Shastra Movie
Ashlie Mealey
Shastra (Sanskrit: शस्त्र, romanized: Śāstra .mw-parser-output .IPA-label-smallfont-size:85%.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-smallfont-size:100%pronounced [ɕaːstrɐ]) is a Sanskrit word that means "precept, rules, manual, compendium, book or treatise" in a general sense.[1] The word is generally used as a suffix in the Indian literature context, for technical or specialized knowledge in a defined area of practice.[2]
"Shastra" commonly refers to a treatise or text on a specific field of knowledge. In early Vedic literature, the word referred to any precept, rule, teaching, ritual instruction or direction.[1] In late and post Vedic literature of Hinduism, Shastra referred to any treatise, book or instrument of teaching, any manual or compendium on any subject in any field of knowledge, including religious.[1] It is often a suffix, added to the subject of the treatise, such as
In Buddhism, a "shastra" is often a commentary written at a later date to explain an earlier scripture or sutra. For example, Yutang Lin says that a text written by him and not given by Buddha, cannot be called a "Sutra"; it is called a "Sastra". In Buddhism, Buddhists are allowed to offer their theses as long as they are consistent with the Sutras, and those are called "Sastras."[8]
The Maitri Upanishad (mid to late 1st millennium BCE), similarly, mentions the materialist Charvakas and Brihaspati who disagreed that the Vedas are a treatise of knowledge, proposing relativism instead, in the following passage:[12]
Shastras are predominantly post-Vedic literature, that is after about 500 BCE. However, it is unclear when various Shastras were composed and completed. The authenticity of the manuscripts is also unclear, as many versions of the same text exist, some with major differences. Patrick Olivelle, credited with a 2005 translation of Manu Dharma-sastra, published by the Oxford University Press, states the concerns in postmodern scholarship about the presumed authenticity and reliability of manuscripts as follows (abridged):[16]
The MDh (Manusmriti) was the first Indian legal text introduced to the western world through the translation of Sir William Jones in 1794. (...) All the editions of the MDh, except for Jolly's, reproduce the text as found in the [Calcutta] manuscript containing the commentary of Kulluka. I have called this as the "vulgate version". It was Kulluka's version that has been translated repeatedly: Jones (1794), Burnell (1884), Buhler (1886) and Doniger (1991). (...) The belief in the authenticity of Kulluka's text was openly articulated by Burnell (1884, xxix): "There is then no doubt that the textus receptus, viz., that of Kulluka Bhatta, as adopted in India and by European scholars, is very near on the whole to the original text."
This is far from the truth. Indeed, one of the great surprises of my editorial work has been to discover how few of the over fifty manuscripts that I collated actually follow the vulgate in key readings.
The literature of late 1st millennium BCE such as Arthashastra,[17] and Shastras of various fields of knowledge from the early 1st millennium period is of great interest as it helped the emergence of diverse schools and the spread of Indian religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism in and outside South Asia.[3][18][19]
The shastras are both descriptive and prescriptive. Among the various Shastras, Manu's code of law has been among the most studied as the colonial British government attempted to establish different laws in British India based on Sharia for Muslims and Manu's code of law.[20][21][22]
The shastras are not consistent or single-consensus documents. Dharma-sastras, for example, contain opposing views and contradictory theories. This is in part because they represent an ideal of human behaviour, while at the same time recognising the need to account for likely failings. The shastras do not present life as it was lived. Rather they reveal an idea of what life should be. The shastra texts constitute one of the great bodies of literature of the ancient world.[23]
Sutras are another genre of Indian texts that emerged in the 1st millennium BCE, particularly after the 600 BCE.[24] Sutra (literally "binding thread") denotes a type of literary composition distinct from Shastra. In Sanskrit, "sutra" typically referred to one or more aphorisms; hence sutras use short, aphoristic, evocative statements. In contrast, a Shastra is typically longer, with more detail and explanations. An example of a Sutra is Patanjali's Yogasutras (considered a classic Hindu treatise), while an example of Shastra is Hemachandra's Yogasastra (considered a classic Svetambara Jain treatise), both on yoga.[25]
Shastras and Sutras are among the numerous other genres of literature that have survived from ancient and medieval India. Other genres include Vedas, Upanishads, Vedangas, Itihasa, Puranas, Bhasyas, and Subhashitas.[26]
In contemporary India, states Chakrabarti, consultants that include "quacks, priests and astrologers" fueled by greed are marketing pseudoscience and superstition in the name of Vastu-sastras. They have little knowledge of what the historic Vastu-sastra texts actually teach, and they frame it in terms of a "religious tradition", rather than ground it in any "architectural theory" therein.[13]
The Sanskrit word vāstu means a dwelling or house with a corresponding plot of land.[14] The vrddhi, vāstu, takes the meaning of "the site or foundation of a house, site, ground, building or dwelling-place, habitation, homestead, house". The underlying root is vas "to dwell, live, stay, reside".[15] The term shastra may loosely be translated as "doctrine, teaching".
