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Principles of Vaastu

What are the Principles / Basis of Vaastu Sastra

All the literature on Vaastu-sastra can be broadly classified in to two main categories
such as Silpa sastra (deva silpam) and Gruha Vaastu (manava silpam). Gruha
vaastu is more popular in the modern days because every body want to apply the
tenets of vaastu for their houses for the benefit of their family.

Swamy Ramanananda

Division of Site

Whether the selected site is for the residential building or a village/town, the site is
first divided into 9 squares on each side like this total 81 square are formed. 8
directions are identified (East, west, north, south, northeast, southeast, southwest,
northwest) the central 9 squares are called “Brahma-stana”.

Vaastu-purusha

The presiding deity of the site is called vaastu-purusha, who is described as hump-
backed and of crooked shape, is said to occupy the habitated area in such a manner
that his limbs cover the several squares or group of squares. He lies down with his
face turned downwards. His face to Northeast and both the feet in southwest corner
and right hand to southeast, left hand to north-west and finally the stomach area
covers the central part which is known as Brahma-stana. If the vaastu-purusha’s
limbs are missing /damaged in the building, the house owner will have some sort of in-
auspicious results. For ex. If right arm is missing, the owner will loose wealth and will
be miserable through women. It is also said that the vastu-purusha will move around
the site facing each direction in three months duration. Auspicious time for
construction activity is decided based on this movement.

Five elements

Directions
occupied by the
five elements are
as follows

(a) North east - Water
(b) Southeast -   Fire
(c) Southwest -   Earth
(d) Northwest   -   Air
(e) Brahmastana - Space

Directions, Lords and
their embodiment:

(a) North-east Isana -
Direction of beneficial
energies, knowledge,
spiritual growth, progeny

(b) East- Indra -
Direction of knowledge,
authority, fertility, wealth,
happiness

(c) South-east Agni -
Direction of sustenance,
potent internal energy,
health, women’s issues,

(d) South Yama -
Lord of death and dharma,
direction of birth and re-
birth.

(e) South-west Niruti -
Nocturnal deity, sleep,
demons, fame, income,
longevity.

(f) West Varuna -
God of water and rain, fate,
karma,

(g) North-west Vayu -
Lord of wind, intellectual
activities, Communication,
social life, business.

(h) North Kubera -
Lord of wealth, direction of
acquisition of wealth, career.

(i) Centre Brahma -
Energy centre, power,
balance, creativity.

(a)        Orientation of site/building to Cardinal directions – Any building residential or
public building must be aligned to cardinal directions such as east, west, north or
south. Facing other than these directions, deviation from this direction will cause in-
auspicious results to the inmates.

(b)        Shape of site/building – All the residential buildings and sites must in square
or rectangular shape. Cutting in the shape of building/site will give negative effects
to the residents based on the cutting in a corner.

(c)        Slope of site/building - The site selected for building shall slope from
southwest to northeast.

(d)         Level of site/building - Road level, site level and building flooring level shall
raise uniformly in the order.

(e)        Location of doors – A door is to be placed side to the centre line of the
building (Utcha stanas). More doors to east and north sides than south and west side
are considered good.

(f)        Location of various rooms – Master bed room to southwest, child bed to
northwest, hall in the centre, dinning in the west, kitchen in the south east, cash in
the north, living room in the north east, toilets in the south and western side etc. are
considered auspicious.

(g)        Open place around building – A house shall have open place around the
building. Open place in the east side must be more than the place in the west.
Similarly open place in the north side must be more than south side. Minimum 1/9 of
site to be left in south and west sides.

(h)        Road focus – Roads opposite to a building cause good and bad effects to
the residents based on the nature of focus. Road focus opposite to the building site
in the following location give effects as follows:-

(i)   NE to centre of site on east side                    -    Auspicious
(ii) SE to          - do -     on south side           -    Moderate
(iii) NW to         - do -      on west side             -    Moderate
(iv) NE to          - do-       on north side            -    Auspicious

Road focus on all other sides is inauspicious.

(i)        Underground water bodies – Under ground water storage items like sump, etc
shall be build on the north east side of the site.

(j)        Compound gates – It is auspicious to build the gates in the compound walls as
follows:-
(i)   NE to centre of site on east side
(ii) SE to          - do -     on south side
(iii) NW to         - do -      on west side
(iv) NE to          - do-       on north side

(k)        Small shed/rooms in the compound – Small room, car sheds etc. can be build
in compound with out touching compound wall and building. No shed/room is to be
built in the northeast sector of the building.

