Inde_puja-samskara

Au long du Gange sacré : Varanasi - Bénarès

(21 septembre - 1er décembre 2001 -- 15 janvier - mars 2002)

PUJA - SAMSKARA

Musashi Tachikawa, Shoun Hino, Lalita Deodhar

One of the commonest forms of such human actions found in India is pùjà (worship, offering). The term "pùjà " derives from the root puj, to make offering. That which is offered is one of the indispensable elements of pùjà. The materials to be offered in pùjà are various. A great number of animals such as buffalos and goats are offered even today, and it was reported that human flesh was offered in some parts of India, as happened elsewhere. Nowadays, however, in most Indian temples, water, fruits, flowers, and the like are offered.
What is offered in pùjàs is not necessarily corporeal or tangible, for devotees often offer their minds to the gods.
Offering is made not only in pùjà but also in other types of religious actions. For example, in homa sacrifice, which should be distinguished from pùjà, materials such as ghee and rice-cakes are offered to fire. Offering, which comprises the world of the profane, is the most basic means adopted by humans to enter into a relationship with the sacred. Let us note here that offerings are determined to be destroyed or "killed." In Kathmandu, a huge number of buffalos and goats are slain on the days of the Durgà pùjâ. The ghee (clarified butter) and rice-cakes offered in homa sacrifice are consumed by fire. When water, fruits, flowers, and the like have been offered in pùjà, they no longer belong to the world of the profane. When those things such as flowers and fruits are offered to the sacred or to its image, their religious value is changed. That offerings are destined to be destroyed implies that the profane must "die" to obtain "rebirth."

Offerings such as animals are substitutions for humans who act as the sacrificers. By killing animals on the altar, humans experience a symbolic death, since the animals "die" in place of humans. By giving part of their property to others, those who perform rituals show to the sacred that they are lessening their power, even if they are not actually sacrificing their lives.

Another basic aspect of pùjà is that it must possess that to which offering is made.

Offering is always made to someone or to some thing. The blood of scapegoats is offered to the terrifying Goddess Durgà. In the Sodasa-upacàra-pùjà (Worship Service in Sixteen Steps), materials such as water, flower, and garments are generally offered to deities. Usually it is to a divinity that offering is made. We need not discuss here whether the offering is made to the image of a divinity or to that which is symbolized by the image. In our system, however, it would be safe to designate "that to which the offering is made" as the sacred. That to which the offering is made does not necessarily have a concrete image. A pùjà can be performed even to a particular kind of atmosphere, if the atmosphere, is believed to have sacred power.
Having bought offering materials such as flowers and fruits at the gate of a temple, people come to the main hall, and ask the priests to perform pùjàs. In temples, pùjàs are usually performed by priests. Those who perfering pùjàs, however, need not be priests, for the head of each Hindu family is supposed to worship gods daily. A patron and his wife participated in performing the worship in sixteen steps in Nàgeivar Temple

The procedure of Sodasa-upacàra-pùjà may be divided into two parts: preliminaries (A) and main worship (B).

The preparation for the pùjà is done in the former (A) :

1. First the priest purifies himself by sipping water (âtamana) (A-1).
2. Then he controls his breath (A-2).
3. Next he recites the Gàyatrimantra (A-3)
4. and contemplates the divinities (A-4).

By these four actions the priest becomes ready to perform the worship service.

5. Then he declares the performance and the purpose of the pùjà (A-5).
6. Next, in order to get rid of obstacles for the pùjà, the priest worships God Ganapati (A-6). This deity is often worshipped before something is undertaken.
7. 8. Now that the priest himself has become ready to perform the pùjà, he is going to consecrate the ritual utensils, such, as the pot, the conch, the bell, and the lamp (A-7, 8).
9. At the last stage of the "preliminaries" (A), the priest consecrates himself and the materials for worship by sprinkling water (A-9).

The main worship (B) consists of sixteen steps, the first five of which are:

1. Invocation to the deity (àvàhana) (B-1)
2. Offering the seat (àsana) (B-2)

3. Offering water for washing the feet of the deity (pàdya) (B-3)
4. Offering sacred water (arghya) (B-4)
5. Offering water for rinsing the mouth (àcamaniya) (B-5)

Here the priest treats the deity just as one treats a guest. Yet human guests visit the houses of their friends; the deities have to be invoked to visit the houses of human beings. Similarly, when a guest has arrived, he is offered a seat, water for washing his feet, and the like.

