7. Impacts of Purāṇas in Temple Expiatory Rites

Most of the Purāṇas illustrate the idea of sin and expiation in a meticulous way. Agnipurāṇa specially reflects a conglomeration of Tantric and temple related expiations. As per the Purāṇic divisions based on three Guṇas, Agnipurāṇa is considered as Tāmasikapurāṇa.^[1] This division is formulated from the perspective of the Vaiṣṇavites.^[2] The use of the word Tāmasika as an inferior usage can be seen in Bhagavadgīta also. It becomes Tāmasika as it is Śaiva as well. It is obvious that this practice of dividing books as superior and inferior based on the distinction of worship contexts is created to highlight one particular sect of worship. In Agnipurāṇa, along with a multiplicity of themes, subjects related to Tantra like the divine worship rites, Mudralakṣaṇa, Pratimalakṣaṇa, Prāsādalakṣaṇa, Vāstuvidya, the laws for the construction of temples and other Tantric ritual are explained. For this reason there is no wonder in Maurice Winternitz’s commenting this Purāṇa as an encyclopedia.^[3]

The description of expiations in the Agnipurāṇa begins from its 169^th chapter. This depiction of expiation comes after the review of Mahāpātakas, in which the retelling of expiations explained in Kalpasūtras and Smṛti texts can be perceived in a different standpoint. Chapter 174, the expiatory chapter of the Agnipurāṇa is dissimilar from other chapters due to the temple atonement concepts are described in it. There is no chance of a reference to expiatory rites in temples in the Śrauta, Gṛhya and Dharma Sūtras. The Śrauta expiation is needed in the rituals related to Yāgas. The temples are different from that. Still the influence of atonement concepts like the Śrauta can be perceived in the temple expiatory rites. Here the evidences for the process of brahminisation of a worship tradition, which is basically non-Vedic, can be seen. The progression of transformation of Purāṇas as a tool for the process of high-caste domination, in which the subjugation of the local cultures through adopting and Brahminising them, can also be understood.^[4] The study of the expiatory rites in the Purāṇas reveals that all of them are not Vedic. The existence of the streams of Vedic culture and non-Vedic is known in this context.

By formulating the axioms like:

itihāsapurāṇābhyāṃ vedaṃ samupabṛṃhayet

Brahmins could bring the whole culture under the one roof of the Veda.

The description of a non-Vedic culture becomes clearer in Agnipurāṇa from the rituals and laws in connection with the construction of temples. The Vedic culture includes rituals interconnected to Yāgas. A temple worship culture and idol worship culture is basically distinct from that and this fact brings light to the existence of diverse local identities and culture. Agnipurāṇa has described the several expiatory rites to remedy the flaws in connection with temple worship.^[5]

1. Recitation of Mantra as Expiation

If an elision happens in the worship rituals, it is directed to chant the Mantras of Sūrya, Śakti, Gāyatrī and Praṇava one hundred and eight times.^[6] The chanting suggested include Bījamantras like Hrīṃ. Another way of expiation is the reading of Agnipurāṇa. A blend of two streams of cultures, Vedic and Tantric, can be seen here. The Bīja Mantras might have originated from the Tantric tradition. The Vedic Mantras are in the form of Sūktas. But the Mantras in the form of Bīja represent the non-Vedic and Tantric culture. The declining phase of the Vedic tradition can be seen here. The direction to use Gāyatrī and Pañcopaniṣad Mantras for expiating the flaws of worship rituals becomes the chief proof that the Brahmins tried to subjugate the temples, which were the belief centers of the public, by turning them into Vedic tradition. This instance shows how one culture influences another and reforms it completely.

