तत्प्रकारः कथमिति । कुत्रकुत्र धार्यम् । पुनः स तमुवाच सद्योजातादिपञ्चब्रह्ममन्त्रैर्भस्म संगृह्याग्निरिति भस्मेत्यनेनाभिमन्त्र्य मानस्तोक इति समुद्धृत्य जलेन संसृज्य त्र्यायुपमिति शिरोललाटवक्षःस्कन्धेष्विति तिसृभिस्त्र्यायुपैस्त्रियम्बकैस्तिस्रो रेखाः प्रकुर्वीत
tatprakāraḥ kathamiti | kutrakutra dhāryam | punaḥ sa tamuvāca sadyojātādipañcabrahmamantrairbhasma saṃgṛhyāgniriti bhasmetyanenābhimantrya mānastoka iti samuddhṛtya jalena saṃsṛjya tryāyupamiti śirolalāṭavakṣaḥskandheṣviti tisṛbhistryāyupaistriyambakaistisro rekhāḥ prakurvīta
“‘What then is the procedure? Where and where should it be worn?’ — ‘Having gathered the ash with the five brahma-mantras beginning with Sadyojāta, having consecrated it with the words “fire is ash,” having lifted it up with “not in our children,” having mixed it with water — with “thrice long-lived,” let him draw three lines on the head, on the forehead, on the chest, and on the shoulders.’”
8b194a97d961 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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The rite is described, and it deserves examination, for it is the chief daily rite of Śaiva practice. The five brahma-mantras — Sadyojāta, Vāmadeva, Aghora, Tatpuruṣa, Īśāna — are the five faces of Śiva, discussed in detail reading Pañcabrahma. The ash is then consecrated with the formula agnir iti bhasma, “fire is ash”; this formula stands in the Taittirīya-āraṇyaka and is a list: fire is ash, wind is ash, water is ash, earth is ash, sky is ash.
That is, the formula declares that everything is ash; and ash is thus an image of the universal end. It is then taken up with the verse mā nas toke, “not in our children” — a prayer to Rudra from the Ṛgveda (1.114.8), where one asks: do not destroy us in our children, nor in our offspring, nor in our cattle, nor in our horses. Note that this prayer is a prayer for mercy; and that this very prayer is spoken while applying the ash shows what the original attitude toward Rudra had been.
It is then mixed with water, and three lines are drawn. Add, too, what the Vaiṣṇava side says of the substance itself. It does not use ash and sets its mark with clay: gopī-candana, taken from the lakes of Vṛndāvana, discussed reading Ūrdhvapuṇḍra.
The difference in substance is also a difference in meaning: ash is what remains once things have burned, clay is earth from a particular place. The first is a reminder of the end; the second — of the place where He once stood. This is, to my mind, an exact expression of two moods: one remembers that everything will burn, the other remembers where His feet had walked.