Second Visit
For the special event I went to Basava Jayanti which is celebrated on May 5th . It is the birthday of Basavanna who is the founding saint of the Lingayat faith. For his birthday the priest held the Sri Rudra Homam which is a worship ritual that is done to worship god. Sri Rudra is an old vedic hymn that is consider to be pleasing to every deity. This Homam was funded by the temple, but can also be funded by people who come to the temple by paying a small amount of money. I was the only one at the event besides the priest who performed the ritual (maybe because it was at 8am). During the entire time of about an hour, we sat on the floor at the balcony at the back of the temple. Throughout the Homam, Maruthi the priest had a fire lit from cow dung (that I only found out what it was after we spoke about it in class). On the fire he poured raisins, cooked rice,and gee keeping the fire going while doing so. Maruthi kept reciting from the Vedas. During the ritual the priest kept on decorating the puja with flowers fruits and spices while ringing the bell from time to time, and constantly going in circles with a lamp. This event takes place in India and is practiced the same way. Also in the course reading, this event was described exactly the same as what I experienced. Fire is very important in Hinduism and it is one of the ways of worshiping gods. Fire is used as the messenger who brings the god our offerings and in return the god give blessings or whatever was the reason this event was performed for. For example, if the Homam was done in order to receive health, than the god will take the offerings and in return he will give the person health. When asking people in the temple if they see any difference between the ritual’s practices in India compared to America, they said no.
Maruthi the priest after performing Sri Rudra Homam
