Vastuvidya was a well developed branch of knowledge in India since ancient times
Date : 18/05/2024
This is Part 4 of the article on the Indian arts. Click here to read Part 3
In the previous part, we saw a few vijnānakalās. Here are some more -
Vāstu vidyā (architecture and designing)
The name vāstu is quite popular in the modern days, but has gathered many metaphysical beliefs around it, down the recent centuries. Let us have a glimpse into the original meaning and application of vāstuvidyā which has been an important branch of knowledge and one amongst the catuṣṣastikalās.
Vāstuvidyā covers a significant part of modern-day construction technology but is not identical with it. It broadly includes many areas like civil engineering, architecture which in turn includes mathematics, geometry and designing. Ancient and medieval literary references to various building shapes and sizes indicates that vāstuvidyā was well developed and in use in India since ancient times.
Structural remnants of ancient civilizations like Sindhu (Indus valley now occupied by Pakistan), gāndhāra (now occupied by Afghanistan), dwārikā (now submerged under the Sindhu-sāgara (renamed as Arabian sea by invaders) and ancient temples and stupas dating back to 3 CE (Stupa at Sanchi) and 4 CE (Kadambas’ Praṇaveśwara temple, Talagunda, Karṇāṭaka) and many others are standing proofs. The countless literary descriptions and prevailing structures say a lot about the highly developed construction techniques known to ancient Indians. Classical works in Sanskṛt and regional languages contain many references to magnificently built devāgara (temples), rājabhavanas (palaces), (prāsadas) galleries, sabhābhavanams (auditoriums), towers (gopuras) single and multi-storeyed houses with balconies, courtyards (prāngaṇas) and even exclusive palaces for summer, winter and rainy season and huge granaries, tanks, arsenal(śastrāgaras) swimming pools, river ghats and embankments, harbours with huge ships, main roads, highways with networks of smaller roads, water supply systems, basement chambers, secret chambers, watch towers, pleasure gardens with luxurious infrastructure and many more etc., A few of these are still in good shape and are scattered across the Indian subcontinent. Most of these dates back to millennia, a time when the Europeans who falsely claim that they envisioned all science and technology, had never even conceived the idea of schooling and teaching of such profound knowledge systems or construction techniques! Sanskṛt treatises like Mānasāra, Vāstuvidyā, Brhatsangita, Anśumadbhedāgama rūpamaṇdana, Mayamata and others record the concepts conceived by ancient Indians in this field. Kautilya’s arthaśāstra contains directives for constructing forts and towns. Mānasollāsa elaborates upon the construction of the royal harems.
It involves many details like choosing the suitable land topography, (particularly so in case of temples, palaces and public buildings) and organizing human and material resources. Unlike modern civil constructions, it is not merely about building structures based on mathematical measurements and geometrical patterns. It acknowledges some astrological directives as well. The navagrahas and vāstupurusa are worshipped on the eve of construction. Interestingly, obedience to these norms has never suppressed the elements of creativity, innovation and aesthetics in Indian vāstu. In fact, this is typically the approach of Indian knowledge systems.
Apart from these civil engineering aspects, vāstuvidya respects cultural customs like consecrating the land, choosing the auspicious dates and stars combinations for beginning the construction, performing the appropriate rites and rituals, worshipping the vāstumaṇdala, Vāstuśānti rites (for invoking blessings of Gods and symbolically seeking apology from the beings like snakes, rodents, insects, organisms, which have lived there till then, offering charity, hosting feasts and celebrations etc., on the eve of and after the construction process. Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa even suggests that north-east, south east, south west, north west and north are the appropriate directions for the altar, kitchen, granary and the hind-well of the house respectively.
There used to be many types of buildings. Considering the number of pillars, sālas and alindas, they are called Sarvatobhadra. (building that comprises of 196 pillars and four salas), chaturbhadra(structure with four pillars), and ekaśāla, dviśāla, triśāla and catuśśāla building patterns (depending on how many śālas), there used to be a special methodology of mathematical calculations related to the eight āyabhumis[1] (construction land types?)
The descriptions of the pompous cities of Ayodhyā and Lankā in Rāmāyana, clearly indicate that the construction of cities underwent formal blue prints.[2] The city of Lankā is described as guarded by vanadurga (forest-fort) and jaladurga (water fort) and located on a mountain top. It is said to be ornate with huge gold doors, clean main roads bordered with various towering buildings named Padmaka, swastika, vardhamānaka, etc, which comprised windows of diamond![3] Rāmāyaṇam also describes how the skilled Laksmaṇa levelled the land and constructed a spacious mud house with a separate room for Rama’s use[4].
