Source: TW
In old Indo-Aryan tradition, the rathakAra (the chariot-maker) held a special position in society. While he did not belong to the traditional high varNa-s, he was still eligible to set up ritual fires for certain practices.
He was also counted among the ratnin-s, who were functionaries of the royal entourage. He evidently embodied the key technical knowledge of the Indo-Aryan – the making of chariots.
pAncharAtrika role
It is notable that his technical role as an engineer continued into the second urbanization of India. This is illustrated by a reference to him as an acolyte of the pancharAtrika AchArya, with knowledge of architecture, in a pancharAtra vaiShNava temple manual:
vAstu-vidyAsu kR^itinA kriyAsu nipuNena cha |
rathakAreNa sahitaH kushalaH pancharAtra-vit ||ncharAtra [arrives].
Accompanied by the one adept in architecture and skilled in ritual action, together with the chariot-maker, the expert knower of pa
This suggests that the patently Indo-Aryan (i.e., with vaidika deity grids) vAstu tradition probably emerged among the rathakAra-s.
viShNu-saMhitA
Source: TW
The pA~ncharAtrika vaiShNava tradition of the viShNu saMhitA holds that the demon vAstupuruSha was generated by the ushanas kAvya, the bhArgava, from his sweat. This demon was then overcome by the gods, as in the other narratives.
In this, it generally cleaves close to the shaiva narrative of ChAgAsura. We discuss this in some detail here.
Keeping with this, even pa~ncharAtra texts mention that the vAstupuruSha ritual involved a non-vegetarian offering via a goat sacrifice at the site of the future temple.
This necessitated a purificatory rite for the Acharya. Thus, the vAstu rite, with its animal sacrifice, itself seems to have been primarily the domain of the rathakAra/shilpin.