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Vastu is mentioned within Vedic texts, but its actual evolution is as difficult to trace as the origins of the Vedas. Looking at mythology, one story about vastu insists that, along with the Vedas, vastu existed before Lord Brahma created the universe. Lord Brahma needed the finest architect to design a perfect master plan. Nothing could ever rival the creation of the universe, although all subsequent architecture should attempt to match the beauty, utility, and durability of this divine creation. |
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A popular legend claims that Lord Brahma gave the knowledge of vastu to the Hindu god Shiva, who then passed it on to Vishwakarma, who was known as the celestial architect. The mention of Vishwakarma begins to overlap with history. Some authors of sixth-century AD vastu sastras, or treatises, claim that their texts are based on the laws devised by an ancient sage named Vishwakarma. Vishwakarma is also mentioned in many of the Hindu collections of mythology, called Puranas, and his name and the names of his creations appear in the great Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. |
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Possibly the first written discussion of vastu appears in the Stapatya Veda, a part of the Atharva Veda, which was the fourth and final Veda to be codified. Actual vastu sastras, which were compiled as early as the sixth century AD, and provide guidelines for the design and construction of towns, palaces, forts, simple dwellings, temples, furniture, and icons, have been discovered in various regions of present-day India. The two most important compilations found to date were written in the tenth century AD, the Manasara Series, which was written by Rishi Manasara, and the eleventh century Mayamata, which was written by the brilliant acharya (highly respected teacher) and architect Maya. This period also overlaps with the golden age of temple and palace construction in India, and many of these extraordinary buildings were clearly designed as per vastu. |
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The Manasara Series and the Mayamata provide us with a detailed account of the guidelines that govern the proper selection of a site on which to create a |
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