History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.737

v6.c81.737

One important matter was not stressed above. On the first day of Navarātra one has to establish a *kalaśa* or *ghaṭa*. A full kalaśa has been a symbol of holiness and prosperity from early Vedic times (compare Ṛg. III. 32. 15 'āpūrṇo asya kalaśaḥ'). This is a rite which is performed in the Deccan, Gujarat and Saurāṣṭra even though the elaborate Durgāpūjā of Bengal finds no place there. The procedure given in Durgābhaktitaraṅgiṇī p 3. Nirṇayasindhu (p. 767), Vratarāja (pp. 62-66), Puruṣārthacintāmaṇi (pp. 66-67) and other works is elaborate. Ghaṭasthāpana is spoken of in Durgārcanapaddhati (p. 663) and has to be performed by day and not at night. One should make⁴⁷² an altar with holy clay and sow *yava* and wheat grains thereon with Ṛg. X. 97. 22, and establish a jar there of gold, silver, copper or clay with Ṛg. IX. 17. 4, fill the jar with water with Ṛg. X. 75. 5 (imam me Gaṅge &c.), and cast in the jar sandalwood paste, *sarvauṣadhi*,⁴⁷³ dūrvā grass, leaves of five trees (mango &c.), clay from seven places, fruit, five jewels and gold with appropriate mantras, surround it with a piece of cloth with Ṛg. III. 8. 4, place a pūrṇa-pātra (a cup filled with rice grains) on the jar and worship Varuṇa thereon, contemplate on Durgā (as described in note 418) and invoke Durgā to come and be present in the jar along with all groups of gods and offer the upacāras from *pādya* onwards, fold his hands, offer a prayer and boiled rice with māṣa pulse or a kūṣmāṇḍa &c. In the Deccan the main items in the Navarātra are the establishment of ghaṭa, offering a garland of flowers on every tithi up to the 9th, a strict code of conduct (such as not shaving oneself) to be observed by the performer. If on the pratipad day on which the jar is to be established there is citrā-nakṣatra⁴⁷⁴ and the astrological conjunction called Vaidhṛti, it is to be done at the end of these, but if these two exist the whole of the day, then the rite should be performed in the latter part of these two. The S. M. held that these texts were baseless. According to Ghosh (p. 76), in Bengal nine jars are established in a figure (*sarvatobhadra*) filled with coloured powders at prescribed places and these are decorated with nine differently coloured flags. But in some parts of India only one ghaṭa is established.