(l)        Overhead tanks - Over head water tanks shall be built on south and western
sides of the building.

(m)        Sleeping/sitting orientations - While sleeping one should keep his head
towards south or east. But never to North and West. While sitting and
reading/working one should face east or north.

(n)        Auspicious timings - Muhurtas are to be seen for commencement of house
building, Keeping main door and Entry into the new house.
All the above tenets of vaastu very well be applied in the modern house building in
the following areas:- Selection of site viz. location, testing of soil, shape, level, slope
and finding out cardinal points on the site, planning and designing of structure,
marking of site, selection of material for construction,astrological calculations for
auspicious muhurtas for gruharamba, dwara banda, gruha pravesha, location of
water bodies like well/ sump/Septic tanks, placement of doors/gates, space around
building, arrangement of rooms like bed, kitchen, pooja, study, hall etc., placement of
Upa-gruhas, steps, balconies, sit-outs, gardens, construction of compound walls etc.

Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Space these five basic elements are called pancha maha
bhutas. These five elements are said to occupy five directions in a site. Balance of
these five elements is very important for prosperous living in a house, residential
building, or a public building.

Tenets of vaastu-sastra:

AN OVERVIEW OF VAASTU SASTRA

Vaastu sastra is one among various sciences of ancient India. The literal meaning of Vaastu-sastra would be “science of
architecture”, but a complete vaastu sastra deals with more than what is generally understood by architecture. It dates
back to the vedic age. It deals with dwelling houses, temples, iconography, town and village planning etc. In fact vaastu
means a dwelling site.   The word vaastu is derived from the word “vasu” or the earth. The earth is the principle vaastu
and all the structures, buildings, situated on the earth are also vaastus and all the objects created from earth are
called vaastus. According to Amarakosha (an ancient sanskrit dictionary) vaastu means site suitable for dwelling.
Vaastusastra is also called with various names such as Silpasastra, Vaastuvidya, Vaastukala, etc. This sastra has been
one among the 64 classical arts of India. The topic of vaastu has been a part of vedic literature and some hyms of
atharvaveda speak on the subject.   It is a part of vedanga jyotisha. Principles of vaastu as enumerated in classical texts
are universally applicable irrespective of region, religion, caste and creed even in the modern times.

According to Indian tradition 18 sages have established and propagated the vaastu sastra in good olden days. The
names of those 18 sages as mentioned in the matsya purana are 1) Bhrgu 2) Atri 3) Vasista 4) Viswa karma 5) Maya 6)
Narada 7) Nagnagit 8) Visalaksha 9) Purandhara 10) Brahma 11) Kumara swamy 12) Nandesha 13) Sounaka 14)
Garga 15) Vasudeva 16) Aniruddha 17) Sukra 18) Brihaspati.

Vaastu has been covered in various classical texts. Such as puranas like Agni purana, Matsya purana, Vishnu
dharmottara purana, Skanda purana, Bhavishottara purana, Garuda purana, Narada purana, Vayu purana, Brahma
purana, Linga purana etc. Agamas like Vaikanasagama, Kamikagama, Suprabedhagama etc., Tantra like Haya Sisra
tantra, Kiranastantra, Rudra yamila, samhitas like Brihat samhita, Kasyapa samhita, Garga samhita, Narada samhita,
Vasista samhita etc and other clasics like Kautilyuni artha sastra, Sukra neeti. Guhya sutras, Ramayana, Maha bharata
etc. contain a lot of material on vaastu sastra. Various treatises on vaastu are Maya-matam, Manasara vaastusastra,
Viswakarma vaastu sastra, Stapatya-ved vaastu, Vaastu sutropanishat, Samarangana sutradhara, Mandana sutra
dhara, Rajasimha vaastu, Diparnava, Silparatna, Vaastu sastram, Silpa deepakam, Vaastu raja vallabham, Prasada
mandana, Vaastu mandana, Rupa mandana, Kodanda mandana, Manushyalaya vaastu, Manushyalaya chandrika. It is
also said that there are vaastu texts for Jainism and Buddhism such as Gautamiyam, Bauddhamatam and Caitya. A
treatise known as Chullavagga contains material on vaastu.

All the literature on Vaastusastra can be broadly classified in to two main categories such as Silpa sastra (deva silpam)
and Gruha Vaastu (manava silpam). Among all the classical works on vaastu, Maya-matam, viswakarma vaastusastra,
Manasara vaastusastra and samarangana sutradhara etc. are very popular.

