prana-bodydraftschool: pan-indian· Bṛhat Saṁhitā

Limb-scheme of the Vastu Purusha

vāstupuruṣa-aṅga
pra-vastu-purusha-anga

Definition

The distribution of the prone House-God's body over the plot: nineteen named limbs (per Bhat's count) carrying the 45 pada-deities, head at NE, feet at SW, heart at center.
Classical

Prāṇa relevance

This is the body half of the project's core homology: padas are limbs. Combined with 53.58–59 it yields a two-way site↔body channel (see cnx-0003, cnx-0004). The text speaks of gross limbs only — no vayu, nadi, or chakra language in this chapter [gap; Q6].

Cross-book attributes (2) — fill / concur / diverge

Confluence Limb MapFilledper txt-svoboda-vastu
⚑ Svoboda maps the four corners to the Vāstu Puruṣa's limbs as a single archetypal STANCE (PDF p.190): 'the sagacious, perceptive HEAD in the northeast, the maneuvering HANDS southeast and northwest, and the (hopefully) well-settled LOWER BODY in the southwest — the very stance taken by the Vāstu Puruṣa.' Functional gloss: head-NE = unobstructed vision / future-sattva; hands-SE&NW = focused action / present-rajas; lower-body-SW = consolidation / past-tamas. He grounds it in 'commonsensical self-preservation' (open space ahead, a tree/boulder at the back, arms free) — the jungle-survival posture transferred to the dwelling.
Room Limb Mapping SvobodaFilledper txt-svoboda-vastu
⚑ Applied to a single ROOM's Vāstu Puruṣa Maṇḍala (NOT the plot): the SE corner = the RIGHT HAND, 'the hand he uses to perform auspicious activities'; disfiguring it (e.g. staircases jutting into the SE) weakens the SE quadrant's energies (Fire, rajas, Venus). The directional governance Svoboda gives the per-room body: NE = awareness/alertness, SW = steadiness/solidity, SE & NW = the most active activities (the active diagonal). A room 'draws attention initially into a point high in the SW (the past, tamas), then guides it toward a point low in the NE (the future, sattva).'

Connections (8)

corresponds-to · 1
  • ↔Sharira (the human gross body)Classical
    Forward: hurt at a site point afflicts the owner's matching limb (53.58). Reverse: the owner's spontaneous limb-scratching at query time, or omens during the construction oblation, diagnose which limb of the House-God carries the affliction (53.59).
maps-to · 7
  • ↔81-pada plot scheme (Brihat Samhita)Classical
  • ↔Northeast (Ishanya)Modern
    NE confluence: the Vastu Purusha's 'sagacious, perceptive HEAD' lies in the NE - 'the very stance taken by the Vastu Purusha' (PDF p.190); NE = 'unobstructed vision'. The limb leg of the NE confluence (corner->body-part homology).
  • ↔SoutheastModern
    SE confluence: the SE is one of the Vastu Purusha's 'maneuvering HANDS' (with NW) - 'present-time... focused action' (PDF p.190). The limb leg of the SE confluence.
  • ↔dir-nairrtyaModern
    SW confluence: the SW holds the Vastu Purusha's 'well-settled LOWER BODY' - 'consolidation', the back you put for protection, ancestors who 'back you up' (PDF p.190). The limb leg of the SW confluence.
  • ↔dir-vayavyaModern
    NW confluence: the NW is the second of the Vastu Purusha's 'maneuvering HANDS' (with SE) - 'present-time... focused action' (PDF p.190). The limb leg of the NW confluence.
  • ↔KitchenModern
    Svoboda overlays each room with its own Vastu Purusha Mandala, so a room sits on the limb-body of its Vastu Purusha. The kitchen in the SE sits on the right HAND (the SE corner = 'the hand he uses to perform auspicious activities'); a disfigured SE corner deforms that hand.
  • ↔SoutheastModern
    In Svoboda's per-room limb-body the SOUTHEAST corner IS the Vastu Purusha's right hand ('the hand he uses to perform auspicious activities'); the directional corner and the limb are the same locus. Disfiguring the SE corner (e.g. two staircases jutting into it, the Marie case) deforms the right arm and weakens the SE quadrant's energies - Fire, rajas, Venus.

Sources

Notes from other books

  • txt-svoboda-vastuSvoboda's four-corner STANCE (head-NE / hands-SE+NW / lower-body-SW) is a coarser, 4-fold overlay on BS's fine-grained 9×9 pada→limb scheme (pra-vastu-purusha-anga). It is the limb axis of the five-way confluence and the bridge that lets each corner's element/guṇa/planet attach to a BODY PART. Captured as a MODERN overlay; whether it matches BS's detailed limb-assignment is a Phase-2/3 comparison (flagged). [MODERN — Svoboda]
  • txt-svoboda-vastuThe BS limb_table (53.51–54) places the prone plot-Puruṣa head-NE, feet-SW, hands holding named deities. Svoboda instead reads the limb-body off the COMPASS per room (SE=right hand). Capturing both layers; the relation between them is a Phase-3 reconciliation, surfaced as a question, never merged here.

Other attributes

System Of Origin
vastu
Limb Table
{"head":["dev-shikhin"],"face":["dev-apah"],"breast":["dev-aryaman"],"chest":["dev-apavatsa"],"right_eye":["dev-parjanya"],"left_eye":["dev-diti"],"right_ear":["dev-jayanta"],"left_ear":["dev-aditi"],"chest_right_side":["dev-indra"],"chest_left_side":["dev-bhujaga"],"right_shoulder":["dev-surya"],"left_shoulder":["dev-soma"],"right_arm":["dev-satya","dev-bhrisha","dev-antariksha","dev-anila","dev-pushan"],"left_arm":["dev-bhallata","dev-mukhya","dev-ahi","dev-roga","dev-papayakshma"],"right_hand":["dev-savitr","dev-savitra"],"left_hand":["dev-rudra","dev-rajayakshma"],"right_side":["dev-vitatha","dev-brihatkshata"],"left_side":["dev-shosha","dev-asura"],"stomach_right":["dev-vivasvan"],"stomach_left":["dev-mitra"],"left_breast":["dev-prithvidhara"],"right_thigh":["dev-yama"],"left_thigh":["dev-varuna"],"right_knee":["dev-gandharva"],"left_knee":["dev-kusumadanta"],"right_shank":["dev-bhringaraja"],"left_shank":["dev-sugriva"],"right_buttock":["dev-mriga"],"left_buttock":["dev-dauvarika"],"genitals":["dev-indrajaya","dev-jaya"],"heart":["dev-brahma"],"feet":["dev-pitr"]}
Modern Notes
["Neck unassigned; Bhat proposes an emendation supplying it [MODERN — M.R. Bhat (1981)]","Nineteen limbs head to foot by Bhat's count; chest appears thrice (center/right/left) [MODERN]"]
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