DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0216
204 Kavacas, Nyasas, and Mudras.
Triangular, pentangular, and nine-triangled Yantras are
equally efficacious.
Let us pass to a brief explanation of the Kavacas. I need not
tell Sanskrit scholars that the word kavac'a properly means a
kind of cuirass, breast-plate, or similar armour worn as a de-
fence in battle. With the Saktas a kavaca is an amulet or
talisman worn as a preservative against evil influences, or to
bring about the attainment of some desired object. It may
consist of a stone, piece of paper, metal, leaf or other material
on which Mantras, Yantras, mystical words and formulae of
various kinds are inscribed. It is then worn on the neck,
breast, arms, or loins, especially in times of pestilence and
sickness. Women often wear kavacas with the object of
propitiating the goddess, and so inducing a condition of body
favourable to the production of male offspring.
The term kavaca is also applied to whole hymns when
they are used as charms.
As to the Nyasas, these consist in .mentally assigning
various parts of the body to the protection of tutelary pre-
siding deities, with imposition of the hand or fingers, and
repetition of texts, mystical words, and syllables.
The Mudras, on the other hand, are intertwinings of the
fingers supposed to possess an occult meaning and to have
extraordinary efficacy. Their use as well as that of the
Nyasas will be more fully explained in treating of the morn-
ing and evening religious services called Sandhya.
It may be noted here that four days, or rather nights, are
kept as principal festivals by the left-hand worshippers:—
namely, (i) the night of the Krishna-janmashtami (see note 2,
p. 113), called the Kala-ratri; (2) the Moha-ratri or KalT-
eaturdasl, kept on the fourteenth day of the second half of
Asvina; (3) the Siva-ratri or Maha-ratri, kept on the four-
teenth of the dark half of Magha; (4) the Darum Ratrih,
kept on the day before the Holl festival, which is on the
fifteenth day of the first half of Phalguna. But besides these
Triangular, pentangular, and nine-triangled Yantras are
equally efficacious.
Let us pass to a brief explanation of the Kavacas. I need not
tell Sanskrit scholars that the word kavac'a properly means a
kind of cuirass, breast-plate, or similar armour worn as a de-
fence in battle. With the Saktas a kavaca is an amulet or
talisman worn as a preservative against evil influences, or to
bring about the attainment of some desired object. It may
consist of a stone, piece of paper, metal, leaf or other material
on which Mantras, Yantras, mystical words and formulae of
various kinds are inscribed. It is then worn on the neck,
breast, arms, or loins, especially in times of pestilence and
sickness. Women often wear kavacas with the object of
propitiating the goddess, and so inducing a condition of body
favourable to the production of male offspring.
The term kavaca is also applied to whole hymns when
they are used as charms.
As to the Nyasas, these consist in .mentally assigning
various parts of the body to the protection of tutelary pre-
siding deities, with imposition of the hand or fingers, and
repetition of texts, mystical words, and syllables.
The Mudras, on the other hand, are intertwinings of the
fingers supposed to possess an occult meaning and to have
extraordinary efficacy. Their use as well as that of the
Nyasas will be more fully explained in treating of the morn-
ing and evening religious services called Sandhya.
It may be noted here that four days, or rather nights, are
kept as principal festivals by the left-hand worshippers:—
namely, (i) the night of the Krishna-janmashtami (see note 2,
p. 113), called the Kala-ratri; (2) the Moha-ratri or KalT-
eaturdasl, kept on the fourteenth day of the second half of
Asvina; (3) the Siva-ratri or Maha-ratri, kept on the four-
teenth of the dark half of Magha; (4) the Darum Ratrih,
kept on the day before the Holl festival, which is on the
fifteenth day of the first half of Phalguna. But besides these