Parikrama (religious practice)

Parikrama or Pradakshina refers to circumambulation of sacred places in Hindu, Jain or Buddhist context. Parikrama means "the path surrounding something" in Sanskrit, and is also known as Pradakshina ("to the right"), representing circumambulation. Both words are mostly used in the context of religious deities in a temple, sacred rivers, sacred hills and a close cluster of temples, and "doing a parikrama" as a symbol of prayer is an integral part of Hindu worship. In Hinduism and other Indian religions, the Parikrama inside temples or sacred sites is traditionally clockwise.

Most Hindu temple structures include various Pradaksina paths. Pradaksina paths are defined. as:

Circumbulatory or pathway around the shrine of the temples by keeping time is a common form of prayer in India.It includes Narmada,Shetrunjaya,Girnar. This pathway made of stone around the shrine is called Pradakshina path.

There could be one surrounding the main deity, other paths could be broader being concentric to the main path. However, it is not uncommon to find non-concentric parikrama paths in a single temple structure. At times the outermost parikrama path covers the whole village/town/city, thereby implying that the length of the path can stretch.

Parikrama is done around sacred fire (Agni – the fire God), Tulsi plant (Ocimum tenuiflorum) and Peepal tree. Parikrama of Agni or Agni Pradakshina is a part of the Hindu marriage ceremony. Some of the Parikramas are Narmada River, Govardhan hill, Vrindavan, Vraj Mandala, Dwadash Madhav parikrama Tirthraj Prayag, Ayodhya, Girnar, Chitrakoot hill, Varanasi, Mathura, and Mathura-Vrindavan yugalabandi in Kartik .....

Typically, Parikrama is done after the completion of traditional worship (puja) and after paying homage to the deity. Parikrama is supposed to be done with a meditative mood.

Parikrama is also practiced in Buddhism,Jainism and Sikhism.

A legend related to goddess Parvati (Shiva's wife) and her two sons illustrates the importance of Pradakshina or Parikrama. It is said that the goddess asked her two sons to circumambulate the universe to gain worldly knowledge. While her first son Kartikeyan spent decades to go round the world on his peacock, his second son Ganesha walked a full circle around his mother and justified his action by stating that the World was contained within the figure of the mother. This legend justifies the importance that Hindus attach to the practice of Parikrama, and also the importance of motherhood in Hindu psychology. Another (patriarchal) version of the same story replaces the figure of Parvati with Shiva himself.

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