Practices
Pradakshina
Devotional Practices
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Origin 1000 BCE to 500 CE
Pradakshina is circumambulation, the walking around a sacred object, image, shrine, tree or hill, keeping it always on the right, which is the direction the name records. It is done around the inner sanctum of a temple as a standard act of worship, around the sacred fire in the marriage rite, and, at its most demanding, around whole sacred hills and mountains: the circuit of Arunachala at Tiruvannamalai and of Mount Kailash are pilgrimages in this form. The right side is the side of honour, and to keep the sacred thing there is to hold it at the centre while one moves. Some devotees perform the circuit by prostrating full length, rising, stepping to where the hands reached and prostrating again, so that the whole distance is measured by the body.
Facts
Practice
Category of PracticeRitual and devotional: circumambulation of a sacred object, image, shrine or hill keeping it on the right, performed as a standard temple act of worship and, at its most demanding, around whole sacred mountains such as Arunachala and Kailash. 1 Who Performs ItAll adherents of the tradition 1 FrequencyAs the occasion requires 1 Solitary or CommunalPerformed alone or together 1 Form
Posture and Bodily FormWalking clockwise around the image, shrine or stupa, keeping it always on the right 1 Origins
Origin Period Place of OriginThe Indian subcontinent 2 Performed around a temple's inner sanctum, around the sacred fire in the marriage rite, and around whole sacred hills such as Arunachala. Attributions
TraditionHinduism, and also practiced within Buddhism and Jainism as circumambulation of a sacred object. 3 Status
Status TodayLiving tradition, practised today 1 Observance
Observance NoteSome devotees perform the circuit by prostrating full length, rising, stepping to where the hands reached and prostrating again, so that the whole distance is measured by the body. 1 Scholarship and Forensics
Scholarly NoteThe most demanding form is performed by full-length prostration, rising, stepping forward to where the hands reached and prostrating again, so that the entire distance around a shrine or a sacred hill such as Arunachala or Mount Kailash is measured out by the body rather than walked. 4 Learn More
Circling to the Right
Pradakshina is the Hindu rite of circumambulation, walking around a sacred object, image, shrine, tree, hill or person while keeping it always on one's right hand. The name itself encodes the direction: the movement is clockwise, so that the honoured centre stays to the auspicious right side throughout. Performed around the inner sanctum of a temple, around the whole temple, or around a sacred site, it is one of the standard components of worship, the devotee tracing a slow circle as an act of reverence and of keeping the divine at the centre of attention and of one's world.
The practice rests on a deep symbolism of the centre. To circle a thing is to acknowledge it as the fixed point around which one turns, and the tradition reads the circling of a deity as an enactment of a life oriented wholly around it. The rite is shared with the other Indian religions, Buddhists circle stupas and Jains their shrines in the same rightward manner, and it has parallels in the circling rites of many traditions.
Its Forms and Its Great Examples
The number of circuits and the manner of walking are prescribed variously by object and occasion, and the more arduous forms carry more merit. Some devotees perform the circling by full-body prostration, measuring the entire path with their prostrate length, rising to stand where their hands reached and prostrating again, a practice used on the longest and most sacred circuits. Others complete the circuit barefoot over many miles.
Among the most celebrated is the Girivalan, the circling of the sacred hill of Arunachala at Tiruvannamalai, a walk of some fourteen kilometres around the mountain identified with Shiva as a pillar of fire, undertaken by great crowds on full-moon nights. The circling of the Himalayan Mount Kailash, sacred to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and the Bon tradition alike, is another of the world's great circumambulatory pilgrimages. Within the home and temple, the small daily circling of the shrine keeps the same gesture at the scale of ordinary devotion.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Sources
1. Encyclopedia of Hinduism
Denise Cush, Catherine Robinson and Michael York (eds.), Routledge, 2008View the Source 2. An Introduction to Hinduism
3. A Survey of Hinduism
Klaus K. Klostermaier, State University of New York Press, 2007On circumambulationView the Source 4. India: A Sacred Geography
Diana L. Eck, Harmony Books, 2012On circumambulation of hills and shrinesView the Source Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005View the Source Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
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