The 45 Devatas of the Vastu Purusha Mandala: Names and Zones

The 81 square Vastu Purusha Mandala has 45 devatas: 32 on the outer ring of squares and 13 in the inner part, with Brahma at the centre. The full list is in the table below, with the zone each one holds. Sources agree on the structure and on most names. They disagree on a few names at the corners, and this page marks those places.

The mandala itself is described in the Vastu Purusha Mandala guide. This page is the reference table that guide points to.

How to read the table

Imagine the plot seen from above with north at the top. The outer ring is the border of 32 squares, and the inner part is what is left inside. For the outer ring, the order follows the Brihat Samhita (53.43 to 53.45): the east wall from the north-east corner southwards, then the south wall from the south-east corner westwards, then the west wall from the south-west corner northwards, then the north wall from the north-west corner eastwards. Each wall has eight padas, and the corner square is counted as the first of the wall that begins there.

The zone column says where on the plot the deity stands. “East, 3rd” means the third square of the east wall, counting from the north-east corner.

The 32 on the outer ring

The 13 inside

Eight of the inner deities come in pairs, one pair for each diagonal quarter, which is why those quarters read as double entries. The other four stand on the sides of Brahma, and Brahma holds the middle.

Where the lists differ

Do not treat any single table as the only version. The differences are small but real.

• The corner squares. Our corner names follow the Brihat Samhita’s list as the entrance article reads it: Shikhi, Anila, Pitri and Roga. Many popular tables put the four guardians Ishana, Agni, Nirriti and Vayu at the corners, and some give Agni as the first name in the north-east. The entrance article notes that Iyer and Sastri differ on the first pada.
• Spellings. Grihakshata for Brihatkshata, Kusumadanta for Pushpadanta, Naga for Ahi, Mahendra for the east wall’s Indra. These are variants of a name, not different gods.
• Indra twice. Indra stands on the east wall and again in the inner ring in the lists we show. Some lists distinguish the two by name, and some count differently. We give the common form.
• How much ground each holds. The squares each deity covers depend on the translator and the way of counting, so no figure is given here for any deity.

What the names suggest

Some names belong to the Vedic gods: Indra, Varuna, Yama, Soma, Surya, Aditi, Mitra, Aryaman, Pusha and Parjanya, the god of rain. Aditi and Diti are the mothers of two families of beings, the gods and their rivals. Several others are personified forces that we would call conditions or dangers, among them Roga (disease), Shosha (drying or wasting), Papayakshma and Rajayakshma (names of a wasting illness) and Asura.

That mix is worth noticing. The ring is a ritual map of forces that a site holds, some kind and some not. In the texts, the answer to a force of that kind is an offering, not a rule about where a bed may stand. This is our reading of why the names look as they do, given as a reading.

What the 45 are used for

• Offerings. The Manasara, in Acharya’s summary, devotes a chapter to offerings made to each deity of the ground (chapter 8). The Brihat Samhita describes the worship of the site’s deities with cakes, curd and other offerings (53.99).
• The entrance. The deities of the outer ring are the entrance padas. Each wall’s door is judged by the deity at its square.
• The centre. Brahma’s squares are the reason the centre is set apart.
• Planning a compound. Large sites were laid out by allotting buildings to groups of squares.

What the list is not used for, in the texts we read, is assigning one of 45 qualities to the rooms of a flat.

If someone applies the 45 to your plan

Modern consultants often lay the grid, or a set of 16 or 32 compass zones, over a floor plan. That is a modern practice. If it happens to you, a short list of questions is enough.

• Which grid is it, 64 or 81, and was it fitted to the real shape of my plot?
• Where was north taken from, and how was the centre found?
• Which text gives this deity this meaning for a bedroom or a kitchen?
• Is it a classical result or a convention, and can you say which?

A sincere adviser will answer. The table above is also a check: if the claimed deity is not at that zone, the claim is not following the classical mandala.

What cannot be changed, and what helps

You cannot move the zones of a flat or a fixed plot. You also have no need to. The usable parts are simple: know which pada your door stands in with the entrance checker, keep the middle of the home cared for, and, if you like ritual, do a simple worship at the start of a build or on entering a house. A short prayer or a shared meal at a house-warming is closest to the old practice.

Frequently asked questions