Murti
In the Hindu tradition, a murti is a devotional image, such as a statue or icon, of a deity or saint used during puja and/or in other customary forms of actively expressing devotion or reverence – whether at Hindu temples or shrines. A mūrti is a symbolic icon representing divinity for the purpose of devotional activities. Thus, not all icons of gods and saints are mūrti; for example, purely decorative depictions of divine figures often adorn Hindu temple architecture in intricately carved doorframes, on colourfully painted walls, and ornately sculpted rooftop domes. A mūrti itself is not God, but it is merely a representative shape, symbolic embodiment, or iconic manifestation of God.
Murti are also found in some nontheistic Jain traditions, where they serve as symbols of revered mortals inside Jain temples, and are worshiped in murtipujaka rituals.
A murti is typically made by carving stone, wood working, metal casting or through pottery. Ancient era texts describing their proper proportions, positions and gestures include the Puranas, Agamas, and Samhitas. The expressions in a murti vary in diverse Hindu traditions, ranging from ugra symbolism to express destruction, fear, and violence to saumya symbolism to express joy, knowledge, and harmony. Saumya images are most common in Hindu temples. Other murti forms found in Hinduism include the lingam.
A murti is an embodiment of the divine, the ultimate reality or Brahman, to some Hindus. In a religious context, they are found in Hindu temples or homes, where they may be treated as a beloved guest and serve as a participant of puja. On other occasions, they serve as the centre of attention in annual festive processions; these are called utsava murti. The earliest murti are mentioned by Pāṇini in the 4th century BCE. Prior to that, the agnicayana ritual ground seemed to serve as a template for the temple.
A murti may also be referred to as a vigraha, pratima or simply deity.
Hindu devotees go to the mandirs to take darshan, bringing prepared offerings of naivedya to be blessed at the altar before the deity, and to perform puja and ''aarti.''
Etymology and nomenclature
Murti literally means any solid body or form with a definite shape or limits produced from material elements. It contrasts with the mind, thought, and immaterial in ancient Indian literature. The term also refers to any embodiment, manifestation, incarnation, personification, appearance, image, idol, or statue of a deity.The earliest mention of the term murti occurs in primary Upanishads composed in the 1st millennium BCE, particularly in verse 3.2 of Aitareya Upanishad, verse 1.13 of Shvetashvatara Upanishad, verse 6.14 of Maitrayaniya Upanishad and verse 1.5 of Prashna Upanishad. For example, the Maitrayaniya Upanishad uses the term to mean a "form, manifestation of time". The section sets out to prove Time exists, acknowledges the difficulty in proving Time exists by Pramana, then inserts a theory of inductive inference for epistemological proof as follows,
The section includes the concept of Time and non-Time, stating that non-Time existed before the creation of the universe, and time came into existence with the creation of the universe. Non-time is indivisible, time is divisible, and the Maitri Upanishad then asserts that the "year is the mūrti of time". Robert Hume translates the discussion of "mūrti of time", in verse 6.14 of the Maitri Upanishad, as "form".
Western scholarship on Hinduism emphasizes that there was neither murti nor temples nor idol-facilitated worship in the Vedic era. The Vedic Hinduism rituals were directed at nature and abstract deities called during yajna with hymns. However, there isn't a universal consensus, with scholars such as AC Das, pointing to the word Mūradeva in Rig Veda verses 7.104.24, 10.87.2 and 10.87.14. This word may refer to "Deva who is fixed" or "Deva who is foolish". The former interpretation, if accurate, may imply that there were communities in the Vedic era who had Deva in the form of murti, and the context of these hymns suggests that the term could be referring to practices of the tribal communities outside of the Vedic fold.
One of the earliest firm textual evidence of Deva images, in the sense of murti, is found in Jivikarthe Capanye by the Sanskrit grammarian Pāṇini who lived about 4th-century BCE. He mentions Acala and Cala, with former referring to images in a shrine, and the latter meaning images that were carried from place to place. Panini also mentions Devalaka, meaning custodians of images of worship who show the images but do not sell them, as well as Jivika as people whose source of livelihood was the gifts they received from devotees. In ancient Sanskrit texts that follow Panini's work, numerous references are found to divine images with terms such as Devagrha, Devagara, Devakula, Devayatana and others. These texts, states Noel Salmond, strongly suggest that temples and murti were in existence in ancient India by about 4th century BCE. Recent archaeological evidence confirms that the knowledge and art of sculpture was established in India by the Maurya Empire period.
By the early 1st millennium BCE, the term murti meant idols, images, or statues in various Indian texts such as Bhavishya Purana verse 132.5.7, Brihat Samhita 1.8.29, and inscriptions in different parts of India. The term murti has been a more generic term referring to an idol or statue of anyone, either a deity, of any human being, animal or any art. Pratima includes murti as well as painting of any non-anthropomorphic object. In contrast, Bera or Bimba meant "idol of god" only, and Vigraha was synonymous with Bimba.
