Such lamps, as if meant to dedicate light to the light’s Creator, were usually hung in the temples’ prayer halls – a cult prevalent since ages in the entire subcontinent but more popularly in South Indian temples, and even after the emergence of electricity this basic form of light was venerated as the ritual light more close to its Creator. Considered a ritual form of light such lamps were hung also along the ceilings’ of domestic shrines and sometimes in other spaces of a house for its power to purify the ambience and for its ethnicity.

Light is a divine phenomenon, and hence spreading light, a spiritual act manifesting one’s reverence to light and thereby to the light’s Creator. A lamp being its simplest mode, conceiving a lamp, casting, moulding or gifting it, has been venerated, always, everywhere and in every system of thought, as one of the man’s most pious impulses.

The lamp’s divine contexts being inherent, the artists/artisans, while innovating a form for a lamp often sought to discover its spiritual/mystic image and aesthetic beauty by blending into its form a divine icon itself, a mystic graphic, an auspicious symbol or object, or an aspect of nature. Some form of Ganesha in divine icons, in mystic graphics, an elephant form, peacock, lion or another bird … in animals, and a lotus or a conventionalized flower form as aspects of nature, are the features most usually associated with forms of lamps. Such decorative/mystic lamps have been in vogue in India since times immemorial.

As evolved in long tradition a lamp-stand or lamp-tray might consist of any number of lamps, usually, one, three, five, seven, nine, eleven or any but usually uneven, each endowed with one symbolic dimension or other, one, dedicated to one Brahma, the entire visible and invisible cosmos being just His manifestations; three, to the Great Trinity: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva; five, to five cosmic elements, five directions, the fifth being the sky, and to five manifestations of Shiva; seven, to Sapta-Matrikas and Sapta-rishis – seven great sages that seven stars represent; nine, to nine forms of goddess Durga, nine planets, and so on.

This lamp-tray consists of five lamps considered as illuminating ‘pancha-bhutas’ – five cosmic elements or constituents of cosmos : earth or creative function, water, fire, space and wind, that is, these five lamps illuminate all five constituents of cosmos and thus the cosmos. Sometimes such lamp-stand is contended to illuminate with its four lamps four directions : east, west, north and south, and with the fifth, sky. The Shaivites see its five lamps dedicated to five manifestations of Sadashiva : Tatpurusha, Vamadeva, Aghora, Sadyojata and Ishan, though sometimes Shiva’s such forms are contended to manifest as five cosmic constituents.

The peacock, an icon of which installed in the lamp’s centre crowns the artifact, is one of the most popular motifs that Indian craftsmen have been using since ages to add to it or rather to many other forms : ornaments, facets of buildings …, greater aesthetic beauty and auspiciousness. The bird, a stylized form raised on a specially erected stand, is the crowning beauty of the artifact and as betrays its posture and expression on the face the proud bird is aware of its significance.

Phenomenal beauty apart the peacock has mythical contexts in all major sectarian lines of Hinduism. In Shaivite myths peacock is venerated as the mount of Karttikeya, the Shiva’s elder son. Karttikeya’s consort Kumari also used peacock as her mount. In Vaishnava line peacock is deeply linked with Krishna, one of Vishnu’s incarnations. Brahma’s consort Saraswati used peacock as her seat.

Peacock is now India’s national bird. Not in India alone many countries have for peacock similar love and reverence. In Babylonia and Persia peacock has always been a venerable bird. The kings of Iran called their throne as Peacock Throne. It was under this Persian tradition that the Mughal emperor Shahjahan had named his fabulous seat, considered the ever most expensive in the world, as Peacock Throne. When American broadcasting corporation NBC launched itself, peacock was its logo. Alike, peacock is the logo of Pakistan Television Corporation.

The Power of Light: Understanding the Role of Oil Lamps in

Hinduism Hinduism is a boon to human society for it guides everyone to follow their Dharma and rise above the material concept of life. Hinduism is also known as “Sanatan Dharma”. These are Sanskrit terms in which Sanatan means “eternal” and Dharma means “Intrinsic nature or occupation”. Thus it deals with the intrinsic nature or the real identity of the living entities; that which can never be taken away from them. The principles of Hinduism are given in the Vedic literature or scriptures that are considered “Apaurusheya”; they have not been written by any ordinary person but have been compiled by Vyasadev, the literary incarnation of the Supreme Lord Krishna. The word “Veda” means complete knowledge, both material and spiritual. The knowledge in Vedic literature is so vast and precise that if one looks carefully, he will notice that nothing is sentimental or imaginary but is based on facts and truth. There is a clear description and information about the identity of all living beings, the nature of the Absolute Truth, the reason for the existence of this world, the information about the world beyond this universe, and the relationship between us and God, the Absolute Truth.

Why do we light a lamp?

There are many rituals recommended in the Vedas for engaging our body and mind in the service of God. One of them is the lighting of ghee or oil lamps before the deity. According to the Vedic injunctions, all auspicious functions begin with lighting a lamp. It has a great spiritual significance. It is believed that the light of the lamp symbolizes “knowledge”, the wick symbolizes the false ego of the living entity, and ghee (clarified butter) or oil symbolizes all the negative tendencies (Anarthas) accumulated in the heart such as greed, lust, anger, and envy. When the lamp is lit by spiritual knowledge, all the Anarthas are exhausted, and the false ego, which is the root cause of conditional life, is also burnt. Therefore, the lamp is lit before the Lord as a sacrifice of our false ego in His service. Just as the light of the lamp dissipates all darkness, similarly, the light of knowledge dissipates ignorance of the Jivas and enables us to realize our real identity and purpose of life.

Why only an oil or ghee lamp?

One may question why only an oil lamp is lit before the Lord and why not an artificial light source. This may sound logical but lighting a lamp has a further spiritual significance. The flame of the light in a lamp always burns upwards indicating that by cultivating spiritual knowledge, one achieves the highest perfection of life and is always victorious. Also, a traditional lamp is the purest form of offering.

In almost every house of a follower of Sanatan Dharma, an oil or ghee lamp is lit before the altar of the Lord or before the Tulsi plant. Some people light it at dawn, some at dusk, and some people prefer to light it at dawn and dusk. Either ghee or sesame oil can be used to burn the wick. Vaishnavas (devotees of Lord Vishnu or Krishna) especially light a ghee lamp every day in the month of Kartik to offer their love and devotion to the Lord.