Akshasūtra

Akshasūtra · aksha-sūtra, “a string of beads, rosary”

Grammar: neuter noun; a compound of aksha (bead) and sūtra (string): “a string of beads”. The same thing is also called akshamālā, “a garland of beads”.

Meaning: the rosary of beads on which japa is counted. In the dhyāna (the form held in meditation) of many devatās it is one of the objects held in the hands.

In the scriptures: the Agni Purāṇa names the akshasūtra in the hands of the devatās whose forms it describes for their mūrtis and their dhyāna.

  • Brahmā has a large belly, a long beard and jaṭā on his head; in his right hands he holds the akshasūtra and the sruva (the ladle of the homa), in his left the water-pot and the ghee-vessel, with Sarasvatī on his left (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 49).
  • Viśvakarmā holds an akshasūtra in his hand (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 51).
  • In the dhyāna of Mahādeva, which Bhagavān Śiva teaches Skanda, his left hands hold the ḍamaru, the citron, the serpent, the akshasūtra and the blue lotus (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 74).
  • Caṇḍa, born from the fire of Rudra, is blue, holds the śūla and the ṭaṅka (chisel-axe), the akshasūtra in his third hand and the kamaṇḍalu in his fourth, has four faces, and stands in a maṇḍala shaped like the oṃkāra or the half-moon (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 76).
  • Kubjikā Devī, adorned with the great nāgas, holds in her left hands a nāga, a skull-bowl, an akshasūtra, a skull-staff, a conch and a book (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 144).
  • The eighteen-armed Devī, worshipped with Śiva, holds in her right hands a garland, an akshasūtra, a bud, a head, a blue lotus, a piṇḍikā, an arrow and a bow (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 326).

In the Pavitrārohaṇa, the offering of the sacred thread garlands, a staff, an akshasūtra, a loincloth and an alms-bowl are offered to the deity’s image together with the homa materials (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 78).

In the Bhavishya Purāṇa, in the rite of the golden kumbha, the Vedas are set up as images: Ṛgveda with an akshasūtra, and the Purāṇa, the fifth Veda, with akshasūtra, kamaṇḍalu and the varada-mudrā (Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 183).

Related terms: Akshamālā · Japa · Kamaṇḍalu · Dhyāna

Sources

  • Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 49, 51, 74, 76, 78, 144, 326
  • Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 183