By Swami Harshananda
Pratipattikarma literally means ‘action done intentionally’.
The word Pratipattikarma has been used in various senses.
- The most general sense is abandoning something after its use is over. For instance, when an āhitāgni[1] dies, all the wooden vessels and implements he was using in performing sacrifices, are disposed off by keeping them on the various parts of his body during its cremation.[2]
- After a sacrifice had been completed, the horn of a stag that was being used for scratching one’s limbs when necessary, had to be abandoned in a pit called cātvāla, near the sacrificial shed. This too was called pratipattikarma.
- The immersing of a clay image in water after duly worshiping it just as in the worship of Gaṇeśa or Durgā, is also a pratipattikarma.
References[edit]
- The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore