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Title:Silpa Sastra
Price:GBP£8.00 (about USD$10.00)
Category:Architecture
Item ID:B009-4306
Quantity:1
Publisher:Institute of Experimental Geomancy, Cambridge, 2001
Edition:Republished
Binding:Softcover
Condition:As New
Institute of Experimental Geomancy, 2001, Softcover, Book Condition: As New, Republished

hand-sewn yellow card covers; printed in red & black & illustrated by charts; introduction by Patrick McFadzean; This essay by the Rev. J. F. Kearns is an early account of the Indian art of Geomancy called Silpa Sastra which is also known as Vastu Sastra and Vastu Vidya. It first appeared in the Indian Antiquary in August and October 1876, and is therefore contemporary with the first published accounts of the very similar practices of Feng Shui in China from the Rev. M. T. Yates in 1868, Rev. J. Edkins in 1872, and the Rev. E. J. Eitel in 1873. The contents of this work cover correct choice of site and orientation, harmonious proportion, the Vastu Purusha Mandala, electional astrology, omens, propitiation of spirits and Deities. carpentry, lots of information on trees, details about the construction of implements; the right wood for the measuring rod and the correct fibre for the measuring cord, and other matters. The text is similar to other works from all over India such as the Silpa Pothi. The Rev. Kearns has provided us with a view of Indian Geomancy which assumes the reality of the supernatural and astrology and which in 1876 is still unaffected by attempts to harmonise it 'with Western physics or Theosophy. Unlike the work of the Rev. Eitel on feng shui the Rev. Kearns work does not seem to have been very noticed. Patrick McFadzean came across a reference to it in a 1927 work, Dictionary of Hindu Architecture by P. K. Acharya, and traced a copy of the 1876 volume in the basement of the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Cambridge University from where it was rescued. First Thus. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. 40 pages. Binding is tight, covers and spine fully intact. no Dust Jacket as published.. includes appendix of the Indian Months printed inside rear cover. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 250 grams. Category: Architecture; Geomancy; Esoteric; Astrology; India; 19th century; Indigenous Cultures. Inventory No: 4306.
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