Chapter XIX. Devayajna

Volume II: Part II pp. 705–740

Chapter XIX. Devayajna

Devayajña :—As stated in the Tai. Ar. quoted above ( p. 696 ) the Devayajña was performed by offering fuel sticks into fire. According to the Āp. Dh. S. I. 4. 13. 1, Bauḍ ¹ Dh. S. II. 6. 4 and Gaut. V. 8-9, the Devayajña consisted in offering into fire offerings ( of food or at least a fuel stick ) with ‘svāhā’ uttered after the name of the deities in the dative case. Manu also (III. 70 ) looks upon homa as devayajña. The devatās to whom homa or devayajña was offered are different according to different gṛhya or dharma sūtraṣ For example, Āśv. gṛ. ( I. 2. 2 ) says that ‘ they are the deities of the Agnihotra ( i. e. Sūrya or Agni, and Prajāpati ), Soma Vanaspati, Agni and Soma, Indra and Agni, Heaven and earth, Dhanvantari, Indra, the Viśve Devas, Brahman’. According to Gaut. they are Agni, Dhanvantari, Viśve Devas, Prajāpati, Agni Sviṣṭakṛt. Vide Mānava-gṛhya II. 12. 2 where the deities are different from those in Āśv. gṛ. and Gaut. In later smṛtis a distinction is made between homa ( or devayajña ) and devapūjā. Yāj. in I. 100 speaks of the worship of gods immediately after tarpaṇa and then in I. 102 includes homa among the five yajñaṣ Manu II. 176 also makes this distinctioṇ Medieval writers came to look upon Vaiśvadeva as the devayajña, while others held that homa to gods was different from Vaiśvadeva. Vide Haradatta ² on Āp. Dh. S. I. 4. 13. 1. According to Marīci and Hārīta quoted in the Smṛtimuktāphala ( āhnika p. 383 ) devapūjā is performed after the morning homa or after brahmayajña and tarpaṇa ³ in the nooṇ In medieval and modern times the ancient idea of homa receded far into the back-ground and its place was taken by an elaborated procedure of devapūjā (worship of images kept in the house). Some space must be devoted to the origin and develop-ment of this phase of religious practice.

It is extremely doubtful whether images were generally worshipped in the ancient Vedic timeṣ In the Ṛgveda and the other Vedas, there is worship of Agni, the Sun, Varuṇa and various other deities; but they were worshipped in the abstract, as powers and manifestations of the one Divine Person or as separate deities or functions behind natural phenomena or cosmic processeṣ There are no doubt passages where the deities of the Ṛgveda are spoken of as possessed of bodily attributeṣ A few verses may be cited in this connectioṇ Indra is described in Ṛg. VIII. 17. 8 as 'tuvigrīva' (with a powerful or thick neck) and 'vapodara' (having big or capacious belly) and 'subāhu' (having well-shaped arms). Ṛg. VIII. 17. 5 speaks of the limbs and sides of Indra and prays Indra to taste honey with his tongue. In Ṛg. X. 96. 8 Indra is spoken as having dark green (hari) hair and beard and in X. 105.7 again it is said that the hair on his chin are dark-green and his chin is never injured (in battle).⁴ In Ṛg. II. 33. 5 Rudra is said to be 'ṛdūdara' (whose abdomen is soft), 'babhrū' (of brown colour) and 'suśipra' (with a fine chin or nose). The Vāj. S. 16. 7 speaks of Rudra as having a dark-blue throat and red (complexion) and 16. 51 says he wears a skin (kṛtti). In Ṛg. I. 155. 6 Viṣṇu is said to approach a battle with his huge body and as a youth ('bṛhac-charīra' and 'yuvā'). In Ṛg. III. 53. 6 Indra is asked to go home at once after drinking Somas, as he has a charming wife and delightful house. In Ṛg. X. 26.7 god Pūṣan is said to shake his bearḍ In Ṛg. IV. 53.2 Savitṛ is said to put on a yellowish drāpi (armour) and in Ṛg. I. 25. 13 Varuṇa is said to wear a golden drāpi. It is not necessary to multiply exampleṣ It is possible to argue that all these descriptions are poetic and metaphoric. But there are two passages of the Ṛgveda that cause much more difficulty than the above. Ṛg. IV. 24. 10 asks 'who will⁵ purchase this my Indra for ten cows and might return it after he ( Indra ) has killed enemies' ? Rg. VIII. 1. 5 says 'O Indra ! I shall not give thee for even a great price, not even for a hundred, a thou-sand or an ayuta ( ten thousand )'. It may be argued that here there is a reference to an image of Indra. But this is not convincing. It is equally possible to hold that these are hyperbolic or boastful statements of the great devotion of the worshipper to Indra and that there is no reference to an image of Indra. If we look at the Vedic cult described in the brāhmaṇas where sacri-fices of butter, cakes and boiled rice or other grain are offered to several deities in the fire, or animal and soma sacrifices are described at great length, it is clear that the ancient sages hardly ever thought of the worship of idols, but of deities in the abstract to whom they ascribed different functions and poetically represented them as being endowed like human beings with hands and feet and other limbṣ It cannot be denied that here and there occur a few passages that suggest images as objects of worship. For example, in the Tai. Br. II. 6. 17 occurs the passage 'may the hotṛ priest worship the three goddesses, that are golden, that are endowed with beauty ( or ornaments ) that are great ones'&c. It looks as if golden images of the three goddesses are meant.⁶ One can say without much fear of contradiction that the religious practices among the higher strata of the Vedic Aryans did not include the worship of images in the house or in templeṣ But we have hardly any literary materials for judging what the religious practices of the lower or ignorant masses of Vedic India were. In Rg. VII. 21. 5 Vasiṣṭha prays to Indra 'may the śiśna-devas not overwhelm our ṛta ( religious order or practices ); similarly in Rg. X. 99. 3 the prayer is 'may he ( Indra ) striking ( or killing ) the śiśnadevas overcome them by his form or power'. Scholars are sharply divided in opinion about the meaning of the word⁷ 'śiśnadevā'. Some hold that it denotes people who were worshippers of the phallus ( vide Vedic Index, vol. II. p. 382 ). Others hold that the word is used in a secondary or metaphorical sense for those who are immersed in sexual gratification and do not recognize anything else (as worthy of pursuit ). Yāska in his Nirukta (IV. 19) quotes Rg. VII. 21. 5 and explains that the word means 'those who do not observe rules of brahmacarya (celibacy)'. The preponderance of authority and evidence is in favour of the second view. In Rg. VII. 104. 14(=Atharva VIII. 4. 14), the poet pleads 'if I be addicted to falsehood, O fire, or if I call upon the gods in vain (then you may injure me), but (not being so) why are you angry with me? May those whose speech is false incur slaughter at your hands'. Here 'anṛta-devāḥ' is practi- cally the same as 'drogha-vācaḥ' in the fourth pāda. In the Tai. Up. I. 11. 2 we have the words 'mātṛdevo bhava, pitṛdevo bhava', where all that is meant is that 'one should be devoted to the parents'. Therefore 'śiśna-deva' could hardly mean 'those who worship phallus as god'. In Rg.⁸ X. 87. 2 Agni is invoked as follows 'with thy tongue reach the mūradevas, in thy mouth envelope the eaters of raw flesh after cutting them into bits' and in Rg. VII. 104. 24 Indra is called upon to kill male and female yātudhānas (evil spirits or sorcerers) and it is added 'may the mūradevas perish bereft of their necks and may they not see the sun rising up from the horizon'. Yāska in commenting on Rg. X. 4. 4 explains 'mūra' as 'mūḍha' (stupid)⁹. It is possible to take 'mūra' as meaning 'mortal', or 'perishable' (since the root 'mṛ' assumes the form 'muriya' as in Rg. VII. 104. 15). From the above quotations it is clear that the Ṛgvedic poets knew of low people who practised witchcraft, who were mūradevas (i. e. either worshipped perishable objects or were stupid in their cult) and who were the enemies of the Aryanṣ There are also clear references to enemies who did not look upon Indra as God (Rg. X. 27. 6, X. 48. 7, X. 86. 1).

