Vastushastra

Ancient Indian Architecture

By
Dr. A.S. Nene
nene_ashok@yahoo.com
Retd. Professor of Civil Engineering, VNIT
Nagpur India

Shilpashastra
Engineering philosophy of
ancient India
Sage Bhrugu, composer of Bhrugu Shilpa
Samhita,Classified

the

entire

Shilpa

Shastra into,
khand (Volumes) -3

Shastras (Sciences)-10

Vidyas (Techniques)-32

Kalas (Skills) -64

Definition of common terms

1. Shilpa - The word is derived from a root Sheel
samadhau and literally means any thing that pleases your
mind. Sage Bhrugu has defined Shilpa as creation of
different materials
with the help of machines ,
techniques and arts.
2. Shilpa Shastra - The science related to a particular
subject comprising different techniques skills or arts.
3. Shilpa Samhita
A
compilation of rules and
procedure related to a particular science.
4.Vidya A techniques related to creation or execution
of a Shilpa.
5.Kala - An art or skill acquired by practice and
experience. Even a blind of deaf person can master any
particular skill.

Three volumes of Shilpashastra

A-Dhatu Khand -Resources Part

B-Sadhan Khand -Transportation Part
C. Vastu Khand -Habitation Part

C- Vastu Khand -Habitation Part

7-Vastu Shastra Habitat
8-Prakar Shastra -Forts &Castles
9-Nagar Rachana Shastra Town Planning

Common to all 9
10 Yantra shastra-Mechanics &
Machines

Vastu ShastraAncient Indian Architecture,

includes
a-Habitatation
b-Sculpture
c-Drawing and Painting

Vastu Shashtra
Origin -in 4000 B.C.-Indus Civilisation is proof
of it
Word Vastu derived from Sanskrit root Vas
Definition - Vastu is one where Gods and
goddesses dwell and work together with
humans.

Vastu Shastra has a scientific base.

Vastu Jyotishya is non scientific and
irrelevant in the present era.
More than 500 Ancient text on the subject
were compiled. Oldest is Manasar (400BC) and
recent is Mayamat (500AD).Soft copies of
Some 150 texts are available on NET. Ancient
India had 18 styles, developed by 18 sages.
North India -as per Manasar style
South India- as per Mayamat.

Four Vidyas (Techniques) out of 32

20. Erecting Tents Vaso Vidya

21. Hut construction Kutti Vidya
22. Temple construction- Mandir Vidya
23-Palace construction Prasad Vidya

Eleven Kalas (Skills) out of 64

47. Leather sheets for tentCharmapatbandhan
48. Soil preparation -Mrudkarma
49. Roofing with grass- TruNadyachhan
50. White Washing- ChurNopalep
51. Preparations of paint- VarN karma
52. Carpentry- Daru Karma
53. Soil Conditioning- Mrudkarma
54. Drawing and Painting-Chitradyalekhan
55. Sculpture -PratimakaraN
56. Foundations- Talakriya
57. Construction and decoration of domeShikharkarm

Vastushastra outlines basic principles which states

vastu must be durable useful and aesthetically,
beautiful.
It also lays down that vastu is affected by rain
water, disturbances in the earth such as
earthquakes , the wind and environmental effects.
The prayer at the inauguration of vastu
Let God of rain, earth, wind & Sun,
environment protect the structure.

God of

Kings Challenge for 1000 Years Life Temple

An Indian King gave challenge to architects to
build a temple which can stand for thousand
years. One architect built such a temple.
The
inscription on stone wall states

which means I have built a temple to last

thousand years life ,where there are no bricks no
lime, no timber and no steel. (Stones with spigot
socket vertical joints, copper plates- horizontal
joints, door frames of stones, doors of
copper/silver used.)

