Rites & Ritual — Hinduism

Sandhyavandana — the joints of the day. Water sipped, the breath held, the Gayatri counted on the finger-joints, the sun addressed at the moments when day and night hand over. It is the oldest daily rite in the tradition and the one most quietly abandoned. When daily — at dawn, noon and duskWho Those who wear the sacred thread; in practice a shrinking few Go deeper — context →

Puja — the daily offering. Flame, flowers, food before the deity's image — hospitality to the divine as household routine. When daily — at the home shrineWho the household Go deeper — context →

Japa — the name, repeated. A mala of 108 beads worked with the thumb, one name per bead. Initiated Hare Krishnas count sixteen rounds a day, which is 1,728 repetitions, and keep a book. When daily — 108 at a timeWho Anyone with a mantra and a string of beads Go deeper — context →

The doorway, the tulsi, and the kitchen. A rice-flour kolam at the door before sunrise, a lamp at the tulsi plant at dusk, lemons and chillies against the evil eye, and a kitchen with rules about who cooks and who may walk in. The domestic religion is run almost entirely by women and needs no priest at all. When daily at the threshold; once at the housewarmingWho The household, and the women of it above all Go deeper — context →

The fire offering. Ghee and grain into a fire in a brick or copper altar, each offering named as it goes and given away with the words idam na mama — this is not mine. The full shrauta rites survive with a few hundred Nambudiri and Andhra families, and the twelve-day Athirathram they perform is arguably the oldest ritual still being carried out anywhere on earth. When daily in a handful of households; at every wedding and housewarmingWho A priest and a householder, who must be married to perform it Go deeper — context →

Aarti — the circling flame. Lamps waved before the deity in slow circles while the bell rings: light offered to the source of light, then carried to every open palm in the room. When daily, at dusk — and at every temple visitWho Everyone present, and the volume is the point Go deeper — context →

Darshan — going to be seen. You do not attend a service. You queue, look at the deity through a doorway for a few seconds, and are looked at back. Tirupati moves sixty to eighty thousand people through that doorway on an ordinary day. When weekly, and on the deity's own day of the weekWho Anyone — and the queue is the great leveller, up to a point Go deeper — context →

Satsang — the singing evening. Bhajans and kirtan with harmonium, dholak and cymbals, a reading, and food afterwards. No priest is required and no caste rule survives an hour of it intact, which is why bhakti movements have always run on it. When weekly — an evening in a front room or a hallWho Whoever comes; often the whole street Go deeper — context →

Ekadashi — the fast that comes twice a month. No grains and no beans; fruit and milk, or in strict households nothing at all. Twenty-four of them a year, plus Nirjala Ekadashi in the June heat, which is kept without water. When twice a month — the eleventh day of each lunar fortnightWho Vaishnavas especially; widows historically without exception Go deeper — context →

Diwali. Lamps in every window for Rama's return and the victory of light — the year's brightest night. When annual — the festival of lightsWho The household; the women of it, mostly Go deeper — context →

Kumbh Mela. The largest human gathering on earth: bathing at the rivers' meeting to wash lifetimes clean. When every twelve years — the great confluenceWho Ascetics first, in order of precedence, then everyone else Go deeper — context →

The fasts women keep for men. A day without food or water for a husband's long life, broken when the moon is sighted through a sieve. Indian feminists have called it what it looks like; many of the women keeping it say it is theirs, that they enjoy it, and that they would like the argument conducted with them rather than about them. When annual — Karva Chauth, Vat Savitri, Hartalika TeejWho Married women, and increasingly not all of them Go deeper — context →

Holi — the festival of color. Winter's end celebrated by abolishing dignity for a day: powder in the air, hierarchy suspended, everyone dyed the same dozen colors. When annual — two days at the end of winterWho Everyone, and the ordinary rules are suspended for the duration Go deeper — context →

The samskaras — life, marked. Sixteen classical rites from conception to cremation: the name-giving, the first solid food, the sacred thread, the wedding fire, the last fire. A life kept in ritual punctuation. When once each — the sixteen passages of a lifeWho The family, a priest, and an almanac Go deeper — context →