Maṇi Dhāraṇa in the Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa

Maṇi dhāraṇa means “wearing an amulet”. It is a healing practice from the tradition of the Atharva Veda, the Veda that contains many mantras for health and protection. Chapter 109 of the Dvitīya Khaṇḍa (second part) of the Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa teaches this art of wearing amulets, together with taṃyeshṭi, the tying of amulets.

In this chapter the teacher Pushkara gives Paraśurāma a long list of medicinal and ritual herbs used in the practice, and explains how to tie amulets for particular illnesses. The chapter is the Purāṇa’s treatment of Atharva Vedic healing, and it works alongside the ritual baths described in the chapters around it.

What an Amulet Is

In the Atharva Vedic tradition kept in this Purāṇa, an amulet is not just a physical object. It is a consecrated carrier of mantra-śakti, the power of a mantra. The tying procedure has four steps:

1. Choosing the right herb or material
2. Preparing it in a set form, usually dried, powdered or bound
3. Abhimantraṇa: consecrating it with the proper Atharva Vedic mantras
4. Tying it to the patient’s wrist or another part of the body under the right conditions

Its power comes from the natural qualities (guṇas) of the material together with the directed energy of the mantra. Without the mantra, the material is only medicine; without the material, the mantra has nothing to hold its śakti in place.

The List of Herbs

Chapter 109 contains one of the longest lists of herbs in the Purāṇa. The herbs below are named for use in making amulets. The translation used gives Telugu or common names beside the Sanskrit names where they have been identified.

The list also names: cardamom, sugarcane juice, gandhamāṃsi, jaṭāmāṃsī, spṛkkā, mālatī, rocanā, rēla, rāmaka, ūḍuga, kaśeru, turushka (white kalīgoṭṭu), pacca-karpūra, nāḍikamana kūra, jāji-paṇḍlu, lavaṅga-ālū and kakkola.

These herbs are mixed in set amounts to make cūrṇas (powdered formulas). The powders are put into amulet pouches or used as part of the tying procedure.

How the Amulets Are Used

The procedure changes with the illness. In general:

• The herb or mixture is chosen according to the patient’s complaint
• The purohita or vaidya (physician) prepares the amulet at an auspicious muhūrta (favourable time)
• The proper Atharva Vedic mantra, taken from the list given in the Atharva Vedic section of Chapter 127, is used to consecrate it
• The amulet is tied to the right or left wrist, or around the neck, depending on the illness

The illnesses named are:

• Fever (vishama-jvara, recurring fever)
• Graha-pīḍā (troubles from the planets)
• Vāyu disorders (disorders of the air element in the body)
• Weakness and wasting
• Children’s illnesses
• Illnesses after childbirth
• Protection before a journey or a battle

Place in the Wider System of Healing

The chapter on amulets sits between the detailed healing baths (Chapters 101–108) and the Bhagavad Anulepana Snāna, the bath with ointment offered to Bhagavān Vishṇu (Chapter 110). Together these three sections show the Purāṇa’s joined-up approach to healing:

• Outer purification through water (the baths)
• The concentrated śakti of plants through amulets (maṇi dhāraṇa)
• The direct grace (anugraha) of Vishṇu through ointment and pādodaka, the water that has washed Bhagavān Vishṇu’s feet (anulepana)

The system is whole: physical, based on the śāstras (sacred teachings), and centred on bhakti, all at once.

Sources

• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa, Uttarārdha (Dvitīya Khaṇḍa), Chapter 109
• Vishṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa (Part 5 of the translation)