Common topics of Vastu Texts

Measurements (Length/width/ height etc).
Site selection (Towns and Cities)
Site selection (Buildings all types)
Planning
Layout on ground with direction lines(North-south or East-west)
Construction Rules (Height, clear spacing, arrangement for
drainage of waste water etc)
Selection and testing of construction materials.
Selection of construction tools (Plumb bob, set square, water
level)
Construction procedures and quality control.
Auspicious date and time for various activities (Muhurta) such
as ground breaking, laying foundations, occupation etc).
Interior decorations, installations of idols (Gods/Godesses

1-Vasovidya Tents

1-Vasovidya Tents
Animals' skin was called Krutti. Such skins were
first used for shelter and then as clothing.
Subsequently tree barks were used as clothing.
Silk, wool and cotton was then used to prepare
cloths.

The peg should be of hard wood. It should

be straight smooth and sharp at one end and
of uniform size. The peg should be driven
into ground firmly.

The pegs of a tent are driven in the direction

of south-east, south-west, north-west, and
north-east. This is done to prevent the wind
from entering into tent.

21 KUTTIVIDYA- MUD CONSTRUCTIONS

2 Kuttividya- Mud constructions

As per Shilparatna soils are grouped into for
classes according to their superiority ;

Test
Color

Table -Classification of soils

Classification
Good
Average Poor
Bad
White
Red
Yellow
Black/
Blue

Smell

Pleasant

Taste

Sweet

Like
Food
Pungent

blood
Bitter

Foul
/
Fishy
Sour/Salty

Wood for low cost houses

Sanskrit
Pishit
Nimba
Madhuk
Nariker
VeNu

English
Date
palm
Neem

Sanskrit
Tinduk

English
Roxb Cabinet tree

Raajaadan

Charoli

Butter
tree
Coconut
tree
Bamboo

Taal

palmy palm

Kramuk
Poog
Ketaki

/ Areca Palm
Screw Pine

Soil for mud plasters

As per Shilpratna, the soil to be used for mud
plaster should be submerged in knee deep
water in a pit. Frequent kneading of the soil
should be done.
Extracts of barks of milky trees should be
added to wet soil and kneaded by expert potter
daily for one month.

Wood for low cost houses

For low cost houses wood of common trees should
be used as these trees are available in all parts of
country.
As per Mayamat, hatched roof should be provided
for mud house and tiles should be used for roofs of
houses made of stone or bricks.

22

MANDIR VIDYA HOUSES

Mandir Vidya- Houses

The depth of foundation should be 60 cm 120
cm.
The height of plinth should be equal to knee
height (60 cm) to chest height (90 cm)
Steps should be provided for houses, schools
and palaces.

Sizes of houses
The house should not be less than 16 hasta (3 m)
in width. The size should be between 8 Danda to
32 Danda (8-32 m) at interval of 2 hasta.
The Doors, pillars or trusses etc should be odd in
number (1, 3, 5, 7 etc).
Mayamat specifies wood of certain trees, suitable
for construction.

Selection of trees for construction

Sanskrit
Khadir

English
Catechu

Sanskrit
Pishit

Khaadir

Catechu

Tinduk

Vanhi

Sprung tree.

Raajaadan

Nimba

Neem

Homa

Saal

Sal tree

Madhuk

English
Walnut
tree
Tendu
tree
Charoli
tree
Butter
tree

Basic types and styles of staircase

Types of staircase
Within a wall
Adjacent to a wall
Without side walls
The four styles of staircase
Trikhand - Dog legged
Shankhamandal- Spriral
Vallimandal - Helical
Gomutrasum - Straight

Walls and plaster

As per Mayamat external and internal plaster is
necessary. Inner walls should be decorated
with the pictures of gods or goddess or which
pleases mind and not or war, death etc. Erotic
pictures must not painted on walls.
There should be uniformity of materials to be
used in building. Planning is necessary if
different materials are to be used in different
parts.

4-Prasadvidya -Palaces
There should not be any defect in the
foundation level of palace. The foundation
should be laid on rock, hard soil or at level of
water table.
Vastu idol should be buried in lined pit near
the column's base. Eight precious stones,
eight types of grain seeds, eight medicinal
herb, cloth and flowers, coins should also be
buried in this pit.

