What is Asthadigbandana Puja
Asthadikbandana अष्ट means eight दिक् means direction बन्धन means locked out,closing Its literally means is shutting out the evil spirits from all the directions.Eight directions are — North, south, east, west, northeast, Northwest, southwest, southeast.Directionsof up and down..
There are the guardians of these eight directions. They are called dikpalas. They are kubera, yama, indra, varun, Ishana, Agni, Vayu, nirrarti, ( and two deities Brahma and vishnu). These ashta dikpalas are offered salutations and involved before any rituals
May these eight dikpalas of eight directions protect you from all the directions.
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- Before commencing a yagna, which was a procedure to attain a desired reward or goal, the ancient Indian holy books ordained a ritual to prevent malevolent entities from creating hurdles in the task. So when the aspirant of say, a heavenly sojourn, or say a male child, sat in front of the holy fire to chant the magical mantras, the priest would ask him to sprinkle holy water in all the eight directions (ashta dik *= disha) and ‘lock’ (bandhan#)the entry points. It was then expected that the yagna would proceed smoothly and yield the desired result.
Obviously, the effectiveness of the mantras is now questionable, though the chanting is still faithfully carried out by priests on auspicious occasions like weddings, and to invoke God’s grace during natural calamities like droughts or floods.
* ashta-dik-pal = guardian angels of each of the eight directions.
diggaj = huge elephantine figures sculpted at each entry gate of walled cities, usually in four or eight directions
# bandh = bond, knot as in rakhsha-bandhan- a knot tied by a loving sister around the wrist of a brother, signifying that he should protect (raksha) her.
- Before commencing a yagna, which was a procedure to attain a desired reward or goal, the ancient Indian holy books ordained a ritual to prevent malevolent entities from creating hurdles in the task. So when the aspirant of say, a heavenly sojourn, or say a male child, sat in front of the holy fire to chant the magical mantras, the priest would ask him to sprinkle holy water in all the eight directions (ashta dik *= disha) and ‘lock’ (bandhan#)the entry points. It was then expected that the yagna would proceed smoothly and yield the desired result.
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The eight things in ashta-dik-bhandana resembles the following
1. Popularity
2. Intelligence
3. Power
4. Emotions
5. Courage
6. Money
7. Morality
8. Death
