Shaligram

"Saligrama" redirects here. For other uses, see Saligrama (disambiguation).
Fossilized seashell stones are called saligrama, and serves as non-anthromorphic symbol of Vishnu.

Shila, (शिला in Devanagari, śila in IAST) or Shaligram refers to a fossilized shells used in South Asia as an aniconic symbol and reminder of god Vishnu as the Universal Principle by some Hindus.[1] Shaligram is usually collected from river beds or banks. It is considered easy to carry and popular in certain traditions of Vaishnavism, as an aniconic representation of the divine. It is typically in the form of a spherical, usually black-coloured Ammonoid fossil.

Shiva worshipers use nearly round or oval shaped Shaligrams to worship as Shiva Linga. They are sometimes referred to as Shilas, with Shila being the shortened version.

Use

Although Hinduism has many anthropomorphic murtis (images) of gods, aniconism is equally represented with such abstract symbols of God such as the Saligrama. [1]

These Shaligram/Shalagrams can be collected only from Gandaki river in Nepal.

History

Historically, the use of Shaligrama (or Salagrama) Shilas in worship can be traced to the time of Adi Shankara through the latter's works. Specifically, his commentary to the verse 1.6.1 in Taittiriya Upanishad [2][3] and his commentary to the verse 1.3.14 of the Brahma Sutras [4] suggest that the use of Saligrama in the worship of Vishnu has been a well-known Hindu practice.

The largest and heaviest Shaligrama can be seen at the Jagannath Temple, dedicated to Vishnu, at Puri in Orissa. The main ISKCON temple in Scotland, called 'Karuna Bhavan' is famous for housing the largest number of Shaligram Shilas outside of India.

Configurations

A Shaligrama – which has the marks of a shankha, Chakra, gada and padma arranged in a particular order – is worshiped as Keshava. With the change in the order of the four symbols, the name of the Shaligrama stone is also different and the images of such deities also have similar setting of the four symbols. The various orders and names are given for the twenty four permutations. These are well known names, which are the different names by which Lord Vishnu is known in the Hindu pantheon. The various versions of the Saligrama Shilas or stones vis-a-vis the order of the four symbols are:[5][6]

  1. Shanka, chakra, gada and padma - Keshava
  2. Padma, gada, chakra, shanka - Narayana
  3. Chakra, shanka, padma and gada - Madhava
  4. Gada, padma, shanka and chakra - Govinda
  5. Padma, shanka, chakra and gada – Vishnu
  6. Shanka, padma, gada, chakra – Madusudhana
  7. Gada, chakra, shanka and padma – Trivikrama
  8. Chakra, gada, padma, shanka - Vamana
  9. Chakra, padma, shanka, gada - Shridhara
  10. Padma, gada, shanka, charka - Hrishikesh
  11. Padma, chakra,gada, shanka - Padmanabha
  12. Shanka, chakra, gada, padma - Damodara
  13. Chakra, shanka, gada, padma - Sankarshana
  14. Shanka, chakra, padma, gada - Pradyumna
  15. Gada, shanka, padma, charka - Aniruddha
  16. Padma, shanka, gada, chakra - Purushottama
  17. Gadha, shanka, chakra, padma - Adokshaja
  18. Padma, gada, shanka, chakra - Narasimha
  19. Padma, chakra, shanka, gada – Achyuta
  20. Shanka, chakra, padma, gada - Janardana
  21. Gada, padma, shanka, chakra - Upendra
  22. Chakra, padma, gada and shanka – Hari
  23. Gada, padma, chakra and shanka - Krishna
  24. Shanka, chakra, padma, gada – Vasudeva

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Jeanne Fowler, pp. 42–43, at Hinduism: Beliefs and Practices, by M. K. V. Narayan at pp. 84–85 at Flipside of Hindu Symbolism
  2. ↑ A. Mahadeva Sastri. Taittiriya Upanishad: with the commentaries of Sankaracharya, Suresvaracharya, and Sayana (Vidyaranya), pp. 80 (free download at: https://archive.org/download/taittiriyaupanis00sankiala/taittiriyaupanis00sankiala.pdf)
  3. ↑ "Taittiriya Upanishad", Chapter 1, Section 6, Verse 1 in The Taittiriya Upanishad, With the Commentaries of Śaṅkarāchārya (url: http://wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/the-taittiriya-upanishad/d/doc79780.html)
  4. ↑ George Thibaut. The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Sankaracarya: Sacred Books of the East, Volume 1, pp. 178 (url: http://www.bharatadesam.com/spiritual/brahma_sutra/brahma_sutra_sankara_34083.php)
  5. ↑ Debroy, Bibek; Dipavali Debroy. The Garuda Purana. Shalagrama (Lulu.com). p. 42. ISBN 0-9793051-1-X. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  6. ↑ http://manjeshwar.org/The%20Chariot.htm

www.shalagram.com

External links

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