Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Saiva Agama 2
Saiva Agama 2
1/2
3/2/2014
figures of deities for worship in the temples. The fourth part of the Agamas includes rules pertaining to the
observances of religious rites, rituals, and festivals.
"Elaborate rules are laid out in the Agamas for Silpa (the art of sculpture) describing the quality requirements of
the places where temples are to be built, the kind of images to be installed, the materials from which they are to
be made, their dimensions, proportions, air circulation, lighting in the temple complex etc. The Manasara and
Silpasara are some of the works dealing with these rules. The rituals followed in worship services each day at the
temple also follow rules laid out in the Agamas.
"The Agamas state three essential requirements for a place of pilgrimage - Sthala, Teertham and Murthy. Sthala
refers to the temple, Teertham, to the temple tank and Murthy to the deity(ies) worshipped. A temple may also be
associated with a tree, called the Sthala Vriksham. For instance, the Kadamba tree at the Madurai Meenakshi
Sundareswarar temple is the Sthala Vriksham. A lone banyan tree that adorns the spacious courtyard of the
Ratnasabha at Tiruvalankadu is the Sthala Vriksham. The entire area is believed to have been a forest of banyan
trees once."
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Global-Organization-of-Hindus/365979650782
2/2