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The Spellbook · Hinduism

Diya Lamp Offering and a Simple Hindu Home Puja

How to light a diya and perform a Hindu home puja with five offerings and ārati, with the meaning of darśan and prasāda and the history of home worship.

  • TraditionHindu domestic worship (pūjā), classical period to the present
  • ForBlessings, Home & hearth, Peace
  • DifficultySimple
  • Time15–20 minutes
  • WhenDaily at dawn and at dusk (sandhyā dīpa); with special care on festivals such as Diwali and on Fridays for Lakṣmī
Clay pots (ghaila) are used as a part of festival, like putting oil-lamp (diya and bati) on their heads.
Clay pots (ghaila) are used as a part of festival, like putting oil-lamp (diya and bati) on their heads.Bijay chaurasia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

In Hindu homes the day often begins and ends with the lighting of a small oil lamp, the diya, before an image of a deity. Around it a short pūjā, an act of worship, is offered: water, flowers, incense, light and food are presented to God as to an honoured guest, and the food is received back as blessing. This simple domestic rite is the most widespread form of Hindu worship. It is offered for the wellbeing of the household and as an expression of love for the divine.

How to do it§

This is the five-service form (pañcopacāra), the shortest of the classical patterns, suitable for daily use. Families vary in details; follow your own family's custom if you have one.

  1. Prepare. Bathe or wash, and wear clean clothes. Clean the shrine area and wipe the image. Arrange the items on a tray.
  2. Prepare the lamp. Twist a cotton wick, lay it in the diya and pour in ghee or sesame oil until the wick is soaked. Set the lamp on a heat-proof plate in front of the deity.
  3. Invoke and greet. Sit or stand before the image, ring the bell gently and bow with joined palms. Customarily Gaṇeśa, the remover of obstacles, is remembered first. Then address the chosen deity in your own words, inviting them to accept your worship.
  4. Light the lamp. Light the diya. Many recite a traditional verse to the lamp-light, which begins śubhaṃ karoti kalyāṇam, praising the flame that brings auspiciousness, health and wealth and removes ill will. Otherwise a silent prayer is enough.
  5. Offer the five services. Offer, one by one: gandha, a touch of sandalwood paste or kumkum to the image; puṣpa, fresh flowers placed at the deity's feet; dhūpa, a lit incense stick waved gently in a clockwise circle; dīpa, the light itself; and naivedya, a little fruit or sweets on a clean plate, with a sprinkle of water around it.
  6. Perform ārati. Lift the lamp (or a separate ārati lamp) and wave it slowly in clockwise circles before the deity, from the feet upwards, while ringing the bell or singing a hymn. Then pass your hands over the flame and touch them to your eyes and head, receiving its warmth and light.
  7. Ask for blessing. With joined palms, pray for the welfare of the household and of all beings, and for anything on your heart. Bow or prostrate.
  8. Receive prasāda. The food, now blessed, becomes prasāda. Share it with the family.
  9. Close. Allow the lamp to burn while someone is present, or extinguish it by gently smothering or with a flower rather than blowing it out, as many families prefer. Remove old flowers the next day and place them in a garden or compost, not in the rubbish.

Origins and history§

Vedic religion centred on the fire sacrifice, but from around the turn of the Common Era a new form of worship rose to prominence alongside it: pūjā, the honouring of a deity present in an image. The Purāṇas and the Āgamas, ritual texts of Śaiva, Vaiṣṇava and Śākta traditions, lay down the "services" (upacāras) to be offered, commonly sixteen in full temple worship and five in the shortened form. These services follow the pattern of hospitality to a royal guest: welcome, water for feet and mouth, bath, clothing, perfume, flowers, incense, lamp, food and farewell.

Worship of the Sun (Surya Puja)
Worship of the Sun (Surya Puja)Chokha · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

The anthropologist C. J. Fuller calls the camphor or oil flame the central act of popular Hinduism. Through it the deity is honoured and the worshipper touches the divine power. Diana Eck emphasises darśan, "seeing": in pūjā the devotee comes to see the deity and to be seen by them, and the lamp illuminates the meeting. The flame also links home worship to the great festival of lights, Diwali, when rows of diyas welcome Lakṣmī and, in North Indian tradition, celebrate Rāma's return to Ayodhyā. The bhakti devotional movements from the sixth century onward made such loving domestic worship central for ordinary people.

Variations§

In Kerala a tall brass lamp (nilavilakku) is lit at twilight and brought to the front of the house with the call dīpam, dīpam ("the lamp, the lamp") before evening prayers; Tamil homes light the similar kuthuvilakku. In Bengal the evening conch is blown as the sandhyā lamp is lit. Some households offer only a lamp and incense on ordinary days and keep the full sixteen services for festivals.

Safety and good sense§

Place the diya on a metal or ceramic plate on a stable surface, away from curtains, flowers and paper pictures. Never leave it burning unattended, and keep children's clothing and long sleeves well away during ārati. Ventilate the room when burning incense. Pūjā expresses devotion and hope for a family's welfare; it is not a substitute for medical, legal or financial help.

Sources and further reading§