षोडशोपचार पूजा विधि

One common order in puja books is: avahana, asana, padya, arghya, achamana, snana, vastra, yajnopavita, gandha, pushpa, dhupa, dipa, naivedya, tambula, pradakshina-namaskara and pushpanjali-visarjana. This page follows that order.

But it is right to say plainly that the list of sixteen is not the same everywhere. The count usually stays at sixteen, but the names and the order change with the Agama, the Purana, the region and the family's tradition, so if your book or your priest gives a slightly different list, that is not a mistake.

These are the main differences. Many lists count dhyana (meditation on the deity) as the first upachara; we place it in the preparation before avahana. Some put asana first and follow it with a welcome (svagata). Some add madhuparka after achamana. Some add ornaments (abharana) after vastra, or give ornaments in place of yajnopavita. Some count nirajana (aarti) and mantra-pushpa separately at the end after tambula, and some make pradakshina and namaskara two upacharas. Many books do not count visarjana among the sixteen at all and treat it as a separate closing act. The heart of every list is the same: invite, seat, serve, feed, bow.

The place and the vessels: a low stool, a clean cloth to spread on it, an image or picture of the deity, a mat for yourself, a lota of water, a small spoon (achamani), an empty plate to receive the water, the puja plate and a bell.

The offerings: Ganga water (or clean water), milk, curd, ghee, honey and sugar for the panchamrit, a cloth or mauli for the deity, a yajnopavita (sacred thread), sandal paste, roli, akshat (unbroken rice), flowers and a garland, incense, a ghee lamp with a cotton wick, camphor, sweets, fruit or home-cooked sattvik food for the naivedya, a betel leaf, a betel nut, cloves, cardamom and a coin as dakshina. By deity: tulsi for Vishnu, bel leaves for Shiva, durva grass for Ganesh, red flowers and items of adornment for the Devi. If you cannot gather everything, do not worry; each upachara below comes with a simple substitute.

Getting ready: bathe and put on clean clothes, clean the place of worship and sprinkle Ganga water, and keep all the samagri within reach so that you need not get up midway. Spread the cloth on the stool, place the deity on it and sit on your mat facing east or north. Light the lamp now.

Remembering Ganesh, and the sankalp: in many homes the puja begins by remembering Ganesh with 'Om Gam Ganapataye Namah'. Then take water, akshat and a flower in your hand, say in your own words who you are, on what occasion and in what spirit you are doing this puja, and let the water fall to the ground. A sincere vow in your own language is enough; the Sanskrit sankalp is usually said by a priest.

Dhyana: close your eyes and hold the deity's form in your mind for a few moments. Those who know a dhyana verse recite it; otherwise remembering the form and saying the deity's name-mantra, such as 'Om Namah Shivaya', is enough. The same name-mantra can be said with every offering through the puja.

1. Avahana (inviting): with folded hands or holding a flower, invite the deity in your heart to come into this image, picture or kalash, and set the flower before them. Home substitute: with folded hands simply say in your own words, 'Lord, please come.' For an image installed permanently in the home shrine, some priests do not perform avahana and have only a prayer said; the Bhagavata Purana (11.27) too says that a permanent image needs no calling and no sending away. Follow your priest or your family's custom.

2. Asana (a seat): offer the deity a place to sit. Straighten the cloth on the stool and place a flower or a little akshat on it. Home substitute: one flower or a few grains of akshat are taken as the seat.

3. Padya (water for the feet): take a little water in the spoon, show it towards the deity's feet and let it fall into the empty plate. Home substitute: with a picture, do not pour water on it; flick a few drops towards the feet with a flower, or let the water fall straight into the plate.

4. Arghya (water of honour for the hands): mix a little sandal paste, akshat and a flower into water, offer it towards the deity's hands and let it fall into the plate. Home substitute: one flower in plain water is enough.

5. Achamana (water to rinse the mouth): show a spoonful of clean water towards the deity's mouth and let it fall into the plate. Many books repeat achamana after snana, vastra and naivedya; repeat it if you have time. Home substitute: achamana done once is enough.

6. Snana (the bath): set a metal or stone image on the plate and bathe it with clean water. On a special occasion bathe it first with panchamrit (milk, curd, ghee, honey, sugar), then with clean water. Then wipe it dry with a clean cloth and return it to its seat. Home substitute: do not bathe a clay image or a picture; a sprinkle of water from a flower is the bath. If you used panchamrit, share it later as prasad.

7. Vastra (clothing): offer the deity a cloth, a chunri or an angavastra. Home substitute: offer a piece of mauli as the cloth; if there is none, offer akshat in its place, as many priests also have it done.

8. Yajnopavita (the sacred thread): this is offered to male deities. In the puja of the Devi many homes offer mauli, sindoor or items of adornment instead. Home substitute: a thread of mauli, or akshat in place of the yajnopavita.

9. Gandha (fragrant paste): mark the deity with a tilak of sandal paste. The Devi is usually marked with roli or kumkum, and in many homes with turmeric too. Many homes do not put turmeric or kumkum on a Shivling; keep to sandal paste or bhasma there. With a picture, put it on a flower on the stool rather than on the glass. Home substitute: if there is no sandal, use roli or ground turmeric, or a drop of attar on a flower.