The sixth step, I e., bathing (snàna), which is the most important part of the Worship Service in Sixteen Steps, may be portioned into three (B-6)

6-(1)-(5) Bathing the deity with the five ambrosia (pancàmrta), I e., milk (payas), curds (dadhi), ghee (ghrta, clarified butter), honey (madhu), and sugar (sàrkara).

6-(6)-(8) The priest bathes the deity with fragrant water (gandhodaka) and anoints it with.yellow powder
(haridrà) and red powder (kumkuma) on the divine image. Then he offers flowers and a lamp to the deity.

6-(9) The last part is consecration (abhiseka) with water.
In the Sodasa-upacàra-pùjà performed in Catuhgrflgi Temple, the consecration (abhiseka) with water was done with the recitations of some Vedic passages: Pùrusasùkta (Rgveda, X, 90, 1-16), Srishùkta (,Rgveda, V, 87), Rudra (Krshna Yajurveda, IV, 5, 1-11), and Vasor dhârà (J~7ea Yajurveda, IV, 7, 1-11). In the Sodasa-upacàra-Pùjà performed in Nàgesvar Temple, Poona (cf. Appendix 1), among the above-mentioned four Vedic passages only Purusasùkta was recited, and some Vedic hymns belonging to Visnu were recited. The Vedic passages to be recited at this stage differ according to the identity of the main deity to be worshipped.

The next seven steps (B-7-13) may be considered as comprising one group:

7. Offering the garment (vastra) (B-7)
8.. Offering the upper garment (upavastra) (B-8)
9. Offering fragrant materials (gandha) (B-9)
10. Offering flowers (puspa) (B-10)
1l. Offering, incense (dhùpa) (B-11)
12. Offering the lamp (dipa) and fragrant materials (gandha) (B-12)
13. Offering food (naivedya) (B-13)

The guest who has taken a bath is now offered the garment, the upper garment, fragrant materials, flowers incense, and food.
[After the food (naivedya) has been given, a tàmbùla (a leaf of betel together with areca-nuts, catechu, and spices) is often offered, as seen in the pùjà performed in Nàgesvar Temple].

The next step is especially endowed with a religious value:

14. Going around the divine image clockwise (pradaksinà) (B-14)

The priest goes around the image of the deity clockwise so that the right side of the priest is always turned toward the image of the sacred. This is a way of making a reverential salutation to someone. At this stage the deity has been fully adorned with garments, flowers, and fragrant materials. Now that the sacred has manifested its full form before the eyes of the priests or devotees, the priest or the patron of the pùjà will felicitate the theophany by walking around the image clockwise or by waving the lamp. This is the climax of the Sodasda-upacàra-pùjà.

Since the deity has been treated properly (satkta), he who feels satisfied (prasanna) is going back. It is in the last two steps that the priest or the patron makes salutation tothe deity and send him or her off.

15. Salutation (namaskàra). (B-15)
16. Offering flowers with the recitation of mantra (mantrapushpa ). (B-16)
The last step is also called visaijana, i e., sending forth, or allowing the deity invoked to return.

Pùjà,s are always performed with some purpose. [Most of the people coming to Catuhirfigi Temple seem to request the performance of pùjàs in order to obtain secular success such as wealth, health, or the birth of a son. They do net completely believe that those rituals have real magical power which would enable them to obtain whatever they want. Nonetheless, they come to temples and "obtain the prasàda so that they can feel refreshed and encouraged." Some, however, do not come for secular purposes, since there are those who come to temples such as Catuhirfigi Temple to seek ultimate spiritual enlightenment].

There remains to be mentioned one of the most remarkable things about Sodaga-upacâra-pùjà, the worship service (pùjà) consisting of sixteen ways of showing reverence (upacàra). That is to say, each upacàra begins with the recitation of each verse of the Plurusasùkta (Rgveda, X, 90), which consists of sixteen verses. Accordingly, the first upacàra, I e.,. the invocation (âvàhana) to the deity, starts with the recitation of the first verse of the Purusasùkta, The second upacàra begins with that of the second verse, and so on. It is obvious, however, that the content of the Purusasùkta does not correspond to the procedure of the service, although it deals with the offering of the primordial man (purusa).

The Purusasùkta belonging to the Taittiyîyàranyqka of the Black Yajurveda,. However, consists of eighteen verses. Accordingly, the worship of the schools keeping that type of Purusasùkta has eighteen steps. For example, those Brahmans belonging to the Hirayakesi Branch observe the worship service consisting of the eighteen steps. The fifteenth verse of the 16 verses edition missing in the 18 verses edition of Purusasùkta. The sixteenth and the seventeenth verses of the 18 verses edition are missing in the other edition.

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