Mekhalā
Mekhalā, “the girdle”
Grammar: feminine noun: a girdle or belt worn round the waist; by likeness, a band running round something.
Meaning: a girdle. In the rites it names the raised rims or steps built round a homa-kuṇḍa (the fire-pit), like the bands of a waist-girdle; it also names the girdle of the brahmacārī, tied at the upanayana.
In the scriptures: the Agni Purāṇa uses the word in these places.
- The mekhalās of the kuṇḍa: Nārada, teaching the making of the kuṇḍa and the agni-kārya, says that the mekhalās are made leaving two aṅgulas from the edge of the pit. They bear names beginning with sattva, after the guṇas; they face east and are twelve aṅgulas high. The first is eight aṅgulas wide and the second two. In front is the yoni (the projecting lip) of ten aṅgulas. Round and other kuṇḍas may have one mekhalā or three, and in a lotus-shaped kuṇḍa petals are made on the mekhalā (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 24). In the pratishṭhā of a liṅga, Parameśvara teaches that the mekhalās are built on top of the kuṇḍa, on the outside, of four, three and two aṅgulas in width, with the same shape as the kuṇḍa; on them, in the middle, is a yoni shaped like an aśvattha leaf. One twenty-fourth part of the kuṇḍa is the aṅgula by which the mekhalā, the kaṇṭha (neck) and the nābhi (navel) are measured (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 95).
- Kuśa on the mekhalās: in the setting up of the fire, which Maheśvara teaches Skanda, kuśa is spread on the mekhalās outside the kuṇḍa with the astra mantra: on the north and south sides with tips pointing east, and on the east and west sides with tips pointing north (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 75).
- The brahmacārī’s girdle: in the dharma of the brahmacarya āśrama, which Pushkara teaches, the mekhalā of the three varṇas is, in order, of muñja grass, of “pratyandā”, and of bark (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 153).
- A girdle for protection: in the Sāmavidhāna, Pushkara tells Paraśurāma to offer ghee in homa with “abodhy agniḥ”, soak a girdle in the remaining ghee and tie it on women who suffer miscarriage; for the child that is born, an amulet consecrated with the same mantra is tied (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 261).
In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa: Śuka tells Parīkshit of the upanayana of Bhagavān Vāmana, the form in which Śrī Hari was born to Aditi and Kaśyapa. Each gave him a gift: Sūrya taught him the Gāyatrī, Bṛhaspati gave the yajñopavīta, Kaśyapa gave the mekhalā (girdle), Bhūdevī the skin of the black antelope, Candra) the daṇḍa, Aditi the kaupīna, Brahmā the kamaṇḍalu, the Saptarshis darbha, Sarasvatī the japamālā, Kubera the bhikshā-pātra, and Umā Bhagavatī gave him bhikshā. When Śrī Hari in this form of a brahmacārī boy entered Bali‘s yajñaśālā at Bhṛgukaccha on the Narmadā, he wore a girdle of muñja grass and matted hair, and the antelope skin as his uttarīya in the upavīta fashion (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 8, Chapter 18).
When the rākshasa Vṛka pursued Bhagavān Śiva to test the vara he had been given, Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa, who removes fears, by his yoga-māyā became a brahmacārī and went out to meet him, with a mekhalā, the black antelope skin, a daṇḍa and a japa-mālā, shining like fire with tejas (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 88).
In the Bhavishya Purāṇa: the brāhmaṇa’s girdle is mauñjī, of muñja darbha in three rows; the kshatriya’s is a plaited rope; the vaiśya’s is a śaṇa thread, glossed as of sheep’s hair (Brahma Parva, Chapter 3). When the brahma-janma marked by the tying of the mauñjī comes to him, the Gāyatrī is his mother and the ācārya his father (Chapter 4). The mekhalā of a kuṇḍa, the raised band around it, is made to suit the kuṇḍa (Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 1, Chapters 13–15).
Related terms: Kuṇḍa · Yoni · Homa · Upanayana · Brahmacarya · Muñja
Sources
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 24, 75, 95, 153, 261
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 8, Chapter 18; Skandha 10, Chapter 88
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapters 3–4; Madhyama Parva, Bhāga 1, Chapters 13–15