10. Pushpa (flowers): offer flowers and a garland, with the leaves dear to the deity: tulsi for Vishnu, bel for Shiva, durva for Ganesh. Many homes do not offer tulsi to Ganesh or Shiva, or ketaki to Shiva. In some traditions akshat is not offered to Vishnu; there, wherever this page suggests akshat, use a flower, a tulsi leaf or an offering in the mind instead. Home substitute: any fresh flower from a pot at home; if there is no flower, akshat.

11. Dhupa (incense): with the right hand slowly circle the incense before the deity while ringing the bell with the left, then set it to one side. Home substitute: a single incense stick; if smoke troubles anyone, remember the incense in your mind and offer a flower.

12. Dipa (the lamp): show the ghee lamp before the deity and set it on their right. Home substitute: an oil lamp if there is no ghee. Keep the flame away from children and curtains.

13. Naivedya (food): set the food on a clean plate before the deity, circle a little water around it and pray that they accept it. The food should have no onion or garlic and should not be tasted first; a tulsi leaf is placed on food offered to Vishnu. After a few moments offer water. Home substitute: rock sugar, jaggery, a batasha, one fruit or a little milk.

14. Tambula (paan): place a betel nut, cloves and cardamom on a betel leaf and offer it with a coin as dakshina. Some books mention fruit and dakshina separately here. In many homes the aarti comes next, with camphor or a ghee lamp, singing the deity's aarti. Home substitute: only a clove and cardamom, or one betel nut and a coin.

15. Pradakshina and namaskara (circling and bowing): walk clockwise around the deity, keeping them on your right, then bow. Go round as many times as your family's custom says. Home substitute: if the stool stands against a wall, stand where you are and turn once to your right. Those who cannot turn can fold their hands where they sit.

16. Pushpanjali and visarjana (flowers and farewell): hold flowers in both cupped hands, pray, and offer them at the deity's feet. Then ask forgiveness for any slip in the puja. For an image or kalash into which the deity was invited for that day, pray with folded hands that the deity return to their abode and come again; for a permanent image in the home shrine, a bow is enough. Home substitute: if there are no flowers, bow with empty cupped hands and say the prayer of forgiveness. At the end share the prasad with everyone.

Shodashopachara is counted as the puja for large occasions. Many homes do it on festivals such as Ganesh Chaturthi, the Lakshmi puja of Diwali, Janmashtami, Maha Shivratri and Navratri, during a vrat and its udyapan, at rites such as griha pravesh, and before the Satyanarayan katha. In many temples it is also the daily service. A home does not need it every day; panchopachara is held to be enough for daily worship.

Time: with the samagri ready, one person at home can do this puja calmly in about half an hour to three quarters of an hour. With a panchamrit bath, a katha, japa or a priest's mantras it runs to an hour or more. When a festival's puja has a particular time, see that festival's own page.

A priest is not required for the sixteen upacharas. Any member of the family, woman or man, who wishes to do the puja from the heart can follow the order above in their own language. If Sanskrit mantras do not come, saying the deity's name-mantra and 'this is offered to you' with each offering is enough. The tradition says that the deity looks at the feeling and does not test pronunciation.

A priest is held to be needed where full Vedic mantras, a havan or the prana-pratishtha of a new image are to be done, or where the family's custom is to call one for a particular puja. Where a priest is present, follow their list and order.

If time or samagri is short: take the simple substitute for each upachara; complete the bath with a sprinkle and the clothing with mauli; do achamana only once; leave out the panchamrit. If it is shorter still, do a panchopachara puja with five: gandha, pushpa, dhupa, dipa and naivedya. Keep just one thing in mind: offer what you can gather with respect, not in a hurry.

In manasa puja the same sixteen upacharas are done with no samagri at all, in the mind alone. Sit quietly, close your eyes, invite the deity inwardly, and see each service in turn: a seat of jewels, a bath in the water of the rivers, fine clothes, sandal paste, flowers, fragrance, a lamp and whatever food you wish. The mind has no limit of samagri, so what you cannot gather outside can also be offered here.

The tradition does not count this as less. The 'Shiva Manasa Puja' stotra, handed down in the name of Adi Shankaracharya, rests wholly on this idea. Manasa puja serves on a journey, in hospital, in illness, or wherever there is no room or samagri for a puja. It has just one condition: the mind stays there. Those who do a panchopachara every day can also add a few moments of it after the outer puja.

During periods, the traditional view is that a woman does not touch the puja materials or the image; another member of the household does the puja while she sits nearby and joins by bowing in her heart. Today many families and scholars hold that the deity looks at the feeling, and that manasa puja can be done in these days too. Follow your family's custom and your own heart. No fast is required for this puja; where a festival's fast goes with it, the ill, pregnant or nursing women, the elderly, children and anyone on medicines should not keep a waterless or full fast, and a doctor's advice comes first.