Purpose of plinth
Plinth should provide access to all parts of
house and may be cut for main entrance.
Mayamat specifies wood of certain (male)
trees suitable for making wooden pillars (as
the wood is strong in compression).
Mayamat specifies wood of certain (female)
trees suitable for making wooden beams (as
the wood is strong in bending).

Building materials
Wood, stones and bricks are used to construct
pillars, beams and roofs. Trees, whose wood is
durable,
As per Bhrugu Samhita, bricks and stones,
which are suitable for columns,
Mayamat describes properties of stones or bricks
to be used for masonry.
Stones -Of same color, smooth, embedded in
ground.

Selection of bricks
Bricks - Properly fired, sound and free from voids.
Roof column should rest on beam or truss. The space
between beams should be covered with wooden planks.
The plank thickness should be one eighth the width. Roof
should be constructed with rafters and tiles.

Roof should be constructed with rafters and tiles.

Types of partition walls

Partition walls are skillfully made of wood,
tone or bricks. The tree types of partition
walls are,
Jalak- Grilled partition
Falak - Wooden planks
Aistak- Brick wall

Masonry Bonds
By proper interlocking of bricks laying of
bricks should be done. Depending upon
the position of joints in brick layers, six
types of bonds are created. These are,
Mallalila
Bramaraj
Venuparva
Pugaparwa
Deosandhi
Dandka

Joints of Column
Five types of joints for beams are
specified.
Shatshikha
Zashdant
Sukarghrana
Sakarnakil
Vajjrabh

Types of Roofs
Different types of roofs are specified in
Mayamat. The roofs may be sloping in
2, 4,6,8,12,16 ways. The roofs may be
lotus, Gooseberry, garland or sphere
shaped.

Preparation of lime mortar

Lime mortar is prepared by mixing lime and
sand of three sizes,
Karal
Muggdi
Gulmash
The first layer of lime mortar plaster should
be 19 mm thick. Second and third layer
should be 10 and 5 mm thick respectively.
The mortar should be cured for a period of
six to twelve months.

Payment to artisans

During final payment, gifts such as

cow, cloths, flag (to engineer) and
gold ornaments headgear, food
etc. (to carpenter and mason)
should be given.

4-Prasadvidya -Palaces

Texts related to Vasu shastra

1

AgamapuraN

Aparajitpruchha

Aryatatwa

Bhrugushilpasamhita

Bhuvandipak

Bruhatshilpashastra

Gargashilpsamhita

Gruhavidnyan

9
10

11 Krushavastushastra
12 Manasaar
13 Manushyalayachandr
ika
14 Mayadipika
15 Mayamatam
15 Mayapratishthatantr
a
17 Mayasangraha

18 Mayashastra
Ishaanshivgurudevpaddhati 19 Mayashilpa
20 Mayavastu
Jalargal shastra
40

Texts related to Vasu shastra

21

Naradshilpa

31

Shilparatna

22

Naradshilpasamhita

32

Shilparatnakar

23

PramaNmanjiri

33

Shilpasamrudhhi

24

Prasadmandan

34

Shilpasarsangrah

25

35
Roopmandan
SamarangaNsutradha 36
r
37
Samutpinadhikaran
Sanatkumargruhavast 38
u
Sanatkumarshilpavast 39
u
40
Shilpachintamani

26
27
28
29
30

Shukraniti
Sudhalepan
Vaishasanagam
Varahasamhita
Vastumanikyaratnakar
Vastumanjiri

41

Texts related to Vasu shastra

41

Vastumuktavali

51

Vastuvidya

42

Vastuprabandha

52

Vastuvidyan

43

Vasturaj

53

Vishvakarma Vidyaprakash

44

Vasturajvallabha

54

Vishvakarmaprakash

45

Vasturatnakar

55

Vishvaprakash

46

Vasturatnavali

47

Vastusaar

48

VastusariNi

49

VastusarprakaraN

50

Vastusarvasva

42

THE SECRETS OF ENDURANCE OF

INDIAN HERITAGE STRUCTURES

UNESCO has declared till today 125

structures as World Heritage Structures .
16

heritage

structures

maintained by ASI.

in

India

THREE SECRETS OF ENDURANCE

Proper

selection

of

three

things

is

essential for durability of any heritage

structure.

