VASTU SHASTRA AND DESIGN (I)

As mysterious and curious as it sounds, Vastu-Shastra is an often-heard name and extremelypopular concept among architects and interior designers, that is derived from ancient Indian texts on architecture and design.

These texts describe various postulates for designing houses, workspaces, direction of elements, spatial geometry, measurements and layouts. If Vastu-Shastra still doesn’t ring a bell, try to remember all the times when your mother warned you about not placing certain objects in particular directions to avoid the ‘evil eye’ or just ‘bad fortune’ in general. New home buyers usually refer to compasses to see where the face of an object should be directed towards – this is all to consider Vastu Shastra. Although it may not seem very evident from the outside, but within the construction and design business in India, Vastu-Shastra is a key subject matter.

Vastu Shastraliterally translates to ‘Science of Architecture’ but its scope expands beyondthat of just architecture. It is believed that houses and workspaces that are designed as per Vastu are in line with powers of the surrounding environment and attract cosmic energies. As superficial and unbelievable this may sound,Vastu-Shastra has worked for many people in the past and garnereda cult-like following for itself.

So, let us look at some beliefs of the Vastu-Shastra that might help you in redecorating your space!

A very large number of beliefs of Vastu-Shastra are based on location and the directional face of objects and furniture pieces. Consider the direction of the main entrance of your house – as per Vastu, the main door of a house should be facing towards North-East. The idea behind may seem logical too – the morning sunlight, radiating positive energy for the new day is an integral factor for your home and the main door of houses shouldbe facing North-East. Take another case of how beds should be placed – Vastu suggests that our heads should be facing towards the South and feet towards the North. Interestingly these findings are supported by Science too – some research studies have proved that aligning your body in a South-facing direction can help regulate blood pressure and improve sleep quality.

Each directionhas a meaning to itself in Vastu Shastrathat are:

Direction	Significance	Utililty
North	Wealth and Prosperity	Living room, Seating, Office and Entrance
North-East	Religion and Trinity	Puja room and Underground water-tank
East	Progress and Growth	Entrance, Guestroom and Bathroom
South-East	Energy, Vigour and Strength	Kitchen and Power-supply
South	Poor	Back-yard and Kitchen Garden
South-West	Purity and Cleanliness	Toilet and Washing-area
West	Water	Overhead-tank and Study room
North-West	Air	Bedroom

Vastu-Shastra tends to align the purpose servedby things around usas per the direction that substantiates its meaning. For instance, well-lit homes are considered a blessing to in Vastu-Shastra, so we do suggest you check out our range of lamp shades – we have a variety to fulfill your aesthetics and beliefs!

If you want to read more about the Vastu-Shastra, continue reading the second part of this topic where we dive deeper into its meaning and how you can benefit from the application of Vastu-Shastra.