[Advaita-l] Shodashopachara during Homa/Havan

[Venkateswaran N E]

I had seen Palakkad Iyer Vadhyars doing devata AvAhana in agni, (and in some cases prAna pratiShTha) and ShoDashopachAra into the agni in addition to AvAhana and ShoDashopachAra to the kalasha or diipa placed over the maNdala on the north of the vedi; some examples being Maha Ganapati Homa, Maha Sudarshana Homa etc. 
Initially, I thought these may be influences borrowed from the tantric procedures of Namputhiris.  Have seen both R^k and Yajur veda vadhyars doing this.

Subsequently, I have noticed the same being done by purohits in Karnataka as well, as mentioned by Shri Bhaskar, and also by Tamilnadu vadhyars.

One Late Shri. A Subbaraman, CIT Colony, Mylapore had many years ago compiled and printed the procedures for all samskArAs starting with GarbhadhAna upto AnthyeShTi as per Apastamba and popular Homas like Ganapati, Rudra ekadashi, Tila Homa, Gana Homa etc etc.  This was done through various shAstrigals and diikShithars from various part of TN, under the auspices of Mylapore Veda Adhyayana Sabha, with the objective of distributing the same to vAdhyars free, so that they could perform these rites in the correct manner.  These books are available from their residence even now for a small price for non-purohits.

I have the Maha Ganapati Homam from this set and it gives the following procedure.
After Agni alankaranam and sarva prayaschitta homa the following is stated.
agniyil mahAgaNapati mUla mantratinAl mahAgaNapatiyai AvAhanam seidu, ShoDashopachAra pUjai seidu, pinbu homam seivadu sampradAyam.

Then after agnerupastAnam and agni sUkta paTaNam and namaskAram, it says
agnau AvAhitam mahAgaNapatim hR^idi praveshayiShyAmi

(endru solli architta pushpangalai eduttu mukarntu hR^idaya kamalattil vandadAga bhAvikka vendum.)

So appears to be practised in entire south.  I have not seen such kriyAs for homas related to samskArAs.  So not sure whether it is limited to homams for individual devatAs only involving mUla mantras.

Shri Bhaskar being a purohit himself may be able to provide more clarity.

Regards
Venkateswaran

> On 24-May-2017, at 3:07 PM, Balasubramanian Ramakrishnan via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> 
> In the Tamil aapastamba smaarta tradition, there is no ShoDashopacAra pUjA
> for Agni in agnimukham. In the case of certain homes such as navagraha
> homam, the navagraha and other devatas are invoked in a kalasha, placed
> usually north of the vedi. The ShoDashopacAra pUjA and punaH pUjA are for
> the kalasham only.
> 
> Which tradition is this?
> 
> Rama
> 
> On Sat, May 13, 2017 at 3:56 AM Venkateswaran N E via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> 
>> Request members to clarify the following question I have.
>> 
>> During any homa, after invoking the devata in the Agni, we do a quick
>> shodashopachara.
>> 
>> My question is whether the akshata and pushpa used for avahana, simhasana,
>> vastra, yajnopavita, Pushpak Hans etc should be offered into the fire or in
>> front of the Vedi ?
>> I've seen both practices, hence the question.
>> 
>> Any pramanas/shistachara references would also be appreciated.
>> 
>> Warm regards
>> Venkateswaran
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Warm Regards,
Venkateshwaran N E