Vastu Purusha Mandala : A human ecological framework for
designing living environments Venugopal, Jayadevi (2012) Vastu
Purusha Mandala : A human ecological framework for designing
living environments. In Prabhakara, R, Bhashyam, Aravind,
Chandra, B S Jagadeesha, & Jetty, Chandran Rekha (Eds.) Advances
in Architecture and Civil engineering, Bonfring, Bangalore,
India, pp. 870-877. This paper aims to present ‘vastu purusha
mandala’(VPM), a symbolic diagram used in the indigenous system
of Indian architecture as a human ecologic frame work for
designing living environments. The article begins with an
attempt to provide a working definition for the ‘living
environment’ based on the theories developed by Rapoport (2005)
and Lawrence (2001). It then discusses the symbolism and the
human ecologic significance of VPM. This is substantiated
through the works of Kramrisch (1976), Moore (1989), Shukla
(1996) and Chakrabarthi (1998). Some recent papers on Vastu
Shastra are also examined. Furthermore, VPM is compared wit