Phallic emblems have been found in the ancient ruins at Mohenjo-daro (vide Sir John Marshall's work, vol. I. pp. 58-63). Except these finds the earliest known liṅgas so far discovered do not go beyond the first century B. C. But centuries before Christ the worship of images had become widespread in India. According to Haradatta on Āp. gr. 20. 1-3, where the offerings to Īśāna, his consort and his son ‘Jayanta’ (the conqueror Skanda) are described, images of these three are worshippeḍ The Mānava-gṛhya ¹⁰ II. 15. 6 prescribes that if an image (of wood, stone or metal) were to be burnt down or to become reduced to powder (of itself) or falls (from its pedestal) or breaks into pieces, or laughs, or moves to another place, the householder (in whose house it had been established) should offer ten oblations into fire with certain Vedic verseṣ In the Bauḍ gr. II. 2. 13 when describing the ceremony of Upaniṣkramaṇa (taking the infant child out of the house for the first time) it is said that the father after performing homa goes out of the house, worships the images outside (the house), feeds the brāhmaṇas, makes them pronounce benedictions and then brings back to the house the infant. ¹¹ The Laugākṣi gṛhya (18. 3) speaks of devatāyatana (a temple). Gaut. (IX. 13-14) forbids a man from answering calls of nature in front of images or from stretching one’s feet towards them and (IX. 66) requires a man to circumambulate a temple (devatāyatana) that he may meet on his way. The Sāṇ gr. IV. 12. 15 does the same and uses the same word (S. B. E. vol. 29, p. 125) and in II. 6. mentions a deva-kula (god’s house). Āp. Dh. S. (I. 11. 30. 28) has a similar rule. Manu (II. 176) directs the brahmacārin to worship images, requires a person to circumambulate images that he may meet with when on a journey (IV. 39), not to cross the shadow of images (IV. 130) and ordains that witnesses be sworn in the presence of the images of gods and brāhmaṇas (VIII. 87). Vide also Manu III. 117 and IX. 285. The Viṣṇu Dh. S. (23. 34, 63. 27) mentions the images of gods (devatārcā) and speaks of the worship of Bhagavat Vāsudeva as an image. In Vasiṣṭha XI. 31, Viṣṇu Dh. S. 69. 7, 30. 15, 70 13, 91. 10 the word ‘deva-tāyatana’ or ‘devāyatana’ occurṣ Unfortunately the dates of all these works are far from being certaiṇ But no scholar will assign the Mānava, Baudhāyana and Śāṅkhyāyana gṛhyasūtras and the dharmasūtras of Gautama and Āpastamba to a later date than the 5th or 4th century B. C. Pāṇini, whom no scholar will place later than 300 B. C. (though there are some who place him several centuries earlier), teaches ¹² that an image by attending on which a person maintains himself and which is not for sale has the same name as the god whose image it is e. g. an image is called Śiva or Skanda when the worshipper makes his livelihood by attending on the image of Śiva or Skanda (and appropriating the offerings placed before the image) which is not for sale. Pāṇini also teaches (IV. 3. 98) that 'Vāsudevaka' is a person who is a votary of Vāsudeva and Patañjali expressly says that Vāsudeva was not a mere kṣatriya, but that the word is the name of Goḍ Patañjali comments on the former sūtra and vouchsafes the very interesting information that the Mauryas who were greedy of gold established or manufactured images, to which this rule would not apply, but it would apply to the images of gods that were in Patañjali's day used for pūjā (worship). According to Patañjali the images manufactured by the Mauryas would be called Śivaka &c. Patañjali, while commenting on Pāṇini IV. 1. 54, gives as examples an image with a long or high nose. The Ādiparva 70. 49, Anuśāsana 10. 20–21, Aśvamedhika 70. 16 speak of devatāyatanas (temples) and Bhīṣma 112. 11 in speaking of terrible portents refers to images in temples trembling and shedding tearṣ Khāravela, king of Kalinga (latter half of 2nd century B. C.) is said to have re-established an image of Jina carried away by Nandarāja and he is described as 'sarva-devāyatana-saṅkhāra-kāraka' (one who looked after the preservation and repair of all temples). In Kauṭilya's Arthaśāstra II. 4 (variously assigned to different dates from 300 B. C. to 250 A. D.) it is stated that in the centre of the capital shrines of Aparājita, Apratihata, Jayanta, Vaijayanta and temples of Śiva, Aśvins, Vaiśravaṇa, Lakṣmī and of Madirā (wine?) should be erecteḍ It follows from the above discussion that long before Pāṇini there had arisen professional men who made their livelihood by attending on images and that temples of deities must have existed even in the 4th or 5th century B. C. The question whether the worship of images and the erection of temples spontaneously arose among the Vedic Aryans or whether they derived the idea from some other race or sectarians has been very often discusseḍ There are three principal views, viz. (1) that the worship of images was derived from śūdras and Dravidian tribes and absorbed in the brahmā- nical cult; (2) that the making of images was copied from the Buddhists; (3) that this practice was a natural and spontaneous growth. The second view is not very plausible. Images of Buddha were not made for a long time after his nirvāṇa. He was only represented at first by symbolṣ If modern chrono- logy about Buddha’s ministry is to be followed ¹³ (he was born about 563 B. C. and died about 483 B. C.), it is almost impossible to hold that images of gods originally came to be made in imitation of images or statues of Buddha, since, as we saw above, temples and images of gods had already become widespread throughout India in the 4th or 5th century B. C. ¹⁴ The first view is supported with arguments of some weight by Dr. Farquhar in J. R. A. S. for 1928 pp. 15–23. Vide also Dr. Charpentier in Indian Antiquary for 1927 pp. 89 ff. and 130 ff. But I do not hold that the reasons for this view are convincing. There is no apparent reason why only about 400 B. C. image worship should have been copied from the śūdras by the brāhmaṇaṣ The śūdra though given an inferior status had be- come a part of Indian Society at least a thousand years before 400 B. C., as the Puruṣasūkta showṣ He had been serving the brāhmaṇas for centuries before that date and brāhmaṇas could in the times of the sūtras partake of food cooked by him and could take śūdra women in marriage. So, if the worship of images was a practice borrowed from the śūdras, it should have prevailed at least a thousand years before 400 B. C. The fact that the devalaka brāhmaṇa (one who maintained himself by attending on images either for a salary or by appropriating what was placed before the image) was not to be invited at a śrāddha and had thus an inferior status (Manu III. 152) is to be explained in a different way. The institution of worshippers of images had not an hoary antiquity behind it in the time of Manu, as that of priests officiating at the śrauta or gṛhya sacrifices had in his day; besides such men neg-lected the principal duty of a brāhmaṇa (viz. study of the Veda) and so they were looked down upoṇ Even in the times of the Brāhmaṇas the simple gṛhya sacrifices were being raised to the level of śrauta rites, which were gradually becoming less and less frequent. The Ait. Br. (11. 8) prescribes that when a man takes up an offering to a deity and is about to say ‘vaṣaț’ he should contemplate upon that deity for whom the offering is meant.¹⁵ This would naturally lead the worshipper to invest the deity with anthropomorphic attributeṣ The Nirukta devotes some space (VII. 6–7) to the consideration of the question of the form of the deities referred to in the Vedic mantraṣ¹⁶ Three views are propounded, viz. (1) they have an anthropomorphic form, (2) they have no anthropomorphic form, (3) they may par-take of both characters, i. e. the deities though really non-anthropomorphic may assume various forms for carrying out some purpose or activity. This last view contains the doctrine of avatāraṣ When Vedic sacrifices became less and less prevalent owing to various causes (particularly because of the doctrine of ahiṁsā, the various upāsanās and the philosophy of the Absolute set forth in the Upaniṣads), there arose the cult of the worship of imageṣ Originally, it was not so universal or elaborate as it became in medieval and modern timeṣ

The literature on the subject of image-worship is vast. The principal topics are: the substances from which images are made, the principal deities of which images were or are worshipped, the proportions of the various limbs in manufacturing images, the consecration of images and temples, the ritual of image worship. The subject of consecration of images and temples will be dealt with later on under the topic of Pratiṣṭhā.

