Origin Ancient: image worship is established across the Hindu traditions well before the temple period
An image of a deity in a Hindu temple or home shrine, made to fixed iconographic rules and then consecrated in a rite, the prana pratishtha, that is understood to invite the deity to be present in it. That consecration is the difference between a murti and a statue, and it is why the English word idol is both inaccurate and, given its history in colonial and missionary polemic, loaded.
A consecrated murti is treated as a guest and a resident: woken, bathed, dressed, offered food, shown light, put to bed. Some are permanent and some are not, the clay Durga images of Bengal and the Ganesha images of Maharashtra are made for a festival, worshipped, and then immersed in water at its close, which is a deliberate statement about the temporary nature of the form.
Deconsecration is a real procedure, and a damaged murti is not repaired and returned to use without it.
Facts
Use
Who May Handle ItThe household that keeps it 1 A household image is cared for by the household Who May Handle ItClergy or ordained officiants only 1 In a temple the image is served by its priests ConsecrationConsecrated in a rite before use 1 Origins
Origin PeriodAncient: image worship is established across the Hindu traditions well before the temple period 1 Learn More
The Consecration That Makes an Image a Resident
The murti is the point at which the English word idol becomes both inaccurate and loaded, because a consecrated image is, on the account the tradition gives of itself, not a representation but a residence.
Prana pratishtha
A murti is made to fixed iconographic rules and then consecrated in a rite, the prana pratishtha, understood to invite the deity to be present in it. That consecration is the difference between a murti and a statue. A consecrated murti is treated as a guest and a resident, woken, bathed, dressed, offered food, shown light and put to bed, and the word idol, given its history in colonial and missionary polemic, misses all of this.
Made to be dissolved
Some murtis are permanent and some are deliberately not. The clay Durga images of Bengal and the Ganesha images of Maharashtra are made for a festival, worshipped, and then immersed in water at its close, which is a considered statement about the temporary nature of form rather than a disposal. Deconsecration is a real procedure, and a damaged murti is not repaired and returned to use without it, which underlines that what is being handled is a presence with a beginning and an end rather than an object with a value.
Who Carves It, and What Happens When It Is Retired
Stone and bronze murtis are the work of sculptors trained in a specific craft lineage, historically following proportional canons laid out in texts called shilpa shastras that specify the measurements of a deity's limbs, ornaments and posture rather than leaving them to individual artistic choice.
Regional materials and casting
Certain stones are prized regionally, the fine grained black chlorite of Odisha among them, while South Indian bronze work, the Chola period images being the best known historical example, uses panchaloha, a traditional five metal alloy, cast by the lost wax method in workshops that have passed the technique down through specific artisan families for generations. Clay murtis made for festival use, the large Durga and Ganesh images of Bengal above all, are built up over a straw and bamboo frame by artisan communities such as the potters of Kumartuli in Kolkata, working to a strict seasonal deadline rather than the slower pace of stone or bronze work.
What happens when the image is retired
A stone or bronze murti installed in a temple is expected to last indefinitely and is not casually retired, but a clay festival image has a built in end, it is ritually immersed in a river or the sea, visarjan, at the close of the festival, a planned and celebrated act of return rather than a disposal of something gone wrong, and it is a different fate entirely from the durable image meant to remain in the sanctum for generations.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Belongs to Tradition
A murti is not a picture of a deity. After the consecration rite it is treated as a residence, which is why it is woken, fed, dressed and put to rest.
Held Differently
Image worship is allowed as a preparation for the seeker who still takes the world as real, and set aside in the knowledge that admits no second thing. It is a stage rather than a practice of the school.
Smartism, Denominations Smarta practice sets five deities together in one rite and holds them equal, so no single image is the sole object and the worshipper may take any of the five as the one nearest at hand.
Element Of
The deity in the temple is served on the traditional daily cycle, and the movement's temples are built around that service.
The consecrated image is treated as a guest and a sovereign, woken, bathed, fed and put to rest on a daily cycle.
Vaishnava temple practice is built around the image and its daily service, and the theology of divine descent gives the practice its ground.
Rejected Here
Lingayatism, Denominations Lingayat teaching refuses temple image worship and the priestly mediation that goes with it, holding that what is worn on the body needs no house and no intermediary.
Implement Of
Related To
The murti, the image this craft produces
The murti, which this rite enlivens
Sources
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