The roots of the Vastu Shastras belong, as we know, to the Vedic period. As a science, it was probably refined over the period of some centuries by a process of trial and error. It became associated with fields such as astrology and the earth's magnetism, besides having its basic emphasis on climate related architecture and engineering. At its zenith, it was a comprehensive encyclopedia of building and town planning, and went into the most minute details possible. Besides being a source of knowledge though, it was also responsible for regulating standards in these fields. The best way to do this was, ofcourse, to make it a sacred subject.

As a result of this, gods were brought into the picture. They were considered as inhabiting the Vastu Purusha Mandala and then the whole subject matter was coated with a layer of astrology. With time, the reasoning behind the science was lost because nobody thought to question it and all that remained was a shell of superstition. The beauty of it though, is that even in its hollow form it served its purpose for many centuries. That is mainly because, until a couple of hundred years ago, people lived very much like their ancestors.

Some time after the middle ages, Vastu lost its appeal with the masses and was restricted to temple architecture. Of late, though, it has enjoyed a tremendous come - back because as a people we are frantically searching our past to try and find some meaning in our godless present.

It matters little that almost nobody who implements the rules of the Shastras, understands in any way the significance of what they do. It suffices to feel that having done so, they are somehow suddenly immune to all things bad.

While there is no doubt that the fundamentals of Vastu are still extremely relevant, they lose most of their meaning when implemented without reason. For example, Vastu advises people to sit facing the north or east. A sensible thing to do in any case, because the maximum glare during the day comes from the other two directions.

Unless there are adequate curtains or blinds, facing south or west, especially at work, can have quite a detrimental effect on people's eyesight and even their health. Modern Pandits will not tell you that. They will only mention their favourite mantra, "You will lose money". It works every time.

In this day and age, we have so many things that the ancients could never have dreamed of. Today we have running water; we have a sewerage system; we have fans and lights and even air-conditioners! We have a whole new range of building materials; we have a different set of requirements to match our modern lifestyles. But we still remain as superstitious as our ancestors were.

That, I am afraid, is the tragedy of all our ancient sciences. Instead of building on the foundations that our forefathers provided, we insist that the plinth is the completed house and because it is written in the sacred texts, so it is sacrosanct. As a result, we are going nowhere at full speed.

This treatise, though brief, is intended to make the reader think and, hopefully, go past the face value of the Vastu Shastras; onward to their ultimate aim - a safe and pleasant habitat for us all.