In the Bṛhat-saṃhitā of Varāhamihira (chap. 58, where images of Rāma, of Viṣṇu with eight or four or two arms, of Baladeva, Ekānaṁśā, Śaṁba, Brahmā, Skanda, Śiva, Girijā as half of Śiva’s body, Buddha, Jina, the Sun, the Mātṛs, Yama, Varuṇa, Kubera are described); in the Matsyapurāṇa chap. Ch. XIX ] 258-264; in the Agnipurāṇa chap. 44-53, the Viṣṇudharmottara varga-cintāmaṇi of Hemādri (Vratakhaṇḍa vol. II part 1, pp. 76-222), in several āgama works, in the Devatāmūrti-prakaraṇa of sūtradhāra Maṇḍana of the 15th century (eḍ by Upendra Mohan Sāṅkhyatīrtha, Calcutta, 1936) and similar works elaborate rules are given on pratimālakṣaṇa (the characteristics of the images of gods and goddesses). They cannot be dealt with here. In modern times many works and papers, several of them illustrated with plates and photographs, have been pub- lished on this subject.¹⁷

Medieval digests like the Sṃ C., the Smṛtimuktāphala, the Pūjā-prakāśa devote considerable space to the subject of deva- pūjā (image-worship) in its various aspects, the last work containing 382 pages in print on this subject. A very concise statement of only a few topics is attempted below. The word 'devapūjā'¹⁸ occurs in the Vārtika on Pāṇini I. 3. 25. The digests try to show that, just as yāga (sacrifice) consists in giving up materials accompanied by a mantra with reference to a deity that is then principally in view, so pūjā also is yāga, as therein also there is giving up (or dedication) of materials to a deity.¹⁹

The next question is; who are entitled to perform devapūjā. Men and women of all varṇas and even the untouchables were to worship Viṣṇu who incarnated himself as man-lion, according to the Nṛsiṁhapurāṇa and Vṛddha-Hārīta²⁰ (VI. 6 and 256). All the male members of a joint undivided family are to perform separately saṁdhyā, brahmayajña and agnihotra (if they have consecrated the śrauta and gṛhya fires) but devapūjā and vaiśvadeva will be only one for the whole family.²¹ The time for devapūjā is after tarpaṇa at noon and before vaiśvadeva; but some place it after vaiśvadeva. According to Dakṣa II. 30-31 all devakārya (duties and ceremonies in honour of gods) must be performed in the first half of the day.

One of the peculiar tenets of Hinduism is adhikāra-bheda (difference in rights, duties, ceremonies and worship dependent on difference in intellectual, emotional and spiritual equipment). Not every one was capable of the same discipline and regimeṇ Image worship was not absolutely necessary for everybody and the ancient writers never thought that when they worshipped an image they were simply paying homage to a material object. They believed that they contemplated the One Supreme Spirit in the form of the image or symbol before them, which helped ordinary people to concentrate their mind on the Godhead to the exclusion of other external and engrossing objects and pursuitṣ According²² to Nārada, the Bhāgavata-purāṇa XI. 27. 9 and Vṛddha-Hārita ( VI. 128-129 ) Hari is to be worshipped in water, in fire, in the heart, in the sun, on the altar, in brāhmaṇas and in imageṣ Sātātapa²³ says ‘the gods of ordinary men are in water, those of the knowing are in heaven, of the ignorant and of those of small intelligence are in wood and clay (i. e. images) and of the yogin in his own self (or heart)’. God is worshipped in fire by throwing oblations, in water by throwing flowers, in the heart by contemplation and in the orb of the sun by japa.

The materials out of which images are to be made are precious stones, gold, silver, copper, brass, iron, stone, wood or clay. One made of precious stones was the best and the most inferior was that made of clay. The Bhāgavata-purāṇa (XI. 27. 12) says that images are eight-fold viz. made of stone, wood, iron, sandal-wood or similar paste, drawn (as a picture), made of sand, of precious stones and lastly mental²⁴. The Matsya-purāṇa (258. 20-21) adds ‘lead and bronze’ to the above eight of the Skanda. Vide also Vṛddha-Hārita VIII. 120. Among stones the Śālagrāma stone (a black stone containing fossil ammonite found in the Gaṇḍakī river near a village called Śālagrāma) and the stone from Dvārakā marked with a cakra (discus) are highly prized in the worship of Viṣṇu. Vṛddha-Hārita (VIII. 183-189) highly extols Śālagrāma-pūjā. It is stated by Vṛddha-Hārita that only dvijas can worship Śālagrāma and not śūdraṣ According to several purāṇa passages quoted in the Pūjāprakāśa (pp. 20-21) even women and śūdras can perform the worship of Śalagrāma²⁵, but they should not touch it. Similarly they are not to worship liṅgas established in the past by sages &c. This worship of Śalagrāma is comparatively ancient. Śaṁkarācārya in his commentary on the Vedāntasūtra speaks in several places of Śalagrāma²⁶ being worshipped as a symbol of Hari. Five kinds of stones were used in worship, viz. Bāṇa-liṅgas from Narmadā in Śiva worship, Śalagrāma in Viṣṇu worship, metallic stone in Durgā worship, crystal for sun-worship and red stone in Gaṇeśa worship. The Rājataraṅgiṇī (II. 131 and VII. 185) refers to the establishment of Bāṇaliṅgas²⁷ of Śiva in Kashmir taken from the Narmadā. About the images to be worshipped in the house it is stated in the Matsyapurāṇa (258. 22) that they should be in size as big as a part of the thumb up to 12 aṅgulas and not more; but an image to be established in a temple should be up to sixteen aṅgulas and not more or its proper height should be arrived at as follows: divide the height of the door into eight parts; taking seven parts divide them into one-third and two-thirds; the pedestal of the image should be one-third and the image should be two-thirds of the seven parts (i. e. ³⁵⁄₂₄ of seven-eighths of the height of the door). Vide Matsyapurāṇa 258. 23-25.

Among the gods popularly worshipped the principal ones are Viṣṇu under various names and in various avatāras, Śiva in his various forms, Durgā, Gaṇeśa and the Suṇ²⁹ The worship of these deities (called pañcāyatanapūjā) is said to have been popularised by the great Śaṁkarācārya. In modern times these five devatās are still worshipped, but they are differently arranged according as the worshipper places one or other of the five in the centre. The following diagram will show the five positions :

East

North Viṣṇupañcā-yatana: Saṁka-Gaṇeśa ra 2 3 Viṣṇu 1 Devī Sūrya 5 4 Śivapañcā-yatana: Viṣṇu Sūrya 2 3 Śaṁkara 1 Devī Gaṇeśa 5 4 Sūrya-pañcā-yatana: Saṁka-Gaṇeśa ra 2 3 Sūrya 1 Devī Viṣṇu 5 4 Devī-pañcā-yatana: Viṣṇu Saṁka- 2 ra 3 Devī 1 Sūrya Gaṇeśa 5 4 Gaṇeśa-pañcāyatana: Viṣṇu Saṁka- 2 ra 3 Gaṇeśa 1 Devī Sūrya 5 4

West

In medieval and modern times Viṣṇu has been deemed to have descended to earth ten times to preserve the world and its culture. A brief account of the development of this theory will not be out of place here. The ten well-known avatāras are Matsya ( fish ), Kūrma ( tortoise ), Varāha ( boar ), Narasiṁha (man-lion), Vāmana (dwarf), Paraśurāma, Rāma, Kṛṣṇa, Buddha and Kalkiṇ There are faint glimmerings of the theory of avatāras and of these forms even in the earliest Vedic Literature. In Rg. VIII. 17. 13²⁹ it is said that Indra was the grandson of the sage Śṛṅgavṛṣa. This may be interpreted as meaning that Indra was supposed to have descended on the earth in a human forṃ In Rg. IV. 26. 1 the sage Vāmadeva exclaims³⁰ ‘I was Manu and I was also the Sun’. This is referred to in the Bṛ. Up. I. 4. 10 and is often relied upon in support of the doctrine of the transmigration of soulṣ It may be capable of that interpretation, but if that is not accepted it will at least tend to support the proposition that the Vedic sage thought that the Sun could be born on the earth as a human being (i. e. there was an avatāra of the Sun). There is another sense in which this passage of the Ṛg and that of the Bṛ. Up. are understood in the Vedāntasūtra I. 1. 30 viz. that Vāmadeva had realized that his soul was non-different from the Supreme Soul, Brahma. The elements of the avatāra of Matsya are probably suggested by the story of Manu who was saved from a flood by a great horned fish to whose horn Manu tied the rope of his ship when the flood rose. Vide Śat. Bṛ. I. 8. 1. 1-6 (S. B. E. vol, 12, pp. 216-218).³¹ The tortoise avatāra was probably suggested by the legend that Prajāpati having assumed the form of a tortoise created living beings and that as the words kūrma (tortoise) and kaśyapa mean the same object all creatures are said to be descended from (or to belong to) Kaśyapa (Śat. Bṛ. VII. 5. 1. 5, S. B. E. vol. 41, p. 390 ).³² The peculiar exploit of the Boar incarnation, viz. raising up the earth from the bottom of the ocean, is alluded to in the Śat. Br. XIV. 1. 2. 11 (S. B. E. vol. 44, p. 451) ‘a boar called Emūṣa raised the earth up and he was her lord Prajāpati.’³³ In the Ṛg. Viṣṇu is said to have pierced Varāha (I. 61. 7) and that he being incited by Indra brings to the worshipper a hundred buffaloes, rice cooked in milk, and the boar (called) Emūṣa (VIII. 77. 10). The Tai. Ār. X. 1 refers to this myth. In the Kāṭhaka S. VIII. 2 Prajāpati is said to have become a boar and plunged in water. Vide also Tai. S. VII. 1. 5. 1 and Tai. Br. I. 1. 3. Some elements of the story of the destruction of Hiraṇyakaśipu by Viṣṇu in the man-lion form are supplied by the story of the slaughter of the demon Namuci by Indra at dawn with the foam of waters, since Indra had agreed with Namuci that ‘he would not slay him by day or by night, with the dry or moist or with the palm or with the fist, or with staff or bow &c. ( Śat. Br. XII. 7. 3. 1-4, S. B. E. vol. 44, pp. 222-223 ). Śat. Br. XII. 7. 3. 4 quotes Rg. VIII. 14. 13 which narrates that Indra cut off the head of Namuci with the foam of waterṣ³⁴ In the ancient Tamil work Silappadikāram (translated by Prof. V. R. Dikṣitar) there is a reference to the Narasimha avatāra. The special achievement of the dwarf incarnation, viz. the request of the dwarf for as much space as would be covered by his three steps, has its counter-part in the Ṛgveda, where the principal exploits of Viṣṇu are the taking of three steps and making the earth steady or fast.³⁶ Vide Śat. Br. I. 2. 5. 1 for the Dwarf incarnatioṇ In the Chāndogya Up. III. 17. 6 it is stated that the sage Ghora Āṅgirasa imparted a certain instruction to Kṛṣṇa, the son of Devakī.³⁷ This may have supplied some part of the legends about Kṛṣṇa in the Great Epic and the Purāṇaṣ