Vastu, crafts and architecture are traditionally attributed to the divine Vishwakarma in the Hindu pantheon.[20] Theories tracing links of the principles of composition in Vastu Shastra and the Indus Valley civilization have been made, but scholar Kapila Vatsyayan considers this speculation since the Indus Valley script remains undeciphered.[21] According to Chakrabarti, Vastu Vidya is as old as the Vedic period and linked to the ritual architecture.[22] According to Michael W. Meister, the Atharvaveda contains verses with mystic cosmogony which provide a paradigm for cosmic planning, but they did not represent architecture nor a developed practice.[23] The Arthashastra dated to 2nd century BCE and 3rd century CE, dedicates chapters to domestic architecture, forts and town planning.[24][25]
Vastu sastras are stated by some to have roots in pre-1st-century CE literature, but these views suffer from being a matter of interpretation.[22][23] For example, the mathematical rules and steps for constructing Vedic yajna square for the sacrificial fire are in the Sulba-sutras dated to 4th-century BCE. However, these are ritual artifacts and they are not buildings or temples or broader objects of a lasting architecture. Varahamihira's Brihat Samhita dated to about the sixth century CE is among the earliest known Indian texts with dedicated chapters with principles of architecture. For example, Chapter 53 of the Brihat Samhita is titled "On architecture", and there and elsewhere it discusses elements of vastu sastra such as "planning cities and buildings" and "house structures, orientation, storeys, building balconies" along with other topics.[23] According to Michael Meister, a scholar of Indian architecture, we must acknowledge that Varahamihira does mention his own sources on vastu as older texts and sages. However, these may be mythology and reflect the Indian tradition to credit mythical sages and deities.[23]
There exist many Vāstu-Śastras on the art of building houses, temples, towns and cities.[6][27] Among early known example is the Arthashastra dated to 2nd century BCE and 3rd century CE, with chapters dedicated to domestic architecture, forts and town planning.[28][25] By 6th century AD, Sanskrit texts for constructing palatial temples were in circulation in India.[29] Vāstu-Śastras include chapters on home construction, town planning,[16] and how efficient villages, towns and kingdoms integrated temples, water bodies and gardens within them to achieve harmony with nature.[30][11] While it is unclear, states Barnett,[31] as to whether these temple and town planning texts were theoretical studies and if or when they were properly implemented in practice, these texts suggest that town planning and Hindu temples were conceived as ideals of art and integral part of Hindu social and spiritual life.[16]
The Silpa Prakasa of Odisha, authored by Ramachandra Bhattaraka Kaulachara sometime in ninth or tenth century CE, is another Vāstu Śastra.[34] Silpa Prakasa describes the geometric principles in every aspect of the temple and symbolism such as 16 emotions of human beings carved as 16 types of female figures. These styles were perfected in Hindu temples prevalent in the eastern states of India. Other ancient texts found expand these architectural principles, suggesting that different parts of India developed, invented and added their own interpretations. For example, in Saurastra tradition of temple building found in western states of India, the feminine form, expressions and emotions are depicted in 32 types of Nataka-stri compared to 16 types described in Silpa Prakasa.[34] Silpa Prakasa provides brief introduction to 12 types of Hindu temples. Other texts, such as Pancaratra Prasada Prasadhana compiled by Daniel Smith[35] and Silpa Ratnakara compiled by Narmada Sankara[36] provide a more extensive list of Hindu temple types.
Sanskrit texts for temple construction discovered in Rajasthan, in northwestern region of India, include Sutradhara Mandana's Prasadamandana (literally, planning and building a temple) with chapters on town building.[37] Manasara shilpa and Mayamata, texts of South Indian origin, estimated to be in circulation by 5th to 7th century AD, is a guidebook on South Indian Vastu design and construction.[6][38] Isanasivagurudeva paddhati is another Sanskrit text from the 9th century describing the art of building in India in south and central India.[6][39] In north India, Brihat-samhita by Varāhamihira is the widely cited ancient Sanskrit text from 6th century describing the design and construction of Nagara style of Hindu temples.[26][40][41]
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