Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c10.s1.61

c10.s1.61

This Vilāsa, called Pauṣpika or Puṣpa-karman, begins with the topic of offering of flowers in worship, and gives long lists of commendable and forbidden flowers, as well as a description of their merits and demerits with reference to their species, colour, smell and season of growth. Flowers which blossom in the forest, or in the city, or in one's own garden, which are fresh, uninjured (acchinna), purified by sprinkling (prokṣita) and free from insects and impurities, and which have colour, smell and grace, even if they have thorns, are the best for Vaiṣṇava worship. Long lists of such flowers are compiled from the Purāṇas (chiefly the Vāmana, Skanda and Nāradīya), Viṣṇudharmottara, Hārita-smṛti and other works; and the merits of the offering of different kinds of flowers at different seasons are detailed. The dedication of an arbour (Maṇḍapa), umbrella (Chatra), canopy (Vitāna), swing (Doḷā) and bed (Śayyā), all made of flowers, is prescribed; and artificial flowers, made of gold and set with precious stones, may be offered by rich persons. The forbidden flowers are those which grow in places where dead bodies are burnt and on wayside trees (Caitya-druma) which people worship, those which are fallen on the ground or those which are no more than buds (Kalikā). White flowers alone are preferable; but of red flowers (e.g. Jabā),¹ as well as flowers which have thorn (e.g. Keṭaka),² those that possess sharp smell or no smell, or blossom out of season, those which are specifically approved in the scriptures, may be offered. The flowers specially forbidden in Vaiṣṇava worship are Karavī, Dhustūra, black Kuṭaja and Arka, but some add Jhiṇṭī, Girikarṇikā, Kaṇṭakārikā, Śālmalī and Śirīṣa. The undesirable flowers can, however, be used if the commendable flowers are unavailable, but not those which are expressly forbidden; and it is curious that some authorities permit stealing of flowers for purposes of worship, if they cannot be obtained otherwise. The flowers can, however, be substituted by the leaves of Durvā and Kuśa grass, of Apāmārga, Bhṛṅgarāja, Bilva, Baka-vṛkṣa, Tulasī, Āmra and Jambīra; but of these, the five (beginning from Apāmārga and ending with Tulasī) are the best and possess successively higher merit. In any case, the offering of Tulasī is obligatory, being declared the most efficacious and sacred in the scriptures, and all Vaiṣṇava worship being fruitless without it. In the recounting of the merits of Tulasī, which are innumerable, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa compiles a large number of texts; its power of removing sin and destroying enemies, of giving prosperity and happiness here and hereafter, of producing religious merit and devotion to the deity and of conferring emancipation is endless.¹