IIT Kharagpur believes that the ancient Indian architecture philosophy of Vastu Shastra must be taught to architecture students to make them more "well-rounded."
The TOI reported that the institute recently conducted a workshop on the subject and plans to include an introductory course for first and second year undergraduate students, and a more exhaustive course for post-graduate and research students.
IIT faculty members say that there is no reason why Indian architecture students shouldn't know ancient Indian architectural traditions, and believe that Vastu concepts aren't religious and are instead based on science. Vastu principles can be traced back to the Vedic period, say historians.
"Times are changing and across the globe there is a renewed interest in ancient Indian knowledge. So, it is natural that we will tweak our syllabus to include Vastu in architecture and infrastructure classes," Joy Sen, a faculty member of the architecture department, told TOI.