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  Some images are svayambhu, naturally potent, hence attract throngs of devotees. They need few, if any, aura-replenishing rituals. Balaji, the deity who resides atop the hills of Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh, is said to be so sensitive to people’s needs that even though his eyes are covered with sandal paste he is able to respond to the needs of over a hundred thousand pilgrims who visit his temple every day.

  As devotees leave a shrine, they try to carry with them anything that has come in contact with the deity: dry flakes of sandal paste, ash, water, flowers, cloth or food. This is prasad. It contains divine aura by coming in contact with God. It has the power to carry divine blessings wherever it goes. The principle underlying this practice is called ‘contagious magic’, the ability to transmit sacredness through contact.

  Many temples claim that the images they enshrine are not carved by human hands. They are said to have been found in a termite hill by cowherds who found their cows shedding milk over it. Such tales transform the images into svayambhu svarupas, self-created images of a very conscious God, who wants to be found.

  A deity may be worshipped in a temporary open-air shrine made of bamboo, cane and cloth that is dismantled after the ceremony. Or it may be placed in a permanent shrine: inside the house, restricted to the family, or in a public space, open to the community. A Hindu temple is not a prayer hall or the space where the faithful gather; it is the residence of God. Each day the presiding deity is bathed, fed, bedecked and adored. Each day the deity grants audience to devotees, accepting their offerings and answering their prayers.

  This rather fierce-looking head with tongue sticking out often adorns doorways and arches of temples. Its irreverent, mocking expression contrasts with the serenity of the presiding deity. It reminds everyone that God can see beyond the piety being expressed. The unspoken truths in the hearts of the devotees are not hidden from God.

  For Hindus, the temple is as important as the deity within. The deity gives meaning to the temple; if the deity did not exist, the devotees would not go to the temple. If the temple did not exist, if there were no magnificent archways, embellished walls, decorated roofs or fluttering flags, devotees would not know where to look for the deity. Thus the temple and the deity within validate each other. The temple is the body and the deity, its soul.

  Hindu temple walls are covered with all kinds of images, both real and imagined. There are scenes from everyday life: priests performing yagna, kings fighting battles, warriors hunting, courtesans dancing, couples making love, children playing and sages giving discourse. Then there are fantastic forms: gods with multiple heads, goddesses with many arms, demons with fangs, mythical beasts—part serpent, part lion, part elephant. The sacred and the profane, the sexual and the violent, the factual and the fictional, the desired and the disgusting merge and mingle with each other. Hindu temple art informs the viewer that everything can and does exist in the world. There can be no limits to God. Hence Brahmanda is boundless, the possibilities within endless. Hindu temples are thus architectural expressions of the Hindu understanding of the world.

  Narasimha is a form of Vishnu that is neither man nor animal. It is neither this nor that. For many, this is a monster because it cannot be classified. For the devotee, this is God, because it defies classification. Images such as these which emerge from beyond the limits of human vision and vocabulary embellish Hindu temple walls. They remind all that what is impossible in human reason is possible in divine thought.

  In the earliest phase of Hinduism, known as the Vedic age, there were no temples. The need for permanent shrines came much later when the nomadic lifestyle gave way to a more settled agricultural life. Temple or no temple, the aim of invoking the divine in all phases of Hinduism has been the same: to cope with the stress of existence. The response took, and continues to take, three forms:

  Fight: rites and rituals aimed at changing circumstances in one’s favour

  Flight: monastic ideologies that sought an alternative, less tumultuous reality

  Freeze: submission to a higher power who then guides one’s destiny

  The ritual known as yagna was the cornerstone of religious activity in Vedic times. Priests, on behalf of a patron, sat around a fire altar, chanted hymns and made offerings of milk and butter into the flames, invoking celestial beings known as Devas and compelling them by the power of ritual to satisfy the material aspirations of the patron. Pleased with the chants and offerings, the Devas gave victory in battle, brought rains on time and gave children to the childless.

  Dasharatha’s Sons

  Dasharatha had three wives but no sons. So he invited Rishi Rishyashringamuni to perform a yagna. At the end of the yagna, a Deva appeared from the flames and gave Dasharatha a pot of sweet porridge. ‘Give it to your wife and she will bear a son,’ said the Deva. Dasharatha gave half the porridge to his senior queen, Kaushalya, and half to his favourite queen, Kaikeyi. Both queens gave half of their share to the youngest queen, Sumitra. As a result Kaushalya gave birth to Rama, Kaikeyi to Bharata and Sumitra to the twins Lakshmana and Shatrughna. Rama and Lakshmana were inseparable, as were Bharata and Shatrughna. (Ramayana)

  Vedic gods resided above the earth. There was Agni, fire, who stood on the ground. There was Vayu, wind, who extended between earth and sky. There was Indra, who ruled the sky and brought rain by attacking monsoon clouds with his thunderbolt. Then came Surya, the sun, Chandra, the moon, and seven other celestial bodies or Grahas whose movements across the twelve solar houses and twenty-seven lunar houses aroused great curiosity. Not only did they indicate the change of seasons, they also mapped out the destiny of man. It was in Vedic times that Jyotisha-shastra or astrology came into being. It enabled man to distinguish favourable times from unfavourable times. It foretold future calamities and provided the means to realize dreams or modify destiny using the power of gemstones and rituals that realigned the power of the Grahas.

  Like all celestial bodies, Chandra, the moon-god, travels through the twelve solar houses, the Rashis, and the twenty-seven lunar houses, the Nakshatras. The Nakshatras are said to be the wives of the moon. His favourite Nakshatra is Rohini. He waxes as he moves towards her and wanes as he moves away from her. On the twenty-eighth day, when there is no wife next to Chandra, the sky is dark, with no trace of the moon. On this day the moon sits on Shiva’s head. The story goes that he was so handsome that Tara, the star-goddess, wife of Brihaspati, Jupiter, eloped with him. The child thus conceived was Budh, Mercury. Indra, king of the sky, decreed though the child was fathered by the moon its legitimate father was Brihaspati.

  The list of astrological deities includes not only Devas but also Rishis (Brihaspati and Shukra) and Asuras (Rahu and Ketu). Rishis were keepers of Vedic lore and, in Vedic times, those who possessed a deep understanding of this highly revered scripture were considered as powerful as the gods. Asuras were enemies of the Devas; they resided under the earth. Though Asuras, Rahu and Ketu were special. They lived in the skies as eclipses and comets influencing the design of the celestial regions and hence influencing the destiny of those on earth. Rahu and Ketu therefore became worthy of worship, to be appeased rather than adored. The following story explains how Rahu and Ketu came to sit alongside the gods.

  Rahu and Ketu

  Once the Adityas and Daityas, sons of Aditi and Diti by the sage Kashyapa, were fighting over a pot of Amrita, the nectar of immortality. Vishnu, who is God, took the enchanting female form of Mohini and offered to distribute it between them. Smitten by her beauty, both sets of half-brothers accepted the offer. Distracting the Daityas with her alluring smile, Mohini poured Amrita down the throats of the Adityas. One Daitya got suspicious. He went and sat among the Adityas. As the Amrita fell into his mouth, the sun and the moon recognized the intruder. They alerted Vishnu, who immediately hurled his discus and severed the Daitya’s neck. The head became the demon Rahu, who swore to eclipse the sun and the moon from time to time. The body became the demon Ketu, a directionless comet. Since the Daityas did not get