Text / Sourcestubschool: pan-indian· Svoboda — Vāstu

Vāstusūtra Upaniṣad

वास्तुसूत्रोपनिषद्Vāstusūtra-upaniṣad

also: Vastusutra Upanishad, VsU

txt-vastusutra-upanishad

Definition

An Upaniṣad of aphorisms (sūtras) that, per Svoboda, expounds 'Indian art and architecture's conceptual basis… most clearly, meticulously, and succinctly,' explaining how to use sacred geometry to infuse inner meaning into sacred art. Svoboda quotes-and-locates its p.8 for the Vedic-people's whole-with-the-cosmos awareness. The earliest/clearest conceptual root Svoboda names for the Vāstu Vidyā.
Classical

Prāṇa relevance

Names the cosmos-integrated awareness Svoboda makes the precondition for sensing 'the rightness and wrongness of spatial configurations' — the intuitive ground of the whole vidyā; sacred-geometry-infuses-meaning is the conceptual seed of the dwelling-as-meaningful-space thesis. Not a stated prāṇa physiology; the link is via the intuitive 'feel.' Not yet traced.

Connections (1)

derived-from · 1
  • ←Vāstu descends from Sthāpatya Veda, the upaveda of the Yajur VedaModern
    Svoboda names the Vāstusūtra Upaniṣad as the text in which 'Indian art and architecture's conceptual basis is expounded most clearly, meticulously, and succinctly… in [its] aphorisms,' explaining how to use sacred geometry to infuse inner meaning into sacred art. As the clearest conceptual root Svoboda cites for the Vāstu Vidyā, the Sthāpatya/Vāstu doctrine derives conceptually from it. Distinct from the Yajur-Veda parentage (C1): C1 is the sacrificial-Veda lineage, C2 is the conceptual/iconometric source.

Sources

  • txt-svoboda-vastuch. 2 'Vedas and Vidyās' (PDF p.046, quoting Vāstusūtra Upaniṣad p.8); 'Vāstu Texts' (PDF p.050)ClassicalunverifiedSvoboda quotes the Vāstusūtra Upaniṣad (p.8) on the Vedic peoples' cosmic wholeness, and names it the text expounding Indian art/architecture's conceptual basis most clearly via sacred geometry

Other attributes

Text Class
shruti
Approx Date
uncertain (an Upaniṣad of the Atharvavedic tradition on the iconometry of sacred images; date debated — tag MODERN/uncertain)
Attribution
Vedic/Upaniṣadic (tradition of sacred image-making, śilpa)
Key Chapters
["p.8 (Svoboda's quoted edition) — the Vedic peoples 'were whole and one with cosmic forces… felt themselves as integrated parts of the universe… drew all their inspiration and strength from the contemplation of the divine powers' (the quoted prose)","I:4 — 'Who has the knowledge of circle and line is a sthāpaka (master of Vāstu)' (quoted by Svoboda ch.5 'Line and Curve', PDF pp.107,142)","II:23 — 'Rūpa-saubhāgyād dhyāna-bhāvo jāyate' / 'By a harmonious form a meditative mood is induced' (quoted by Svoboda ch.11 'Deity Images', PDF p.292)"]
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