Essay name: Samrajya Lakshmi Pithika (Study)
Author:
Artatrana Sarangi
Affiliation: Savitribai Phule Pune University / Department of Sanskrit and Prakrit Languages
This is a study in English of the Samrajya Lakshmi Pithika (written by Lolla Lakshmidhara) representing an encyclopedic manual for emperors. The Samrajyalaksmipithika encompasses about 3870 verses in addressing topics such as public festivals, governance, warfare (military strategy), and rituals associated with the Tantric worship for the deity Samrajya-Lakshmi.
Chapter 3 - General Ritual mentioned in Samrajya-lakshmi-pithika
214 (of 262)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
358
King's worship at the Sami tree :
On reaching the Sami tree, the king worships
Laksmi-Narayana with offerings of perfume, flowers,
Naivedya, etc., circumambulates, bows and says his prayers
and thus pleases the Sami. Weapons like sword, bow and
arrows are next worshipped with puranic, tantric and vedic
formulae (24-26).
Symbolic release of arrows:
The worship over, the king comes out, while holding
the sword, the bow and arrows. He faces east, meditates
on the guardian of quarters namely, Indra and aiming at the
enemy in that direction, releases an arrow on the floor
while drawing the bow-string hard up to his ear (akarna).
Similarly, he repeats the feat in case of the rest three
directions (27-29).
His return and inspection of troops :
On completion of such symbolic release of arrows
against the enemy, he resumes his journey back while
inspecting the heavy contingents of the four-fold army,
positioned in rows to both his flanks and when thus he
reaches back the Assembly Hall, he is described to sit
