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Showing posts from June 12, 2008


Significance of Shankh or Conch Shell in Hinduism

In Hindu religion, Shankh, or Samkha, is of great importance and symbolizes luster, brilliance, purity and auspicious beginning. It is a pious article and is used in all religious rituals. The most famous Shankha is the Panchajanaya of Lord Vishnu. In the Mahabharata, Lord Krishna and the five Pandavas had a separate conch shell and it is referred in the beginning of the Bhagavad Gita. In religious rituals, Shankh is used to announce the beginning of a prayer or arrival of deity and in some places sacred water is collected and distributed in it. Shankh literally means ‘pacifying the inauspicious.’ In Hinduism, origin of the conch shell took place during the Samudra Manthan or churning of ocean. There are two types of Shankh – left handed conch shell and right handed conch shell. Valampiri Shankh or Lakshmi Shankh is the right handed conch shell and is considered auspicious. Shankha is blown at every festival and auspicious beginning and the sound ushers in freshness and

Snana Yatra Festival at Puri Jagannath Temple – Bathing Ritual of Deities

Snana Yatra, or Snanayatra, is observed on the full moon day (Purnima) in the month of Jyeshtha (June – July) at the famous Puri Jagannath Temple in Orissa. In 2012, the date of Snana Yatra is June 4. On this day, the idols of Jagannnatha, Balabhadra, Subhadra are bathed. This is also the first occasion in the course of a year in Oriya calendar when the deities come out of the temple. Snana Yatra takes place around 15 days before the famous Rath Yatra. The ritual bathing of the deities take place at the Snana Bedi located in the northeastern compound of the Puri T emple complex. 108 pots of water are poured on the idols and after this the deities enter into Anavasara or Anasara. For the next fifteen days, devotees are not allowed the darshan of the idols. It is believed that the deities catch fever after a long ritual bathing and therefore does not return to sanctum sanctorum for the next fifteen days. During this period, the Sabara daitas repaint the idols. The three idols a