Pradakshina or circumbulation - how many times?
Compiled by
P.R.Ramachander
Pra means give
, Da means granting
salvation kshi means getting cured of ailments and na means prosperity and
this indicates that one doing
Pradakshina would get health , prosperity and salvation.
Pra Dakshina
means towards south and that is why it
is done clock wise.
Brahmasri Anantharama
Deekshithar in his book Jaya Mangala stotram has given the following Sloka which gives
rules of Pradakshina (circumbulation- going round God in temple).Normally Pradakshinas are done in the clockwise directions only.
Pradakkshina samo nasthi
prathyaksha phaldho vidhi.
Ekam Ganadhipo
kuryaath , dwe sooryam
threeni sankare ,
Chathwari
kesave deve sapthaaswastho pradakshinam,
Padhou padanthara
yasya karou chalana
varjithou,
Sthuthirvachi
hrudhi dhyaanam
chathurangam pradakshinam,
Naiva pradakshinam
kuryath anthare deva
sakthayo,
Deva peedanthare
chaiva kuryad ithi
sasanam.
Translated by
P.R.Ramachander
Nothing yields
better visible results
than doing Pradakshina,
Do one for lord Ganesa
, two for the sun God , three for
Lord Shiva,
Four for lord Vishnu
and seven for the peepal tree ,
And there are four
rules for the Pradakshinam and they are,
After one step, the
next step should be kept below the
previous step,
And there should not be
any weaving of hands ,
The prayer lines should be chanted meditating on the god the heart,
You should not to
Pradakshina in between the God and
devotee worshipping the God,
And you should not do Pradakshina in between
God and the Bali peeda.
Deekshithar in
his commentary to the above stotra that
Pradakshinam should be done slow like the walking of a pregnant lady carrying an
oil pot in her head.
But there are
slight differences in
opinions given in various places on line.
The number of
Pradakshina for male deities it is even number
and female deities it should be odd number ,It prescribes the following number of Pradakshinas 0 for Lord shiva , 1 for Goddess Durga , 3 for Sri Krishna , 4 for
Sri Ram , 5 for Hanuman, 7 for Dathathreya and 8 for Ganapathi .
Shiva is mentioned
as 0 because a full Pradakshina is not done for Lord Shiva , We proceed clockwise
till the water outlet from Garbha
Gruha , reverse walk in anti clock wise direction till the water out let and so on. It also says that for Swayambhu deity only one Pradakshina needs
to be done.
(Note: In most of
the Shiva temples only Lord Shiva
is installed and rarely there
are temples where Shiva is
installed with Parvathi .I have heard
that In Shiva temples where God is installed with Parvathi , the normal Pradakshina procedure
should be followed-There is a possibility that what
I have heard is not correct )
2, https://www.ishtadevata.com/blog/pradakshina.html
says the minimum number of Pradakshina
should be 1 for Ganesa , 2 for Lord Shiva , 3 for Lord Vishnu , 4 for Lord Ayyappa , 5 for Lord Subrahamanya , 6 for Durga and t for Aswatha (peepal tree) , It again mentions that Pradakshina of Lord Shiva should be done as mentioned in one above.
3. http://theancientindia.blogspot.in/2012/09/pradakshina-in-temple.html What is given in number 2above is repeated. It
says that doing 21Pradakshinams is very holy. In a comment to this blog Gour
Chandra Das mentions Half Pradakshina for Lord Shiva , 1 for Durga
, 3 for Ganesh , 7 for Lord Sun and 4
for Lord Vishnu.
4. http://vedictalks.blogspot.in/2009/03/how-to-do-pradakshinam-circumambulation.html says that the number of Pradakshinas to be done is 1 for Ganesa , 2 for Sun and
Kali ,3 for lord Shiva , 4 for Vishnu
and Parvathi , 5 for Lord Ayyappa , 6 for Lord Subrahmanya , 7 for
Durga and banyan tree and
21 for Swayambhu.
5. http://www.keralatemples.net/customs.html
According to Smrithis, the number of
pradakshina is one for Lord Ganapathy, two for Soorya, three for Lord Siva,
four for Lord Siva, Goddess Durga/bhagavathy, Lord Vishnu. Around Arayal
Pradiskshina should be done for seven times.
Pradikshina is to be done in clock-wise direction for full round. But in Siva temples, the procedure is different. In Siva Temples, the pradikshina is to be performed in clock-wise up to Soma-suthra, where the abhisheka water is flown and to proceed to the other end of Soma-suthra in anti clock-wise
Pradikshina is to be done in clock-wise direction for full round. But in Siva temples, the procedure is different. In Siva Temples, the pradikshina is to be performed in clock-wise up to Soma-suthra, where the abhisheka water is flown and to proceed to the other end of Soma-suthra in anti clock-wise
4 comments:
How many do you recommend? I have doing 1 for all and 9 for navagrah.
I have been doing nine pradhakshiNams to Nava Graha deities in one group. For VishNu and KrishNa seven circambulations seem to be optimum. Five for HanumAn, minimum four or seven for Sudharsana Chakra and as many as one would wish for Garuda are again appropriate. For Goddesses such as Lakshmi a minimum of three (or any higher odd number) is suggested. I chant always some sthothras or keep chanting manthras. Once in a while, I would chant VishNu sahasranAma while circambulating and won't count the number till the finish (about 20-25 minutes of continuous pradhakshiNams).
Hi!i'm doing 9 pradikshina,how many days should I do this pradikshina? Can I consume non veg while this period.
How many pradikshana should I do for the peepal tree becoz I always performance three.... Is it ok or an I wrong... Plzz help
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