Though, I am a person who doesn't believe much in God, I still follow a few Hindu practices of devotion and visit temples from time to time for their tranquilitic peace and aura. I write this to let you know I am not a credible source of information when it comes to tracing back these traditions but I do intend to inspire you think in that direction.
The ritual
First things first, we wake up in the morning, take a nice shower and arrange our place of worship. It could be done by arranging a basket of items to be taken to the closest temple or arranging the small shrine we have at home. Correspondingly, we then begin our rituals by arranging the flowers, offering water, milk or panchamrit to the idol, being careful to collect it at the spout. Proceeding ahead, we light a tiny lamp/diya and a few incense sticks sticks and circle all of those together in what is called an arti thali, around the idol, whilst ringing a tiny bell on the side. When all of this is done, we sing a few prayers and mantras according to our time's convenience. When done, a formal namaskaram is offered and we leave to complete the activities for the day.
The meaning behind the rituals
What proceeds ahead may not be accurate but neither is this blog supposed to be. It is meant to be my interpretation of facts, which could get distorted in writing since I am no pro. However, I think that pouring water, milk or any liquid for the fact, was to get the stones marinated so that they didn't dry out in the warm weather. The nature of liquid must have depended on the day or the calculation of time when stones dry out. Flowers and incense sticks must have been added to keep the area fresh and clean and to add a layer of aromatherapy to the ritual, so that anytime incense sticks were burned they activated the same part of brain (I suppose, the amygdala) which was responsible for activating the parasympathetic nervous system. Praying to gods (and religion, in general) was invented to add a layer of safety in this uncertain world, so it probably makes sense that all rituals were made to invoke a layer of calmness and strength that one needed to survive the cut-throat world.
To the ones going to temple regularly for worship, tiny sugar crystals/mishris/ mithais were given both as reward for battling the circumstances of the road trip undertaken to visit the temple and to
compensate for the loss of energy that was spent in doing elaborate ritualistic offerings
to god. Vedic rituals, in the past, as I've heard, also consisted of sacrifices but were
probably banned after Buddhism came into view and brought a perspective into light about how this
was cruelty to animals. Rituals and mantras were probably made in view to
appease to particular gods and goddesses and thus, respectively, they were present to aid meditation and exercise the meditative powers of brain. I suppose someone must have
researched on what increases neural activity and composed it accordingly. Bells in
temples were probably made to attract travelers passing through the town and though I am not sure why orange in particular became the symbol of Hinduism, orange flags must have been added later but to signify to far away
travelers that there is a temple in sight, therefore, by proxy, a settlement must be close-by since people construct a place of worship where they have decided to settle down permanently. Elaborate designs as you see in the picture were probably made to give artists a full-time job along with a place to beautify and showcase the culture of the area.
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