Hindu Festival Kit

December 27, 2005 3:59 PM

Can you identify the purpose of items in a Hindu festival kit labelled "Pujapa Samagri"?

While shopping for groceries in the "Little India" section of Edison, NJ, my brother, sister-in-law, and I came across a small box that looked like a first-aid kit. However, it's labeled "Items for Religious Ceremonies". Out of curiosity, we bought the kit and brought it home to explore. It looks as though the kit is meant to contain everything needed for a festival observance; can anyone explain how each of these things would be used?

In the kit are the following items:
--A picture of Ganesh with a calendar on the back
--5 cotton wicks
--A small box of incense sticks
--A tiny jar of honey
--A wax-paper-wrapped rectangular object that resembles a sugar cube, only the contents are divided into 4 tablets, somewhat like Smartees or Pez
--A small skein of red-dyed string
--A bag of white crystals that may be salt or sugar (or incense?)
--Coriander seeds
--Mustard seeds
--2 packages, each containing 3 cardamom pods, 3 cloves, 3 nutmegs
--Some small pieces of root that may be sandalwood
--3 packages of fine powders - 1 each of red, bright pink, and white

posted by Miko to religion & philosophy (11 comments total)

Well, you've got the ingredients for a small altar to Ganesh - my guess is that the incense, honey, string and the seeds are offerings to him. The powders are probably for drawing mandalas. You've definitely got an altar-inna-box, almost certainly to Ganesh. He smooths the way for travelers; does anyone know if he's especially honored around the New Year, as we move into a fresh path/fresh year?
posted by kalimac at 5:07 PM on December 27, 2005

Kalimac's right. Altar-inna-box. Brilliant!
Anyway, the picture's for praying to, etc. and the calendar probably has important dates already highlighted. Maybe the red string is for hanging on the picture garland-like? I've seen that in places. Does the sugarcube smell really strong and mothball-y? I'm guessing that's camphor, can be burned for cleansing fire/smoke in worship.
posted by pantsrobot at 5:24 PM on December 27, 2005

I think this won't be as informative or as detailed as you seem to want, but until MeFi's Hindu priest (or at least someone who's actually performed pujas) comes along, here's my experience of watching how some of these things are used in pujas:

-pictures of Ganesh or other gods placed in an altar area
-incense sticks lit
-cotton wicks used in oil lamps
-honey, sugar, etc. offered to gods and then, post-puja, to people as prasadam
-cardamoms, cloves, etc. used in making another kind of food offering - a sweet rice or tapioca pudding
-red and white powders applied to pictures or statues of gods, and to foreheads of people

If you don't mind cheesy flash, this Diwali e-card gives a visual of how and in what order a few of those items would be used. ("Follow the instructions for a virtual Ganesh-Lakshmi puja")

on preview: the bright pink powder made me think of mandalas too (or at least art that's similar like muggu/kolam/rangoli - the word mandala has more Buddhist associations for me).
posted by PY at 5:38 PM on December 27, 2005

Holy Cow! Pujapa Samagri is a Googlewhack!
"Puja Samagri" turns up quite a bit on Google. "Puja" is Sanskrit word meaning religious ritual. Under the different spelling "Pooja" you can find online stores with a "Pooja" category selling what appear to be infrastructure and supplies for riturals. Pooja Samagri turns up temples, candle wicks, altars, and lots of Ganesh figurines. I'm guessing that "Samagri" is Ganesh related, but Samagri doesn't appear to be an alternate name for Ganesh. Maybe it is just the transliteration of the Sanskrit word for "kit." But now I'm intrigued!
posted by donovan at 5:52 PM on December 27, 2005

Sorry, I was totally non-responsive to you actual question. The Googlewhack siting got me all stirred up and I know that's, like sooo 2002. ;-)
posted by donovan at 5:53 PM on December 27, 2005

The red and white powders are as PY says, but the pink powder is likely to be for drawing rangoli, and not mandalas.
posted by dhruva at 5:54 PM on December 27, 2005

--A picture of Ganesh with a calendar on the back < keep sake picture of the god.br> --5 cotton wicks < for oil lamps for the aartibr> --A small box of incense sticks < to be lit during the puja for the nice fragnancebr> --A tiny jar of honey < idols are often bathed in milk, honey, juices, and then rinsed with water.br> --A wax-paper-wrapped rectangular object that resembles a sugar cube, only the contents are divided into 4 tablets, somewhat like Smartees or Pez < this is camphor, it's highly flamable, and again used in the aarti. you just touch it with a lit match and it catches fire.br> --A small skein of red-dyed string < this is to tie around a coconut or around the wrist of the people who are participating in the puja.br> --A bag of white crystals that may be salt or sugar (or incense?) < are they tiny? if so they might be sabudana, it's like rice, edible.br> --Coriander seeds < for various pujasbr> --Mustard seeds < dittobr> --2 packages, each containing 3 cardamom pods, 3 cloves, 3 nutmegs < prasad (offerings)br> --Some small pieces of root that may be sandalwood < sandalwood is a proper wood, not a root.br> --3 packages of fine powders - 1 each of red, bright pink, and white < Red, pink & white powders are what the dots on the forehead are made of. Applied during a puja.
posted by riffola at 7:56 PM on December 27, 2005

Oh and the kit is basically everything one needs for most common pujas (prayer ceremonies featuring mantras).
posted by riffola at 7:56 PM on December 27, 2005

Darn the formatting is messed up. You get the idea right? :)
posted by riffola at 7:57 PM on December 27, 2005

"Puja Samagri" means "things you need for a Puja". So "kit" is accurate.
posted by madman at 9:25 PM on December 27, 2005

Thanks, all! I appreciate all the responses. I'm marking riffola's as 'best' because it is the fullest description of the items' use. I also received an email from someone who is perhaps not a member -- I won't post the name, but here are the very detailed contents. I will also mark this 'best' if possible, for archival purposes.

We also liked the Diwali e-card a lot.
***

pooja - to worship
samagri - ingredients

In the kit are the following items:
--A picture of Ganesh with a calendar on the back - the photo is assumed to be the idol and worshipped
--5 cotton wicks - dipped in ghee (made of cow's milk) and lit
--A small box of incense sticks - again, lit at the start of the service
--A tiny jar of honey - is considered pure
--A wax-paper-wrapped rectangular object that resembles a sugar cube, only the contents are divided into 4 tablets, somewhat like Smartees or Pez
--A bag of white crystals that may be salt or sugar (or incense?)
one of these are camphor tablets. is lit one by one till the service gets over
--Coriander seeds - we dont really use coriander seeds here
--Mustard seeds - ditto
--2 packages, each containing 3 cardamom pods, 3 cloves, 3 nutmegs - these are offered to the Gods by placing all the contents of each packet and the sandalwood on a leaf
--Some small pieces of root that may be sandalwood -
--3 packages of fine powders - 1 each of red, bright pink, and white
a few drops of water is mixed with the red powder and a small amount - the size of ur fingertip - is put on the forehead - between the eyebrows. its called tilak
--A small skein of red-dyed string
this is tied loosely your forearm - sort of like a bracelet

posted by Miko at 8:16 AM on December 28, 2005