Vastu shastra (vāstu śāstra - literally “science of architecture”) are texts on the traditional Indian system of architecture

These texts describe principles of design, layout, measurements, ground preparation, space arrangement, and spatial geometry

The designs aim to integrate architecture with nature, the relative functions of various parts of the structure, and ancient beliefs utilising geometric patterns (yantra), symmetry, and directional alignments

Vastu Shastra are the textual part of Vastu Vidya - the broader knowledge about architecture and design theories from ancient India

Vastu Vidya is a collection of ideas and concepts, with or without the support of layout diagrams, that are not rigid

Rather, these ideas and concepts are models for the organisation of space and form within a building or collection of buildings, based on their functions in relation to each other, their usage and the overall fabric of the Vastu

Ancient Vastu Shastra principles include those for the design of Mandir (Hindu temples), and the principles for the design and layout of houses, towns, cities, gardens, roads, water works, shops and other public areas

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