The Fire God has described the various characteristics which the homes of the people belonging to the four castes should possess. He has said that the dwelling of the Brahmanas, the Kshatriyas, the Vaishyas and the Shudras should be different from each other. It has been said that a Brahmana should construct his dwelling on a plot of ground composed of white clay, a Kshatriya on a plot consisting of red earth, a Vaishya on a ground of yellow soil, while a Shudra should rear his hut on a ground composed of black clay.
Lord Agni has mentioned that a Bramhana should seek out for his house a site that would smell of clarified butter, a Kshatriya, a plot of ground smelling of blood, a Vaishya a plot of land that would smell of boiled rice, and a Sudras a plot of ground that would have the smell of wine. The plots of land respectively selected by the members of the four social orders should have sweet, pungent, acid and bitter tastes.
According to the Purana the ground should be cleared of all shrubs, under woods, grass and iron and only on such a plot of land should the dwelling house be raised. The Bramhanas should be duly worshipped and propitiated, and the god Brahman should be worshipped within the four chambers at the centre of the dwelling place. The god Aryama is the presiding deity of the chambers situated to the east of the four chambers in the Mandala, the god Vivasvan is the guardian deity of chamber to the south thereof, while the god Mitra is the patron saint of the chamber to their west. The god Mahidhara is to be worshipped in the chamber situate at the north of the latter.
The gods Apas and Vatsa should be worshipped in the chamber to its south-east; and the gods Savitra, Savita, Jaya and Indra should be respectively worshipped in the chambers situated at their west and south-west respectively.
The god Rudra and the presiding spirits of diseases should be worshipped in the chamber at its north-west, the gods Mahendra and the Sun god in the chambers at the east and the angular points beyond the Mandala, while Bhrisha and the god of truth, in the chambers respectively occupying the eastern and the southern sides of the diagram.
Agni Purana narrates that a brick or a stone slab should be buried in the ground by way of laying down the foundation of the building to be subsequently raised, and a prayer should be recited. It has been said that the master of a house on entering a new house should lay a brick or stone slab. A Plaksha tree, planted and grown on the north of a building brings good luck to its master, whereas a Vata tree on its east, an Oudumvara on its south, and an Ashvatha on its west, are possessed of similar virtues.
Lord Agni states in the Purana that the garden should be laid out on the left hand side of a dwelling house, and trees planted therein should be watered morning and evening during the summer months, on each alternate day during the winter, and each night during the rains, whenever the soil would be perched or excessively dry. Ordinarily the trees should be sprinkled with cold water, containing a solution of Vidanga and clarified butter. A solution of the pulverised Kulattha, Masha, Mudga, sessamum or barley arid cold water saturated with clarified butter, should be sprinkled over a barren tree, to make it laden with fruits and flowers. Trees watered with the washings of fish, soon grow to a large size. A mango tree should be watered with the washings of fish, and an Ashoka Tree would profusely bloom if touched by a beautiful damsel with her leg. Ordinary salt is the best manure for date palms, and coconut trees while manure composed of powdered Vidanga and the washings of meat or fish, suit all trees exceedingly well.
