The 9-Layer Classical Śāstra Stack
Nine classical sciences a place draws on, ordered from the ground up. Each layer rests on the ones beneath it: the site and its water, the sky that orients it, the geometry laid on it, the trees and animals around it, the routines lived in it, and the purpose it serves.
Cited for: The tests the text gives for judging a site before it is built on: the slope, the pit refilled with its own earth, water left standing in the pit, and the soil's colour, smell and grasses.
Architectural Deconstruction of the 9 Layers
Dharma & Śānti (Sacred Purpose & Regeneration)
The purpose the place is meant to serve: the community it is for, the care its keepers owe the land and one another, and how it is kept across generations.
Āyurveda & Svasthavṛtta (Daily and Seasonal Routine)
Daylight and ventilation for the rooms, lime and clay finishes chosen for the climate, herb gardens, and the daily and seasonal routines the Āyurvedic texts describe. A place is not a treatment.
Arthaśāstra (Industrial Flow & Lean Logistics)
Circulation paths, one-way movement of material so routes do not cross, perimeter buffers, and the placing of workshops, kilns and stores.
Nāṭyaśāstra (The Playhouse)
The proportions of the playhouse, its division into hall, stage and dressing rooms, and the sightlines from the seats. Whether a hall carries speech is confirmed by an acoustic model, not by proportion.
Paśu Śāstra (Housing and Care of Cattle)
Barn orientation and ventilation, a dry floor that falls to a channel, and manure returned to the land. The herd's veterinarian decides what the animals need.
Vṛkṣāyurveda (Arboriculture & Botanical Ecology)
Which trees stand on which side of a house, the clearance between a tree and a plinth, the Pañcavaṭī, and fermented manures such as kuṇapa jala.
Sthāpatya Veda (Mandala Grids & Āyādi Math)
Shoelace Nābhi centroids, the 81-pada and 64-pada grids, sixteen directional zones, thirty-two doorway padas, stacking across floors, and the Āyādi arithmetic.
Drik Gaṇita & Jyotiṣa (Celestial Mechanics)
True north found from the sun (the śaṅku gnomon), the sun's azimuths through the year, and the muhūrtas at which a work is begun.
Bhūmi & Jala (Geology, Hydrology & Soil)
The tests the texts give for a site: the pit refilled with its own earth, water left standing in it, the soil's colour, and plants read as signs of water underground (Dakārgala). Slope and drainage.