We saw above that according to Patañjali Vāsudeva was not a mere kṣatriya but an incarnation of Goḍ Patañjali quotes a quarter of a verse which speaks of Kaṁsa being killed by Vāsudeva and refers to painted shows wherein the party of Vāsudeva were dressed in black and of Kaṁsa in red (vide Mahābhāṣya, vol. II. p. 36 and p. 119). Patañjali also speaks of Ugrasena as a member of the Andhaka clan and Viṣvaksena as a Vṛṣṇi and of Baladeva also (Mahābhāṣya, vol. II. p. 257 on Pāṇini IV. 1. 114) and of Satyabhāmā (vol. I. p. 111) and Akrūra (vol. II. p. 295). So the main story of Kṛṣṇa and persons connected with his ministry on earth as gathered from the Mahābhārata, the Harivaṁśa &c. were known to Patañjali and to some extent also to Pāṇini. The Besnagara Inscription of Heliodorus (E. I. vol. X. Appendix p. 63 No. 669 ) shows that even Greeks became devotees of Viṣṇu. The Eran Stone Inscription (vide Gupta Inscriptions p. 158 No. 36) refers to the Boar Incarnatioṇ The Bhāgavatapurāṇa II. 4. 18 declares that even Kirātas, Hūṇas, Andhras, Pulindas, Pukkasas, Abhiras, Suhmās, Yāvanas, Khasas and others and even sinners, when they throw themselves on the mercy of Viṣṇu as devotees, are purifieḍ It may therefore be assumed that the theory of the avatāras of Viṣṇu (whether ten or less or more) had been prevalent some centuries before the Christian era.

In the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa it is frequently stated that God comes down to earth often for punishing the wicked, for the protection of the good and the establish-ment of dharma.³⁸ In the Śāntiparva (339. 103-104) the avatāras are stated to be ten and they are the same as now accepted except that Haṃsa is mentioned instead of Buddha and Kṛṣṇa is called Sātvata. Among the Purāṇas also several do not mention Buddha as an avatāra. The Mārkaṇḍeya (47. 7) speaks of Matsya, Kūrma and Varāha incarnations and in 4. 53-56 begins with Varāha and mentions Nṛsiṃha, Vāmana and Māthura (i. e. Kṛṣṇa). The Matsya (47. 39-45) speaks of 12 avatāras, some of which are different from the usual ones and verse 106 states that Bhṛgu cursed Viṣṇu to be born as a human being seven times, as he killed a woman, viz. his wife. The Matsya-purāṇa (chap. 285. 6-7) mentions the well-known ten avatāras including Buddha and this passage is quoted by Aparārka on p. 338. The Matsya-purāṇa 47. 247 speaks of Buddha as the 9th (avatāra). The Nṛsiṃha-purāṇa chap. 36, the Agni-purāṇa chap. 2 to 16 and the Varāha-purāṇa 4. 2 enumerate the well-known ten avatāraṣ The Vṛddha-Hārīta smṛti³⁹ (X. 145-146) enumerates ten avatāras, includes Hayagrīva in them (in place of Buddha) and expressly says that Buddha should not be worshippeḍ In the Rāmāyaṇa (Ayodhyā- kāṇḍa 109. 34) Buddha is reviled as a thief and an atheist.¹⁷²³ This passage may be an interpolatioṇ In the Bhāgavatapurāṇa there are three different lists of avatāras at I. 3 (where 22 avatāras occur in which Buddha, Kalkin, Vyāsa, Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa are separately enumerated), II. 7 (where besides the well-known avatāras, Kapila, Dattātreya and others are mentioned), and at VI. 8 Buddha and Kalkin are both mentioned in verse 17.¹⁷²⁴ The Kṛtyaratnākara ( pp. 159-160 ) quotes a passage from the Brahmapurāṇa about a vrata on the 7th of the bright half of Vaiśākha where it is stated that Viṣṇu as Buddha started the Śākya dharma and that on the 7th day of Vaiśākha when the moon is in conjunction with the Puṣya constellation, the image of Buddha should be bathed to the accompaniment of sayings of the Śākya and gifts of garments should be made to Śākya asceticṣ The same work ( pp. 247-248 ) quotes a passage of the Varāhapurāṇa on the observances of Buddha-dvādaśī, when a golden image of Buddha was to be worshipped and given to a brāhmaṇa. In memoir No. 26 of the Archæological Survey of India, it is stated ( p. 5 ) that in an inscription from South India of about the 7th century A. D. occurs a verse in a mutilated form in which Buddha is enume- rated among the ten avatāras ( ...narasimḥotha Vāmanāḥ Rāmo Rāmaśca Kṛṣṇaśca Buddhaḥ Kalkī ca te daśa ).¹⁷²⁵ From the above discussion it follows that Buddha became in popular view an avatāra of Viṣṇu for the Hindus from about the 7th century A. D. Even about that time he was not universally so treated and orthodox writers like Kumārila ( who flourished somewhere about 650 to 750 A. D. ) did not admit that he was an avatāra. In his Tantravārtika ( p. 195 on Jaimini I. 3. 4 ) Kumārilabhaṭṭa says that the Śākya texts were promulgated by Buddha and others that had strayed from the path of the three Vedas and that acted contrary to the Vedas and asks 1786 the question "what assurance is there that one, who, himself being a kṣatriya, trans-gressed the dharma laid down for kṣatriyas and betook himself to the profession of a religious teacher and accepted gifts, would impart instruction in dharma that would not lead to confusion? It has been said ‘one should leave at a distance a person who does acts contrary to the other worlḍ How can one who deceives himself confer benefit on another’"? The Bṛhatsaṁhitā of Varāhamihira (60. 19) states the persons who are to hold the office of worshipper in the temples of several deities, viz. the Bhāgavatas for Viṣṇu, the Magas (śākadvīpiya brāhmaṇas) in temples of the sun, dvijas smeared with ashes in Śiva temples, those who know the group of mātṛs in the temples of the Mother Goddesses, brāhmaṇas in the temples of Brahmā, Buddhists in the temples of Buddha who was good to all and whose mind was full of peace, naked ascetics in the temples of Jinas; who-ever is a devotee of a particular god should worship that god according to the procedure prescribed in his own cult.¹⁷²⁷ Kṣemendra (about 1066 A. D.) in his Daśāvatāra-carita and the Gitagovinda of Jayadeva (about 1180-1200 A. D.) speak of Buddha as an avatāra of Viṣṇu. Therefore at least before or about the 10th century A. D. Buddha had come to be looked upon as an avatāra of Viṣṇu throughout India.⁴⁶ The total disappearance of Buddhism from India, the land of its birth, is a most striking phenomenon, which as stated by A. Schweitzer in ‘Indian thought and its development’ (tr. by Mrṣ C. E. B. Russell, 1935) p. 137, cannot be satisfactorily explaineḍ Though Buddha did not accept the authority of the Vedas and of brāhmaṇas, nor the existence of an individual soul nor the Supreme Soul, he believed in karma and punarjanma and in release from saṁsāra by renunciation and desirelessnesṣ When his followers deified Buddha, when animal sacrifices had been almost stopped and his insistence on universal charity and kindliness and on self-restraint were universally accepted by the followers of the Vedic religion, Buddha came to be deemed an avatāra of Viṣṇu, as the raison d'être for a separate cult ceased and the decadence of morals among monks and nuns hastened the downfall of Buddhism, the finishing touches being added by the Moslem invasions from about 1200 A. D. No one can affirm that persecution had anything to do with the disappearance of Buddhism from India. Though it cannot be said that there was no religious persecution whatever at any time in India, the evidence for persecution is very limited and such persecution if any as may have existed was as nothing compared to the persecution of Christians by other Christians and of Jews in all centuries and particularly in the 20th century by several so-called Christian powerṣ The few well-authenticated cases of large-scale persecutions are those of Śaśāṅka who persecuted the Buddhists (vide Beal's ‘Records of the eastern world,’ vol. I p. 212, vol. II, p. 42, 91, 118, 121), of Mihirakula, of a Pāṇḍya king (in the 11th century ) who persecuted the Jainaṣ From Aśoka downwards, kings and the civil power always extended a generous tolerance to all sects (vide Aśoka’s Rock Edict No. 12 ). The father of the great emperor Harṣa was a worshipper of the Sun, while Harṣa’s elder brother Rājyavardhana was a Buddhist and Harṣa, though himself a Śaiva, speaks of his brother with greater reverence than of his own father ( vide the Madhuban copperplate inscription in E. I. vol. VII p. 155 and I p. 67 ). Vide Barth’s ‘ Religions of India ’ pp. 133-134, Farquhar’s ‘ Outlines of the Religious Literature of India ’ pp. 169, 175 for general religious tolerance in ancient India.

