Is Abishegam a waste of resources?

This content was originally released as a video in my youtube channel, click on the li k to watch the video

https://youtu.be/nGlFYSxBgNU



“Why do priests pour gallons of milk, curd and other stuff on temple idols? God never asks for such resources to be wasted! There is no point in holding on to these meaningless rituals. These litres of milk can feed hundreds of poor people. So insensitive!”

This is something that every Hindu has wondered, at least once in their lives. The answers that our elders gave were not convincing enough. So.... should we conclude that Abishekams are indeed meaningless?! Don’t let your curiosity die yet. Invest the next 10 minutes of your life on this video and get enlightened.

Vanakkam and Welcome to the 1st episode of Hinduism simplified, in which I will be throwing light on prejudiced Hindu practices and their real purpose. Go to the bottom of the blog post to find reliable reference materials that would answer any doubts and questions you might have. Coming to the point, what is the purpose of Abishekam?

Many of our temples are several centuries old and so are the idols. For anything to last that long,requires maintenance. Let me elaborate; the Hindu idols are anointed or given an abishekam either weekly or fortnightly, for shiva it is on Pradosham, for Amman on Fridays, Ganesha on Sankatahara Chaturti and so on. The abishegam involves components like milk, curds, honey, panchamritam, coconut water, sugarcane molasses, turmeric and sandalwood paste. They are poured on to the idols one by one with 2 or 3 pots of water wash after each component. That is the prescribed Agamic procedure.

The idols are mainly made of stone and metal alloys. When left dry, they tend to heat up, chip away or corrode and disintegrate. The fat content in milk, curd, honey and molasses moisturise the idols, Coconut water and sandalwood paste cool them down and turmeric treats any kind of fungal development on them. The fact that these idols have stood the test of time is proof enough that this is a successful method of maintenance. And, just about now you might be wondering,

“Why not find synthetic alternatives for the purpose and feed the traditional components to the poor? Is it absolutely necessary to dump food items in the sewers?”

 It is very unfortunate that today, many of the temples let the abishekam components drain away into the sewers. But that is not how it is meant to be. The Garbha Graham necessarily has a 'pranaalam' or a water outlet for the abishegam drains. There is either a small tank or a canal that is built underneath this pranaalam. If it is a canal, it leads to the temple gardens where the drains are absorbed by the soil. If it is a tank, the cleaner in charge will carry the drain in pots and pour it to the Sthala Vriksham and other trees and plants in the temple garden.

 Sthalam is the Temple campus and Vriksham means tree. Temples have a Sthala Vriksham, just as they have an Urchavar, vahanam, stambham etc. Along with other trees and plants, the temple gardens of Lord Shiva have Vilva trees and Darba grass, Ganesha temples have peepal trees, Amman temples have neem and coconut trees and so on. There are different trees assigned even for the 9 planets and the 27 stars. All of these trees have immense medicinal value. Some of them are endangered species and a few of them are conserved in fossilised form. So the temple gardens are a conservatory for ayurvedic and siddha medicinal trees and plants. (Research by Prabhakaran R and Sabarilakshmi G, 2017, Vivekananda

College, Namakkal).

 Let’s see what draining the Abhishegam components on the garden can do for the Sthala

Vrikshams. Milk, curd and coconut water are excellent plant fertilizers, disinfectants, insecticides and fungicides. Molasses promotes soil quality. Honey and Turmeric are good antibacterial and antifungal feed for plants.

These ingredients will be beneficial only when they are diluted. So when the priest pours 2 or 3 pots of water on the idol, he is not just washing away the components but simultaneously diluting the fertilizers. So... the organic food items that are used for the maintenance of the idols are recycled and used as organic fertilizers to feed and sustain the Medicinal trees and plants. Someone is being fed after all!

The world needs trees too.

The fact that milk can be a fertilizer was accidentally discovered by an American farmer in 2002. But this knowledge is so latent in the traditional Indian lifestyle that we could not pick it out individually. If the temple near you doesn’t follow this practice, you and your friends can get in touch with the temple authorities to do the needful.

