Why did old buildings joined with lime last for thousands of years?
Their mortar was lime (chuna) made by burning limestone, which formed hydrated calcium carbonate and captured the full energy, so many such buildings still stand after thousands of years. Cement replaced it, but its life is only about 75 years and no manufacturer guarantees it beyond 100 years. Lime also absorbs negativity, which is why whole houses were once whitewashed with it.
Related questions
A bone was found on a plot meant for an industry. What must be done before building there?
Removing the bone is not enough; the land needs its rites, just as a house is purified after a death. Do a vastu registry with five coconuts (four corners and the bone spot), remove the affected soil, do agni sanskar with mango wood, ghee and camphor in 16 places and float the ash in flowing water, purify with water and mantra, sprinkle gomutra and plaster with cow dung, put lime and sulphur in the pit, keep a lamp burning there for 24 hours, and mix a little mercury into the soil and the four corners. If the shilanyas had already been done, it is broken and must be redone after purification.
How are male and female bricks identified, and why does it matter?
When struck, one brick gives a khan sound and the other a jhan sound: one is male and the other female, like plus and minus. Bricks and stones laid by joining male with female hold each other and never let go, which is why buildings 2,000 years old still stand as they are.
If only part of a plot is to be built, where are the devtas marked?
If construction covers only part of the plot with space left all around, the 45 devtas are allocated on the whole plot and their places are selected on it.
Is it right to use bricks stamped with a swastik?
No. The swastik and Om are the most sacred symbols, and a swastik generates about 10 lakh bovis of energy; when such bricks end up in toilets and floors, people walk and relieve themselves on it, and the same amount of negative energy is generated in the house, harming all work. In one case a family built a whole house of swastik bricks, and within three months of griha pravesh three members died in an accident and another later died of a heart attack. Recommend plain burnt clay bricks (fly ash bricks are not good either); where swastik bricks are already laid, spray gomutra (cow urine) on them before plastering.
Which bricks should not be used in construction?
Fly ash bricks, the grey, cement-coloured bricks made from ash, which are now widely used, for example throughout a large medical college project of about 1000 flats. They create a large Vastu defect, because Vastu lies in the material as well as in the direction.
Why did builders in earlier times leave the plinth for one season after the garbh vinyas?
After the digging and the garbh vinyas, the plinth beam was raised and then left for one season, about three months. The secret was to let the sun, the moon, the 27 nakshatras and the 9 planets fully work on the land whose devtas had been worshipped, so that the soil became charged and energised before building went on.