and foremost is the settling and forming (Vikalpanā) of the Vāstu-puruṣa. This is the first limb of the body of Hindu Architecture. It is pre-requisite of all architectural work, sacred and domestic, religious and civil. The second limb consists of the planning of town, door-work, laying out of the roads, the planning of fortification, the enclosure, the Prākāra, etc., the aṭṭālaka together with the layout of the lanes, bylanes and the plotting out the whole area of the habitation of men and dedication to gods. The third limb is represented by only one subject—the architecture of Hindu-temple—the Prāsāda, being the foremost planning of Hindu Architecture. The 4 th, 5th and 6th are the raising of the Indra’s flag, the Royal palace with its paraphernalia of kingly establishments, the planning of the residential houses caste-wise and professionwise respectively. The seventh limb, spoken of, is the measurement of a sacrificer’s shed, the sacrificial altar and the procedure of the Koṭihoma. The eighth, the last one, represents the planning of the forts and camps of kings, the encampments (ibid 2-9).

This is the Samarāṅgaṇasūtradhāra’s conception of a Sthapati and the Sthāpatya, his art. It is in keeping with the etymological meaning of the word sthapati—master of what stands or abides. This again is the implication as to why the science of architecture—Vāstu-Śāstra is also called the Sthāpatya-śāstra. Both are complementary to each other.

In the end, I may just make a few remarks regarding its place iṇ the ancient sacred lore of India. Vāstu-Śāstra, the science of architecture, does not find a place in the traditional list of sacred lore, the Vidyā-sthānāni. It does not, therefore, mean that it was not a Vidyā in the traditionally accepted sense of the term. It was part of the Veda, the primordial knowledge. We arc all familiar that the Vedas had their Upavedas too. Sthāpatya-śāstra is one of the Upavedas, the auxiliary parts of the Veda. It was recounted as an applied knowledge subordinated to Atharava Veda just as Ayur-Veda is attached to Ṛg-Veda, Dhanur-Veda attached to Yajur-Veda and Gāndharva-Veda attached to Sāma-veda. Prof. Stella Kramrisch has very aptly brought out this ancient character of the science (see H. Temple p. 11): “Vastu-śāstra in. its fullest exposition belongs to Tantra which is the applied knowledge of the Atharva-veda. As a ritual, architecture is moreover doubly linked with the primordial knowledge, i.e. the Veda and is included iṇ two of the six Vedāṅgas, These are appendices which are auxiliary to Veda. The fifth Vedāṅga—astronomy-astrology, Jyotiṣa and the sixth Vedāṅga, Kalpa, in which are laid down the rules of the sacrificial acts, the ritual, are both in parts, essential constituents of the science of Indian architecture. The śulba-sūtras contained in the Kalpa-sūtras, represent the rules and give proportionate measurements for laying out and piling up the Vedic altar. On them basically rests the building of the Hindu Temple”. The Sarnarāṅgaṇa was fully conscious of this traditional character of the Sthāpatya. Accordingly it, in its chapter tenth entitled, ‘Puraniveśa’, (cf. 77th verse), enumerates the fourfold Sthāpatya by the side of the other Upavedas like eightfold medicine—the Āyurveda; seven-fold Military Science—the Dhanur-veda and the science of luminaries—the Jyotiṣa Upaveda (the astronomy-astrology), and it also hints at the common founder of all those—the Creator Brahmā, the lotus-housed one.