Mahābhāratam refers to many types of buildings- aṣṭadikpālaka’s assembly hall, the mayasabhā (the magic house) at Indraprastha, etc. Nātyaśāstra narrates how the Devatās built mansions for themselves to keep secure from the repeated attacks of demons. The references to multi-storeyed buildings are scattered all over the classics of Kālidāsa, Bāṇa, Aśwaghoṣa and others. They in fact give a detailed picture of the townships in many instances. One famous verse of Kālidāsa which gave him the title ‘deepaśikhā kālidāsa metaphorically mentions the huge white buildings lined up on the main roads[5].
Apart from such countless literary references, there are physical structures to showcase the architectural talents of our ancestors. Beautiful palaces like Udaipur, Chittore, Delhi, Mysuru or ruins of hundreds of others, the thousands of ancient temples, remnants of ancient settlements like Harappa, Mohenjodāro, Dwāraka, Hampī etc., ruins on vast lands that housed ancient gurukulams like Nālanda, Odantapuri Somapura, Takṣaśila etc., spread across the Indian subcontinent, showcase the proficiency of our ancestors in this domain.
Unfortunately, despite the availability of plenty of literary and structural evidences, not much study, research, revival or even mention of these have been done in the present day academia and intellectual platforms. The age old vāstuvijnana that enabled our ancestors to build marvellous monuments for ages thus remains largely unexplored due to lack of political will. Obviously, our academia and research have focussed more on deriving blindly from western dictates, than on rediscovering what has been genuinely ours from millennia.
Mlecchatavikalpa and Deśabhāṣāvijnāna (knowledge of scripts and languages)
a) Mlecchatavikalpa is the knowledge of many scripts and languages (includes composing or decoding them too)- नानादेशीयवर्णानां सुसम्यग्लेखनं कला ।
The script and language have always shared a unique bond. The lack of knowledge of either can handicap anyone in comprehending a documentation. Language is a key to document knowledge while script becomes a tool for the same in case of texts. Moreover, a language can survive longer when it possesses a script. Script also enables us to trace the semantic changes down the ages and also to preserve the purity of the language and preserve the vocabulary.
Many scripts were devised by Indians thousands of years ago. Śukranītisāra explains the uses of script-
कालेतीते विस्मृतिर्वा भ्रान्तिः सञ्जायते नृणाम् ॥
अनुभूतस्य स्मृत्यर्थांखितं निर्मितं पुरा ।
यत्नाच्च ब्रह्मणा वाचां वर्णस्वर विचिह्नितम् ॥
“Memory gets erased or contradictions develop in course of time. That is why ages ago, Lord Brahma devised the script that contains varna (syllables), swara (vowels) and cinha (syntax, punctuations etc.,).” The concept of script that began with pictures eventually evolved into alphabet forms. There are many scripts in India. One of the oldest is Brāhmī lipi, from which evolved Nāgari and its variant scripts. Kannada-Telugu scripts were also probably derived from or inspired from brāhmī and Grantha that is used in Tamil, Malayālam, and Vacceyemittu scripts. There also was the concept of the gūdalipi and gūdabhāṣa wherein, a coded language or script was designed to be used exclusively by the intelligent network of kings and rulers. Kings, high officials and gūḍacaris (spies) were particularly trained in these. Kautilya’s arthaśāstra and the Sansṛt classics mudrarākṣasa and Pratijnā yougandharāyaṇa mention these.
Apart from maintaining confidentiality of messages, such scripts served to train the brain in decoding and deciphering. The Jaiminībhārata has an interesting episode. In a confidential letter sent by a wicked courtier, conspiring to poison the handsome young Chandrahāsa, the clever princess Viṣayā, who chanced upon the conspiracy changes the phrase विषमस्मै प्रदातव्यं into विषयास्मै प्रदातव्या! This single trick changed Chandrahāsa’s fate and instead got him married to her! In Bhāsa’s play Pratijnāyougandharāyaṇa, the conversation between the two characters in disguise happens in a coded language[6]. Poets compose some words such that the sandhi or its break up can give varied meanings either causing ambiguity or simple aesthetic pleasure.
b) Deśabhaṣavijanama refers to the knowledge of many languages. Deśabhāṣa refers to Sanskṛt and every regional language of every kind.
