Ācamana
Ācamana · ā-camana, “sipping water for purity”
Grammar: neuter noun, from the root cam (to sip) with the prefix ā: “sipping”.
Meaning: sipping a little water from the palm of the hand, by the proper rule, to make oneself pure (śuci) before a sacred act, or after touching something impure.
In the scriptures: the Vāmana Purāṇa shows ācamana both as a means of purity and as the first act before a weighty word or deed.
In their teaching on purity to the rākshasa king Sukeśī, the ṛshis say that one who touches a bone with flesh on it must bathe in his clothes, but one who touches a dry bone becomes pure by ācamana, by touching a cow, or by looking at the Sun (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 15).
When Śukrācārya came back from a yajña in Pātāla and learned that his śishya Daṇḍa had violated his daughter Arajā, he did ācamana, his eyes red with anger, and became pure. Then he pronounced his śāpa: within seven nights Daṇḍa, with his army, his retinue, his vehicles and his whole kingdom, would be struck by a rain of stones and become a heap of ash (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 40).
When Bhagavān Śiva told Nandī to call at once all who were under his rule, Nandī did ācamana and remembered the leaders of Śiva’s gaṇas. The moment he remembered them, they came flying in thousands and bowed to Bhagavān Śiva (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 41).
Related terms: Śauca · Śuci · Snāna · Śāpa · Smaraṇa
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 15, 40, 41