Article by Shtivastava Brijendra Sharan

1.In Vaastu of todays. south facing main gate or even any other facility in south direction of a house is increasingly being blamed for every problem of life of the house holder. This is mainly due to ignorance or incorrect interpretation of classical texts of vaastu and partly may be for ‘bhay dohan’ or extracting money out of fear. Ironically south facing plots have got a very high negative market value as south plots indirectly increase rates of plots of other directions.

Should Nature become three directional can we over-rule nature’s diversity rule and declare south invalid for all purposes? Some Vaastuvids give ‘fatwa’ even against geography of country, they say elevated North and depressed South India is vaastuwpse bad and is root of all national problems, un thinking this morbid way they, thus,degrade motherland Bharata which has been praised in Dharma Shastras and Puranas as ‘dhanyaste Bharat bhoomi bhaage ’ and where even gods aspire to take birth.Such Vaastuvids are commiting pragyaa –aparaadh .or intellectual sin

2. In classical Vaastu, options to select from all eight dwaar dishaas are open. Decision to construct main door is individualized according to his status in family or society , caste, types of soil and rashi of town varna of plot etc and any direction including south may become suitable for him. Some examples from classical Vaastu texts which specifically provide all 8 directions including south for making main door are summarised here:

3. Aay –Grah Pinda method: land is measured with the length of hand of owner or wife or son or head architect . For dhwaj (aay digit 1) east is good but south is excellent;for gaj aay (digit 7) north is good but south and east are excellent. (Vaastu Raj Vallabh 3-60).This method seems best as it correlates pinda with brahmanda- the microscopic wth the macroscopic universe which is the main intention of Vaastu, but not in much use.

4. Disha Dwaar Paal method: adding swar-ank of dishaa, town and swami to get disha, it does not praise or condemn any disha. (Vastu Ratnakar 8/31-32).

5.Grah Swami’s Rashi Method : (a) for 3-6-10 rashi –south is valid (Jyotir-Nibandh) (b) for 4-6-10 rashi select south (Vastu Raj Vallabh1/12) (c) match varna of swami and varna of rashi sign , 2-6-10 prathvi tatwa and south direction rashis are vaish and valid for businessman (Brahat Daivagya Ranjan 86/354) .

6.South dwaar and selection of sun sign for muhurta of construction : for south and north direction main gate house, start when sun is in mesha vrasa tula or vrischik.( Ratna Maala17/14-15).

7.(a) door direction based on position of Rahu head in muhurta method : Rahu head moves in 4 directions of east south west north in every 3 months starting bhadrapada. Main door to be constructed in rahu-head direction; accordingly for south main gate house, foundation should be done in margshirsha, pausa maagh months when Rahu head is in south. (Jyotirnibandh).

(b) In Muhurta Chintamani ( 12/19) laying of foundation of house in south-west direction ( in opposite to Rahu head direction ) is auspicious when Rahu head is in 2-3-4 rashis.

8.South door in 81 and 64 pada Mandal Method: in 81 padas , total 45 khand or portions are made consisting of 13 inner areas formed with unequal number of padas and 32 outer areas covering equal number of 32 padas. These outer area 32 padas spread each 8 in all 4 dishas are considered for construction of mail gate direction. In this system , out of 8 pada allocated to a disha, only a certain pada of every disha is auspicious and not all padas of the entire disha. Main door in south direction can be made on southern 4th th pada of length counting from left to right of southern part, it will give abundance of food drinks and sons; if counted from general disha kram of east . this pada will be 12th.( Varahi Sanhita (50/42) and Varahmihira’s Brahatsanhita chpr. vaastu vidya 72/75).