1. The Site selection

2. Construction materials
3. Construction techniques.

1. Site
Importance of Site investigation was
well

known

to

ancient

India.

In

ancient days availability of a good

site was not a problem.

Simple field tests on soils to determine

their

suitability

of

foundation

are

described. All such tests are based on

sound scientific principles

Puranas have a separate chapter called site

selection

(Deshnirnaya)

or

Site

Investigations (Bhumipariksha).

"First explore the site and then plan

for the structure".

A site was considered unsuitable for

a town or a building if the site is,
Situated near a cremating ground,
Fissured, full of cracks, porous ,
Full of ant hills,, hairs, bones, etc.

Mayasamhita describes a cone

penetration test similar to the
modern test.
As per the ancient practice a
wooden cone is driven into ground
by striking with a hammer. The
markings on the cone indicate the
amount of penetration. Smaller
penetration indicates denseness of
the stratum.

The depths of foundations were between

1.5 m to 7 m depending upon the height
or importance of the proposed structure.
A simple thumb rule was to lay foundation
on rock or just at the water table.

2. Construction materials
Stones
Bricks
Timber
Lime mortars
Paints and pigments

2.1 Stones
Ancient Indian texts mention classification of
stones according to color, age, gender.
The stones with high compressive strength
(male) were used for columns and the stones
with high flexural strength (female) were used
for beams.
Building stones were closely examined for
defects by applying herbal extracts to detect
micro cracks and cleavage planes.

 For very important monuments, stones were tested by

immersing them into boiling milk.
There are religious traditions to apply protective coatings
(Vajralepa) to the idols after every 12 years.
Polishes made of coconut are applied frequently to impart
shining of stone surfaces.
Mud packs made out of Multani mitti and rose water are
applied to white marbles to remove stains due to air
pollution.

2.2 Bricks
Ancient Indian texts such as Rig Veda mention Preparations of
brick earth, molding and firing of bricks
Excavations at Mohenjodaro, Harappa and Lothal clearly
indicate that the ancient bricks were far superior to modern
bricks.
Special organic additives such as algae, extracts of tree barks,
decoctions of dry fruits, jute fibers etc., were used in preparations
of brick earths. These additives enhance the quality of bricks
(sharp edges, strength and distortion free shape).

2.3 Timber
Ancient text Mayamat mentions 84 species of
suitable trees for wood work in superstructures.
Ancient texts elaborately describe various aspects of
timber, such as tree selection, preservation, wood
defects and wood preservatives. One can find
description of various types of wood joints in such
texts. Application of wood polishes and oil based
paints were essential parts of wood constructions.

2.4 Lime and lime preparations

Lime was extensively used as mortar for stone or brick
masonry.
Quick lime was prepared from lime stone, sea shells, mother
of pearls etc. Quenching of lime was done using coconut
water, Herbal decoctions, etc.
Lime mortar was prepared at site, by grinding slaked lime and
sands of various sizes using lime grinding mill operated by
bulls.
Various natural polymers were added during grinding.

The

natural

polymers

comprised

of

eggshells, hairs of goats, animal blood,

decoctions of cereals (black gram) etc.
Red lime mortar was prepared from
saline soils.
Plaster material was prepared by mixing
lime with brick or marble powder. Many
plasticizers such as ripe bananas or pulp
of ripe fruits were used.

2.5 Colors and color pigments

Colors

for

walls

were

made

out

of

natural

ingredients. Five basic colors, white, red, yellow,

green and black were prepared and then various
shades

of

different

colors

were

combinations of two or three colors.

used

with

Technical studies revealed that three kinds

of pigments were used by the ancient
painters;
Minerals - red lead, vermilion, yellow ochre,
gold powder, Lapis lazuli, Azurite (blue),
Malachite (green), calcium sulphate, white
lead, silver powder, and zinc (white).

