Pradakshina
Also called: Circumambulation · Topic: Early Indian Art and Architecture: Stupas, Rock-cut Caves, Temples · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings"
Meaning
Pradakshina means walking around a sacred object in a clockwise direction, always keeping it on your right. At Buddhist stupas, devotees walked around the relic mound this way. The direction copied the course of the sun across the sky. This ritual shows how a stupa was used as well as seen: people worshipped by moving around it.
Example
At Sanchi (Madhya Pradesh), worshippers entered through the eastern gateway. They then walked clockwise around the Great Stupa with the mound on their right, just as the sun moves from east to west.
Don't confuse with
- Pradakshina patha: pradakshina is the act of walking around the stupa. The pradakshina patha is the path on which the walk is done.