Reviewing the value assessment of Vaastu Shastra in the Walled city of Jaipur

Abstract

This article examines the literature available on architecture and planning of Jaipur's walled city through the context of the Vaastu Shastra, 'an ancient Indian 'science' of town planning and architecture' intended to achieve a balance among functionality, bio-climatic design, socio-cultural and religious beliefs that have been continuously adapted and reinterpreted since it was originally written in Vedic period. The walled city of Jaipur strongly reflects this approach to the organisation of the built environment at all scales, giving the city a sense of timelessness that still endures.Vaastu Shastra and modern planning share similar approaches and concepts in the organisation and production of space, such as their emphasis on cardinal orientation, geomancy, topography, hydrology, etc. Both seek to achieve harmony between these spaces and the natural features and ecology within these spaces. However, in India today, Vaastu Shastra is widely regarded as "a pseudo-science", 1 as its concepts are based on a complex system of intuition, astrology, superstition and philosophy, which can only be partially explained by contemporary science. 2 Moreover, very less importance is given to Vaastu Shastra's methods in any literature on the built environments, even including writings about historic urban environments such as Jaipur. This relative absence raises an interesting question that forms the basis of this study: given the significance of the Vaastu Shastra to the development of In-1 Vastu Shastra refers to the study of architecture. However, according to many rationalists and scientists, the way it is practised today has nothing to do with science or logic; it is in reality, pseudoscience and superstition in the current context.2 According to Sachdev and Tillotson, these biases were misleading since a thorough reading of the Vaastu Shastra literature demonstrates that the architect is free to modify the proposals to new materials and designs of architecture, layout restrictions and even non-square spaces.