Rituals and Mendicant’s Accessories

When a Hindu, Buddhist or Jain cultic image is consecrated, it becomes charged by the presence of the divinity itself. Such an image is considered worthy of worship by the devotees in a shrine or a temple. Charms and amulets too are cultic objects to which magical powers are imparted through a ceremony of invocation and which are ritually worn or worshipped by devotees to prevent evil eye and to gain prosperity. Usually amulets are cast from a dye using a plaque of silver, copper or brass. In most cases each amulets is a complete ‘shrine’ of a deity represented with all its iconographic features.
A group of amulets as displayed in the museum is devoted to different goddesses including: Durga astride her lion or tiger vehicle, killing the buffalo demon; a number of lesser known goddesses of a locality related to agriculture and harvest, often holding a plant in her hand and wearing a skirt made of grass and leaves.
Bhairava plays an important role in the magical practices of rural Hinduism in Western and Northern India. Amulets of Bhairava having four arms carrying trident, a damaru, a severed head and a dagger, and accompanied by his dog-vehicle, are commonly found in this region. Some of the dead heroes and ancestors are often identified with Bhairava in the process of their deification. Amulets devoted to them are identifiable through prominent footmarks.
Ganesha, the elephant-headed son of Shiva, is held in high esteem as deity of auspicious beginning by the Hindus. Amulets depicting Ganesha, occasionally accompanied by his consort Chauth (in Rajasthan) are worn by his devotees for good luck and prosperity. Shiva, the father of Ganesha, is also a deity closely linked with Bhairvava. Shiva being the supreme deity for magical practices frequently appears on amulets.
Though it is not certain whether horses existed in India in the pre-Aryan times there is no doubt that this animal was associated with the Aryans. Vedic literature refers to ashvamedha or horse sacrifice. The horse has always been the vehicle of kings and emperors. Many a hero who died fighting a battle has been immortalized in his memorial stone by the image of an equestrian figure. In imitation of this iconography, several tribal and rural communities of India have deified their ancestors as equestrian figures. Some of the local deities of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra such as Ram Dev, DevNarayan, or Khandoba also have horse as their vehicle. Amulets being shrines of ancestors and some of these folk deities perpetuate this image. Hanuman, the monkey-attendant of Rama, and an independent deity in his own right, is also represented on amulets and armlets, mostly in flying posture, carrying a herb for his masters Rama and Lakshmana.
A part of Hindu worship comprises anointing the sacred image with sandalwood paste, perfume, milk, yoghurt, clarified butter, etc. and a sacred bath with water. Special containers for storing these ingredients, often embellished with sacred symbols, are devised and used. The bath water of the deities and some of the liquid ingredients are offered in sacrifice or to devotees with small spoons, ladles or vessels also marked with sacred symbols. A range of these vessels and ladles are in the collection of this museum. Shiva is also worshipped in his phallic form. In many Shiva temples Shivalinga, or Shiva’s phallic image is placed in the entrance courtyard above which a brass or copper vessel having a minute hole is suspended from which water keeps dripping on the Shivalinga below. Lingayat, followers of the sect of Shiva worshippers in the South, wear a miniature Shivalinga contained in a silver box in their necks. Like flowers, fruits, or coconuts, sacred sound is also ‘offered’ to the deity in Hindu worship. For this purpose metal-bells and conch-shells are used. Conch-shell being sacred, one of the four emblems of Vishnu, often liquid vermilion to be sprinkled on sacred installations is kept inside a conch-shell.

Portable Shrines :
Concept of mobile shrines is ancient and deeply rooted in India. The most formidable example of mobile shrine is the temple chariot. Miniature temples, palanquins and boxes containing the divine image were carried from one place to the other as a part of rathayatra festival or for the daily worship of an itinerant house-holder or a monk or for ritual begging by mendicants and priests. Wooden cabinets having multifold shutters with painted panels of mythological scenes, made at Bassi in Rajasthan were meant for providing darshana of the Divine to the potential devotees in returns of alms. It is customary among the Jains and certain sects of Hindus to break their fast every morning only after their daily worship. For this, usually, a householder visited a temple or worshipped at the domestic shrine, but while on journey, he carried with him a flat box of brass or silver containing a sacred installation. Manuscript of a sacred text was considered equally an object of veneration. Often compact and ornamented containers were made for keeping the sacred books. Hindu canons prescribe two types of divine images, i.e. chala (movable) and achala (fixed). The elaborate ritual of daily bath, anointment, etc. is usually performed on the chala images. For temporary and permanent installation of these images, asanas or thrones are made of brass or bronze. In Maharashtra and parts of Karnataka, heavy bronze plaques having representations of folk deities such as Viroba, Khandoba, Bhairoba, etc. are carried in baskets by their priests for the ritual benefit of their devotees. In South India, Shaivite mendicants carried a large ritual ladle embellished with Shaivite symbols. Attached to this was bell, the sound of which attracted the attention of potential donors. Custom of installing miniature shrines at home for daily domestic worship has been common all over India since ancient times. A number of silpasastras and other ritual texts refer to domestic worship. A few examples of such miniature shrines are collected in this Museum. Any offering made at a shrine, be it water, food, or incense is considered sacred by the devotees among Hindus. After the incense are burned, the ashes are left in the incense burners or special containers meant for the purpose, from where devotees take a pinch and apply on their forehead. Such vessels, made of bronze, were often embellished with cultic images and symbols.

Medicants objects :
Deep attachment to the world is considered to be the main cause of misery for human beings among the Hindus, Buddhists and Jains. Detachment from the material life and renunciation are described as lofty ideals. Itinerant mendicants and religious teachers abstained from setting up a household or possessing any worldly paraphernalia.
To fulfil their minimum requirements they carried with them all-purpose bowls and pots made of gourd, wood or metal. It is interesting to note that the archaic form of the original gourd-container persisted in the later periods when the same were made of wood and metals or even plastic.
While sitting cross-legged in meditation or giving discourse, gurus and godmen often used bairagin, a T-shaped prop for resting one of their elbows. Householders took pride in presenting such props, having exquisite workmanship, to the holymen of their sect. Some of these were cast in metal whereas the wooden ones were adorned with ivory inlay, painting or carving.
With the rise of the bhakti-movement in the early medieval period, singing of devotional songs in the temple or at home became highly popular. Manjira (cymbals), often intricately carved, were used by these singers in Gujarat or Rajasthan.
Expressions such as charana-kamala (lotus-feet) indicate that feet of a holy man or a deity were held in high reverence. As a mark of humbleness and devotion, it was customary to touch the feet of the revered persons, and place the dust picked from there on one’s head. Reflection of this belief is found in the practice of worshipping metal or wooden Sandals of godmen in shrines. Wooden sandals were actually used by these holymen to avoid the use of impure materials like leather.
Shivalinga or the phallus of Shiva; Nandi, Shiva’s bull; snake; ram; Ganesha; etc., symbols of Shaivism, embellished metal wristlets used by Shaivaite priests. A large majority of them in the collection of the museum seem to be coming from Maharashtra and Karnataka.