Sanskṛtam has commanded utmost admiration and reverence in the Indian ethos. Till the British craftily replaced Sanskṛt with English to impose their dominance on the Indian socio-political space, Sanskṛt was the official and functional language of the Indian subcontinent from millennia. The countless Sanskṛt inscriptions of all times, available in many regional scripts, record all kinds of information about the contemporary societies. Sanskṛt has also been the śāstra-bhāṣa (language for study, teaching, public debates and documentation of knowledge forms of all kinds). It has been profusely used in poetry, drama, dance, music, story-telling, rites and rituals, temple traditions and even pervaded the literature of other regional languages.
As the language that documents the most precious veda, vedāngas, Rāmāyaṇam, Mahābhāratam, purāṇas and their many scholarly commentaries and also as the language used in invoking deities through mantras and bījas, it is revered as the devabhāsa[7]. It is also the rājabhāṣa and rāshtrabhāṣa and most loved language of the Indians, because it contains treatises on polity, sciences, fine arts, aesthetics, engineering, medicine, botany, philosophy, law and many more. Countless inscriptions are composed in Sanskṛt. The first ever list of the catuṣṣastikalās is in fact documented in Vātsyāyana’s Sanskṛt treatise kāmaśāstram.
Sanskṛt comprised loukika and Chandas classifications, while the latter two comprised seven regional variants each. Māgadhi, Aāvantikā, Prācya, śouraseni, Ardhamāgadhi, Bāhlika and Dāksinātya were the Prākrt types while śakāri, ābhiri, cāṇdāli, sābari, drāvidi, ūḍraja and ḍhakki languages were born of Apabhramśa. The Sanskṛt social drama Mriccakaṭikam, contains some lines that are indeed a mixture of regional languages like śouraseni, Māgadhi and āvantikā languages. Sanskṛt, Prākṛt and Apabhramśa were three categories of ancient Indian languages.
Sanskṛt has supplied profound grammatical norms and immense vocabulary to regional languages. Unlike English, Sanskṛt has never trivialized or displaced the role of deśī languages, but has rather co-existed harmoniously, enriching them all through!
The knowledge of multiple deśī languages has won great admiration in the Indian society. Dandi’s daśakumāracaritam mentions “Nikhila-deśa deśīyabhāṣā-pāṇḍityam” (multilingual scholarship).
Our Nāṭakas particularly (which were the popular forms of public entertainment like today’s cinema) usually comprised both Sanskṛt and deśabhāṣa versions and many a times were even a harmonious blend of both. There are interesting literary episodes that talk of scholars with multi-lingual skills. The famous Telugu phrase in a poetic conversation- yā-āv-rā-bā-vā (which cow, O brother-in-law?) is a smart poetic creation wherein, every syllable means the same- ‘Come’, but in different languages- ya-Marati av-Hindi, ra-Telugu, ba- Kannada, va Tamil. Multilingual culture is still seen in Indian households, particularly in those that live on the state borders. While Sanskṛt is a key to study the Indian ethos in general, deśi languages are keys to access the cultural knowledge of the regional socio-cultural features. The daśa-rūpakas (ten drama styles) and the aṣtādaśa uparūpakas (eighteen sub classifications) highlight the flavour of regional lingual. The regional languages of the present days, are indeed modified versions of these ancient dialects.
Vrkṣāyurveda: (Botany and Environmental Science)
वृक्षादिप्रसवारोपपालनादिकृतिः कला -
Vṛkṣāyurveda involves environmental science, Sasyaśāstram(botany), Kṛṣi (agriculture). Indians have always had a great bond with nature. In the sanatāna samskrti, nature has even been viewed as the personification of divinity- Tvameva pratyakṣam brahmāsi---(veda mantra) Mother earth and every aspect of her natural bounties are looked upon as blessings. While the abrahamic faiths propose that God created Man (male) and then created creation (including woman) for his ‘consumption’ indirectly legalizing abuse of nature and women, the sanātana sanskṛti rather viewed nature as divine universal entity, of which the human is only a minuscule part. Any kind of abuse to nature is a sin and even punishable according to all śṛutis, smṛtis, arthaśāstra, poetic and folk literature and traditions. Indians love nature so much that they even name their children, villages, cities, houses and vehicles with names of rivers, seas, hills, flowers, trees, animals, birds, etc., (gangā, sindhu, kamala, mallikā, vṛṣabha, hamsa and so on). Ranging from routine food, dress, socio-religious customs, health care and festivities up to the serious sciences, art and philosophical literature and traditions, everything in the Indian ethos invariably has had a connection with nature.
