Chief Editor's Column · Vāstu

Does an East-Facing Flat Earn Its Premium? Four Tests I Apply to the Vāstu Rules

Some builders charge more for a flat whose main door faces east or north. That is trade usage, and no Vāstu text I cite prices a face. Vāstu, the classical Indian science of buildings, does favour the east and the north. The four tests are my own joining of separate rules for the door, the moon sign, the bearing and the width. I mark which parts rest on the sources and which on my reading.

Bangalore Niranjan Babu

November 2026 · 29 min read

Tests 1 and 2 use the wall that holds the main door. The label “east-facing” is read as the direction that wall looks. Test 3 uses the face of the tower, and the direction of a balcony is not tested. If the door wall and the tower face look different ways, the two tests read “?” until the seller states which one the label means. This is my reading of the label, because no text I cite defines it.

Every building figure comes from the brochure, the dimensioned floor plan or the site plan. The moon sign comes from the household’s birth chart. A buyer abroad can complete the sheet from the same three documents and the birth charts, without a visit. The last line of the sheet works the premium sum.

• All four tests pass. The face passes my sheet. The texts give no price for it, so the rate is a matter for negotiation.
• Tests 1, 3 and 4 pass and test 2 fails. The face does not suit this household. In my judgement the premium buys nothing for it. The alternative is a flat on a direction that suits the sign (Test 2).
• Test 1, 3 or 4 fails. The flat fails my sheet whatever the household’s sign. In my judgement the premium buys nothing. The texts give no amount for a lower rate, so the reduction is a matter for negotiation.
• Any test reads “?”. A “?” is not a pass. A refused bearing or a refused dimensioned plan leaves its test at “?”, and the premium stays unproven until the figure is in writing. A ✗ outweighs a “?”.

Reading time: about 32 minutes, from 6,359 words at 200 words a minute. The box and Table 1 give the answer in two minutes. The sections give the working.

Does Vāstu support the extra price for an east-facing flat?

In part. The east is favoured in the texts, and so is the north. A door on the east is for comfort or happiness, and a door on the north is for wealth and prosperity.² Sites on the north and east are generally recommended, and other directions can be chosen by moon sign.²

These are separate rules for houses and sites. The four tests are my way of joining them for one flat. No text I cite states the four together. A brochure reports the direction of the door. It does not report the four tests.

A cost sheet adds a PLC to the base rate, and it can add a floor-rise charge as well. Both are builders’ price rules, and the terms are trade usage. No text I cite mentions either. A text verdict is not a market verdict, and I give no market figure.

A north flat is favoured in the texts, and I find no text that ranks it lower. Its pass rules for the four tests are in Table 1.

Test 1: where must the main door stand on its wall?

The classical plan of 81 modules, the Paramaśāyika maṇḍala, divides each side of a dwelling into nine parts.^1,3 Each part has a name. The texts mark a few as favoured for the main door.^1,3

On the east wall the second, third and fourth parts, Parjanya, Jayanta and Indra, are favoured.¹ On the north wall the third, fourth and fifth parts, Mukhya, Bhallāṭa and Soma, are called ideal.¹ The south wall favours the fourth part and counts from the east end. The west wall favours the fourth and fifth parts and counts from the south end. I need the south and west walls only in the worked case and for the cheaper flat in the section on a failed flat.

The count runs from the right hand of a person who stands outside and faces the wall.^2,3 On the east wall that is the north end. On the north wall it is the west end.

To apply the rule, measure the outside length of the door wall and divide by nine. Find the favoured band in Table 2. The centre of the door must fall inside the band. A door that straddles the edge of a band reads “?”, because no source says where in a module the door must stand.

Module 5 is the middle of the wall. The north and west lists include it, and the same texts say to avoid a door in the middle of a building.^1,3 One text states that a door in the middle indicates negative effects on the family.^3,4 A door in the middle is not allowed in a building.^1,3 Module 5 therefore fails on every wall. I pass only modules 3 and 4 on the north wall and module 4 on the west wall.

The texts name favoured modules. One answer gives a fault by name for an entry east of south-east.² The sources divide the sides of a house, and I find none that divides the wall of a flat. I divide the door wall of the flat into nine equal modules, and I treat every module that is not favoured as not passing. Both steps are my reading, and every door verdict rests on them.

Test 2: does the east or the north suit my family?

The astrological texts say that certain directions suit certain moon signs. They add that this can be considered when the doors are fixed.⁵ Twelve signs form four groups of three, and each group suits two directions.^2,5

Meṣa, Kumbha and Mīna take south and east. Vṛṣabha, Mithuna and Kaṭaka take south and west. Siṃha, Kanyā and Tulā take west and north. Vṛścika, Dhanus and Makara take north and east.^2,5 The two sources give the same groups (chapter 2). Table 3 sets the signs in zodiac order.