Types
A murti in contemporary usage is any image or statue. It may be found inside or outside a temple or home, installed to be moved with a festive procession, or just be a landmark. It is a significant part of Hindu iconography, and is implemented in many ways. Two major categories include:- Raudra or ugra are images that were meant to terrify, induce fear. These typically have wide, circular eyes, carry weapons, have skulls and bones as adornment. These idols were worshipped by soldiers before going to war, or by people in times of distress or errors. Raudra deity temples were not set up inside villages or towns, but invariably outside and in remote areas of a kingdom.
- Shanta and saumya are images that were pacific, peaceful and expressive of love, compassion, kindness and other virtues in Hindu pantheon. These images would carry symbolic icons of peace, knowledge, music, wealth, flowers, sensuality among other things. In ancient India, these temples were predominant inside villages and towns.
Methods and manuals
Murti, when produced properly, are made according to the design rules of the Shilpa Shastras. They recommend materials, measurements, proportions, decoration, and symbolism of the murti. Explanation of the metaphysical significance of each stage of manufacture and the prescription of specific mantras to sanctify the process and evoke and invoke the power of the deity in the image are found in the liturgical handbooks the Agamas and Tantras. In Tantric traditions, a murti is installed by priests through the Prana pratishta ceremony, where mantras are recited sometimes with yantras, whereby state Harold Coward and David Goa, the "divine vital energy of the cosmos is infused into the sculpture" and then the divine is welcomed as one would welcome a friend. The esoteric Hindu tantric traditions through texts such as Tantra-tattva follow elaborate rituals to infuse life into a murti. Some tantra texts such as the Pancaratraraksa state that anyone who considers an icon of Vishnu as nothing but "an ordinary object" made of iron "goes to hell". The use of murti and particularly the prana protist consecration ceremony, states Buhnemann, has been criticized by Hindu groups. These groups state that this practice came from more recent "false tantra books", and there is not a single word in the Vedas about such a ceremony.The artists who make any art or craft, including murti, were known as shilpins. The formally trained Shilpins shape the murti not following fancy but following canonical manuals such as the Agamas and the Shilpa Shastras texts such as Vishvakarma. The material of construction range from clay to wood to marble to metal alloys such as panchaloha. The sixth century Brihat Samhita and eighth-century text Manasara-Silpasastra, identify nine materials for murti construction – gold, silver, copper, stone, wood, Sudha, sarkara, Bahasa, and earth. For Bahasa, the texts describe working methods for various types of marble, specialized stones, colors, and a range of opacity.
Brihat Samhita, a 6th-century encyclopedia of a range of topics from horticulture to astrology to gemology to murti and temple design, specifies in Chapter 56 that the pratima height should be of the sanctum sanctorum's door height, the Pratima height and the sanctum sanctorum room's width be in the ratio of 0.292, it stands on a pedestal that is 0.146 of sanctum room width, thereafter the text describes 20 types of temples with their dimensions. Chapter 58 of the text describes the ratios of various anatomical parts of a murti, from head to toe, along with the recommendation in verse 59.29 that generally accepted variations in dress, decoration, and dimensions of local regional traditions for the murti are the artistic tradition.
The texts recommend materials of construction, proportions, postures, and mudra, symbolic items the murti holds in its hands, colors, garments, and ornaments to go with the murti of each god or goddess, vehicles of deities such as Garuda, bull and lion, and other details. The texts also include chapters on the design of Jaina and Buddhist murti, as well as reliefs of sages, apsaras, different types of devotees to decorate the area near the murti. The texts recommend that the material of construction and relative scale of murti be correlated to the scale of the temple dimensions, using twelve types of comparative measurements. Neither the Hybrid Sanskrit of Mahayana Buddhism, nor the Pali of Theravada Buddhism has the word murti. PK Acharya imputed the Hinduïstic word murti on Buddhist iconography, in which he erred.
In Southern India, the material used predominantly for murti is black granite, while the material in North India is white marble. However, for some Hindus, it is not the materials used that matter, but the faith and meditation on the universal Absolute Brahman. More particularly, devotees meditate or worship on the formless God through murti symbolism of God during a puja before a murti, or the meditation on a Tirthankara in the case of Jainism, thus making the material of construction or the specific shape of the murti not spiritually important.
According to John Keay, "Only after achieving remarkable expertise in the portrayal of the Buddha figure and of animal and human, did Indian stonemasons turn to produce images of the orthodox 'Hindu' deities". This view, however, is not shared by other scholars. Trudy King et al. state that stone images of reverential figures and guardian spirits were first produced in Jainism and Hinduism, by about 2 century BCE, as suggested by Mathura region excavations, and this knowledge grew into iconographic traditions and stone monuments in India including those for Buddhism. Neither the Hybrid Sanskrit of Mahayana Buddhism, nor the Pali of Theravada Buddhism has the word 'murti'.