2. Dāna and Dakṣiṇā

It is suggested that the Yāga or Yajña will be complete only with the Dakṣiṇā,^[7] such ideas occur in plenty in almost all scriptures in Vedic literature. In Agnipurāṇa, gold and silver are treated as the main objects of gifts.^[8] The essential commodities found in the society are deemed here as the gifts. When cows were considered as the chief gifts during the Vedic age, now it has been replaced by gold and food, even though the donation of cows still existed. The objects of gifts differed from one age to another. The main object of value in a society was considered as the chief object of gift in that period. So there is no doubt that these kinds of gifts were a means of amassing wealth. Giving food to Brahmins was also considered as a way for atonement.^[9] It is to be noticed that other castes like Śūdras or Vyśyas are not considered for deserving this gift. Not only that, Agnipurāṇa gives the verdict that if any one belonging to the categories of Sūtikas, Antyajas, Rajasvalas and the untouchables enters the temple or touches the idol, due expiatory rites are to be observed.^[10] If any fault happens in the Homa, the expiation is providing meals to Brahmins.^[11] The wicked tricks of the upper class clearly get revealed in the ways, as they assert that they only deserve to get meals and receive gifts.^[12]

3. Ritual Fasting

There is a story in Śatapathabrāhmaṇa which tells about the observance of ritual fasting as a penance for the atonement of the mistake that happened during the Yāgas.^[13] Agnipurāṇa refers to different types of Yāgas. In order to expiate the elision during rituals, this work suggests Cāndrāyaṇa Vrata^[14] and Prājāpatya Vrata^[15] as remedies. In addition, the Vratas of Sūrya, Śakti, Śiva and Nārāyaṇa are deemed as good for atoning sins. Cāndrāyaṇa and Prājāpatya were popular in the society from the times of the Vedic age and in the period of Dharmaśāstras.^[16] These are instructed in Agnipurāṇa as temple expiatory rituals.

4. Tīrthaprāyaścitta

Agnipurāṇa decrees the visiting of Tīrthas (holy places) also as atonement for worship ritual elisions. The holy places referred to here are Gaṅgā, Gaya, Prayāga, Kāśī, Ayodhyā, Avantikā, Ujjayinī, Kurukṣetra, Pouṣkara, Sālagrāma temples and Prabhāsa.^[17] All these holy places are in one way or another connected with the incarnation of one god or any of their varied activities. This can be perceived as means of attributing divinity to a particular place. The temple rituals were subjected to continuous changes down the ages. The temple expiatory rites described in Agnipurāṇa are the continuation of the social rituals. The temple rituals based on the caste system are explained here. There is no wonder to perceive that the gods, of those who followed untouchability, also showed the same character.

Temples were the symbols of royal power and nobility. The temple idol was the reflection of the king and vice versa. The kingship that was a social reality gets transformed into a divine reality. At once a child is born to the king or master in a society, he is often imagined as the lord or master. The offerings to god which are the chief temple rituals are the continuation of the offerings given to the king.^[18] The temple is considered as the Kovilakaṃ, the palace, where the lord, the master honorably lies in the royal bed. There is the morning anthem for his waking up, after the removal of robes and ornaments, the god is purified through the honorary bath, and then again he gets adorned with garlands and is offered special eatables, on special occasions the god is taken out in a procession. Along with these, the flag, orchestra, royal hunt and such other temple rituals can be observed as forming another side of the divine offerings given to the king.^[19] Agnipurāṇa is in no way different in considering the Brahmins. Whatever objects are rejected by the Brahmins, who wear the sacred thread, all of them are rejected by their gods, who wear the sacred thread. For instance, the use of grains after removing those eaten by pests like rats and after washing them in water in a thought that using of the contaminated grains are harmful to human beings. The tendency to attribute all human feelings and thoughts to gods and perceiving gods as the subjects of such thoughts is as seen from the Vedic age. This divine concept explained in Agnipurāṇa is endowed with communal false prestige, narrow-mindedness and casteism.

The question whether the Brahmins had their own temples is a matter of controversy. It is observed that there were many instances in which the Buddhavihāras, Caityas and Jain temples underwent Brahminisation. It can be effortlessly made out from Agnipurāṇa, the picture of how local cultures and their identities were refined and made suited to the upper class and high-caste. The best evidence for it is the insistence to prevent women and untouchables from entering the temples.