Since Vaastusastra takes care of human relation with the nature (prakruti) apart from the building strength and
aesthetics, the tenets of vaastu are valid even today and can be very well applied in the modern architecture.

Tenets of Vaastu very well be applied in the modern house building in the following areas:- Selection of site viz.
location, testing of soil, shape, level, slope and finding out cardinal points on the site, planning and designing of
structure, marking of site, selection of material for construction, astrological calculations for auspicious muhurtas for
gruharamba, dwara banda, gruha pravesha, location of water bodies like well/ sump/borewell. Location of Septic tank,
placement of doors/gates, space around building, arrangement of rooms like bed, kitchen, pooja, study, hall etc.,
placement of Upa-gruhas, steps, balconies, sit-outs, gardens, construction of compound walls etc. sleeping and working
directions etc.

“MATSYA YANTRA” THE ANCIENT INDIAN MAGNETIC COMPASS

Magnet was first known to Greeks around 2000 years B.C. but it was not used as magnetic compass. Greeks called it
“Magnetis” or “magnetos” (meaning stone) and the French named it “Aimant” (meaning magnet and loving). The
magnetic needle was prevalent in China from very early times. But there is no knowledge of its usage in early Christian
Era. The Chinese call it “Chu Shi” (means loving stone). Magnetic compass was first used by western country navigators
during 11th century. Initially, they used Lodestone piece fitted on brass frame. Later on present day compass came into
existence by 15th Century.

Iron was used in India by about 500 B.C and had been known as early as 900 B.C. In Hindi it is called Chumbak (kissing
stone) and Maqnatees in Urdu & Persian. In ancient days, foreign traders and travelers visited Malabar Coast. The most
important of them were the Greeks, Romans, Chinese and Arabs. A large no. of coins of the first four centuries of A.D.
in the Trichur Museum indicates the trade that existed between the Romans and Malabar. Indian medicinal spice pepper
was one of the most important items of trade.

Vedic texts show that the ancient people of our land did undertake naval expeditions and travel to distant places through
sea routes well known to them. All evidences reveal that ships were sent to foreign countries for trade, and sea routes
were known even during the vedic days. Multi-oared boats were used in these expeditions. Sixteen types of winds,
helpful for sea navigation were known to ancient people. Since sailing was dependent on winds, they were carefully
observed and studied. The advancement of astronomical study also facilitated the activities across the seas. During
earlier periods, sailors made use of crows on board to find the direction in which land was situated.

Two Indian astronomers of great repute Aryabhatta and Varahamihira, having accurately mapped the positions of
celestial bodies, developed a method of computing a ship’s position from stars. Remarkable progress in astronomy was
achieved during this period. Art of oceanic navigation by rough and ready computation of position of ship from known
stars was introduced by the then great astronomers Aryabhatta and Varahamihira. It is of immense interest to note that
plotting of starry sky had been accomplished even before the discovery of the magnetic compass.

“A crude forerunner of modern magnetic compass was being used around fourth or fifth century A.D. called “Matsya
Yantra”. It comprised an iron fish that floated in a vessel of oil, pointing north. According to Bombay Gazetteer: The
Hindu Compass was an iron fish that floated in a vessel of oil and pointed to the north. Even in the modern days, we
have liquid filled compasses.

Jacques de Vitry in his “History of the Kingdom of Jerusalem “ (1218 A.D.) referred to the use of the compass in India.
An Arabic manual of mineralogy (1252 A.D.) said that Indian seamen steered by an iron fish floating in a bowl of oil.

In the temples of “Tadiparti” Ananatpur district, A..P., fish symbols are depicted to indicate falling of water while Brahma
is cleaning one leg of Lord Vishnu (while the other leg being cleaned by Bali chakravarthi) – this implies that fish is
shown to indicate something related to water or to show water itself on the stone architecture. Therefore, we can say
that the “Matsya-Yantra” was first used in Sea navigation. Later on, it was introduced to the other fields.

Whether it is a dwelling house or temple, as per vaastu-sastra, the Indian science of architecture, ‘building the structure
to cardinal points’ is very important, this is called “Dik-sadhana”. A wooden gnomon known as “sanku” is used for
finding cardinal directions in the traditional method. All the classical texts of Vastu-Sastra give detailed procedure for Dik-
sadhana. However, nowadays, we all use modern day “magnetic compass” to find cardinal directions as well as
corners, which is very easy to use. Presently, everybody prefers to use modern day compass even for vastu purposes.
In fact, the exact period when it was introduced in the field of Vastu-Sastra is not correctly known.