Rāma and Kṛṣṇa were worshipped as avatāras of Viṣṇu at least several centuries before Christ. Kālidāsa in the Raghu- vaṁśa (XI. 22 ) and the Meghadūta indicates that he regarded Vāmana as an avatāra of Viṣṇu as much as Rāma waṣ Simi- larly the Varāha and Narasimha avatāras are frequently spoken of in the Kādaṁbarī. The Trimūrti i. e. the conception of the triune combination of Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva into one God- head is also an ancient one. The Mahābhārata (Vanaparva) gives expression to the idea that Prajāpati creates the world in the form of Brahmā, sustains it in the form of the great Puruṣa and annihilates it in the form of Rudra. Hopkins in his ‘ Epic Mythology ’ p. 231 holds that this is a solitary passage about Trimūrti and is a late one and that the Mahābhārata in general has no doctrine of Trimūrti, but rather of the equality of Viṣṇu and Śiva. Kālidāsa in his Raghuvamśa (X. 16) and Kumārasaṁbhava (II. 4)⁴⁷ breathes the same belief. The temples of Brahmā are now very few and far between, the most well-known being that at Puṣkara (Ajmer). There is a temple of Brahmā in the Idar State and another at Sādhi in the Padra Taluka of the Baroda State. The Padmapurāṇa (Sṛṣṭi- khaṇḍa 17 ) shows that the worship of Brahmā had declined at that time owing, it is said, to the curse of Sāvitrī.

Śiva worship appears to be the most ancient worship that is still prevalent. Sir John Marshall’s work on Mohenjo-daro (vol. I pp. 52-53 and plate XII No. 17 ) shows a figure that is most probably of Śiva as a great yogin surrounded by the elephant, the tiger, the rhinoceros and the buffalo (as Śiva is called Paśupati ). Vide also the Preface to vol. I. p. VII. At Mohenjo-daro the humped and short-horned bull is among the most prominent objectṣ Śiva as half male and half female was worshipped long before Kālidāsa (vide first verse of the Mālavikāgnimitra and Kumārasambhava VII. 28). Śiva is often spoken of as Pañcatuṇḍa (with five faces), the five aspects being respectively called Sadyojāta, Vāmadeva, Aghora, Tatpuruṣa and Īśāna (vide Tai. Ār. X. 43-47, Viṣṇudharmottara III. 48. 1). Though in later times the followers of Śiva and Viṣṇu abused each other, the Mahābhārata and some of the Purāṇas exhibit a most tolerant spirit and say there is no difference between the two.⁴⁸ Vide Vanaparva 39. 76 and 189. 5–6, Śānti 343. 132, Matsyapurāṇa 52. 23. The 1000 names of Viṣṇu are enumerated in Anuśāsanaparva 149. 14–120 and the 1000 names of Śiva in Anuśāsana 17 and Śānti 285. 74 ff.

About the images of the sun the Matsyapurāṇa (11. 31 and 33 ) enjoins that in painting pictures of the sun or in temples of the sun the feet of the sun are not to be drawn ⁴⁹ or showṇ

About Gaṇeśa a few words have already been said (at pp. 213–216 ). Gaṇeśa came to be worshipped even by the Jainaṣ Vide Ācāra-dinakara (composed in samvat 1468 ) published in the Kharataragaccha-granthamālā (part II, 1923 ), where on p. 210 there is the procedure of consecrating an image of Gaṇeśa even for Jainas and ‘Journal of Indian History’, vol. 18 for 1939 p. 158 for different types of Gaṇeśa figures one of which has 18 armṣ For a figure of Gaṇeśa with sweetmeats (of about 500 A. D.) vide ‘Ancient India’ by Codrington (Plate XXXIX). The Ācāradinakara says that images of Gaṇeśa may have two, four, six, nine, 18 or 108 armṣ The Agnipurāṇa chap. 71, the Mudgalapurāṇa and Gaṇeśapurāṇa deal with Gaṇeśa worship, but their dates are uncertaiṇ The Vārāha-purāṇa chap. 23 narrates a fantastic story of the birth of Gaṇeśa. The Gaṇapatyatharvaśīrṣa (Anaṇ eḍ) identifies Gaṇeśa with supreme Brahma.^* The worship of the images of planets is comparatively ancient. Yāj. I. 296-298 prescribes that the images for the worship of the nine grahas (planets) viz. the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rāhu and Ketu (the last two are the nodal points) should be made respectively of copper, crystal, red sandal-wood, gold (for both Mercury and Jupiter), silver, iron, lead and bronze. Yāj. then prescribes the details of the worship of the planets such as the clothes to be gifted, the flowers, incenses, offerings, and the mantras (from the Vāj. S.), the fuel-sticks, the food, and the fee. The Mit. on Yāj. I. 297 quotes nine verses from the Matsyapurāṇa, chap. 94, concerning the details of the images of the nine planetṣ

About Sarasvati, the goddess of learning, so early a writer as Dandin (not later than 600 A. D.) says that she was ‘sarvaśuklā’ (all white).

Another deity whose worship is very popular in the Deccan is Dattatreya. His worship cannot have originated later than the first centuries of the Christian era. In the Jābālopaniṣad, he is referred to as a paramahamsa and there is an Upaniṣad named after hiṃ Vanaparva 115, Anuśāsana 153, Śānti 49.36, say that he conferred boons on Kārtavīrya. Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa (chap. 16-19) gives the story of his birth, calls him a yogin and asserts that he was offered wine and meat by his devotees (19. 10-12). The Bhāgavata IX. 23, 23, Matsya 47. 242-246 and other purāṇas also refer to hiṃ In the Śiśupālavadha of Māgha he is spoken of as an avatāra.

