VARANASI, July 29, 2013: 'Abhishek' of Lord Shiva is the most important ritual performed by the devotees across the country in the month of Shrawan and among the different forms of 'Abhishek', 'Jalabhishek' is considered to be the most significant in Shrawan month.

According to Pt Chandramauli Upadhyay, professor at faculty of Sanskrit Vidya Dharma Vigyan, Banaras Hindu University, Jalabhishek becomes even more auspicious if it is performed with the 'Gangajal'. "Owing to this fact, the religious places and Shiva temples situated on the banks of the Ganga are visited by a huge number of devotees in this time of year. In Kashi itself lakhs of Kanwariyas and other devotees come to offer Gangajal to Lord Vishwanath," he said.

Explaining more about the ritual of 'Abhishek', Upadhyaya says, "Shadang Rudrabhishek and Ekadashami Rudrabhishek are some of the elaborated rituals that need a highly qualified priest to perform it and can be performed on Parthiv Shivlings, made of clay, at home also.

In fact most people prefer to perform these rituals at home as are time consuming and are also difficult to perform at temples which witness huge rush of devotees throughout the day."

According to Pt JP Pathak, a priest at the Ramnagar fort, ideally the 'Abhishek' is performed by eleven priests with chanting of rudra-mantras to invoke the eleven forms of Lord Shiva, namely Rudra, Mahadeva, Shiva, Shankara, Neelalohita, Eashana, Vijaya, Bhima, Devadeva, Bhavodhbhava and Adtiiyatmaka, in eleven kalash. tnn

"Apart from this, there are several other ways to perform Abhishek depending upon the wish or the purpose with which it is being performed. The number of days and the number of priests may vary, according to convenience, though it should be performed with the advice of the priest. For Maharudrabhishek more than three priests are required while the Laghu-rudrabhishek can be performed with even one priest," said Pathak.

Source: The Times of India, DT. July 29, 2013.