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Karmkand: Be your own pandit : Asian Age
Lucknow, June 08: If you have been forced to postpone your wedding simply because the family pandit was booked for the entire season and could not spare time for your saat pheras, or you have had to indefinitely postpone the all-time favourite Satya Narain Katha in your home because the family priest was down with a bout of pneumonia, the Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Sansthan has the solution to your problems.
Lucknow, June 08: If you have been forced to postpone your wedding simply because the family pandit was booked for the entire season and could not spare time for your saat pheras, or you have had to indefinitely postpone the all-time favourite Satya Narain Katha in your home because the family priest was down with a bout of pneumonia, the Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Sansthan has the solution to your problems.
And the solution comes rather cheap, at Rs 100 only, in the form of a 320-page book titled Paurohitya Karm Prashikshak or, simply, the Karmkand Manual. The book is a perfect do-it-yourself guide to various elaborate Hindu rituals that form a part of one’s life. From rituals held during the birth of a child to rituals followed at the time of death, and thereafter, this book has it all. Directions and steps to various rituals are written in Hindi while the mantras to be recited are in Sanskrit. The book, written by a team of experts in Hindu Karmakand and Sanskrit, enables the reader to become his own priest and conduct even the most elaborate of pujas and rituals on his own.
For instance, the chapter on vivaah sanskar (marriage) begins with a detailed account of the direction in which the groom must sit when he arrives for the dwar chaar puja. The entire marriage ritual is also explained in great detail, along with the ingredients needed for particular pujas and the mantras to be recited. Similarly, there are chapters that deal with rituals that are followed in times of death and the subsequent pind-daan that takes place for the salvation of the soul.
Rituals held during Shiv Puja, Mahalakshmi Puja, Durga Puja, Rudrabhishek and Satya Narain Katha have been explained in detail while there are separate chapters on bhoomi pujan, grih pravesh, mundan, upnayan, etc. A segment of the manual also shows you how to find auspicious dates for important events in your life, including travel and marriage. This segment teaches you how to read the Hindu Panchaang, the calendar for auspicious and inauspicious dates according to the Hindu Sanatan dharma.
Dr Chandra Kant Dwiwedi, assistant director of the UP Sanskrit Sansthan and one of the editors of the Karmkand Manual, candidly admits that it was necessity that led to this unique book.
"We found that the number of priests is too few in relation to the demand for them. We decided that if individuals in a household, be it a man or a woman, could get a handbook of rituals and mantras, it would not only solve their problems but would also maintain the sanctity of the Sanatan dharma, since no one will opt for shortcuts when one is donning the mantle of a priest in one’s own home," he said.
The success of the manual can be judged from the fact that it has already sold 3,000 copies in a matter of months. "We plan to print more soon because we are getting sale inquiries from all over. Having a katha at home is no problem now if you have the manual at hand," says Dr Dwiwedi.
The Sanskrit Sansthan, incidentally, had also run a crash course on purohit-training in March, 2001, in which 100 people participated. "These people were expected to take a 90-day training programme for a minimum of 30 persons each and we are happy that many of our trainees have exceeded the target," he added.
The priest-training course, for which the human resource development ministry gave a one-time grant of Rs 14 lakhs, however, is not without some political and social overtones as well.
According to Dr Dwiwedi, "Most of the Scheduled Caste people were forced to opt for Buddhist-style marriages because no upper caste priest was ready to solemnise their marriages. With this training programme and the Karmakand Manual, we have trained these people, who can now offer their services to their own community. Thus, we have prevented a number of dalits from abandoning the Hindu way of life."
So, the next time you need a priest for your child’s christening or your daughter’s wedding, just reach out for the Karmkand Manual, don the role of the priest and perform the most important event of your life on your own. And, what is more, the dakshina that would have normally gone to the priest also remains inside your purse.
And the solution comes rather cheap, at Rs 100 only, in the form of a 320-page book titled Paurohitya Karm Prashikshak or, simply, the Karmkand Manual. The book is a perfect do-it-yourself guide to various elaborate Hindu rituals that form a part of one’s life. From rituals held during the birth of a child to rituals followed at the time of death, and thereafter, this book has it all. Directions and steps to various rituals are written in Hindi while the mantras to be recited are in Sanskrit. The book, written by a team of experts in Hindu Karmakand and Sanskrit, enables the reader to become his own priest and conduct even the most elaborate of pujas and rituals on his own.
For instance, the chapter on vivaah sanskar (marriage) begins with a detailed account of the direction in which the groom must sit when he arrives for the dwar chaar puja. The entire marriage ritual is also explained in great detail, along with the ingredients needed for particular pujas and the mantras to be recited. Similarly, there are chapters that deal with rituals that are followed in times of death and the subsequent pind-daan that takes place for the salvation of the soul.
Rituals held during Shiv Puja, Mahalakshmi Puja, Durga Puja, Rudrabhishek and Satya Narain Katha have been explained in detail while there are separate chapters on bhoomi pujan, grih pravesh, mundan, upnayan, etc. A segment of the manual also shows you how to find auspicious dates for important events in your life, including travel and marriage. This segment teaches you how to read the Hindu Panchaang, the calendar for auspicious and inauspicious dates according to the Hindu Sanatan dharma.
Dr Chandra Kant Dwiwedi, assistant director of the UP Sanskrit Sansthan and one of the editors of the Karmkand Manual, candidly admits that it was necessity that led to this unique book.
"We found that the number of priests is too few in relation to the demand for them. We decided that if individuals in a household, be it a man or a woman, could get a handbook of rituals and mantras, it would not only solve their problems but would also maintain the sanctity of the Sanatan dharma, since no one will opt for shortcuts when one is donning the mantle of a priest in one’s own home," he said.
The success of the manual can be judged from the fact that it has already sold 3,000 copies in a matter of months. "We plan to print more soon because we are getting sale inquiries from all over. Having a katha at home is no problem now if you have the manual at hand," says Dr Dwiwedi.
The Sanskrit Sansthan, incidentally, had also run a crash course on purohit-training in March, 2001, in which 100 people participated. "These people were expected to take a 90-day training programme for a minimum of 30 persons each and we are happy that many of our trainees have exceeded the target," he added.
The priest-training course, for which the human resource development ministry gave a one-time grant of Rs 14 lakhs, however, is not without some political and social overtones as well.
According to Dr Dwiwedi, "Most of the Scheduled Caste people were forced to opt for Buddhist-style marriages because no upper caste priest was ready to solemnise their marriages. With this training programme and the Karmakand Manual, we have trained these people, who can now offer their services to their own community. Thus, we have prevented a number of dalits from abandoning the Hindu way of life."
So, the next time you need a priest for your child’s christening or your daughter’s wedding, just reach out for the Karmkand Manual, don the role of the priest and perform the most important event of your life on your own. And, what is more, the dakshina that would have normally gone to the priest also remains inside your purse.