Also known aszoningdegree determinationpadvinyasmarmaati marma
The map-compass app shared in class shows a satellite map with two red axis lines. After locating the building and rotating the lines parallel to its walls, the degree shown at the top is the building's degree.
Google Earth on a laptop or PC gives the most accurate degree: open the client's location, confirm the building, draw a straight ruler line along one wall and read its heading. That heading shows how far the building is turned from North.
The centre of a regular plot is where its two diagonals cross. For an irregular plot, use the geometric centre in AutoCAD, CorelDraw or an image editing tool, or the manual method of hanging a paper cut-out of the plan from a pin.
Centre of the plot or constructed area
When nothing is built on or around a plot yet, ask the engineer to draw the surrounding roads on the plan, straighten the road in the map and take the road's degree. Alternatively, take the degree of a parallel neighbouring building, ask the engineer which line the house will follow, or visit the site.
Engineers planning colonies, factories and large sites often draw the plan already turned to true North, so the plot looks tilted on paper while North is exactly at the top. Check it against Google Earth; if it matches with North up, zone it at zero degrees without rotating the chakra.
On a paper map, draw a straight line from the centre toward the side that was measured and write the reading on it. A Shakti chakra with printed degrees is laid so that the measured degree sits on that line, and North then falls into place; with a plain protractor, North is marked by counting the degrees back.
A magnetic compass with a straight side edge, set so that its North-South line, mirror line and axis line coincide, is placed parallel to a straight wall on a level, metal-free surface and read from directly above. The offset of the red needle from the compass North gives the tilt of the building.
Beside any straight wall of the building, never at the centre
When a plan arrives rotated on the paper or PDF, first turn the paper or PDF until one straight side of the plan is truly straight, even if the paper then sits tilted. Take that wall's degree, complete the whole zoning in that position, and only then turn the page back.
In an irregular plot, ignore the slanting side and take the degree of any side that runs straight in the map, parallel to the edge of the paper. The tilt found from that side is then applied to zone the whole plot.
Every reading is compared with the nearest cardinal direction: North 0 or 360, East 90, South 180, West 270. The difference is the tilt, stated as North tilted so many degrees toward East (to the right) or toward West (to the left).
In AutoCAD, draw a closed polyline around the plan to get its geometric centre, place the chakra image there, align its North with the plan and rotate it by the measured tilt.
Find the centre, draw a reference line, set off the measured tilt to get exact North, then mark 22.5-degree zones starting 11.25 degrees on either side of North, using the Geo Vastu chakra or an ordinary protractor.
After zoning, mark the 32 outer padas of 11.25 degrees each: Soma (N5) is centred on exact North, extending 5.625 degrees on each side, and the remaining padas follow every 11.25 degrees.
For an irregular plot, measure the degree of one wall or axis, draw a line through the centre parallel to that wall, set off the measured tilt to get exact North, and then mark the zones as usual.
The plot is divided into Brahma, Dev, Manushya and Pishach bhoomi by measuring the line from the centre to every corner and marking 0.333, 0.555 and 0.777 of its length. Joining the matching points gives four bands that follow the real shape of the plot.
Whole plot, from its centre to each corner
After bhoomi vibhajan the 45 Vastu devtas are marked by angle: the 32 outer devtas at 11.25 degrees each in the Pishach bhoomi, four main inner devtas at 54 degrees and eight others at 18 degrees in the combined Manushya and Dev band, and Brahma in the centre.
Pishach bhoomi for the 32 outer devtas, the combined Manushya and Dev band for the 12 inner devtas, the centre for Brahma
The logic used on paper works the same in AutoCAD, Corel or any drawing software: scale the house outline by the bhoomi ratios, divide by angles, and keep a ready template of the chakra and devta lines to overlay on every new map.
Digital plan of the house, plot or flat
A quick manual method to divide any plan into the concentric bhoomis of the 81-pada grid by multiplying the centre-to-corner distance by 0.33, 0.55 and 0.77.
Whole plot or building plan of any shape
After the bhoomi rings are drawn, the outer ring is cut into 32 pads of 11.25 degrees each, starting with Som devta centred on North, and the middle ring into 12 inner pads with an 18-54-18 degree split for each direction.
Outer pishach bhoomi (32 pads), middle dev-manushya bhoomi (12 pads), brahmasthan (Brahma)
Place a protractor on the house plan aligned to North, adjusting for any tilt, and mark the 4 directions, the 4 sub-directions at 45 degrees and 8 further sub-directions at 22.5 degrees. For a house use the 81-pad layout, in which the 32 outer devtas each cover 11.25 degrees and N5, E5, S5 and W5 fall exactly on the cardinal points.
House plan, from the centre of the house
Each of the 32 devtas of the outer band has its own tree. Planting that tree at the devta's place, on the pishach bhoomi or along the boundary wall, makes the lokpal stable; it connects with cosmic energy and feeds energy to the pishach, manushya, dev and brahm bhoomi.