The counts follow from the table, by my own arithmetic.⁶ East suits six signs and north suits six. Vṛścika, Dhanus and Makara suit both. Vṛṣabha, Mithuna and Kaṭaka suit neither. East or north therefore suits nine of the twelve signs.

The moon sign is in the birth chart. A pañcāṅga, the Indian almanac, for the day of birth also lists it. The sun sign of a newspaper column is the Sun’s sign and not the Moon’s. The Moon crosses a sign in about two days, so a person born near a change of sign needs the hour of birth.

Table 3 is read on the zodiac that this magazine uses. It is the sidereal zodiac, fixed to the stars by the Raman ayanamsa, the correction that sets it against the seasonal zodiac. A chart cast on another reckoning can place the Moon in the neighbouring sign when it lies near a boundary. Ask the astrologer which reckoning the chart uses.

The statement that east is good for everyone has no support in the sources I cite. No direction is banned, and each sign has two.² A senior member who makes the claim can read the row of each adult in Table 3.

Where the signs of a couple differ and their lists share a direction, the shared direction suits both. North suits a husband of Tulā and a wife of Makara, with west for him and east for her.² Where the lists share none, I read the wife’s sign first. The sources give each spouse a direction and state no order, so this is my reading.² A later article in the series gives every pair.

A face that does not suit the sign fails test 2 for this household only. The same flat can suit a household of another sign. A suitable sign does not mend a door in module 8 or a width that leaves 0.

Test 3: does the tower face true east, or true north?

The ancient masters found the cardinal directions with a Śaṅku, a vertical rod whose shadow gives the true east and west line. They did not use a compass, and their east was the geographical east of the Sun.² Test 3 therefore reads the true bearing of the tower. A magnetic compass points to magnetic north, which differs from true north.

The bearing is the angle at which the face looks, measured clockwise from true north. A face looking due east has bearing 90 degrees.

The allowance of 11 degrees is a practitioner’s tolerance.² One text reads it as the angle between magnetic and true north.³ Another text requires true cardinal directions only.⁵ In my reading a tower passes within 11 degrees of true east, or of true north for a north flat. A stricter reading narrows the band.

Ask for the approved site plan, with its north arrow stated in degrees. A brochure that says “east-facing” gives no bearing. I give no declination for Bengaluru, Hyderabad or Chennai, because none of my sources does.

Beyond 11 degrees the tower is a corner building, or vidiśā building, facing an intermediate direction. The sources differ on the corners. A north-east building is approved in one classical text on building and in some classical works.^2,7 Another source does not recommend any angular orientation.³ A south-east building is called inappropriate.⁷ Plate 1 sets three towers against true east.

Test 4: does the width of the flat give a Yoni that suits its face?

The Yoni is one of six classical calculations on the measures of a dwelling, which together are the Āyādi Ṣaḍvarga. The width in hastas is multiplied by 3 and divided by 8, and the remainder is the Yoni.¹ One classical text on dwellings states that the Yoni is the life and breath of a structure.⁸ Odd remainders are auspicious and even ones are not. If no remainder is left, the breadth must be altered.¹

The auspicious Yoni defines the correct orientation of the building, which is one of the four cardinal directions.¹ A table prints south-east against remainder 3 and north-west against remainder 7.¹ Answers on angular sites read these against the cardinal face, so I take 3 as south and 7 as north. This is my reading of that table.² The mapping is 1 east, 3 south, 5 west and 7 north, as for a plot. Plate 2 shows the seven Yonis and remainder 0.

For a site, the shorter side gives the Yoni, whichever side faces the road.² The measure is the outside of the habitable portion.² The chapter on apartments and multistoried buildings, the answers on flats and two chapters of another source speak of flats.^1,2,3 I find no Yoni measure for a flat in them. In my reading the width of a flat is its shorter outside side. The door wall can be the longer side, and then the two measures differ.

A width passes when it leaves the remainder of the flat’s own face. The text states that the formula can be worked to give Dhvaja, the Yoni of the east, which is acceptable to all orientations.² That passage speaks of an orientation and not of the width of a flat. Read alone, the rule that odd remainders are auspicious passes any odd remainder.¹ In my reading a width passes on its own face’s remainder, or on remainder 1 for any face. Any other remainder fails, so a width of 22½ feet passes a west flat only.

Only 19 of the 55 half-foot widths between 18 and 45 feet are whole hastas. The pattern repeats every 8 hastas, which is 12 feet. I find no reading for a fraction of a hasta, and I give none. A flat 31 feet wide is 20⅔ hastas. Mark such a width “?” and ask which whole hasta the plan intends.

Two flats compared: a worked case

A household whose moon sign is Mithuna must choose between two three-bedroom flats. Both are on the ninth floor of one tower in east Bengaluru. Mithuna suits south and west, and suits neither east nor north (Table 3).

