वास्तु मण्डन (मण्डन सूत्रधार - गृह, राजप्रासाद, दुर्ग एवं नगर-वास्तु सटीक)

INTRODUCTION xxiii constructed. For example: - Tṛṇa type of houses have thatched roof, vāji is made of stone, pāṇḍu is storied mansion and so on. Here the author gives another pragmatic suggestion for six types of chhandas starting with meru. These are meru, khaṇḍameru, sūci, patākā, uddiṣṭa and naṣṭa. Uddiṣṭa and naṣṭa are not independent chhandas. With the laghu and guru placement, a meru structure will look like a Meru mountain. The central part rising considerably above the ground will have side sloping step by step all around till it reaches the ground surface. It is mentioned that in meru, khaṇḍameru and sūci the construction will start with guru that means wall and at the end there will be laghu, i.e., alinda, and the lines will be drawn before hand. In meru and khaṇḍameru the section will increase downwards. In patākā or khaṇḍaprastāra, guru will follow laghu and at the end there will be one laghu. Here the multitude of laghu numerals has been shown in the different manner. Ground plan of a house is regarded as the quintessence of the structure. Vāstumaṇḍana states that the ground plan can start from one square and can go up to thousand squares. According to the shape of a land, ground plan may be of thirty-two types. The best and commonly known ground plans are with sixty-four square or eighty-one squares. These are known as chandita and paramaśāyika. There is a Vāstupuruṣa in every site and a chart is drawn accordingly which is known as 'Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala.' Here forty-five deities reside also on different parts of Vāstupuruṣa. Again we find positions of gods in sixty-four, eighty-one and hundred square plans. Marmavāstu is another type of ground plan, which according to the author should be kept in mind during any type of construction. Marma, the orthogonal is very important in site plan with 'Vāstupuruṣamaṇḍala.' Marma indicates the particular places, where there will be no structure. It not only states that a percentage of the plot should remain unused but also insinuates the location of the open places in the general plan. Moreover, Vāstumarma is co-extensive with the prāsāda and these marmas affect the position of pillars in a construction. [Ninety-third chapter of Agnipurāṇa describes twelve marmas in a Vāstu. This orientation of structure is the practical application of the general principle of Vāstupadavinyāsa]. With the given description in Vāstumaṇḍana one can easily draw a chart of Marmavāstu and can get a legible and perspicacious picture where construction should be done or not to be done. In the fourth chapter he gave general height of houses. It can be of three types. The half of the width is to be multiplied by four, three and two, and one will get the prescribed height of a house. Calculation can be started from the floor of