What it does
Selects the door direction that opens the fortune of the owner.
Where
Main door
Cautions
Explanation and notes
One opinion: Aries, Leo and Sagittarius take a North-facing house; Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn take South; Gemini, Libra and Aquarius take West; Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces take East. Another opinion gives the South to Cancer, Capricorn and Virgo. Rashi and the full birth chart weigh more than mulank when deciding the door.
The main door is the door of fortune: like the two nostrils it draws nature-given positive energy into the whole house and lets negative energy out. Its two shutters stand for ida and pingala, the two breaths that alternate roughly every hour.
Design the main door like a face: two shutters as the nostrils, two small niches as the eyes, two jharokhas as the ears, an Om or swastik as the tilak, and the threshold and upper frame as the lips. Ancient texts say such decoration multiplies the power of the main door many times.
Divide the 360 degrees around the centre of the house into 32 padas of 11.25 degrees each, one for each of the 32 guardian devtas of the outer ring, named E1 to E8, S1 to S8, W1 to W8 and N1 to N8. The pada in which the main door falls tells its result.
In the East, E3 is the best door with abundant wealth and E4 brings government support and respect, while E5 suits administrators only. E1, E6, E7 and E8 should not hold the main door.
In the South only S4 (Grihakshat) gives happiness, peace, prosperity and business profit. S2, S3, S5, S6, S7 (the debt door) and S8 bring lack of children, servitude, suffering, selfishness, debt and disease.
In the West, W4 (Pushpadant) showers wealth and W5 (Varun) also gives wealth, while W1, W2, W3, W6, W7 and W8 bring short life, overspending, loss of money, government trouble, disease and a destructive mind.
In the North, N3 brings sons and wealth, N4 (Bhallat) is the best of all 32 doors with windfall wealth, and N5 gives wealth with dharma and fame. N1, N2, N6, N7 and N8 bring suffering, enemies, family stress, faults in women and poverty.
Large business doors and shop shutters often span two to four padas. When the favourable pada, for example S4, is fully included and open, the door gives the results of that pada.