Vegetables -indigo blue and madder red

(derived from plants, considered suitable
for textiles and not for paintings).
Artificial - lamp black, verdigris green
and ivory black.

Most pigments were minerals available

locally: red ochre, vivid red, yellow ochre,
indigo blue, chalk white, terracotta and
green.

Only Lapis lazuli was imported.

Lamp-black

was

the

only

non-

mineral. Following three ancient texts deal

in

details

with

colors

and

pigments.

Secrets of Ajanta and Ellora paintings can

be traced out from these texts.

3. Construction techniques
There

were

no

time

and

cost

constraints for the construction of

heritage

structures.

Indigenous

techniques were used to maintain

the quality of construction.

Compaction

of

foundation

stratum:

Durability of the structure depends upon

proper compaction of foundation stratum.
Well graded materials (cobbles, gravels,
sands and clays) were used and properly
compacted by rammers of the size of
elephant foot.

Leveling of various layers:

Very close quality control on levels and

verticality

of

surfaces,

was

maintained.

Special tools were developed to check the

levels and heights of various components.

Proper load distribution

Structural

loads

were

properly

distributed with series of columns and

beams. Roofs were prepared by proper
interlocking

of

(stones or bricks).

building

elements

Case Studies

1. Brick temple at Sirpur M.P.

(7th century A.D., 595-625 A.D.)

First discovered in 1872 by Lord Cunningham, the

Lakshmana temple .This brick temple and represents
the beginnings of temple architecture in ancient India.
Sirpur is 78 kms away from Raipur city in Chhatisgarh
State . The temple is located near the banks of the
great river Mahanadi .
Hiuen-Tsang,

seventh

century

pilgrim had also visited this place.

Chinese

Buddhist

The magnificent temple is the east facing

and this brick temple stands on a high
massive platform accessible by steps in the
north and the south.
The

exquisitely

carved

door

frames

depicts figures of Vishnu along with his

other incarnations.

This temple is among the best examples of

brick temples of ancient India. A museum at
the site

is maintained to preserve the

collected materials.

2. Kalaram Rock temple

The

city

of

Nasik

has

unique

distinction of having three temples

constructed as per three different
schools of architecture
Naroshankar temple- Kashyap Samhita
Sunder Narayan temple -Bhrugu Samhita
Kalaram temple- Maya Samhita

The largest and simplest of the temples is

Kalaram Mandir, built in 1790.
70 feet high temple is made by complete black
stones, with four doors
The building stands in the middle of a walled
enclosure with 96 pillars
It took Rs. 23 lakhs and 2000 workers to build
the temple in 12 years.

B. Mud flooring.

The floors of Padmanabhapurum palace (1601 A.D)

in

Kerala were made of a material that is unique blend of

burnt coconut shells, quick lime, palm toddy, the whites
of eggs and extracts of certain herbs.

1. The secrets of endurance of Indian

heritage structure are proper selection
of

site,

construction

materials

appropriate construction technology.

and

2. The ancient techniques may not be

relevant in present time. But one must
appreciate the ancient Indian wisdom.
3. More research on ancient techniques
is necessary to preserve such heritage
structures.

Useful References
Ancient
1. Varahsamhita- Brihatsamhita
2. Matsyapooran
3. Mayamat
4. Rig Veda
5. Samarangana Sutradhara
6. Vishnu-dharmottara Pooran

References -Modern
Mishra, T.N. (1997), Ancient Indian Bricks and
Brick Remains, South Asia Books Columbia, NO
65205, United States.
Nene, A.S. (2012) Building Materials &
Construction Techniques of ancient India, EBook, www.Bookganga.com
Nene, A.S. (2012), Rock engineering in ancient
India Proceedings of Indian Geotechnical
Conference, December 15-17, 2011, Kochi
(India)

Acknowledgement
This presentation is based on
published and unpublished books and articles of
Late K.V. Vaze

and

Late G.G. Joshi

Review the Past with modern

perspective - Kautilya