History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c34.153.2

v2.c34.153.2

The *tripuṇḍra* mark (three oblique lines) is to be made with holy ashes (*bhasman*) and the tilaka with sandalwood paste.¹⁶⁰³ According to the Brahmāṇḍapurāṇa, the ūrdhvapuṇḍra is made after a bath with loose earth in such a way that it resembles the outline of the foot (of Hari),¹⁶⁰⁴ the tripuṇḍra with holy ashes after homa, and the tilaka (a circular mark) with sandalwood paste on worshipping gods (devapūjā). The Sm. M. (āhnika p. 292) quotes Vāsudevopaniṣad for making the ūrdhvapuṇḍra mark on the forehead and other places with Gopīcandana (magnesian or calcareous clay) or in its absence with earth from the roots of the *tulasī* plant. Sacrifice, gifts, japa, homa, study of the Veda, tarpaṇa of the Manes, if done without the ūrdhvapuṇḍra mark, become fruitless (according to Viṣṇu quoted in Sm. M. āhnika p. 292). The Vṛddha-Hārīta smṛti (II. 58-72) has a long note on *ūrdhvapuṇḍra*. The Sm. M. (āhnika p. 296) notes that some texts of the Pāśupata and other Śaiva sectarians run down ūrdhvapuṇḍra and highly extol the tripuṇḍra mark, while Pāñcarātra texts enjoin the marking of the body with śaṅkha, cakra and other weapons of Viṣṇu and condemn tripuṇḍra. Devout worshippers of Viṣṇu who are followers of Madhvācārya brand the weapons of Viṣṇu such as the conch on their arms and bodies with heated metal pieces, just as early Christians stamped the cross on the forehead with red-hot iron (vide Wilson's 'Religious Sects of the Hindus', vol. I. p. 42). Works like Vṛddha-Hārīta II.