Historical documents on the East Javanese period and beyond reveal the idea of a group of Hinduistic cosmic deities guarding particular astral quarters. These concepts of "directional deities" are embodied in the Sivaistic candis of the Central and East Javanese periods and houseyards in Bali. The genesis of the Hinduistic world guardians of ancient Java is now considered as follows: two different forms of the God Siva, guarding the East and the West, were added to the group of three deities that comprised Siva (center), Visnu (North), and Brahma (South). The resulting group of five deities was then further developed into a group of nine when four other forms of Siva, each of them in charge of one intermediate direction, were added. The group of nine deities thus represented the guardians of the center and the eight directions; later, this concept developed into the Balinese nawa-sanga svstem.
