The Development of Hindu Iconography c19.s6.3

c19.s6.3

The general trend of the guidance given in the Smṛti-śāstras for the proper control and regulation of the lives of the sectarian Indians was also an important factor in encouraging this feeling among the different groups of these worshippers or upāsakas. Approved Smṛti works like some of the Dharmaśāstras of the pre-Christian and early post-Christian periods, and the Manu- and Yājñavalkya-Smṛtis did not advocate the cause of any cult in particular. Ideas inculcated in some epic passages like those in the Bhagavad-gītā (VIII. 21; IX. 23, etc.), though extolling the greatness of Vāsudeva-Kṛṣṇa, in a way helped the growth of this mentality among the sectaries. Thus was developed among numerous persons belonging to different sects, who also followed the injunctions laid down in the authoritative Smṛti works, a liberal attitude towards matters of religious faith. Many of these persons of higher order, usually belonging to the order of Brahmans known as Smārtas, evolved a kind of worship described as Pañcāyatana pūjā in which the principal deities of the five approved Brahmanical Hindu cults were the objects of veneration. The principal object of worship in it was usually in the form of an aniconic emblem which symbolised all the five cult deities. It will not be possible to fix definitely the period when this custom came into vogue among the Smārtas, but clear archaeological evidence will be produced here, which will show that syncretistic tendencies were at work from a fairly early date. But before this is done, it will be useful to mention briefly the characterisation of the Pañcāyatana pūjā as given by a distinguished and keenly observant Western scholar and Sanskritist of the nineteenth century. Monier Williams describes the ceremony as he saw it being practised by some of the Hindus of Central and Southern India in this manner: ‘ Five stones or symbols believed to be permeated by the essences of the five chief deities are, (1) the black stone, representing Viṣṇu; (2) the white stone representing Śiva’s essence; (3) the red stone, representing Gaṇeśa; (4) the small piece of metallic ore, representing the wife of Śiva; (5) the piece of crystal representing the sun . . . . . . . . . . All five symbols are placed on a round open metal dish, called Pañcāyatana, and are arranged in five different methods, according to the preference given to any one of the five deities at the time of worship ’ (Religious Thought and Life in India, pp. 411-12). It should be noted that the particular mode of placing in the centre the symbol of any one of the five cult deities in the Pañcāyatana arrangement (thus giving special importance to him or her) may indicate the cult affiliation of the Smārta worshipper. Thus, the tolerant mentality of these Smārtas did not stand in their way of associating themselves to one or other of these cults. The Pañcāyatana pūjā of the Smārtas is also illustrated by many extant early and late mediaeval temples of India, in which the central shrine housing the principal deity is surrounded by four smaller shrines on the four corners of the quadrangle containing the figures of the four other deities.