History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c24.s1.194

v2.c24.s1.194

Nyāsa means 'mentally invoking god and holy texts to come to occupy certain parts of the body to render it a pure and fit receptacle for worship and contemplation.' The sixteen verses of the Puruṣasūkta (Ṛg. X. 90) are respectively invoked to reside in the left and right hands, the left foot, the right foot, the left and right knees, the left and right sides, the navel, the heart, the throat, the left and right arms, the mouth, the eyes and the head (vide Aparārka p. 140). The Bhāgavata (VI. 8. 4-5) recommends that one should perform *nyāsa* on the hands and limbs of one's own body with the two mantras of Nārāyaṇa and thus make Nārāyaṇa one's armour when some danger arises and that one should perform nyāsa with 'oṁ' and other syllables on one's feet, knees, thighs, belly, heart, chest, mouth and head.⁷⁶² The Sm. C. I. p. 144 quotes verses from Vyāsa and Brahmā as to the nyāsa of the letters of the Gāyatrī with 'om' and 'namaḥ' on the several parts of the body. Vṛddha-Hārīta VI. 16-19 speaks of the nyāsa of the twenty-five letters of the mantra about Nārāyaṇa on the twenty-five parts of the body. The Nityācārapaddhati (pp. 578-579) describes the nyāsa of the letters of the alphabet (51 in all) from ‘Om Keśavāya namaḥ’ to ‘kṣam Nṛsiṁhāya namaḥ.’ One well-known mode is to assign Govinda, Mahīdhara, Hṛṣīkeśa, Trivikrama, Viṣṇu, Mādhava respectively on the tips of the thumb, the index finger, the middle finger, the ring-finger, the small finger and the middle of the palm. Manu II. 60 enjoining the touching of the limbs and head with water appears to contain the germ of this practice of nyāsa.