Disproportionate statues of God and Goddess/Bad effects of wrong iconography/Pratimalaksan/Devpratima and Devashap.

Disproportionate statues of God and Goddess/Bad effects of wrong iconography/Pratimalaksan/Devpratima and Devashap.

The religious iconography of India is as old as the Hindu civilization. The statues of Gods, goddesses and their retinue are defined in various sastras, which includes various agams, puranas like vishnudharmottar, Aitreya Tilak, sthapatya and jyotisa texts.

The iconography related to statues of Gods is very clearly defined in texts and effects of deviation from standards are been explained in detail.

The modern architecture and Silpis do not follow the religious dictums, the results of which are clearly mentioned in Sastras. The modern temples are more of commercial centers with every God and goddess present in these centers. The deviation from the prescribed methods has resulted in abruption of negative zones and powers. The severe down gradation of moral values, social perverseness etc, are some of the effects, which can result from such mistakes.

Following are some of the effects when there are miscalculations in a deva-pratima or religious statue.

1.    The disproportion in length and breadth of image causes famine and revolution at the place where the image is installed.

2.    If the body is improper then the person who makes the idol (The person who paid for it) suffers from hunched back.

3.    Improper nose causes illness for Yajmana.

4.    Eyesight turned to left causes defames.

5.    Eyesight turned upwards causes loss of wealth.

6.    Small eyes or eyes with squint also causes “Dhananasha” or loss of wealth.

7.    Belly of the idol should not be sunken or it can result in failure and destruction of crops.

8.    Thighs disproportionate in measure can cause abortions in the vicinity and the house of the native who installed the statue.

These are some of the bad effects mentioned by sage Atreya. He has also defined the exact calculations for images of God and Goddesses, ketikeyan and Ganpati. The images of Brahmarakshas, carchika etc has to follow a different measure of dasatala. This measure is not used in images of higher forms.

Alok Jagawat