In 64 pada mandal, 4 corner padas are bi-sected to maketotal outer padas 32 in number. In Jyotirnibandha an easy method for making main door in any four directions says that make 9 parts of desired direction, leave 3 parts from left, leave 5 parts from right and construct on 4th part from left, some variation is also there. Brahad vaastu maalaayam also in its dwar vichar (164) endorses such 4th portion on south as giver of putra vraddhi, It also suggests exploring main door with ‘dwar chakra of sun based nakshatra’

9. Main door direction in Sarvatobhadra etc: 5 vaastu with verandah or alinda and: For buildings with verandas, Brahat Samhita vaastu vidya chapter (31-35) has made special provisions where construction of main gate in any direction including south is either permissible or not permissible depends solely on the position of veranda.

In (1) sarbhatobhadra vaastu- which has verandas in all 4 directions is auspicious for devas and kings only and not for any others, doors should be made in all four directions,

in (2) nandaavart vaastu-west is prohibited ,

in (3) vardhmaan –south is forbidden ,

in (4) swastika-north and south west is not allowed, and

in (5)ruchak vaastu- north is discarded.

10.Samarangan Sootradhar of King Bhoj of Dhar central India: In this classical text in a complete township layout based on 64 padas,a palace can be built inall four directions on the place allotted to different deities and the direction of door of such palace will change in all four directions-(Please see chart and table )

for palace built at Mitra in west of 64 pada vaastu, , the gopura dwar is built in Bhallat Location e in north;
for palace built at mahidhar or Indra in north, the dwar is located at mahendra in east;
for palace built at vaivasvat or south direction of city,the door is to be located at Pushpadanta padas in west and
for palace built at Aryamaan site in east , the door is to be located at Grahakshat padas in south.

Further discussion on directions of main door including south door may be seen from texts like Maan Saar Shilpa Shastra ,Mayy Matam of Mayasur, Vishwakarma Vaastu prakash , Aparajit Prachha Shilpa Ratna etc.

11. In Ayurveda Five mahabhotas. triguna and tridosha are universal and panch mahabhootas in vaastu can in no way be of a different origine. In Ayurveda. Shrushut Sanhita has given peculiarities of 1-prithvi or earth, 2-vaat or air, 3 -jal or water, 4-agni or fire and 5-aakash or space dominating individuals. Brahat Parashar has also included a chapter on this line.Ayurveda, therefore, holds that proportion of these attributes differs from person to person and form individual’s temperament or nature .That is why in it emphasis is on individual-based treatment On the other hand currently prevalent vaastu heavily tends to act on conditioned notion that certain direction is always good or bad, In prohibiting a specific direction, they forget that panchmahabhoota of that direction is automatically prohibited .which may be beneficial to an individual. Such prescription based on incorrectly understood notion of panchtatwas ignoring individual is just like allopathy’s broad spectrum medicines which bring more harm and less relief in long run. .

12. Asrology and south.Astrology is also individual based and despite planet’s general features emphasis is on individual chart which modifes such generalities of planets. Parashari has even laid down list of benefic, malefic and neutral planets of each ascendant in its Karaka chapter where Saturn is excellent for Taurus and Capricorn ascendant and Jupiter is blemished but for cancer ascendant reverse is the case .

Another curious feature of astrology is that a person is always born with a specific vaastu and its horoscope mostly indicates its home surroundings. That is why it indicats the direction , door and other features of prasooti kaksha or labour room in case of a newly born child.. Besides, it can also be shown that how the vaastu surroundings govern and go on changing with change of dasa bhuktis .All this requires a separate article. Here it is sufficient to press the point that blanket generalization about south direction by vaastu is not valid,

Secondly it is to be noted that persons with planets ruling south and southern angles -like venus south .east., mars south and rahu south west – .exerting influence on 4th house of living conditions, mostly live in a house facing southern angles. This can easily be verified from a few horoscopes .