The significance of trees in particular is dominantly emphasized in the Indian life. Literature of Sanskṛt and regional languages of all times, has profuse references and descriptions of trees. One tree is equivalent to ten children is the popular saying- Daśaputra samo drumah. The usefulness of water, air, space, fire and mud, and the hills, rivers, vegetation, flowers, fruits, roots, bark, gum, buds and even their ash, are all praised in veda, purāṇas, śāstras and kāvyas and folklore alike, while poets at all times have lavished their words describing it.
“वृक्ष्युर्वेदफलं मनोहरं शास्त्रतं सिद्धम्”- (the fruits of the Vṛkṣāyurveda are beautiful and systematic). Sasyaśātram (botany) elaborates upon many details like choosing the appropriate land for growing vegetation or for cultivation and seed sowing. It also discusses land types like Anūpa (marshy), Jangala(forest) and Sāmanya (plains) etc. Vṛkṣāyurveda discusses the types of trees that grow in specific land types, those that grow of seeds, stem or roots and methods of seed collection, seed culture, seed sowing, plant growth nourishing procedures, water sprinkling methods suited to different seasons, prevention of plant diseases and their treatment[8], precaution about infectious germs, treatment for fire burns, rehabilitation of plants. It also discusses spraying for water and air purification, techniques to increase the output of flowers and fruits and the construction of wells, bore wells, tanks and lakes for their water supply and so on. Bṛhatsamhitā and kuṭṭiṇīmata are said to narrate techniques for making trees grow very short or very tall.
Vṛkṣāyurveda interestingly mentions dohada rituals for trees. This beautiful custom is mentioned profusely in poetry. It is a special service with an aesthetic flavour offered with love to the trees. It is believed that like pregnant women, trees also expect certain extra attention and services in order to bear good fruits and flowers! Dohada is an interesting way of gratifying them! Trees are believed to respond to these and the human love and requests, just like fellow human beings do. There are different dohadas for different trees- The Aśoka tree desires a kick by a beautiful woman, tilaka desires her glances, kuravaka desires her embrace, bakula desires to spat upon with wine rinsed in her mouth, karavira desires to converse with her, sindhuvara desires the breath of her mouth, priyāla trees desire to hear her sing and Nameru loves to listen to her laughter. Interestingly all dohadas are conducted by women!
Some details of Vrkṣāyurveda are also scattered across Arthaśāstra, Visṇudharmottarapurāṇa, Abhlaṣitārthacintāmani, Upavanavinoda, śārngadharapaddhati, Bṛhatsamhita, etc. The person in-charge of this domain is expected to be “Kṛṣi-tantra-gulma-vrkṣāyurveda-tajna (Adept in agriculture, technology, buds & flowers and the science of environment) He must know when where and how to collect the seeds of food grains, flowers, fruits, branches, roots and cotton and the details of sowing and nourishing like water intake capacities of different plants, different crops, in different seasons and soil bases. (amount of water to crops of paddy, lentils, nuts, vegetables and others). Arthaśāstra directs that tax collected from farmers who have their crops far away from water sources must be lesser.
The descriptions of gardens, forests, hills, rivers, and flowers and fruits and their beauty and significance in poetic works is abundant. Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇam dedicates two whole chapters for the descriptions of winter and rainy seasons in the forests. Mahabharata’s śānti-parva has a detailed conversation on forest conservation. The numbers of trees and plants and climbers, shrubs and herbs mentioned in the epics and purāṇas and poetic literature is immense indeed. In Bhāsa’s Pratimānāṭaka, Sitā waters the trees of the āśrama every day, In Kālidāsa’s Kumārasambhava, Pārvatī waters the trees with great motherly affection, while in Abhijnāna-śākuntalam, śakuntalā although desirous decking up herself with flowers, hesitates to pluck the sprouts desiring not to hurt the plant! She even names her favourite creeper as ‘vanajyotsna’ (the moonlight of the jungle) When she leaves to her husband’s abode, the creepers shed leaves profusely as if they were shedding tears! Bāṇa’s Kādambarī has a detailed description of the gigantic śālmali tree with numerous creepers and climbers and various other trees. It is no exaggeration to say that there are no poets in the Indian ethos, who have not resorted to the description of trees, plants and their bounties in course of their descriptions.
Image credits: Sarvatobhadra Shrine @ Flickr
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