by Jayaram V
The puja ceremony in its present form was not practiced by the ancient
Indians during the
Vedic period. The Vedic Indians followed distinct ways of worshipping gods, which involved
both physical and ritual sacrifices accompanied by invocation of several deities through chanting of mantras
and magical incantations and offering of various material and mysterious substances
for their consumption. Agni, the elemental god of fire was the principal deity in most of the
Vedic rituals as he was supposed to be the mediator and divine messenger between gods and men. The Vedic people worshipped the elements of nature in a very systematic manner
by building altars in perfect geometric patterns using bricks, whose construction
often proceeded in phases over long periods of time, depending upon the
financial situation of those who participated in it and the availability of
those who managed it. Their methods of worship were in tune with the Vedic
ideals reflected in the religious texts of the time such as the Vedas. According
to them ritual was a creative process.
Everything, our health, happiness, peace, prosperity, progeny, victory and
fulfillment emerged out of it and depended upon it. It is by performing rituals men earned the merit
to enter the heavenly world. It is by performing rituals men secured the
power and the blessings of gods to protect themselves from evil, harm,
retribution, disease,
pestilence and natural calamities. As is evident from the Purushasukta,
they also believed that creation itself was a product of ritual only. The worlds
emerged out of a grand ritual performed by Prajapathi in which He Himself was
both the priest and the sacrificial substance.
We are not sure what methods of worship were followed by people outside the
Vedic fold or by the people of Indus valley civilization, who thrived in
India prior to the Vedic Indians and established a great civilization of their own
and
whose impact on the subsequent developments in Hinduism is yet to be fully
appreciated due to the constraints in deciphering their language. The available evidence suggests that,
probably they organized themselves into city states and lived in walled cities
which were marked by exceptionally advanced urban planning and civic amenities.
Although they were primarily urban communities who practiced agriculture and
engaged in trade and commerce with people of distant lands, as far as Sumeria
and Israel, they also practiced some rituals
and sacrificial ceremonies both individually and collectively as the means
of worship to invoke deities such as the Mother Goddess often symbolized by a
tree, a Father God represented in some Indus seals as the Bull, a snake or a seated yogi,
besides worshipping elements such as water and fire. The statuettes and symbols unearthed during the excavations at Indus valley sites suggest that they
probably practiced ritual baths of purification and worshipped images and
symbols in walled enclosures. While we are not sure how it happened, some of
their beliefs and practices were integrated into Hinduism subsequently, such as the concept of kovilams or sacred ponds
which are found in close proximity to Hindu temples, where people take ritual
baths before entering them, and the worship of Mother Goddess and Father
God as the progenitors of the entire creation.
It is difficult to say when and how exactly the puja ceremony of the present form evolved.
We have reasons to believe that some kind of puja ceremony, akin to the current one in some
aspects, existed during the epic period. In both the major epics of Hinduism, namely the Ramayana and the Mahabharata,
we find instances where the main characters performed ritual worship of gods
akin to the puja ceremony with flowers and offerings. The epics suggest the extent of
devotional theism prevalent in ancient India and how people related themselves
with their personal gods through religious fervor and expressed it in the form
of religious acts like worship or puja. Although the gods lived in a different
world of their own, they were neither insensitive nor indifferent to the calls
of their devotees. The incarnation of Lord Vishnu as Rama and Krishna is the
most notable example of such responsiveness.
From a historical perspective, some elements of puja worship seems to have
come to us from sources other than Indian. According to one theory, the puja ceremony was
introduced in India by the foreigners
such as the Greeks or the Bactrians or the Kushanas who
established their domains in the Indian subcontinent. They worshipped their own
gods and some Indian gods such as Skanda, Siva and Vishnu. Alternatively it might have also come to us from the merchant caravans
that came across the borders by land or by sea during the post Mauryan era.
There is also an argument that the idea of ritual offering of flowers, incense
and other substances as an act of worship to the images of deities came
to Hinduism from distant cultures that existed outside the Indian subcontinent
or on its fringes.
There is also a possibility that puja was originally practiced by some tribal
groups, who existed outside the pale of the Vedic society
and was incorporated subsequently into the Vedic religion when they were brought
into the Vedic fold.
The growing popularity of bhakti movement, which tried to transcend the caste
and tribal divisions of society, probably facilitated such integration. The
Dravidians who migrated to the south from the northwestern parts of the Indian
subcontinent some time during the later part of the Indus period, could also
have brought puja into the Vedic fold through devotional Saivism and Vaishnavism.
While we have reasons to believe in the indigenous development of puja ceremony, some elements of foreign influence
in its evolution cannot be entirely ruled out.
The emergence of Bhakti movement or the devotional expression of unconditional
love and reverence to God definitely contributed to the emergence of puja as as a popular
form of religious worship among the Indian masses. In the south, the followers of Saivism
worked hard to counter the growing influence of Buddhism and Jainism among the
people by introducing personal forms of divine worship which involved the public
use of devotional singing, chanting and art forms like dance and drama. The most
pious among them were known as Nayanars, who travelled from village to village spreading
the message of Siva and encouraging people to worship Him directly without the
need for elaborate rituals or the intervention of the priests who were
particularly reluctant to work across caste lines. Their selfless work and teachings made puja a part of Hindu religious activity among the the rural
people. Legendary devotees of Siva like Kannappa acquired fame for their acts of
worship and devotional attitude. In case of Vaishnavism, the Alvars did a
tremendous work to popularize devotional worship of Vishnu.
