[Advaita-l] Question - Using SRI SUKTA mantras for shoDasa upachAra pujas

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

>List members,
>
>I have seen PURUSHA SUKTA mantras being used widely for pujas to deities.
>
>Is it a normal practice to use SRI SUKTA mantras for the shoDasa upachAra
>pujas for Mother Goddess?
>
>Some Telugu people were doing the navarAtri puja this way. They told me 
>that
>it is common in Andhra Pradesh.
>
>Your input is appreciated.

It is common practice for regular shoDaSopacAra pUjA in Maharashtra and 
Karnataka too (but not for AvaraNa pUjA among SrIvidyA upAsakas). I haven't 
seen this practice much in Tamil Nadu, but given that Bhaskararaya was from 
Maharashtra and moved to Tanjavur, I would not be surprised to see this 
practice among some Tamil speaking groups too. As for Kerala traditions and 
north Indian traditions, I don't know how prevalent it is.

One simple reason could be that the number of verses in SrI sUkta easily 
lends itself to the number of upacAras involved in the pUjA. There is also 
an interwoven use of durgA sUkta (jAtavedase sunavAmasomamarAtI...) and/or 
medhA sUkta (medhA devI jushamAnA...) during the pUjA too. The other reasons 
could be that in the devI mAhAtmya, the central Goddess is mahAlakshmI and 
that the purusha sUkta itself has a reference to hrI (or SrI in Sukla 
yajurveda) and lakshmI towards the end.

Regards,
Vidyasankar

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