Chapter 61 - Consecration of doors of the temple and the erection of banner

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

The Lord said:

1. I shall describe the purificatory bathing of Viṣṇu. The offering to the fire is made (with the mantra) na tvā^[1]. Having placed eighty-one pitchers (at their respective places) Lord Hari should be invoked and installed.

2. He should be worshipped with perfumes and flowers. Having made the offering, the priest should be worshipped. l shall describe the (mode of) consecrating the door. (A piece of) gold should be placed beneath the door (frame).

3. The priest should place shoots of udumbara (fig tree) in

the (mouth of the) eight pitchers and worship them with perfumes etc. and vedic mantras.

4. Twigs, fried paddy and sesamum should be offered unto the fire in the pits. Having offered the bed etc., the supporting energy should be placed underneath.

5. Gods Caṇḍa and Pracaṇḍa should be located at the bottom of the shoots, Goddess Lakṣmī worshipped by the celestials should be placed above (the shoot of) the fig (tree).

6. Having assigned the four-faced (Brahman) and duly worshipping (him) (by reciting) the śrīsūkta^[2] the fruits of the bilva (tree) should be offered to him and the fees should be paid to the priest.

7. (I shall describe) the consecration of the divine edifice the doors of which have been consecrated and wherein the image of Hari has been duly installed. It is in the consecration of the adytum. Listen.

8-9. Pitcher made of gold, silver or bell-metal filled with eight kinds of gems, herbs, minerals, seeds of grains, iron and water and covered with a cloth should be placed on the darbha (grass) in a circle to the east of the altar after the śukanāsa (the keystone) has been got ready.

10. Fallen twigs which have been gathered should be offered into fire with (the mantra of) Nṛsiṃha. Then (the temple) should be enlivened with the principle known as nārāyaṇatattva.

11. (That lord) who is the life of the temple should be contemplated (as) “O Lord of celestials”. Then a wise man has to imagine the temple as the god himself.

12. (A piece of) gold should be placed below the golden pitcher. The priests and others should be paid their fees and the brahmins should be fed.

13-14. Threads should be wound round the altar, neck, top and the globe of the temple after that. Then the metallic ring known as the sudarśana disc should be placed. It should be known as the form of (Lord) Vāsudeva offering protection from fear.

15. Alternatively a pitcher should be placed (in the place of a globe) and the disc above that. O birthless one! eight lords of obstacles (Vighneśvara) should be placed around the altar in the temple.

16. Or four images of Garuḍa (vehicle of Lord Viṣṇu) should be placed in the four quarters. I shall describe now the erection of the flagstaff which destroys the evil spirits.

17. One who performs this remains in the regions of Viṣṇu for so many thousands of years as the number of atoms in the image of the god in the temple.

18. O sinless! It should be known that (a man gets) a crore times more merit by erecting the flag-staff,since it surrounds the neck of the temple and it wafts the wind around the globe, altar and image.

19. The flag should be known as the prakṛti and the staff as the puruṣa and you know that the temple is another form of image of Vāsudeva (Viṣṇu).

20. (In a temple) the dharaṇī (earth) is so called from its ability to hold, its internal cavity stands for the sky, the illumination inside represents the fire, and its touch represents the wind.

21. The earthly waters found in the stone slabs (of the temple) (represent) the earthly attributes. Its echo stands for the principles of sound. Its touch represents roughness.

22. Its colour which may be white or otherwise stands for the subtle principle of colour. The food (and other eatables) offered (to the deity) stand for the sense of taste. The perfumes represent the sense of smell. The sense of speech lies in the down (used in the temple).

23. The keystone is the nose (of the temple). The two apertures (on either side) represent the two hands. The arched terrace above is to be taken for its head and the pitcher on the head.

24. Its neck should be known as the neck. The platform over the fault is spoken as the shoulder. The outlets for water are the anus and genitals. The lime-plaster is spoken as the skin.

25. The door would be the mouth. The image (installed in the temple) is said to be its life. The pedestal should be known as its energy. Its shape should likewise be known as its animation.

26. Its cavity is its inertia. Lord Keśava is its controller. In this way Lord Hari Himself remains in the form of the temple.