Buddhism and Jainism also played an important role in the development of puja and its procedural aspects. The Buddha did not encourage rituals. In fact,
he was against all forms of ritualistic worship as he found them to be
ineffective in mitigating human suffering. Instead, he preferred monastic
life for the preservation of dharma and sangha and for practicing his teachings
to overcome desires. He laid more emphasis on character building and ethical
living according to the principles of the Eightfold path in the salvation of man
rather than performing elaborate rituals and making sacrificial offerings.
However a few centuries after His nirvana, Buddhism saw the emergence of Mahayana Buddhism
as a reaction among some of its followers against its lack of personal
allegiance to the Buddha and its unrelenting emphasis on self-denial and
monasticism. It advocated devotional worship to the Buddha as an important
aspect of spiritual practice, without compromising its emphasis on the ideals of
monkhood and monastic life. Followers of this path incorporated several elements
of the puja ceremony in their worship of the Buddha.
Unlike Buddhism, Jainism encouraged the personal worship of the Thirthankaras
and Arhats from the beginning. It believed that acts of worship were beneficial
to the mankind as they were acts of good karma, which resulted in the karmic
cleansing of the worshippers. In several respects its methods of worship were
similar to those of Hinduism. It was not uncommon to find Hindu priests serving
in the Jain temples. It is very likely that both Jainism and Hinduism influenced
each other in their methods of worship.
Another important factor in the development of devotional worship in India
was the rise of Vaishnanivsm and the emergence of religious texts like the
Puranas and the Bhagavadgita. By presenting the divine mysteries and activities
of various gods in a narrative form, the Puranas captured the attention of the
masses and made them aware of the finer aspects of religious practice. They
emphasized the importance of adherence to dharma and personal allegiance to God
in seeking salvation. The Bhagavadgita, a notable Vaishnava scripture, is
principally a book of devotional worship, which reminds men of their true nature
and the need for leading a divine centered life to achieve liberation from the
cycle of births and deaths. It stated bhaktimarg or the path of devotion as the
best means to transcend oneself and overcome the problems of desire ridden karmic
acts, without the need to undergo the hardships of ascetic life. It vouched for
the faith and attitude behind our offerings being more important for salvation
rather than the offering itself, preferring simple forms of direct worship to
elaborate rituals, which characterized the Vedic religion of the times.
Puja as a special religious ceremony became very popular during the post Mauryan
period. The construction of temples all over the subcontinent and the daily worship
of deities installed in them by communities of priests following elaborate
procedures to appease them contributed to the growing
popularity of puja as simple form of divine worship in Hinduism. The temples
made the puja form of worship an important and integral theistic practice of
Hinduism. While the methods of worship grew along independent lines in the
individual households, depending upon their caste backgrounds, with or without
the use of Sanskrit mantras, in the temples the puja ceremony acquired a more
elaborate structure, becoming a separate ritual by itself. With the use of more
formal mantras or sacred chants in the invocations and supplications of the
deities installed in the temples, necessitating the mediation of priests, it
also became distinctly Vedic in character and an integral aspect of temple
traditions.
The Guptas built many temples in northern India during their long rule and
encouraged the worship of Vishnu and Siva. The Barashivas who ruled large parts
of Northern and Central India before them were great followers of Siva. Besides,
Vishnu and Siva people worshipped snakes, trees, water spirits and other
deities. The practice of puja continued to flourish during the subsequent periods and became the main form of Hindu worship by the time Sri Adi Shankara emerged on the scene. During the latter and post Gupta periods, the puja ceremony must have influenced, and must have also been influenced in return, by the emergence of Tantricism as a major religious movement both in Hinduism and Buddhism.
Whatever may be the truths underlying its origin and development, the significance of puja lies in the fact that it
brought Hinduism closer to the masses by separating religion from the
suffocating grip of the priesthood. It delinked the act of religious worship
from the meddling control of the Vedic priests who made religious worship as the
means of seeking material comforts rather than spiritual solace. The puja
ceremony brought the worshippers face to face with God, in a very personal and
touching way and made the act of worship a purely personal and emotional affair.
In short it undermined the influence of the priests in the religious life of the
Hindus and helped the religion survive the growing influence of Buddhism and
Jainism!
It is not true that the puja ceremonies did away with the involvement of priests altogether
in the religious affairs of the Hindus. The priest still maintained their
exclusive control on the more complex forms of rituals and the pujas performed
in the temples by virtue of their caste privileges and their knowledge of the
sacred scriptures. But it did reduce their importance in the worship of God by
common people and opened the doors of Hinduism to those who remained on the
fringes of society and were ignored by the higher castes.
Today puja is the most common form of divine worship in Hinduism. It is the most popular medium through which every Hindu
worshipper communicates with his or her personal god or goddess. Since the tradition of puja gathered strength
for its purity and simplicity, it is better suited for the modern life where
people have no time or inclination to perform or participate in more elaborate
sacrificial ceremonies and rituals on day to day basis. As the limitations of time and resources would continue to exert their influence
upon our lives and activities, the tradition of puja is certain to evolve into more
definitive and personal ways in the future.
Suggested Further Reading
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