Theory

Vastu Shastra (the cosmic building grid)

The classical Indian science of architecture, organising buildings and cities through the Vastu Purusha Mandala — a square grid of deity-governed squares with a sacred Brahmasthan at the centre and a cosmic being oriented head-northeast, feet-southwest. It fuses creation myth, astronomy, solar orientation and building science into a single spatial template.

Dwelling Ritual Settlement Cosmos Type

Details

Introduced: —

Classifications

Holder: Communal intergenerational
Source of authority: Revelation cosmology
Subject: More than human
Cosmological orientation: Mandala
Degree of codification: Highly codified
Mode of transmission: Text drawing
Knowledge type: Relational embodied
Epistemic cluster: South asian

Referenced by

Mayamata: An Indian Treatise on Housing Architecture and Iconography articulates
Indian Architectural Theory: Contemporary Uses of Vastu Vidya articulates

Sources

Stella Kramrisch. The Hindu Temple. University of Calcutta, 1946.

Cite this entry

First published May 2026Last revised Jul 2026

CLAD. "Vastu Shastra (the cosmic building grid)." Atlas of Architectural Thought. CLAD, 2026. https://www.cl-ad.com.au/research/atlas/theory/vastu-shastra/. Accessed July 17, 2026.