Basic Concepts of Vastu For Town Planning

 

BASIC CONCEPT OF VASTU FOR TOWN PLANNING From time immemorial immemorial Vastu principles (Vedic Methods) have been applied in design and development of villages, towns and cities. The science of town planning during Vedic Vedic period was given paramount importance importance to an extent that IndoAr!ans perfectly shaped the human settlements into various categories depending upon the characteristics of the population. n the context of ancient ndian cities, the capital cit! was given given due signi!c signi!canc ance e in defending defending it using using all "inds "inds of protectional a"enues based on scienti!c and Vas Vastu tu imparted innovations. i nnovations. Ancient cities were usually located on the ban"s of   ri"ers, especially #anges and their tributaries, essentially for ritu ritual alis isti tic c and and sani sanita tary ry purposes, including comm co mmu unications with other oth er cities cities using using water water..  This concept in fact helped to foster and encourage comm co mmer erce ce whic which h ulti ultima mate tely ly favored favor ed establishme establishment nt of townships. townships. #o$en%o&aro and 'arappa, which are the only two$ out%standing cities belonging to ndus Valley &ivili'ation have resemblance to the planning concepts, of both the ancient and (odern to)ns and cities o* India .

SITE SELECTION Vastu astra has laid strong strong e(p$asis on t$e selection o* a proper site   for establishing a new village, town or a city. city. The sites or places on which cities are proposed are generally classi!ed under three categories. Barren land used to be called called as  +an,ala, where wind is hotter and the soil is blac" Anupa(a, ascr ascrib ibin ing g fo forr a -eauti*ul -eauti*ul countr! countr!, which which is surrou surrounde nded d by rivers, where the climate is fresh and cool, with the soft characteristics being humid and cool Sad$arana  cate catego gory ry used used to be given given to a"era,e .ualit!  where huge stretches of land existed in useless conditions.  The capital city should be placed in such suc h a local local geogra geographi phical cal positi position on where where variou ious "ind inds of tre trees/ es/ )ater )ater -odie -odies/ s/ ri"ers/ plants/ s$ru-s/ ,reen "e,e "e ,eta tati tion on co"e co"er r/ in incl clud udin in, , catt cattle le should be present in great numbers. The ancient city of Pataliputra  was planned on a magn magni! i!ce cent nt scal scale e wher where e exis existe ted d th the e conuence of ona and #anges. The city had a long river front exceeding nine miles, coupled with beautiful beautiful emban"ments emban"ments and harb ha rbor ors. s. t had had timb timber er wall walls s all% all%rround ound 

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defende defen ded d with with * succ succes essi sive ve bric bric"%l "%lin ined ed moats !lled with water. n addition, it has + watch%towers placed over * *  gates.

 

 The #anasara   descr describ ibes es that that thes these e site sites s for esta establ blis ishi hing ng a city city used used to be dettermi de ermine ned d from from it its s s( s(el ell/ l/ tast taste/ e/ s$ap s$ape/ e/ dire direct ctio ion/ n/ soun sound d and and touc touc$0 $0  The topography should have inclination towards -ast and orth, coupled with higher ground levels in outh%/est, /est and outh. f a ri"er ad0oins the site it should run from left to right or /est to -ast or outh to orth. 1lso the site should have )ater ta-le at a depth e2ual to a man$s height with his arms raised above his head. The site should also comply with moderate te(perature during summers and winters. f these parameters were not met with, the land used to be re0ected straight away. away. -ve -v en (eteorolo,ical   data data was used as a decidin deciding g factor factor.. For For exampl example, e, )ind

direction in ndia predominantly pre%vails from outh%/est to orth%-ast. f terrain of  the land slopes in this direction, the buildings would be exposed to rough storms and rain beatings e3ecting even the local micro climate. The lands which are s$aped similar to circles, circ les, semicircles, semicircles, containing containing *, 4, 5 angles on its sides, hind parts of !sh, bac" of the elephant or a turtle or face of the cow or land 1lled with human s"ulls or stones, anthills, dilapidated wells, decayed wood yards, lime stone yards, such lands used to be re0ected. 6and 6a nds s with with huge trees  in the four corners were declared as sterile. -ven geological characteristics that prevailed in such lands were strictly examined and decided upon, coupled with topo,rap$!/ draina,e patterns/ "e,etation co"ers/ )ild li*e poc2ets and cli(ate, too. ite 7lanning after the selection of land as per Vastu, the sight was plou,$ed on an auspicious day as !xed by astronomical observations by a pair of speci!c oxen which had white spots on their heads and "nees. The next step was with determination of  cardinal directions  using using the #nomon #nomon,, which which conclu concludes des with the !xatio !xation n of Vastu purus$a(andala. 8i3erent "inds of them were used depending upon the need of the applications. n fact circular ci rcular Vastu%purusha%mandala Vastu%purusha%mandala symboli'ed the terrestrial world with constant const ant movement. movement. The s.uare one s$o)ed ri,idit!  and thus represented a perfect and absolu absolute te form. form. The postur posture e of Vastu astu 7urush 7urusha a has been been di3er di3erent ent with with di3er di3erent ent aspe aspect cts s of stru struct ctura urall re2u re2uir ireme ement nts. s. That That is to say, say, Vastu astu 7uru 7urush sha a cons consid ider ered ed in residential buildings di3ers greatly in the application of temples constructions. Vastu astra describes 34 )a!s of constructing Vastu%purusha%mandala. The simplest among

them is conceiv them conceived ed with s.uare or pada  and the longest in this characteristics is of  5647 Padas adas. The The exac exactt si'e si'e and and sh shap ape e of Vastu astu%p %pur urus usha ha%m %man anda dala la is dete determ rmine ined d accordi acco rding ng to th the e re2uir re2uiremen ements ts of the buildi building ng constr construct uction ions. s. The *9 "inds "inds of Vastu% astu% purusha%mandala and these are Sa2ala/ Peca2a/ Pit$a/ #a$apit$a, etc. ending with the *9nd one which is named as Indra2anta.