The east flat has 1,440 square feet and carries a PLC of ₹100 a square foot. The west flat has 1,380 square feet and carries none. The floor-rise charge is the same for both, so it drops out. The tower face lies 7 degrees north of east, at bearing 83 degrees. A bearing of 97 degrees, the same offset south of east, would also pass. Table 6 applies the four tests, and Plate 3 draws the flats.

In the plate, the favoured modules are teal, and the failing door and the middle module are crimson.

The east flat fails three tests and passes one. The PLC of ₹1,44,000 pays for a face that fails tests 1, 2 and 4 on my sheet.

The east flat also has a lift to its north-east. Elders in a household are said to be troubled by constant lift movement in that quarter.² This is a consultant’s answer and a transmitted usage, not a verse, and it is not a fifth test.

The west flat passes all four tests. It carries no PLC. In my judgement it is the better buy for this household.

Now change the household to Makara. East suits Makara and west does not, so test 2 reverses. The east flat still fails tests 1 and 4. The west flat now fails test 2 only. Neither flat passes the sheet for this household. It needs an east or north flat that passes tests 1, 3 and 4.

If the flat fails: what can be mended, and what does it mean for price?

Door, width, bearing and sign are fixed once the tower stands. Table 7 sorts the faults of this article into fixed and fixable. The kind of work in the last column is my reading of the sources.

The sources call pyramids, mirrors and yantras aids.^2,5 They do not replace a failed test. A later article in the series sets out the ladder of remedies.

A cheaper south or west flat can be the better buy in one case. It must pass tests 1, 3 and 4 on its own face, and its direction must be on the household’s list in Table 3. A south flat needs a width that leaves remainder 3 or 1. A west flat needs remainder 5 or 1 (Table 5). The lower price is then the absence of a charge for a face that does not suit the household.

No classical work prohibits any cardinal direction.² The idea that a south door is wrong is a fallacy that spreads fast.² A text verdict on a south or west flat is not a market verdict, and I give no market figure.

No text I cite mentions a PLC, a floor-rise charge, a premium, resale or a price. The sum is the rate times the area that the cost sheet multiplies. The sources do not say whether that area is carpet, built-up or super built-up. Table 8 shows the sum at three rates. The rates are mine, chosen to show the arithmetic, and they are not a survey. At ₹100 the east flat of the worked case costs ₹1,44,000 extra.

A fixed fault is a reason to ask for a lower base rate. How much lower is a matter for negotiation, and no text gives an amount. A flat that passes tests 1, 3 and 4 can suit a later household whose sign the face suits. By my own arithmetic that is six signs for an east face and six for a north face.⁶ A buyer who wants a market figure can ask for sales of comparable flats in the same tower. No text I cite prices a floor.

How can a buyer check a seller’s claim?

“Vāstu compliant” is an unverified label until the figures behind it are shown. A label states no bearing, no width and no door position.

The first four lines of Table 1 carry a question each, and each building figure comes from a document the seller holds. The moon sign comes from the birth chart. Three further points complete the check.

1. Ask what “east-facing” means on the cost sheet: the door, the balcony or the main facade. I make no claim about how builders in the three cities define it.
2. If the seller will not give the bearing from the approved site plan, or the dimensioned floor plan, the test stays at “?”. A “?” is not a pass.
3. Work the remainder of the width in front of the seller, as in Table 5. A width that is not a whole number of hastas has no stated reading.

A flat that passes the four tests is not certified as a whole. The tests do not read the project or the land, which a later article in the series covers. They do not weigh the ten points on a flat that the October 2026 article, “Choosing between two apartments”, gives.

Is Dhanatrayodaśī a good day to sign?

By custom, Dhanatrayodaśī is the day of Kṛṣṇa Trayodaśī, the thirteenth lunar day of the dark half, at pradoṣa, the evening period after sunset. Dīpāvalī follows two days later, on Sunday 8 November 2026. Lakṣmī Pūjā falls on Amāvasyā, the new-moon day, at pradoṣa. I computed the dates on the Raman ayanamsa for Bengaluru in Indian Standard Time.⁹ A reader can check them against the magazine’s own pañcāṅga.

The sources cited here give no rule for signing, booking or buying a home on a festival day. The rules in them concern construction, the door frame and entry.^2,5

The sources give months for beginning a build and for entry, Āśvayuja (called Āśvina in Table 9) and Kārtika, and none for signing. The consultation answers name Dr B. V. Raman’s Muhurtha as the reference for the rules of electional astrology.² The sources do not say what that work rules on a purchase.

The sources cited here do not settle whether to sign on Friday 6 November 2026. They neither bar the day nor recommend it. The decision is for the family. A festival date is not a guarantee of any result.

Entry, or Gṛhapraveśa, is the first formal entry of the family into the home. It is a separate choice of time. A later article in the series covers the date of entry.

What will the arithmetic not settle?

Several points carry a working choice of mine or a gap in the sources. Table 10 lists them with the effect of each on a verdict. A choice in the third column is mine and is not a verse.

Sources