Chapter 9
The Maṇḍūka Grid in Two Traditions
The texts lay temples on a grid of eight by eight padas, the maṇḍūka, and houses on the grid of nine by nine, the paramaśāyika. Each names the deities of the grid and how much of a pada each holds. The two traditions agree on Brahmā’s four padas and share out the rest differently, so both are shown, one at a time.
This is a reference: no audit of a plan in the studio lays the 64-pada grid on it.
The grid
Shares from the Bṛhat Saṃhitā, 52.55–56, with the ring order of 52.43–45. North is at the top and west at the left; rows run north to south (R1 to R8) and columns west to east (C1 to C8).
| C1 | C2 | C3 | C4 | C5 | C6 | C7 | C8 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | Pāpayakṣmā, half of the cell (west-side half); Roga, half of the cell (north-side half) | Ahi | Mukhya | Bhallāṭa | Soma | Bhujaga | Aditi | Diti, half of the cell (north-side half); Śikhī, half of the cell (east-side half) |
| R2 | Śoṣa | Śoṣa, half of the cell (west-side half); Ahi, half of the cell (north-side half) | Mukhya | Bhallāṭa | Soma | Bhujaga | Aditi, half of the cell (north-side half); Parjanya, half of the cell (east-side half) | Parjanya |
| R3 | Asura | Asura | Rudra, half of the cell (half, side not stated); Rājayakṣmā, half of the cell (half, side not stated) | Pṛthvīdhara | Pṛthvīdhara | Āpa, half of the cell (half, side not stated); Āpavatsa, half of the cell (half, side not stated) | Jayanta | Jayanta |
| R4 | Varuṇa | Varuṇa | Mitra | Brahmā | Brahmā | Aryaman | Mahendra | Mahendra |
| R5 | Kusumadanta | Kusumadanta | Mitra | Brahmā | Brahmā | Aryaman | Sūrya | Sūrya |
| R6 | Sugrīva | Sugrīva | Indra, half of the cell (half, side not stated); Jaya, half of the cell (half, side not stated) | Vivasvān | Vivasvān | Savitṛ, half of the cell (half, side not stated); Sāvitra, half of the cell (half, side not stated) | Satya | Satya |
| R7 | Dauvārika | Bhṛṅgarāja, half of the cell (south-side half); Dauvārika, half of the cell (west-side half) | Gandharva | Yama | Bṛhatkṣata | Vitatha | Bhṛśa, half of the cell (east-side half); Pūṣan, half of the cell (south-side half) | Bhṛśa |
| R8 | Mṛga, half of the cell (south-side half); Pitṛ, half of the cell (west-side half) | Bhṛṅgarāja | Gandharva | Yama | Bṛhatkṣata | Vitatha | Pūṣan | Antarikṣa, half of the cell (east-side half); Anila, half of the cell (south-side half) |
Bṛhat Saṃhitā 52.55–56 (Kern; 53.55–56 Sastri–Bhat) for the shares, 52.43–48 for the ring order; cell positions derived from both and from the diagonal lines of 52.55.
Each deity’s share, in padas
- Brahmā4 padas
- Aryaman2 padas
- Asura2 padas
- Bhallāṭa2 padas
- Bhujaga2 padas
- Bṛhatkṣata2 padas
- Gandharva2 padas
- Jayanta2 padas
- Kusumadanta2 padas
- Mahendra2 padas
- Mitra2 padas
- Mukhya2 padas
- Pṛthvīdhara2 padas
- Satya2 padas
- Soma2 padas
- Sugrīva2 padas
- Sūrya2 padas
- Varuṇa2 padas
- Vitatha2 padas
- Vivasvān2 padas
- Yama2 padas
- Aditi1½ padas
- Ahi1½ padas
- Bhṛṅgarāja1½ padas
- Bhṛśa1½ padas
- Dauvārika1½ padas
- Parjanya1½ padas
- Pūṣan1½ padas
- Śoṣa1½ padas
- Anila½ pada
- Antarikṣa½ pada
- Āpa½ pada
- Āpavatsa½ pada
- Diti½ pada
- Indra½ pada
- Jaya½ pada
- Mṛga½ pada
- Pāpayakṣmā½ pada
- Pitṛ½ pada
- Rājayakṣmā½ pada
- Roga½ pada
- Rudra½ pada
- Savitṛ½ pada
- Sāvitra½ pada
- Śikhī½ pada
What the texts give, and what is derived
- Bṛhat Saṃhitā, 52.55–56 (Kern’s numbering; 53.55–56 in Sastri–Bhat). Brahmā has four padas along with the diagonals; the eight deities at Brahmā’s corners have half a pada each; the eight at the outer corners half a pada each; their neighbours a pada and a half; and the remaining twenty, the four cardinals among them, two each. The Matsya Purāṇa (253.47–48) agrees. The shares are the text’s; placing them in cells uses the ring order of 52.43–45 and is derived. Which half of a split cell belongs to which deity is not stated.
- Mayamata, 7.43–48 and 7.57 (Pandey’s edition, Dagens’ translation). Brahmā four; the four cardinals, beginning with the east, three each; the eight beginning with Āpa half a pada each; four deities on each side two each; Jayanta, Antarikṣa, Vitatha, Mṛṣa, Sugrīva, Roga, Mukhya and Diti one each; the eight beginning with Īśa half each at the corners. Verse 7.57 sums it: sixty-four padas and forty-five gods. The counts are the text’s and the cells are derived. Dagens’ note to 7.44 reads “at the corners” as the corners of the square the four cardinals make round Brahmā; the Hindi commentary reads “Brahmā’s corners”, which would leave each cardinal a third cell touching none of its own. The engine follows Dagens. Verse 7.46 spells the north side’s last deity Diti; the 81-pada ring calls her Uditi (7.37), and the engine uses Uditi so the two grids of one tradition name the same forty-five.
- Where the texts disagree. The orientation of the Vāstu Puruṣa himself: the Bṛhat Saṃhitā (52.51) has his head to the north-east, face down; the Mayamata (7.49–54) has his head to the east, face down; the Mānasāra (7.255) puts his head on Ārya’s plot, lying towards the north-east.
The nine-by-nine grid, where a house is laid, is explained in Maṇḍala grids, 16 zones & 32 padas.