27. God Śiva should be known as the shank. God Brahman is located in the shoulder. Lord Viṣṇu remains in the upper portion of a temple as it is.

28. Listen to me. I shall describe the consecration of a temple by means of a banner. The demons were defeated by the celestial gods by erecting banners impressed with the signs of divine weapons.

29. The pitcher (shaped part of the temple) should be placed over the top and the flag should be placed over the same. The post should be made to measure a half or one third of the height of the image.

30. The flag should have a mark of a circle of eight or twelve radii. (There should be the figure) of the man-lion (form of Viṣṇu) or the Garuḍa (Tārkṣya) (inside the circle) in the middle. The staff of the flag should not have any cut.

31. The length of the staff is spoken as the measure of the breadth of edifice. It should be made either half of the terrace or a third part of it.

32. The staff should otherwise be made twice the length of the door. The flag staff should be planted on the north-east or the north-west of the divine edifice.

33. The flag should be made of a piece of silk cloth, of a single or variegated colours. It should be adorned with bells, chowries and small bells. (It is said to be) destroyer of sins.

34. A flag which touches the ground and measures a cubit in breadth at its extremity or has a breadth equal to one fourth of its length at its base is called a mahādhvaja. It grants all things when worshipped.

35. The banner should measure half (the dimension of) the staff. The breadth should measure twenty fingers.

36. All the rites relating to the consentration of an image should be done for (the consecration) of the disc, flag and the staff. They should be bathed in the shed.

37. The priest should duly perform all rites described earlier except that of opening the eyes. The consecration should be done in the prescribed manner leaving them in the resting position.

38. Then the learned priest should assign (mentally) the hymn (called) sahasraśīrṣā^[3] in the disc. Then the sudarśana mantra and the principle of mind should be assigned.

39. It is known as imbued with life by mental formation. O excellent among gods, (the different forms of Viṣṇu such as) Keśava etc. should be assigned to the spokes.

40. The priest should assign twenty-five principles at the navel, and each of the arcs of the lotus. The form of Nṛsiṃha (the man-lion form of Viṣṇu) representing the universe should be assigned to the middle of the lotus.

41. The sakala (endowed with parts) forms should be assigned to the staff as the living soul of it. Lord Hari, the supreme being of the niṣkala (undivided) form should be contemplated and assigned to the flag.

42. The energies Bala and Abala which manifest in the form of the banner should be contemplated. Having placed it in the shed and worshipped it, oblation should be made in the pit.

43. Having placed the golden pitcher over the pitcher and putting five (kinds of) gems (at the top of the temple) a golden disc should be placed underneath that with the mantra of the disc.

44. The disc should be washed with mercury and covered with the eye-cover. The disc should then be placed. Lord Nṛhari (man-lion form of Viṣṇu)should be imagined there in the middle.

45-46. Oṃ, kṣauṃ, salutations to Lord Nṛsiṃha. Lord Hari should be invoked and worshipped. Then the yajamāna (the person who has arranged for the consecration) accompanied by his relatives should hold banner and dip the tip of the banner in a vessel full of curd. The banner should be worshipped with the mantra commencing with dhruvā^[4] and ending with phaṭ.

47. Holding that vessel on the head and remembering Lord Nārāyaṇa (the yajamiina) should go around the temple along with auspicious sounds from the tūrī (a musical instrument).

48. The staff should then be placed with (the recitation of) the eight-syllabled mantra^[5]. Then the flag should be (hoisted) and unfurled with (the recitation of) the hymn muñcāmi tvā^[6] by the learned person.

49. The twice-born (yajamāna) should give the priest the vessel, banner and elephant etc. Mode of consecration of the flag has been thus described in general.

50. The mark which represents a particular god should be planted with the respective mantra. By the offer of a banner one goes to heaven and becomes a strong monarch on the earth (in the next birth).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

One of the many hymns beginning with these words.

[2]:

See above, p. 151 and fn. 1 thereon.

[3]:

ṚV. 10.90.

[4]:

ṚV. 10.173.4a.

[5]:

Oṃ namo nārāyaṇāya.

[6]:

ṚV. 10.161.1a.