Agathiyar asked me to perform Nava Abhisegam or the bathing ritual of his statue once he was delivered in Malaysia. I did manage to call over relatives and friends and perform this do. I had since then been doing Abhisegam to him on Full Moon (Purnima), New Moon (Amavasai) and Thursdays (Guru Naal) too.
I did not realize the magnitude of this ritual that I was asked to perform until I read in Dr. Najan’s ALAYANGALUM AGAMANGALUM, where Dr speaks of the various Abhisegam conducted in temples. Originally, 25 in number, the kinds of Abhisegam practiced had dwindled to 16 and later to 12 kinds.
Each Abhisegam supposedly shall bring upon the devotees certain aspects of a good life.
Water
(good health),
|
Tender
coconut water (riches),
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Honey
(pleasure, wealth, education, sangeetham),
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Dairy
milk (long life),
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Yogurt
(posterity),
|
Vibhuti
(spiritual knowledge),
|
Sandhanam
(prosperity),
|
Kunkumam
(all goodness),
|
Rose
water (overcomes fear),
|
Sesame
oil (bliss)
|
Rice
flour (helps clear dept),
|
Abhisegam kuthu (overcome disease),
|
Manjal
pohdi (improves power to attract others),
|
Panjamirtham
(purity),
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Ghee
(Moksham),
|
Sugarcane
water (cures illnesses),
|
Brown
sugar (overcome enemies),
|
Bananas
(increase food)
|
Mangoes
(children),
|
Passion
fruit (overcome anger),
|
Oranges
(truthfulness),
|
Lime
(overcome fear of death), and
|
Cooked
rice (creates empires).
|
I started with nine as originally requested by Agathiyar but expanded to 16 later. Then in one of the incidence, as narrated by Karthikeyan in his blog http://siththanarul.blogspot.com, I realized that I had somehow established the same number of Abhisegam as the Siddhas performed for Lord Shiva.