5. Expiations in Agnipurāṇa and Tantrasamuccaya

Expiatory rites of Tantrasamuccaya are similar to that of expiatory rites in Agnipurāṇa Agnipurāṇa considers expiatory rites as the remedy for the elisions in worship rituals of gods.^[20] Tantrasamuccaya says if the worshipper sees omens of destruction and danger, then expiatory rites for bad indications are to be performed. As seen in Agnipurāṇa, Tantrasamuccaya also rejects the outcaste’s entry into temples. Tantrasamuccaya rejects the use of impure flowers, smells, water and other offerings and gives ruling to perform expiatory rites in such cases.^[21] Agnipurāṇa says that the offerings of things eaten by rats and other pests to sacred fire should be rejected and as penance, purification by sprinkling of water is to be done.^[22] In the same manner there is similarity between the expiatory rites for elisions in performing Homa stated in both the works.

Agnipurāṇa decrees the chanting of Mantras a hundred times as expiation for the loss or theft of a temple Kalaśa.^[23] Tantrasamuccaya directs a Coraśāntihavana if a thief enters the temple. The influence of Tantric works on Purāṇas also can be perceived by historically analyzing the both. It can be inferred that all the existing Tantric expiatory rites during the period of Agnipurāṇa were accepted in the work. Considering the fact that Agnipurāṇa has accepted many ideas from scriptures including Sanskrit Alaṅkāra works, without doubt it can be assumed that it has taken ideas from then existed Tantric texts also.

This expiatory chapter is an evidence to prove that the ruling class of ancient times had the thought of Brahminising the non-Vedic worshipping concepts. By alienating women, menstruating women and untouchables from temple rituals, the Brahmin rulers gained power, and with the temple as an establishment at the centre, they tried to subjugate and rule over the whole society. In the name of virtue-vice concept, reincarnation doctrine and other theories they oppressed and controlled a whole people. This is how the study of expiatory concepts transforms into the study of social and cultural aspects of the society.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Maurice Winternitz, A History of Indian Literature, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1990, p. 509.

[2]:

Ibid.

[3]:

Ibid., p. 541.

[4]:

For details vide Vijay Nath, Purāṇas and Acculturation, pp. 73-113.

[5]:

Agnipurāṇa, 174.1

[6]:

Ibid.

[7]:

See Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa, 2.2.2. Also See Nirukta, 1.3.

[8]:

daśā svarṇāni dānāni | Agnipurāṇa, 174.15; annadānāni mukhyāni | Agnipurāṇa, 174.16.

[9]:

Agnipurāṇa, 174.2, 174.3.

[10]:

Agnipurāṇa, 174.2, 174.5.

[11]:

Agnipurāṇa, 174.3.

[12]:

Vijay Nath notes: “The concept of ritual pollution was yet another development directly related to the tightening of Varṇa restrictions and Dāna to Brāhmaṇa as became the chief means of regaining purity. Thus Dāna during this period became central to most expiatory and penitentiary rites, and was, to a large extent, instrumental in augmenting Varṇa differentiation.” Cf. Vijay Nath, Dynamics of Ritual Gift System, p. 46.

[13]:

Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa, 11.5.1.

[14]:

Cāndrāyaṇa is a religious fasting in which varied quantity of food is eaten in accordance with the waxing and waning of the moon.

[15]:

In Prājāpatya Vrata, one may eat food only in the morning in first three days, in the second part of the three days he eats food only in the evening, in the third part of the Vrata, he eats food collected by begging. At the last part the three days of this Vrata he observes fasting without taking food.

[16]:

Manusmṛti, 11.106, 11.124, 11.162.

[17]:

Agnipurāṇa, 174.18.

[18]:

Thus Somaśambhupaddhati says that a deity must be treated equal to a king:
cakravartyupacāreṇa sugandhāmalakādibhiḥ | (1.1.33.)
Also see Bṛhatkālottara, 11.17 and Īśānaśivagurudevapaddhati, Kriyāpāda, 48.42.

[19]:

Rajan Gurukkal, Myth Caritram Samūham, p. 192.

[20]:

Agnipurāṇa, 174.1.

[21]:

Tantrasamuccaya, 10.1 and 4.

[22]:

Agnipurāṇa, 174.4.

[23]:

Agnipurāṇa, 174.7.