8. Cosmetics for Worship

Perfumes and incenses are two of five accessories of religious worship; others being Puṣpa, Dīpa and Nivedya. Worshipping gods with perfumes and incenses is generally considered as a way for achieving the four ends of human life or Puruṣārtha–Dharma, Artha, Kāma and Mokṣa. Even though perfumes are one of the accessories of worship, it is interesting to note that perfumes have a presiding deity.

In Kālikāpurāṇa^[1], a number of verses are devoted to the description of different sorts of perfumes and incenses used in the worshipping of different deities. The text records five sorts of perfumes. They are Cūrṇīkṛta, Dhṛṣṭha, Dāhākarṣita, Sammardaja and Prāṇyaṅgodbhava. Of these Cūrṇīkṛta is powdered perfume. Powdered leaves of cinnamon are an example. Sandal wood is an example for Dhṛṣṭha type perfume. Dāhākarṣita is obtained through burning aromatic substance like Aguru etc. Sammardaja is produced by crushing perfumed seeds of Tila etc. Prāṇyaṅgodbhava are organic products like musk. Five kinds of incenses also are mentioned there. They are Niryāsa, Parāga, Kāṣṭha, Kṛtrima and Gandha. As per the information given in this Purāṇa, different gods or goddesses are to be worshipped with different varieties of perfumes and incenses. Thus it is stated that Viṣṇu is to be worshipped with Malayaja (Sandal) and should not be worshipped with Yakṣadhūpa (Incense of Cencilya). Goddess Caṇḍī and Tripurā should be pleased with Kuṅkuma, Aguru, Kastūrī etc. Incense made of Kṛṣṇāguru and Karpūra are good for pleasing goddess Mahāmāyā. White incense of Jāti and Akṣa is favourite of goddess Kāmeśvarī. It is believed that one who worships gods with inhaled perfumes will be sent to the hell by gods. It is also suggested in Purāṇas that incense should be given in an incense burner and should not be placed in a pot or on earth.

Trailokyaprakāśa^[2], a treatise on astrology refers to Bṛhaspati (Jupiter) as the presiding planet for perfumes, while Gaṅgādhara^[3] begins his work Gandhasāra with a salutation to the semi divine god Gandhayakṣa. But we don’t have any reference to such a deity anywhere except in Gandhasāra.