Vastu

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Once when Shiva was engaged in a

fierce battle with the demon

Andhaka, a drop of sweat fell from

Shiva¢s forehead to the ground,

accompanied by a loud thunder.

This drop transformed into a

ravenously hungry monster, who

attempted to destroy the three

worlds. The gods and divine spirits,

however, rushed at once on to him

and held him down. When the

demon fell on the ground face

downwards, the deities lodged

themselves on to the different parts

of his body and pressed him down.

It is because of this reason that the

recumbent individual came to be

known as ¡Vastu,¢ which means the

lodgement of the gods. He is pictured as lying down inside the mandala with his arms and legs so folded

as to cover the whole area, and his head pushed into the north-eastern corner of the square. As many as forty-five gods are lodged on his body directly on the limbs and joints.

This vastu-purusha is the spirit in mother-earth which needs to be pacified and is regarded as a demon whose permission is necessary before any construction can come up on the site. At the same time, care is taken to propitiate the deities that hold him down, for it is important that he should not get up. To facilitate the task of the temple-architect, the vastu-mandala is divided into square grids with the lodging of the respective deities clearly marked. It also has represented on it the thirty-two nakshatras, the

constellations that the moon passes through on its monthly course. In an ideal temple, these deities should be situated exactly as delineated in the mandala.