Shaiva Upanishads (A Critical Study)

by Arpita Chakraborty | 2013 | 33,902 words

This page relates ‘Wearing of the Tripundra Mark in early morning’ of the study on the Shaiva Upanishads in English, comparing them with other texts dealing with the Shiva cult (besides the Agamas and Puranas). The Upaniṣads are ancient philosophical and theological treatises. Out of the 108 Upanishads mentioned in the Muktikopanishad, 15 are classified as Saiva-Upanisads.

6. Wearing of the Tripuṇḍra Mark in early morning

[...] Bhasmajābāla Upaniṣad up.II.2

Mahādeva replied to Jābāla regarding the wearing of Tripuṇḍra mark. Rising up early in the Brahmamuhūrta, sacred unto the Lord Brahmā, and finishing off cleansing and other operations even before sunrise, the seeker should bathe thereafter. He should wipe his body (with a towel), uttering the Rudrasūktas. Then he should cloth himself with fresh clothes to rid of all sin. Then, meditating on the rising Sun (in the attitude, “This Sun is the Brahman alone”), sprinkling the entire body (with sacred ashes), he should wear the Tripuṇḍra–marks duly over the prescribed parts (of the body), such as the forehead and others) with ashes of a perfectly white colour.[1]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Ibid II. 2.

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