VASTU PURUSH
The art of building one’s living area and working spaces in harmony with Nature ” is called Vastu and Purusha refers to energy, power, soul or cosmic man. There are two legendary stories narrating about the existence and importance of Vastu Purusha.
STORY IN MAYAMTAM
In “Mayamatam”, Brahma – according to the ancient Indian text, was the creator of universe. He created a special man , who grew very quickly larger and larger and started to eat greedily everything that came in his way, in order to satisfy his amaranthine hunger. He became unmanageable, so big that his shadow fell on earth just like earth was to be under a permanent eclipse. All the deities were in utter difficulty seeing the destruction by this creature. So all went to Lord Brahma and requested him to rescue them from this destruction by giving them a solution.
Brahma realized his mistake. He summoned the AsthaDikapalakas – the Gods of the eight cardinal directions. All came together and subjugated the monster and held it flat against the earth while Brahma jumped on its middle. Unable to bear the weight of all the deities he prayed Lord Brahma for mercy. Lord Brahma pleased by his prayer. He bestowed a boon on him that “while constructing any dwelling units, temples, parks, and water bodies’ etc. people shall worship you, and people who won’t, they will be in worst condition shall suffer poverty, in every activity they do, they will face obstruction.
“The creature was held on the ground in a particular direction.”
- Head on North-East side
- Feet on South-West side
- Both the hands on the northwest and southeast side and face downwards
STORY IN MATSYA PURANA
In Matsya Purana, the story of a demon, named ANDHAKA who was killed by Lord Shiva after a long fight between them. As the fight continued for a long time, lord Shiva was very tired and was sweating copiously. A man was born out of the drops of Shiva’s sweat that fell on the ground. He was very cruel and was very hungry. So he decided to make surrendered with the god to appease him so that he can get a boon from him.
The devotee became overpowered. He requested all the gods to abide him from such pain. Being pleased by his prayers lord Brahma bestowed him a boon that he would be worshiped by everyone when any plots or construction work is to be initiated. Since then Vastu-Purusha worship has been started. It considers auspicious to worship Vastu-Purusha for those who want to build any kind of building.