The Viṣṇudharmasūtra⁵⁰ chap. 65 contains one of the earliest detailed description of devapūjā (of Vāsudeva or Viṣṇu). “After having well bathed and washed his hands and feet and performed ācamana (sipping of water) he should worship Lord Vāsudeva who is without beginning or end, before an idol or on the sacrificial grounḍ Having given animated form in his mind to Viṣṇu with the mantra ‘may the Aśvins who possess life give thee life’ (Maitrāyaṇī Saṁ. II. 3. 4) and having invited Viṣṇu with the anuvāka ‘yuñjate manaḥ’ (Rg. V. 81), he must worship God with a salutation with his knees, hands and heaḍ With the three mantras ‘āpo hi &c.’ (Rg. X. 9. 1-3), he must announce the arghya (water respectfully offered for washing the hands); with the four mantras ‘hiraṇyavarṇāḥ’ (Tai. S. V. 6. 1.1-2) the pādya (water for washing the feet); with ‘may the waters of the plain propitiate us’ (Atharva I. 6. 4), the ‘ācamanīya’ (the water for sipping); with Rg. I. 23. 22 the water meant for the bath (should be offered); with ‘in chariots, in axles, in the strength of bulls’ (Tai. Br. II. 7. 7) unguents and ornaments; with (Rg. III. 8. 4 ‘yuvā suvāsāḥ’) a garment; with ‘endowed with flowers’ (Tai. S. IV. 2. 6. 1) a flower; with ‘thou art a slayer, slay the enemies’ (Vāj. S. I. 8) incense; with ‘thou art lustre, thou art bright’ (Vāj. S. XXII.1) a lamp; with ‘dadikhrāvṇo’ (Rg. IV.39.6) a madhuparka (honey mixture); with the eight mantras ‘hiraṇyagarbhāḥ’ (Rg. X. 121. 1-8) an offering of eatables; a chowrie, a fan, a looking glass, an umbrella, a vehicle, a seat, all these objects he must announce and place before God (Viṣṇu) muttering the Gāyatrī at the same time. After having thus worshipped Him, he must mutter the Puruṣasūkta. After that he who desires to obtain eternal bliss should make oblations of clarified butter, while reciting the verses of the same hymn (Rg. X.90).” The Bauḍ gr. pariśeṣasūtra II. 14 describes⁵¹ the daily worship of Mahāpuruṣa (i, e. Viṣṇu). “A man after bathing should cowdung a pure and even spot and draw the image of Viṣṇu, should offer whole grains of rice and flowers to it in worship and then should invoke Viṣṇu to come by offering water with flowers accompanied by the three vyāhṛtis repeated separately and together: then he should utter the words ‘this kūrca (bundle) of darbhas is made for the divine lord, its blades are twisted by threes, it is green and gold, accept this’. Then he should cleanse a vessel with water to the accompaniment of the Gāyatrī, should pass kuśa grass across thiṣ The water poured therein, should then utter the Gāyatrī mantra over it and should then turn it towards the sun with the syllable ‘om’ till he desires (or till he is tired); from that water he offers water for washing the feet (pādya) with Rg. I. 22. 18 (triṇi padā &c); then after having put aside the stale flowers to the accompaniment of the vyāhṛtis, he should offer arghya with the verse Rg. I. 22. 17 (idaṃ Viṣṇur) and should offer ācamanīya with the verse ‘divo vā Viṣṇo’ (Tai. S. I. 2. 13. 2); then he bathes the deity with the three verses Rg. X. 9. 1–3 (āpo hi ṣṭhā &c), with the four verses ‘hiraṇya-varṇāḥ’ (Tai. S. V. 6. 1. 1–2), with the anuvāka beginning with ‘pavamānaḥ suvarjanaḥ’ (Tai. Br. I. 4. 8) and with the mantra ‘brahma jajñānam’ (Tai. S. IV. 2. 8. 2), and with the Vāmadevī ṛk (Rg. IV. 26. 1), with the ‘yajuh-pavitra’ (i. e. Tai. S. I. 2. 1 1). Then he satiates (the image of) the deity with water sprinkled round the deity keeping the right hand towards it and taking the twelve names (Keśava and others) with the vyāhṛtis; he offers a garment with the syllable ‘om’, yajñopavita with the sacred Gāyatrī, ācamanīya with Rg. I. 22. 17, sandalwood paste with the verse ‘gandhadvārām’ (Tai. Ār. X. 1), whole grains of rice (akṣata) with the verse ‘Irāvatī’ (Rg. VII. 99. 3), flowers with Rg. I. 22. 20 (tad Viṣṇoḥ), incense (dhūpa) with the Gāyatrī, a lamp with the mantra ‘uddīpyasva’ (Tai. Ār. X. 1) and cooked food is offered with the formula ‘devasya tvā’; then he should offer flowers to the image repeating the twelve names of Viṣṇu, associating with each name the verses from ‘triṇi padā’ to ‘sumṛdīkā bhavantu naḥ’ (Tai. Br. II. 4. 6). Then they laud him with verses derived from the Ṛgveda, Yajurveda, Sāmaveda or Atharvaveda in praise of Viṣṇu; then he should bid good bye to the Puruṣa (i. e. Viṣṇu) by uttering ⁵² the three vyāhṛtis (in such formula as ‘om bhūḥ puruṣamudvās-ayāmi) and adding ‘may the Lord, the Great Person, go away for (my) well-being, for conquest and for being seen agaiṇ” In case the image is immovably fixed on a pedestal &c. the invocation to come and the bidding of good-bye are omitteḍ The Bauḍ gṛhya-śeṣasūtra (II. 17) contains the procedure of the worship of Mahādeva (Śiva). It is almost on the same lines as the worship of Viṣṇu set out above with the difference that the names of Śiva such as Mahādeva, Bhava, Rudra, Tryambaka are substituted and some of the mantras are different. A few differences will be found in the text quoted below. It is stated therein that when the worship is of a liṅga immovably fixed then there is no invocation to come and no bidding of good-bye.⁵³

In the Pūjāprakāśa (pp. 97-149) and other digests the methods of devapūjā according to Śaunaka, Gṛhyapariśiṣṭa, Ṛgvidhāna, Viṣṇudharmottarapurāṇa, Bhāgavatapurāṇa, the Narasiṁhapurāṇa are set out in detail. But for want of space they are all passed over. It will have been noticed from the passages of the Viṣṇu Dh. S. and of Baudhāyana cited above that devapūjā contains certain items and stages in the whole procedure. These are called upacāras (ways of service). They are usually stated to be sixteeṇ They are: āvāhana, āsana, pādya, arghya, ācamanīya, snāna, vastra, yajñopavīta, anu-lepana or gandha, puṣpa, dhūpa, dīpa, naivedya (or upa-hāra), namaskāra, pradakṣiṇā and visarjana or udvāsana. In different works, the items differ. Some add bhūṣaṇa (orna-ment) after yajñopavīta and tāmbūla (or mukhavāsa) after pradakṣiṇā or naivedya (Vṛddha-Hārīta VI. 31-32 and Pūjā-prakāśa, p. 98). Therefore some speak of 18 upacāraṣ⁵⁴ Some omit āvāhana, add svāgata (welcome) after āsana, madhuparka after ācamanīya, and some have stotra (hymn of praise) and praṇāma (bow) as distinct upacāras, while others hold that these latter two are one and that pradakṣiṇā is part of visarjana (vide Pūjāprakāśa p. 98). If a person cannot afford to offer vastra (garment) and alaṁkāra (ornament), he could perform only ten out of these 16 upacāras viz. from pādya to naivedya; if he cannot afford to offer even ten he may offer only five (pañcopacāra-pūjā) viz. from gandha to naivedya; if he has nothing he may perform with flowers alone all the 16 upacāraṣ When the image is immovably fixed on a pedestal there is no āvāhana and visarjana and so the items become 14 or one may offer in their place only a handful of flowers with mantraṣ⁵⁵ Those who cannot repeat the Puruṣasūkta (Rg. X. 90) should repeat one of its verses before offering each of the 16 upacāras (see Nṛsimhapurāṇa 62. 9–13). Those who cannot repeat that hymn and women and śūdras should simply say ‘Śivāya namaḥ’ or ‘Viṣṇave namaḥ’ (adoration to Śiva or Viṣṇu). Vṛddha-Hārīta (XI. 81) specially recommends the worship of the child Kṛṣṇa to women and of Hari to widows (XI. 208).⁵⁶ After each of snāna, vastra, yajñopavīta and naivedya, ācamana is to be offered as part of that upacāra⁵⁷ (vide Nṛsimhapurāṇa 62. 14). The names of some of these upacāras occur even in the Aśv. gr. (IV. 7.10 and IV. 8. 1) in relation to the brāhmaṇas invited at śrāddha such as āsana, arghya, gandha, mālya (flowers), dhūpa, dīpa and ācchādana (i.e. vastra). Farquhar is not right when he says in his ‘Outlines of the Religious literature of India’ p. 51 that the sixteen upacāras ‘are so distinct in character from the sacrificial cult as to betray alien origiṇ’ When image-worship became general items offered to invited brāhmaṇas were also offered to the image of godṣ It was a case of extension and not of borrowing from an alien cult.

