History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c44.48.1

v3.c44.48.1

The Vaikhānasa Smārtasūtra (IV. 10-11) contains perhaps the earliest extant detailed description of the consecration of the image of Viṣṇu. But it appears to have been mainly concerned with an image installed in private houses or with the worship of an image by one individual. It is briefly as follows:²⁰⁹² After the daily homa comes the daily worship of Viṣṇu, which (worship) comprehends in itself the worship of all gods. A brāhmaṇa passage (Ait. Br. I. 1) says ‘Agni is indeed the nethermost (or the lowest) among gods and Viṣṇu the highest; between these two stand all the other deities’. Therefore having established in one's house the highest god Viṣṇu the householder worships him at the end of the evening and morning homa. He should make an image of Viṣṇu in length not more than six fingers; he should perform its consecration in the bright half (of a month) on an auspicious nakṣatra. Three days before he should prepare the space (kuṇḍa) of the gṛhya fire and perform the several rites of prokṣaṇa, drawing lines as described (in Vaik. I. 9). Then he is to perform homa up to āghāras (as described above pp. 210-11). Then he performs the sacrifices to the limbs in the words ‘to the teeth, svāhā: to the jaws, svāhā’, and other oblations with the six mantras beginning with ‘ato devā’ (Ṛg. I. 22. 16-21). Then he performs while repeating audibly the hymn to Puruṣa (Ṛg. X. 90. 1-16) the opening of the eyes (of the god Viṣṇu) with a golden needle.