Maṇḍala Grids, 16 Zones & 32 Pādas
How a plot is divided for reading: the grids of the classical texts, the sixteen directional zones of modern practice (22.5° each), the thirty-two entrance padas (11.25° each) and the marma lines the texts ask a builder to keep clear.
1. The 81-pada grid
A house is laid on nine by nine padas, the paramaśāyika. The texts count its deities two ways. The Bṛhat Saṃhitā (52.46–50 in Kern’s numbering, 53.49–50 in Sastri–Bhat) gives Brahmā nine padas, each of the four cardinals three, twenty deities one pada each and twenty deities two each: 9 + 12 + 20 + 40 = 81. The Mayamata (7.58), the Mānasāra (7.110–125) and the Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra (chapter 11) give Brahmā nine, each cardinal six, each of the eight intermediates two and each of the thirty-two outer deities one. Both count 81; they assign the padas differently. The temple grid of eight by eight is set out in The Maṇḍūka grid in two traditions.
Some popular lists are wrong about it, and the reference corrects them. Nirṛti is never the south-west pada deity — that pada is always Pitṛ, and Nirṛti is the regent of the south-west direction. Kubera is never a pada deity; the texts say Soma. And “Argala” is not found in the Bṛhat Saṃhitā, Mayamata, Mānasāra, Samarāṅgaṇa or Matsya Purāṇa: that slot is Bhujaga, Sarpa, Mṛga or Caraka, by text.
2. The sixteen directional zones
The arcs are geometry: 360° ÷ 16 = 22.5°, with north spanning 348.75° to 11.25°. What each zone is for is modern practice, class E in the rule corpus. No classical text read gives a sixteen-zone scheme of attributes. The closest classical antecedent is the sixteen-room placement of the Viśvakarma Prakāśa (2.94–97), described in Where rooms belong. The elements shown are the modern scheme too; the one classical placement found, the Mayamata’s (7.24), runs water, fire, ether and wind clockwise from the north-east with earth at the centre, and disagrees with it.
| Zone | Arc | Element (modern) | Rooms modern practice favours | Rooms it avoids |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NorthUttara | 348.75° – 11.25° | Water | Living Room, Safe / Locker, Open Lawn, Borewell, Main Entrance (N3, N4) | Toilet, Kitchen, Septic Tank, Heavy Storage, Staircase |
| North-North-EastUttara-Ishanya | 11.25° – 33.75° | Water | Medicine Storage, Recovery Bedroom, Puja Room, Yoga Area | Toilet, Septic Tank, Kitchen, Dustbin, Overhead Tank |
| North-EastIshanya | 33.75° – 56.25° | Water | Puja Room, Meditation Room, Underground Water Tank, Borewell, Open Courtyard | Toilet, Kitchen, Staircase, Overhead Tank, Septic Tank, Master Bedroom |
| East-North-EastPurva-Ishanya | 56.25° – 78.75° | Air | Living Room, Family Lounge, Music / Entertainment Room, Balcony | Toilet, Septic Tank, Store Room, Heavy Machinery |
| EastPurva | 78.75° – 101.25° | Air | Living Room, Guest Bedroom, Study Room, Main Entrance (E3, E4) | Toilet, Septic Tank, Kitchen, Overhead Tank |
| East-South-EastPurva-Agneya | 101.25° – 123.75° | Air | Mixer-Grinder Station, Reading Nook, Washing Machine, Research Desk | Master Bedroom, Puja Room, Living Room |
| South-EastAgneya | 123.75° – 146.25° | Fire | Kitchen (Cooking Stove), Electrical Panel, Inverter / Transformer, Boiler | Underground Water Tank, Borewell, Toilet, Puja Room, Master Bedroom |
| South-South-EastDakshina-Agneya | 146.25° – 168.75° | Fire | Gymnasium, Fitness Area, Youth Bedroom, Store Room for Food | Toilet, Underground Borewell, Septic Tank |
| SouthDakshina | 168.75° – 191.25° | Fire / Earth | Bedroom (Head towards South), Conference Room, Main Entrance (S3, S4) | Borewell, Underground Water, Puja Room, Balcony with open low wall |
| South-South-WestDakshina-Nairritya | 191.25° – 213.75° | Earth | Toilet (Commode), Septic Tank, Dustbin / Scrap Area | Master Bedroom, Puja Room, Study Room, Safe / Locker, Kitchen |
| South-WestNairritya | 213.75° – 236.25° | Earth | Master Bedroom, Owner / CEO Cabin, Heavy Tool Storage, Overhead Water Tank on Roof | Toilet, Kitchen, Borewell, Septic Tank, Puja Room, Underground Tank |
| West-South-WestPashchima-Nairritya | 236.25° – 258.75° | Space | Study Room, Children Study Desk, Books Library, Savings Safe | Toilet, Septic Tank, Kitchen |
| WestPashchima | 258.75° – 281.25° | Space | Dining Room, Master / Eldest Son Bedroom, Overhead Water Tank, Main Entrance (W3, W4) | Borewell, Underground Tank, Puja Room in corner, Kitchen |
| West-North-WestPashchima-Vayavya | 281.25° – 303.75° | Space | Toilet, Septic Tank, Counseling Room, Store Room for Old Items | Master Bedroom, Puja Room, Living Room, Study Room |
| North-WestVayavya | 303.75° – 326.25° | Air | Guest Bedroom, Accounts Section, Finished Goods Dispatch, Vehicle Garage, Granary | Underground Tank, Master Bedroom, Puja Room |
| North-North-WestUttara-Vayavya | 326.25° – 348.75° | Water | Newlywed Couple Bedroom, Dressing Room, Wardrobe / Grooming | Puja Room, Study Room, Elderly Bedroom, Septic Tank |
3. The thirty-two entrance padas
The outer ring is divided into thirty-two door positions, eight on each wall, so that each spans 11.25° when measured round the centre and one eighth of the wall when counted along it. The texts count along the wall. The Bṛhat Saṃhitā (52.70–73 in Kern’s numbering; 53.72–75 in Sastri–Bhat) names E3, E4, S4, W4, W5, N3, N4 and N5 auspicious; modern practice names others, and the two are set side by side, door by door, in Entrance padas & the Bṛhat Saṃhitā.
4. Marma lines
- The marmas are the intersections of the vaṃśa lines and the exact centres of the padas; the text asks that they not be harmed (Bṛhat Saṃhitā 52.57). No vessel, peg or pillar should stand on one (52.57–58), and Brahmā’s area within the house is to be kept free of pollution (52.64). The Mayamata(7.54–55) says the marmas and the heart lie at the centre and are not to be pressed by the members of the house.
- Six vaṃśa lines are named: Roga–Anila and Pitṛ–Śikhī (the two diagonals), Śoṣa–Vitatha, Mukhya–Bhṛśa, Jayanta–Bhṛṅgarāja and Aditi–Sugrīva. The Matsya Purāṇa gives Mṛga–Parjanya (and Mṛga–Jaya) in their place, and the texts differ.
- The nine points where the lines cross are the atimarmas (52.62): the centre, Brahmā’s four corner cells and the four inner cardinal cells. Their cells are derived from an assumption that a line runs through cell centres.
- A marma is one eighth of a pada; a vaṃśa is as many aṅgulas wide as the pada is hastas; a śirā is one and a half times the vaṃśa (52.63). The Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra (chapters 12–13) calls the lengthwise lines vaṃśas and the cross lines anuvaṃśas, and asks that the two central axes carry nothing.
- The product uses marmas for one purpose: to warn against a pillar, a heavy load or a plumbing stack on one. The effects the texts attach to harming a marma are quoted nowhere in the reading.