A few words have to be said in connection with some of the 16 upacāraṣ

As regards the water to be employed in devapūjā and rites for the Manes, the Viṣṇu Dh. S. (66. 1) prescribes that it should not have been brought the night before (but it must be drawn that day. ). The worshipper should not sit on an āsana made of bamboo or stone, or of unsacrificial wood or on the bare ground, or on a seat made of grass or green leaves, but should sit on a woollen blanket or silken garment or deer-skin (Pūjāprakāśa, p. 95 ). When offering arghya, in the vessel containing the water to be used for that purpose all or as many as one can afford out of the following eight articles are to be mixed up, viz. curds, whole grains of rice, ends of kuśa grass, milk, dūrvā grass, honey, barley grains and white mustard seeds (Matsya-purāṇa 267. 2 quoted in the Pūjāprakāśa p. 34). It is further said that arghya is offered to the image of Viṣṇu by means of a conch in which water is mixed with sandalwood paste, flowers and whole grains of rice. In the water for ācamana are mixed cardamom, cloves, uśīra grass and kakkola or as many of them as possible. The snāna (bath) of images is effected with five materials called pañcāmṛta (five ambrosial things) viz. milk, curds, clarified butter, honey and sugar.⁵⁸ The image is to be bathed with these five in the order stated, so that sugar coming last removes all effects of oilinesṣ After these a bath with pure water followṣ In the pañcāmṛtasnāna the following Vedic verses are repeated in order; ‘āpyāyasva’ (Rg. I. 91. 16), ‘dadhikrāvṇo’ (Rg. IV. 39. 6), ‘ghṛtam mimikṣe’ (Rg. II. 3. 11), ‘madhu vātā’ (Rg. I. 90. 6), ‘svāduh pavasva’ (Rg. IX. 85. 6). It will be noticed that each of these mantras is suggestive of the material with regard to which it is uttereḍ No bath with water or these things is allowed when only a picture or a clay image is to be worshippeḍ If one cannot afford these, one may bathe the image with water in which the leaves of the basil plant (tulasī) are mixed up, as that plant is deemed to be the favourite of Viṣṇu. The water used in the bath of the image of a God is regarded as very sacred and it is used for ācamana by the worshipper and members of his family and friends and is called tīrtha ( it is also sprinkled over one’s head ).⁵⁹ As regards the unguents to be offered (anulepana or gandha) numerous rules are laid down (vide Pūjāprakāśa pp. 39-41 ). The Viṣṇu⁶⁰ Dh. S. (66. 2) says that unguents should be one or more out of sandalwood, pine tree paste, musk, camphor, saffron, nutmeg. If ornaments are offered, then gold and precious stones should be real and not imitation ones (Viṣṇu Dh. S. 66. 4). Very detailed rules are laid down about flowerṣ The Pūjāprakāśa (pp. 42-49) waxes eloquent over the merit of offering basil leaves to Viṣṇu and using the same wood in worship generally and also when no flowers are available. The Viṣṇu Dh. S.⁶¹ (66. 5-9) prescribes that flowers emitting an overpowering smell or having no smell whatever are not to be used, nor flowers of thorny plants unless the flowers are white and sweetly fragrant; that even red flowers such as saffron flowers and those that spring in ponds or lakes may be employeḍ There are grades in the merit derived from offering certain flowers, e. g. the Sṃ C. I, pp. 201-202 and the Pūjāprakāśa p. 51 quote many verses of the Narasimhapurāṇa, some of which arrange vanamallikā, campaka, aśoka, vāsantī, mālatī, kunda &c. in an ascending order among flowers and the jāti flower is said to be the best of the flowers in the worship of Viṣṇu. The same work (p. 56) names dūrva and twenty-five flowers as favourites with Viṣṇu. Vide Vṛddha-Hārīta VII. 53-59 for the flowers that may be used in Viṣṇu-pūjā and Vṛddha Gautama p. 563. The flowers offered on a day are removed the next day by the worshipper when he is about to offer worship that day. Such flowers are called ‘nirmālya’ and great virtue is attached to placing such flowers on one’s head by way of homage to the deity worshipped (vide Pūjāprakāśa, pp. 27 and 90). The Sṃ C. (I. p. 204) quotes a purāṇa to the effect ‘He, whose heart contemplates the form of Viṣṇu, on whose lips there is ever the name of Viṣṇu, who partakes of the naivedya offered to Viṣṇu and who places on his head the water in which the feet of an image of Viṣṇu are washed and the nirmālya of Viṣṇu, never falls off (from heaven).’ The Madana-pārijāta (p.303) quotes passages from the Viṣṇu-dharmottara about the flowers that are not to be used in worship. In Śiva worship the following flowers and leaves are in an ascending grade of worth; viz. arka flowers, karavīra flowers, bilva leaves, flower of droṇa, leaves of apāmārga, flower of kuśa, śamī leaves, blue lotus leaves, dhaṭṭūra flower, śami flower, blue lotus, which is the best ( vide Pūjāprakāśa, p. 210 ). The Madana-pārijāta, p. 303 quotes from the Devīpurāṇa verses which enumerate the flowers that are to be avoided in Śiva worship. If no flowers are available, then a fruit may be offered or if no fruit is available then only leaves and lastly only white whole grains of rice or even water may be offereḍ⁶² Lamps are to be fed with ghee or in its absence with sesame oil.⁶³ Camphor is to be burnt before the image. There is a ceremony called arātrika ( waving lights round the image) performed with several lights or pieces of camphor placed in a broad vessel which is held in both hands and waved round an image and over its heaḍ Vide Pūjāprakāśa, pp. 75 and 87. For naivedya no food is to be offered which is declared unfit in the śāstras for eating, nor the milk of a she-goat or she-buffalo though they are allowed for food, nor the meat of the five-nailed animals nor the flesh of the wild boar nor fish. The general rule is stated by the Rāmāyaṇa as 'whatever food a man eats the same is the food to be offered to his deities'.⁶⁴ The Sṃ C. (I. p. 203) quotes the Padmapurāṇa to the effect that naivedya should be offered in a vessel of gold, silver, bronze, copper or of clay or in palāśa leaves or on lotus leaf. The naivedya is offered with the formula set out below.⁶⁵ According to the Brahmapurāṇa quoted by Aparārka, pp. 153-154 and Pūjāprakāśa (p. 82) the naivedya offered to Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva, the Sun, Devī, the Mātṛs, to goblins and evil spirits respectively is to be given to brāhmaṇas, Sātvatas ( Bhāgavatas ), those whose bodies are smeared with ashes, to Magas, to the Śāktas, to women, to the poor.⁶⁶ One may also partake of the naivedya offered by oneself and the Smṛtimuktāphala (āhnika, p. 390) quotes Rg. L 154. 5 in support. After naivedya, tāmbūla is to be offered to the God worshippeḍ In the ancient gṛhya and dharma sūtras no mention is made of tāmbūla or mukhavāsa (materials that will render the breath fragrant). Tāmbūla was probably introduced some time before or about the beginning of the Christian era in South India and then spread northwardṣ Among the smṛtis, Saṁvarta 55 quoted in the Kṛtyaratnākara p. 560, Laghu-Hārīta (Ānanḍ 39), Laghu-Āśvalāyana (Ānanḍ) 1. 160-61 and 23. 105, Auśanasa (Jīvānanda, part I. p. 509) refer to the chewing of tāmbūla after dinner. In the Raghuvaṁśa VI. 64 Kālidāsa describes betelnut plants surrounded by betel creeperṣ The Kāmasūtra I. 4. 16 ⁶⁷ states that a person after performing the brushing of the teeth, consulting a looking glass and partaking of tāmbūla for rendering his breath fragrant should set about his daily businesṣ Vide also Kāmasūtra III. 4. 40, IV. 1. 36, V. 2. 21 and 24, VI. 1. 29, VI. 2. 8 for other referenceṣ In the Bṛhat-saṃhitā of Varāhamihira (77. 35-37 ) the virtues of tāmbūla and its ingredients are describeḍ In the Kādambarī (para 85) the royal palace is compared to the house of a dealer in betel leaves (tāmbūlika) in which lavali, cloves, cardamom, kaṅkola are storeḍ The Par. M. I. part 1. p. 434 quotes four verses from Vasiṣṭha (not found in the printed Dharmasūtra ) about the cutting off of the two ends of tāmbūla leaves before eating theṃ In the Vratakhaṇḍa (of Caturvargacintāmaṇi, vol. II. part I, p. 242) Hemādri quotes Ratnakośa to the effect that tāmbūla means betel leaves, betel nut and chūnam; while ' mukhavāsa ' means these together with cardamom, camphor, kakkoḷa berries, pieces of copra and mātuluṅga. The Nityācāra-paddhati ⁶⁸ (p. 549) quotes verses showing that tāmbūla comprised nine ingredients viz. betel nut, betel leaves, chūnam, camphor, cardamom, clove, kaṅkola, copra, the mātuluṅga fruit. In modern times pieces of almond, nutmeg fruit and bark thereof, saffron, catechu are taken and mātuluṅga is omitteḍ Thus the thirteen ingredients of tāmbūla are made up. The Aṣṭañgasamgraha⁶⁹ of Vāgbhaṭa also mentions the several ingredients of tāmbūla including the essence of the bark of the Khadira tree ( catechu ). In modern times tāmbūla is said to be of 13 guṇas, either because it contains thirteen ingredients or because it effects thirteen good results, the last of which are set out in a subhāṣita quoted below.