Pishach bhoomi and boundary wall, at each devta's place
A plot or factory map is divided into pishach, manushya, dev and brahma bhoomi. An important machine started on pishach bhoomi never runs properly, while shifting it slightly onto manushya bhoomi makes it work.
Factory floor and plot divisions
Every plot is divided into pads (sections) according to its use: 81 pads for a residence, 64 pads for a temple or religious place, and a separate layout for a town. Directions are further divided into 16 and 32 parts, down to 11.25 degrees, on which the 45 Vastu devtas are marked.
Any land, plot, flat or large project, whatever its carpet area, is divided into four concentric parts: the outer pishach bhoomi (pishach veethi), then the manushya bhoomi, then the dev bhoomi, and the brahm bhoomi at the centre. Each part has its own nature and decides what may be built or kept there.
Whole plot, from the boundary inward to the centre
The brahm bhoomi at the centre suits a courtyard (aangan), tulsi worship, an area open to the sky, a living area and a place for yoga or meditation.
Brahm bhoomi (centre of the plot)
The dev bhoomi, the third band inward, can take everything the household needs, from the main door, windows and kitchen to bedrooms, dining, puja room and stairs. It is the best place for the puja room, the safe, a study room, a meditation room and all important documents, because this land is covered with divine qualities and makes work succeed.
Dev bhoomi
The manushya bhoomi, the second band inward, takes the main door, windows, kitchen, bedrooms, dining room, puja room and stairs. No shilanyas, boring or pit should be made in it, and above all not at the corners of its transition with the pishach bhoomi, where the shishu pishach and pishacha points lie.
Manushya bhoomi, and the corners where it meets the pishach bhoomi
Stairs, the main door, a locker, a pit, boring or dug well, a basement confined to the centre, a store room, a garage or a kitchen must not be built in the Brahmasthan. Each causes serious harm, from illness in the family to quarrels and ruin.
Brahmasthan (the nine central squares) and the brahm bindu (exact centre)
Nothing valuable or sacred should sit on the pishach bhoomi: never a tijori, court case or other important papers, a child's study table, a bed set directly against the wall, or a deity and home temple. Leaving even a 2 to 3 inch gap from the wall keeps an item off the pishach band.
The band along the walls of every zone, including the North-East
The outermost band of a plot, the pishach bhoomi, is the seat of the 32 lokpals and bears the noise of the road. It is where the boundary wall and its gate, servant quarters, guards and pets belong, where flags are hoisted and where shilanyas (foundation stone laying) is done.
Outermost band (pishach veethi) of the plot, along the boundary
Into four: the outer pishach bhoomi (pishach veethi), then the manushya bhoomi, the dev bhoomi and, at the centre, the brahm bhoomi. This is not the division into padas; it is the first division of any land, plot or flat.
Zone the complete plot. Almost the whole plot is in use and even the small strips are being used, so the full plot is taken for zoning and for the degree.
Tilt means tedha or tirchha: how far the true North is turned from where it is assumed to be. People who do not know vastu simply say their house is North facing, but a careful degree reading may show that it is turned, say, 5 degrees.
Compare it with the nearest cardinal direction. South is at 180, so 216 minus 180 gives 36 degrees: the South has moved 36 degrees to the left. Do not measure it from West (270), which would give 54 degrees and shift the whole zoning.
To the left. The drawn line reads 2.4 and North is at 0, so North lies 2.4 degrees back toward the left.
Google Earth with the ruler works only on a laptop or PC. On a phone you can use a photo editing app instead: take the chakra image in PNG form, ask the client for a photo of the map and overlay the chakra on it, which needs some photo editing skill.
Draw a straight line upward from the centre. With a Shakti chakra, which has degrees printed on it, place it so that 2 falls on that line; North then lies two marks behind automatically. With a plain protractor, place it at the centre, count 2 degrees back and mark that line as North.
Not necessarily. A magnetic compass shows North directly, so its reading can be stated straight away, for example North 30 degrees toward East. Google Earth and the mobile app only show the heading of the line you draw, and North has to be worked out from it; a heading of 2.39 means North lies 2.39 degrees to the left.
Open the location in Google Earth with North set at the top and compare. If the plan looks identical, it is drawn at zero degrees and is zoned without rotating the chakra; about 90 percent of such tilted maps are drawn that way. If in doubt, rotate the map until one straight side is straight and take the tilt from that side.
Ask the engineer who draws the basic plan to show the surrounding roads, straighten the road in your map and take the road's degree. You can also use any parallel neighbouring building, since parallel buildings always read the same, ask the engineer which line the house will follow, or visit the spot.
If the plan came tilted and was not drawn to zero degrees, rotate the paper until one straight side of the plan is exactly straight, checking it against a straight line. Do the full zoning in that position, and only then turn the page back as it was.
A pad is one of the equal sections into which a plot is divided. For 81 pad vastu a house, for example 90 by 90 ft, is divided into 9 by 9 equal sections and each section is one pad; the larger grids, such as the 1000 pad grid, divide the plot into many more equal sections. Some areas such as the Brahmasthan cover several padas together even if the drawing does not show their inner divisions.