About the poor being fed, Amman temples offer barley porridge to devotees in the Summer month of Chithirai, that porridge is supposed to cool your body and protect you from heat strokes and chicken pox. Vishnu temples offer paanagam, tamarind rice and curd rice as prasadam. Hanuman temples offer black gram dosai and vadai as prasadam.

Temples also organise Annadaanam, some of them on a daily basis and some on occasions, everyone is welcome to have their fill. Devotees are free to donate money or food grains for annadaanam, they can also volunteer to serve food to the people who come to eat. It the temple near you doesn’t follow this practice; you can probably take action to organise it.

Before you go....

When a literary work is translated from one language to another, the story tends to lose a bit of its meaning or essence because the language in which it is translated to might not have words of the same effect as the original language. That is called ‘Lost in Translation’

Likewise, when a tradition is handed over from one generation to another, its practices tend to lose meaning and fail to make sense because the successive generations might be too busy in tackling different social challenges. I call it ‘Lost in Succession’. This video is an attempt to restore the meaning of the Indian way of life, I request you to please share it as much as you can.

 Vanakkam.



Research on Sthala Vrikshams

https://biosciencediscovery.com/Vol%208%20No%201/Prabakaran64-72.pdf

http://www.dynamicpublisher.org/gallery/10.ijsrr-d-2303.f.pdf

https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/significance-of-trees-sthala-vrikshams

https://tamil.samayam.com/astrology/astrological-remedies/the-divine-trees-and-gods-associated￾with-the-27-stars-in-tamil/articleshow/75455162.cms

Milk (raw & diluted) as a fertilizer for farming & gardening

https://www.agriculture.com/family/living-the-country-life/milk-as-fertilizer

https://water.unl.edu/article/animal-manure-management/emergency-use-milk-fertilizer￾questions-and-answers

https://balconygardenweb.com/milk-uses-in-the-garden/

https://www.thespruce.com/using-milk-for-plant-care￾4082485#:~:text=Water%20your%20plants%20with%20milk%20for%20improved%20plant%20care&

text=Got%20milk%3F,has%20antifungal%20and%20pesticidal%20attributes.

Diluted Curd (yogurt and whey) as a fertilizer for farming and gardening

https://scielo.conicyt.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-95162018000300694

https://inchemistry.acs.org/atomic-news/recycled-yogurt.html

https://balconygardenweb.com/using-yogurt-in-the-garden/

https://thewire.in/agriculture/curd-fertiliser-grassroots-innovation-reducing-farming-costs-bihar

Diluted Honey as a fertilizer for trees and plants

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335355447_A_PILOT_STUDY_EXPLORING_THE_EFFECTS

_OF_BEE_HONEY_AS_A_BIO￾FERTILIZER_ON_THE_MORPHOLOGICAL_FEATURES_AND_CHEMICAL_CONSTITUENTS_OF_Syngoniu

m_podophyllum_PLANTS

https://urbangardengal.com/honey-rooting-hormone-cuttings/

Turmeric (curcumin) as an insecticide for crops and plants

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330900929_Potential_of_Indian_traditional_medicinal_

plant_turmeric_as_insecticide_Antifeedant_and_insect_repellent_against_household_museum_and

_library_insect_pests

https://balconygardenweb.com/unknown-turmeric-uses-that-can-help-you-in-the￾garden/#:~:text=Pesticide,products%2C%20persistence%20is%20the%20key.

Coconut water as fertilizer

https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020MS%26E..845a2007D/abstract

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276505586_Use_of_coconut_water_and_fertilizer_for_i

n_vitro_proliferation_and_plantlet_production_of_Dendrobium_'Gradita_31'

https://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=PH1998010080

Molasses (sugarcane juice & jaggery) as fertilizer

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332066820_Effect_of_Molasses_and_Organic_Fertilizer_

in_Soil_fertility_and_Yield_of_Spinach_in_Khotang_Nepal

https://www.gardenmyths.com/molasses-for-plants/


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