Origin & Texts on Vaastu?

In ancient days, Lord Shankara had fought a war against devil, Andhakasura and had killed him. During this war the BHOOTA created out of the sweat of Lord Shankara, drunk and ate the flesh and blood of Andhakasura.

The BHOOTA was not able to tolerate his hunger and so he started eating the plants and animals on the earth. Then he targeted towards God. All God's were frightened and worshiped Lord Bhrama.

Lord Bhrama told them to turn the Bhoota upside and sit on him at different. Thus, 81 God's sat on their places and due to this Bhoota could not move and struggled due to hunger. Then BHOOTA prayed to Lord Bhrama about his hunger. Then Lord Bhrama gave him a boon and told him that from that day onwards, all mankind will worship you as a God of Vastu and the people will donate you some food.

In such Vastu, you will be responsible for the well being, happiness and prosperity of your worshipers. And in the Vastu where you will not be worshiped , you shall take away all the wealth, health and happiness from it.

Vastu Shastra is a Vedanga, a branch of Sthapatya Veda, which in turn is a part of Yajur Veda. The body of Vastu knowledge is monumental with lakhs of shlokas, which were handed down to succeeding generations by word of mouth and through hand written monographs such as:

• Manasara Silpa Shastra (by Manasara),
• Mayamatam (by the Mayasuras),
• iswakarma Vaastushastra (by Viswakarma),
• Samarangana Sutradara (by Raja Bhoja),
• Aparajita Priccha (a dialogue between Viswakarma and his son Aparajita, written by Bhuvanadevacharya) Silparatna.
• Other treatises such as Agni Purana and works by Kautilya and Sukracharya are not popular even though they preceded the above mentioned documents.

There is a distinction of style based on the place of origin of the Text. Mayamatam and Mansara Silpa Shastra are considered Dravidian Viswaskarama Vaastu Shastra is considered Aryan due to its North Indian origin. because they are from South India whereas

‘Mayamatam’ or ‘The Opinion of the Mayasuras’. This very valuable book took birth after the efforts and experiments of generations of good Architects and is considered the best reference book on Vastu Shastra today.

Mayamatam is not just a theoretical thesis on Architecture, but a definitive and coherent text on practical aspects of construction. It comprises 36 chapters and handles subjects like Village planning, Town Planning, Temple Complex Designing, Designing of houses for various categories, and subjects like Orientation, inspection of site, selection of materials, style of construction, ventilation, carpentry joinery, furniture, every aspect that an Architect must consider while designing any structure, qualities an Architect must possess, rituals to be performed, house warming ceremony, etc are discussed elaborately chapter wise.