 

#O&E OF APPLICATION APPL ICATION n building towns and cities, the architect had to decide !rst, which Vastupurus$a(andala   holds appropr appr opriat iation ion depend depending ing upon upon the si si8e 8e o* t$e t$e to)n to)n.  Thus, !xation of the peripheral limits of a town used to be determined by con!guring the alignment patterns of  (ain streets which resembled the arms of the cosmic cross, attributed to avenues planted with shady trees.  Thus, the longest arm used to be aligned -ast and /est and named and named after after #a$a2ala or Va(ana. n fact there used us ed to be rin, roads  planned surrounding the whole ci city ty or town town and calle called d as #an,ala"it$i . Th Thus us,, th the e whole who le Vastu%p astu%puru urusha sha%ma %manda ndala la used used to be fragme fragmente nted d into :;, +, < pads or landed parcels and pushed into di3erent 'ones. The innermost s2uare or pada was called Bra$(a  and the next next called called after &ai"i2a  or the belt of gods, next to this is called #anus!a or the belt of humans and the fourth ring was called Paisaca or the belt of  demons. 8i3erent 'ones or s2uares used to be occupied by di3erent classes of human being. bein g. =ut the central central s2uare s2uare which which was called called Bra$(ast$ana   was always occupied either by a te(ple or a palace . /hile planning of roads in the course of conceiving the design for a town or a city, the roads running in the -astern axis ensured towards puri!cation of the street by un rays from morning till evening and the orth%outh road pro!les provided a perfect circulation of the air and bene!t of cool bree'e.

TOWN PLANNING CONCEPTS  The ndo%1ryan town planning almost a blueprint co copy of th the co concepts planning, especially the central cross roads, 7rada"sinapatha. The ground was fragmented in the same style as that in the village planning ing techni2ues and the identi! iden ti!cat cations ions of Varnas arnas (ocia (ociall order order or caste> =rahamana, ?shatriya, Vaisya, udra) the position of s2uare or pada in the chess

principles are used in the village Mangalavithi or

depended upon board patterns of  

roads, house plots, and temple placements. ometimes the amalgamated spatial patterns were followed which depended upon the urban planning contexts and, therefore, were *ree *ro( a (onotonous loo20  The shape of towns and cities and their geographical locations were classi!ed and determined deter mined as per Vastu Vastu principles principles.. 1ccordin 1ccordingly, gly, there were t)ent! t!pes o* to)ns and cities cities, star starti ting ng fr from om 7adma adma cate catego gory ry to #iri #irina nagar gar type type.. The The word word 9Pura9  and 9Na,ara: actually belong to Vedic Vastu periods. The most important shape used in the initial concept of towns and cities, as per the amarangana uthradhara, is towards s2uare shape. 1 city should be located in the central part of a country so as to facilitate trade and commerce. The site selected for the purpose of this city should be 2uite large in area, and on the ban"s of a river, or by the side of an arti!cial or natural la"e, which never goes dry. dry . tu has Vastu as hastr tra a recom ecomme mend nds s !ve !ve shap shapes es of a to town wn@@ ;. C$andura@ s2ua s2uarre 9. A,atara@ rectangle *. Vritta@ circle . ;ritta Vritta@ elliptical 4. Gola Vritta@ full circle.

 

ilpasasthras refers to four distinct categories of habitation settlements within the forts and forti!ed cities@ ;. +ana-$a"a  +ana-$a"anas nas> houses for common mass. 9. Ra%-$a"anas > palaces and gorgeous mansions for ruling class. *. &e"a-$a"anas > religious shrines. . T he he pu-l pu-lic ic -uildin, -uildin,s s  such such as publ public ic re rest st hous house, e, publ public ic gard gardens ens,, publ public ic libraries, public tents, reservoirs, and wells  There should be a wall around the town, which should be six dandas (;:Acms approx.) high and twelve dandas wide. =eyond this wall there should be three moats of  ; feet, ;9 feet and ;A feet wide to be constructed four arm%lengths apart. The depth should be three%fourth of width. Three%east west and three orth B south roads, should divide the town. The main roads should be eight dandas wide and other roads four dandas wide. /hile site planning a city or a town, Vastu pertaining to placement of di3erent building enclosures used to be observed very strictly strictly.. For example, the palace was to be placed exactly in the centre of the town by occupying one nint$ o* t$e area of the whole of the fort. The palace faced exactly -ast with lands reserved for teac$ers and priests in the orth%-ast direction. The ro!al 2itc$en including elep$ant sta-les and store $ouses  used to be placed in the outh%-ast. Cn the external sides, merchants trading in li2uid, grains, and artists used to stay. The main treasur!/ accounts o