' ( "house-lord", an inflected compound of ''vāstos'', the genitive of ''vāstu'' "house", and ''pati'' "lord") is a

Hindu god Hindu deities are the gods and goddesses in Hinduism. Deities in Hinduism are as diverse as its traditions, and a Hindu can choose to be polytheistic, pantheistic, monotheistic, monistic, even agnostic, atheistic, or humanist. Julius J. L ...

that presides over the foundation of a house or homestead, mentioned in

Mandala 7 The seventh Mandala of the Rigveda ("book 7", "RV 7") has 104 hymns. In the Rigveda Anukramani, all hymns in this book are attributed to '' Vashista''. Hymn 32 is additionally credited to Sakti Vashista, and hymns 101-102 (to Parjanya) are add ...

.55 of the

Rigveda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋच्, ऋच्, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canoni ...

. In the Rigveda, Vāstoṣpati is also referred to as ''pṛdāku-sānu'', or 'he whose back is speckled'. As a topic,

Vastuvidya Originating in ancient India, ''Vastu Shastra'' (, ' – literally "science of architecture") is a traditional Hindu system of architecture based on ancient texts that describe principles of design, layout, measurements, ground preparation, ...

, also known as Vāstuśāstra, contains regulations about residential building construction and which sites are chosen for this purpose. The 52nd chapter of the

Bṛhat Saṃhitā ''Bṛhat-saṃhitā'' is a 6th-century Sanskrit-language encyclopedia compiled by Varāhamihira in present-day Ujjain, India. Besides the author's area of expertise— astrology and astronomy—the work contains a wide variety of other topics.Hi ...

is entirely devoted to the topic of Vastuvidya, including the house layout, proportions, orientations of different areas of the house, and how construction varies for queens, kings, officials, people, etc. ''Vāstu'' means the site for building and also the house. Hence ''vāstu pūjā'' means the worship of the site chosen for building a temple or a house. It is treated as a must for safe and sound construction.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vastospati Rigvedic deities