Disha: eight directions and their guardians
Vastu begins with direction: eight dikpalas guard eight directions, each with its graha; Brahma holds the centre.
- 6-minute lesson
- Basic course: Vastu Shishya
- Vastu Shastra
- What Vastu is
- Eight guardians
- Finding north
A first look at the lesson
Vastu Shastra is the traditional Indian science of building: how a site, a house and its rooms are placed in harmony with the directions and the elements. Its classical texts are the Mayamata, the Manasara and Brihat Samhita chapter 53.
Each direction has a dikpala (guardian) and a graha:
Words in this lesson
More lessons on this subject
- Tilted plotsFew plots face true north; a plot turned by a large angle is read by its corners, not its sides.
- Pancha Bhuta: the five elements in a plotEarth, water, fire, air and space each have a zone; the rooms that use them belong there.
- When elements clashWater in the fire zone or fire in the water zone is the classic clash; most can be eased without building.
- The Vastu Purusha MandalaEvery plot is a grid of padas over the Vastu Purusha, head in the north-east, with Brahma at the centre.
Your first lesson takes about five minutes
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