Pradakṣiṇā ( going round the image with the right hand always turned towards the image ) and namaskāra constitute only one upacāra ( item of worship ) according to many. The namaskāra to the image is either aṣṭāṅga ( with eight limbs ) or pañcāṅga ( with five limbṣ ) The first occurs when a person prostrates himself on the ground in front of the image in such a way that the palms of his hands, his feet, his knees, his chest and forehead touch the ground and his mind, speech and eye are fixed on the image and the latter occurs when he prostrates himself with his hands, feet and heaḍ⁷⁰ There are other definitions of the aṣṭāṅga namaskāra. These several parts of the worship of images have been judicially noticed in Ram brahma Chatterji v. Kedar Nath 36 Calcutta Law Journal 478 at p. 483 ( where the normal type of the continuous worship of an idol is described ) and Pramatha Nath Mullick v. Pradyumna Kumar Mullick 52 Cal. 809 at p. 815 ( P. C. ).

In modern times it is the practice to perform in homage to the sun twelve namaskāras or any multiple of twelve and repeat the following twelve names of the sun in the dative preceded by ' om ' and followed by ' namah ': Mitra, Ravi, Sūrya, Bhānu, Khaga, Pūṣan, Hiraṇyagarbha, Marīci, Āditya, Savitṛ, Arka and Bhāskara. There is another method of these namaskāras called Trcakalpanamaskāras in which after ' om ' certain mystic syllables and their combinations in twos and

śāstras of the Śaiva sects, of Kāpālas, Nākulas ⁷¹ (Lākulas?), Vāmas, Bhairavas, Pāśupatas as meant for deluding the worlḍ The Varāhapurāṇa (chap.70-71) is also directed against Pāśupataṣ The Pāśupata brāhmaṇas are stated in the Kādambarī to have surrounded the minister Śukanāsa (para 90). Śiva was worship-ped in the form of the liṅga or as an image. It is believed that 14 crores of liṅgas were established by Bāṇa, an Asura devotee of Śiva, in various spots and these are called Bāṇa-liṅgas (Nityā-cārapaddhati, p. 556) and the Bāṇa-liṅgas (white stones) found in the Narmadā, the Ganges and other holy rivers are only like theṃ In the Kādambarī (para 130) Bāṇa speaks of sand liṅgas on the Acchoda lake and in another place of a liṅga made of pure mother-o'-pearl. The Kūrmapurāṇa (pūrvārdha chap. 26) describes the origin of Liṅga and its worship and the Vāmana-purāṇa 46 lauds the several holy places where ancient liṅgas are establisheḍ The famous twelve Jyotir-liṅgas are; Oṁkāra at Māndhātā, Mahākāla at Ujjayinī (modern Ujjain), Tryambaka (near Nasik), Dhṛṣṇeśvara at Elora, Nāganātha (towards the east of Ahmednagar), Bhīmā-Śaṁkara (at the source of the Bhīmā river in the Sahyādri), Kedāra-nātha in Garhwal, Viś-veśvara at Benares, Somanātha in Kathiawar, Vaidyanātha new Parali. Mallikārjuna on the Śrīśaila, and Rāmeśvara in South India. Many of these are situated in central and western India near each other.

The Pūjāprakāśa (p. 194) quotes Hārita prescribing that Maheśvara may be worshipped by means of the mantra of five syllables (namaḥ Śivāya) or by the Rudra⁷² Gāyatrī or by 'om' or by the mantra ‘Īśanah sarva-vidyānām’ (Tai. Ār. X. 47 ), or by the Rudra mantras ( viz. Tai. S. IV. 5. 1–11 ) or by the mantra ‘tryambakam yajāmahe’ (Rg. VII. 59. 12 ). For a devotee of Śiva, the wearing of a string of Rudrākṣa berries is necessary either on the hand, the arm, the neck or on the heaḍ⁷³ The Smṛtimuktāphala (āhnika p. 393 ) quotes verses from the Smṛtiratna and the Ratnāvalī about the merit secured by bathing the liṅga with cow's milk, curds, clarified butter, honey, sugarcane juice, pañcagavya, water in which camphor and aguru are mixed up, and other substanceṣ The 14th day of the dark half of a month has been sacred to Śiva from ancient timeṣ Bāṇa in the Kādambarī (para 54 ) refers to the fact that queen Vilāsavatī went to worship Mahākāla at Ujjayinī on the 14th.

The worship of Durgā has prevailed from ancient timeṣ⁷⁴ She is worshipped under various names and aspectṣ In the Tai. Ār. X. 18 Śiva is said to be the husband of Ambikā or Umā. In the Kena Upaniṣad (III. 25 ) Umā Haimavatī is mentioned as imparting to Indra the knowledge of the Great Being. The various names of Durgā are Umā, Pārvatī, Devī, Ambikā, Gaurī, Caṇḍī or Caṇḍikā, Kālī, Kumārī, Lalitā &c. The Mahābhārata (Virāṭaparva 6 and Bhīṣma 23 ) contains two hymns addressed to Durgā in which she is stated to be Vindhyavāsinī and fond of blood and wine, and in Vanaparva 39. 4 it is stated that Umā became a kirātī when Śiva became a kirāta to test the prowess of Arjuna. In the Kumārasambhava Kālidāsa speaks of Pārvatī, Umā, Aparṇā and derives the latter two words (I. 26 and V. 28 ). Yaj. I. 290 speaks of Ambikā as the mother of Vināyaka. The Devī-māhātmya in the Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa (chap. 81–93 ) is the principal sacred text of Durgā worshippers in Northern India. E. I. vol. 9 p. 189 shows that about 625 A. D. Durgā was invoked as a supreme goddesṣ Bāṇa in his Kādambarī gives a graphic description of the temple of Caṇḍikā and refers to offerings of blood made to her (para 28 ), to her trident (triśūla ) and her slaughter of Mahiṣāsura. The Kṛtyaratnākara (p. 351 ) quotes verses from the Devīpurāṇa that the 8th of the bright half of a month is sacred to Devī (and particularly of Aśvina ), that a goat or a buffalo may be sacrificed for her.⁷⁵ These bloody rites are still continued in the Kālī temple in Bengal and a few other shrines of Durgā. In Bengal the worship of Durgā in Āśvina has been most popular.⁷⁶ Raghunandana in his Durgārcana-paddhati gives an elaborate description of the worship of Durgā in Āśvina. Durgā is also worshipped as Śakti. The influence of Śākta worship has been great throughout India and will be briefly surveyed later oṇ

In modern times devapūjā differs considerably from the ritual of the ancient works of Viṣṇu and Baudhāyana; it also differs from province to province and caste to caste. A brief analysis of the devapūjā practised by brāhmaṇas in Western India is given below: Ācamana; prāṇāyāma; adoration to Mahāgaṇapati and certain other deities; twelve names of Gaṇeśa, hymn of praise to Gaṇeśa, Gaurī, Viṣṇu; mention of the place and the time with astronomical details about the day, the nakṣatra &c.; then the saṁkalpa of performing devapūjā with sixteen upacāras; contemplation on Gaṇapati with Rg. II. 23. 1 (gaṇanām tvā); āsanavidhi with an invocation to the earth; nyāsa (mystical sanctification of the body) of the sixteen verses of Rg. X. 90 on sixteen parts of the body; invocation of the deities and the sacred rivers in the water jar and offering sandalwood paste, flowers and whole grains of rice to the jar; then invocation of the conch and bell in a similar way; sprinkling of oneself and the materials of worship with water accompanied by the mantra ('apavitraḥ pavitro vā &c.'); dhyāna (contemplation) of Viṣṇu, Śiva, Gaṇeśa, the sun's disc, Durgā holding a bunch of flowers in one's folded hands; then offering the sixteen upacāras enume- rated above to the accompaniment of the 16 verses of Rg. X. 90 to one's favourite deity; final benedictioṇ⁷⁷ When several deities are worshipped, there are two methods in which the upacāras may be offereḍ One may offer the upacāras from āvāhana to namaskāra to one deity or the principal deity and then the same upacāras to the other deity or deities one after another. This method is called kāṇḍānusamaya. The other method occurs when āvāhana is done for the several deities in order, then āsana for all, then pādya for all and so on up to namas-kāra. This is called padārthānusamaya. This method is generally preferreḍ Vide the coṃ of Nārāyaṇa on Āśv. gr. I. 24. 7, the coṃ on Kātyāyana-śrauta I. 5. 9–11 for detailed explanations of these.

From the early centuries of the Christian era the works on Tantra exercised a profound influence on the ritual of devapūjā and several mystical postures of the hands and fingers such as the mudrās and the nyāsas began to occupy the minds of the worshipperṣ⁷⁸ The Bhāgavata-purāṇa XI. 27. 7 says that devapūjā is of three kinds viz. Vaidikī, Tāntrikī and miśrā. The first and the third are for the three varṇas and Tāntrikī for śūdras.