Talk:Śilpaśāstra
By Swami Harshananda
Śilpaśāstra literally means ‘science of dexterous crafts and industries’.
Introduction[edit]
Vedic sacrificial religion clearly demonstrates how advanced the ancient people were in pure sciences like mathematics and applied sciences like the building of yāgaśālās[1] and rathas.[2] Apart from the Vedas, the basic scriptures of the religion, it is interesting to note that any organised body of knowledge is also called a Veda since Veda in general means knowledge. One such Veda, considered rather as an Upaveda or subsidiary Veda, is the Sthāpatyaveda. It is the Veda concerned with the sthapati[3] Its other more commonly used names are:
- Śilpaśāstra
- Śilpavidyā
- Vāstu-śilpa
- Vāstuvidyā
References[edit]
- The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore