Vaastu sastra is one among various sciences of ancient India. The literal meaning of Vaastu-sastra would be “science of architecture”, but a complete vaastu sastra deals with more than what is generally understood by architecture. It dates back to the vedic age. It deals with dwelling houses, temples, iconography, town and village planning etc. In fact vaastu means a dwelling site. The word vaastu is derived from the word “vasu” or the earth. The earth is the principle vaastu and all the structures, buildings, situated on the earth are also vaastus and all the objects created from earth are called vaastus. According to Amarakosha (an ancient sanskrit dictionary) vaastu means site suitable for dwelling.

Vaastusastra is also called with various names such as Silpasastra, Vaastuvidya, Vaastukala, etc. This sastra has been one among the 64 classical arts of India. The topic of vaastu has been a part of vedic literature and some hyms of atharvaveda speak on the subject. It is a part of vedanga jyotisha. Principles of vaastu as enumerated in classical texts are universally applicable irrespective of region, religion, caste and creed even in the modern times.

According to Indian tradition 18 sages have established and propagated the vaastu sastra in good olden days. The names of those 18 sages as mentioned in the matsya purana are

1. Bhrgu
2. Atri
3. Vasista
4. Viswa karma
5. Maya
6. Narada
7. Nagnagit
8. Visalaksha
9. Purandhara
10. Brahma
11. Kumara swamy
12. Nandesha
13. Sounaka
14. Garga
15. Vasudeva
16. Aniruddha
17. Sukra
18. Brihaspati

Vaastu has been covered in various classical texts. Such as puranas like Agni purana, Matsya purana, Vishnu dharmottara purana, Skanda purana, Bhavishottara purana, Garuda purana, Narada purana, Vayu purana, Brahma purana, Linga purana etc. Agamas like Vaikanasagama, Kamikagama, Suprabedhagama etc., Tantra like Haya Sisra tantra, Kiranastantra, Rudra yamila, samhitas like Brihat samhita, Kasyapa samhita, Garga samhita, Narada samhita, Vasista samhita etc and other clasics like Kautilyuni artha sastra, Sukra neeti. Guhya sutras, Ramayana, Maha bharata etc. contain a lot of material on vaastu sastra. Various treatises on vaastu are Maya-matam, Manasara vaastusastra, Viswakarma vaastu sastra, Stapatya-ved vaastu, Vaastu sutropanishat, Samarangana sutradhara, Mandana sutra dhara, Rajasimha vaastu, Diparnava, Silparatna, Vaastu sastram, Silpa deepakam, Vaastu raja vallabham, Prasada mandana, Vaastu mandana, Rupa mandana, Kodanda mandana, Manushyalaya vaastu, Manushyalaya chandrika. It is also said that there are vaastu texts for Jainism and Buddhism such as Gautamiyam, Bauddhamatam and Caitya. A treatise known as Chullavagga contains material on vaastu.

All the literature on Vaastusastra can be broadly classified in to two main categories such as Silpa sastra (deva silpam) and Gruha Vaastu (manava silpam). Among all the classical works on vaastu, Maya-matam, viswakarma vaastusastra, Manasara vaastusastra and samarangana sutradhara etc. are very popular.

Since Vaastusastra takes care of human relation with the nature (prakruti) apart from the building strength and aesthetics, the tenets of vaastu are valid even today and can be very well applied in the modern architecture.

Tenets of Vaastu very well be applied in the modern house building in the following areas:- Selection of site viz. location, testing of soil, shape, level, slope and finding out cardinal points on the site, planning and designing of structure, marking of site, selection of material for construction, astrological calculations for auspicious muhurtas for gruharamba, dwara banda, gruha pravesha, location of water bodies like well/ sump/borewell. Location of Septic tank, placement of doors/gates, space around building, arrangement of rooms like bed, kitchen, pooja, study, hall etc., placement of Upa-gruhas, steps, balconies, sit-outs, gardens, construction of compound walls etc. sleeping and working directions etc.