Kashyapa Shilpa-shastra (study)
by K. Vidyuta | 2019 | 33,520 words
This page relates ‘Dikpariccheda or Dikparicchedana (fixing the cardinal directions)’ of the study on the Kashyapa Shilpa-shastra (in English) with special reference to the characteristics of Prakara (temple-components), Mandapa (pavilions) and Gopura (gate-house). The Silpa-Sastras refers to the ancient Indian science of arts and crafts, such as sculpture, architecture and iconography. This study demonstrates the correlatation between ancient Indian monuments (such as temples and sculptures) and the variety of Sanskrit scriptures dealing with their construction.
4.2. Dikpariccheda or Dikparicchedana (fixing the cardinal directions)
After the selection of the plot for construction, the cardinal directions must be fixed. This was determined by the ancients through the process of Śaṅkusthāpana. Śaṅku is the gnomon by means of which the cardinal points are ascertained for the orientation of building. Hindu treatises on the science of architecture, deal with the rules for this Śaṅkusthāpana. Astronomical treatises like Sūryasiddhānta, Siddhānta-śiromaṇi, Brāhmasphuṭa Siddhānta, Pañcasiddhāntikā and almost all the architectural treatises like Mayamata, Mānasāra, Śilparatna, Kāśyapa Śilpa Śāstra and so on, have dealt with this doctrine of orientation.
The theory of orientation of buildings, secular as well as ecclesiastical, as laid down by Indian architects of yore, has helped in providing plans in such a way that maximum benefit from the solar radiation is secured automatically. Temples, living places, assembly halls, audience rooms and a host of other buildings are, thus, adjusted in plan so as to secure an eastern frontage.
Fixing of cardinal directions had a prominent place in building construction, after the selection of site and before the actual construction starts.
Mānasāra (VI. 1cd-3) records that Śaṅkusthāpana must be done before Sun-rise. Uttarāyaṇa is the best time or else it can be done during dakṣiṇāyana; śuklapakṣa is preferred or else the kṛṣṇapakṣa; full-moon and new-moon days are to be avoided and the śaṅku must be placed at the auspicious time:
ādityodayakāle tu śaṅkusthapanamāramet ||
uttarāyaṇamāse tu dakṣiṇāyane'thavā |
śuklapakṣe'thavā kṛṣṇapakṣe śūbhatame dine ||
paurṇamīṃ(pūrṇimāṃ)cāpyamāvāsakayāṃ varjayetsumuhūrtake |
prabhāte sthapayecchaṅkum ... ... ... ...||
This technique of the orientation of buildings is very intimately related to the Vāstu-puruṣa-maṇḍala[1] –the metaphysical plan of a Hindu building, a temple-diagram or a site-plan of a residential house or any building plan.