Planet in south is most influencial : South diection is treated very powerful and of imparting life sharpening impact in Astrology. How ? Is it written in any text of Astrology ? Yes it written even in each horoscope. Ascendant or rising sign represents east and descendant or 7^th house shows west.In between 10^th house is south. Due to west to east rotation of earth, all planets move east to west via south because of inclination of axis of earth. Western design of a birth chart rightly depicts it since it places ascendant at left side which is east , and 7^th house in right side which is west and 10^th house in between at the top which is south . In astrology 10^th house or south direction is also called zenith or culmination point or yaamyottar meaning crossing towards south or ‘kh-madhya or mid-heaven. Any planet here is considered most powerful and is decisive in porfession and vocation.Moreover a planet in south casts its full impact or dristi , irrespective of its fractional pr paad dristi or aspect- on ascendant and consequently on personality and outlook and it is supposed to be ‘placed ‘in lagna or ascendant itself.

Michaed Gqualine in his Cosmic Clock while dealing with diurnal motion of earth has proved statistically that a planet culminating in south in dirunlal chart decides individual’s profession.

Question is : if south is so devilish how and why a planet in extreme south called zenith or mid point of 10^th in horoscopes of individuals can be so decisive and beneficial ? After all all sciences are interlinked and this is particularly so with astrology , astronomy and vaastu Similarly south west or nairatya is considered most evil in vaastu but in astrology it it in this south west direction where it the 9^th house of fortune and good deeds of past life or bhaagya sthaan. Is ‘housed’ There no need to elaborate it further

Another question is : what is the logic traditional or modern scientific, for denouncing south door facing main gate of a dwellin or business house when such negation of south door is not at all supported by standard vaastu texts? In 64 and 81 and 100 vaastu pada mandala one can see that names of several presiding deities do not sound well, yet most of such padas or segment of plot of land has not been excluded in construction of various facilities Declaring the entire direction totally auspicious or inauspicious is against the basic cannons of classical and modern vaastu. Therefore stigmatisaion of south facing main door or south facing plot t of land should be stopped

13. In Astaka varga (AV) system of Asrology the maximum number of points in an AV of a planet in individual’s chart determine the direction of the facility in the house facility. Kerala’s celebrated astrologer Soumyaji’s Jaatakadeshmarg observes that in AV chart of mangala or mars, the direction with maximun points is suitable for kitchen as well as for rutes with fire and in the AV chart of Saturn, the direction with maximum points is best suited for toilet, servants quarter and garbage.Similar rules have been laid down for place o worship,study and rest etc in in the direction having maximum points in the planet ruling the said activity. In both cases it will be seen that, both in vaastu and astrology, nature of planet and the nature of tatwa or facility is same: mangal for angni tatwa and saturn for waste material but wheras in current vaastu. direction has been kept fixed , in AV system the direction of facility moves with planets’s direction as found in the birth chart.

14. WHO Report on UltraViolation radiation . UVR is important for formation of vitamin D in our body which is essential for various functions of different systems body. It is particularly essential for formation of calcium for bones

UVR is component of solar radiation and it is continuously received by earth as a whole, every moment from all directions .However UVR levels are influenced by a number of factors:

Latitude of place: the closer the place to equator, the higher the UVR levels.
Sun’s elevation: the higher the sun in the sky , the higher the UVR radiation.
Altitude (of building) : UV levels increase by about 5% with every 1000 meters altitude.
Ozon layer: it absorbs some UVR as it is depleted, more UVR in general is reaching earth.
Ground reflection: many surfaces reflect sun’s rays and add to overall exposure of URV. Grass and soil and water reflect less than 10 % of UVR received from sun,(it means these absorb 90% UVR of rays ) dry beach sand reflects 15% and fresh snow reflects 80%.

WHO report emphasizes that UVR in small amount is essential as it produces vitamin D in our body for bones and musculo-skeletal system.

We know that sun shines overhead near equator but near poles it remains near horizon and does not even set for 6 months. It means with increase in latitude of place , the height of mid-day or altitude goes on decreasing and length of day goes on increasing.

My study on ths point is summarized below

1.Date 21 march- when day night equals

place Thiruvanantpuram lat. 6 deg,altitude of sun 81.7 dg ,day length 12 h 7 m.

place Chennai lat.13dg altitude of sun 77. 2dg, day length 12.7h.m

place Delhi lat, 26dg, altitude 61.6dg day length 12.9 h. m.

place Leh Laddakh lat 34dg altitude of sun 56.1 dg day length 12.27 h.m

It is thus clear that south facing gate house does not receive same amount of UVR in each city or town and that it differs from latitude to latitude because at sun’s maximum height at noon called culmination point of sun or zenith, the impact of UVR varies according to daily altitude or height of sun and duration of day which both differ from seasons to seasons and also from place to place.

