Did you know that in the Mahabharat, Indraprastha had most houses constructed using vastu principles or that in Ramayan the city of Ayodhya used this ancient science?
Vastu Shastra is a science of architecture and directions that helps create a harmonious flow of space. The earliest vastu guidelines were born from observation of the sun. Modern historians date vastu as far back as 6000 BC where the gyan was passed down through shrutis or oral traditions.
As years progressed there slowly emerged many treatises on vastu that enunciated details on building homes, palaces, temples, and cities. Of these six of the most popular are the Mayamata, the Manasara, the Samarangana Sutradhara, the Rajavallabha, the Vishvakarmaprakasha and the Aparajitaprccha. In the Matsya Puran 18 scholars of Vastu Shastras have been mentioned— Brahma, Bhrugu, Vasistar, Atri, Viswakarma, Mayan, Nagnajit, Naradar, Visalakshan, Purandaran, Kumaraswamy, Anirudhar, Sounakar, Nandikesawaran, Vasudevar, Bhargavar, Sukran and Brihaspati.
It is important however to note here that Vishwakarma is a craftsman deity and the divine architect of the gods and one of the foremost followers of vastu principles.
Do not confuse this science as merely limited to directions or building construction, it also has the power to balance the five elements and bring in positive energy. In fact, Vastu Shastra considers a house to be a living soul and aims at balancing earth, fire, water, space, and air to reach the maximum level of positive energy.
As per vastu there lies a co-relation between the rotational nature of planets and the house design. There are a total of eight directions north, south, east, west, northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest. Different directions belong to different Gods that supervise respective sectors of the house. For instance, agni (fire) supervises southeast direction and hence is best suitable for a kitchen.