Sun’s heat and radiation is required more in winter and even sun bath is preferred in winter when sun is in south declination from equator. From this point south facing houses get more soothing and healhy radiation during winter. Therefore even viewed from this angle of solar radiation south facing house can not be downgraded

If you are astrologer or astronomer you can watch movement of planets in night sky only from south because planets script poetry on the sky adorned with nakshatra and the 12 zodiacal signs from east to west via south only. Rising culmination and setting of sun and moon is also visible from south faced house

Sun’s heat is more felt in summer that too around noon when sun’s elevation is highest at noon when sun is in southern direction that is the only summer season-based disadvantage of south facing house but it is equally an advantage in winter.

Therefore angle of shades and projections on windows, doors and verandas etc should be so devised as to protect the houses from direct sun light in mid noons of summer season which is more felt in south facing houses compared to other directions. Such angles of shades etc can be determined as per latitude of place and yearly chart of altitude ( height in sky ) of sun at noon of the place. An expert architect with some knowledge of astronomy can do this and my humble suggestion is that vaastu shastris must also learn to do such calculations of shades and projections of houses acing all directions

WHO Report provides most important remedy of absorbing for UVR in cities with less latitudes where sun’s height is sky in summer is more prominently felt.It says that Grass soil and water reflect less than 10 % of UVR received from sun, it means these absorb 90% UVR of sun.Therefore plantation of grass and leaving some patch of land un-cemented or placing eathfilled pots in south diretion from east to west via south can do more effective prevention compared to thick wall as suggested by vaastu experts as the wall may continue to reflect UVR in adjecant areas. This remedy should be applied to house of any direction particularly during summer but south and west faced may require it during summer only

Eminent Indologist and researcher in Vaastu and specialist in Vaastu Purush Mandala, Dr Prabhakar Apte of Pune has observed that ‘conventional descriptions and prescriptions are spread over in vaastu but one has to note that all descriptions are not prescriptions. Regimentation on shubh-ashubhor good or bad of vaastu convention is not so easy The reasearch scholars have to stand on firm foundation of data collection, data analysis and comparative study before they arrive at any conclusion, contents of vaastu texts are descriptive and not prescriptive and a vaastuvid is entitled to modify or change it according to the changed situations.

It is therefore desirable that Vaastu experts should also realize that south direction is neither good nor bad and that all directions have equal advantage anddisadvantage If faith on Vaastu is to be enhanced and endured Vaastu is to be more rationale , open and scientific. It is time to withdraw fatwas against South direction and adopt rationalize the view on all directions as clearly mandated in the traditional texts and latest scientific findings.

Art is and expression of aesthetics and is spiritual that is why it encompasses every facet of life and every colour of nature , it is inclusive ..Vaastu is an extension of art, it also has to be inclusive.

I conclude with a verse which starts from word ‘south’

South is seared brother lakshman on his side, divine consort Sita adorns his left and before him is seated Maruti Hanumana, we pray such lord Ram of king Raghu’s clan

Dakshine Lakshmano yasya vaamo ch Janakaatmajaa

Purto maruturyast tam vande Ragu nandanam

Author teaches vaastu.astronomy and astrology to postgraduate couse in Asrology in Jiwaji university Gwalior India and is member of board of studies of astrology at the university. Has presented about 50 research papers in variuous university research seminars and national science forum.contributed more than 150 articles and speeches in print and electronic media

Field of interest include popularization of sky watch among general public, medical astrology spiritual asrology comparative study of Indian and western modern cosmology .

Are South Direction Main Gates Victim of Ignorance of Vaastu Shastra by Shtivastava Brijendra Sharan