Āchamanam (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

: , ') is a purification ritual performed at the beginning of more complex religious

ceremonies A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan origin, via the Latin . Religious and civil (secular) ceremoni ...

in the

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

, which is believed to cure all physical and mental impurities.

Types of Āchamanam

There are three types of Āchamanam, namely, Śrautācamanam (

: ), Smṛtyācamanam (

: ) and Purāṇācamanam (

: ). However, in the Sandhyavandana ritual, there exists fourth version of āchamana, known as mantrācamana.

Śrautācamanam

In śrautācamanam, water is sipped three times and is accompanied by the recitation of the three padas of the Gayatri in succession. Then, 21 parts of the body are touched while the 21 mantras are recited: the nine Abliṅgas, the seven Vyahritis (the names of the seven worlds, preceded by the sacred

pranava ''Om'' (or ''Aum''; ; , ISO 15919: ''Ōṁ'') is a polysemous symbol representing a sacred sound, seed syllable, mantra, and invocation in Hinduism. Its written form is the most important symbol in the Hindu religion. It is the ess ...

Om), and the 3 padas of Gayatri siras. It is defined in ''ṣatkarma candrikā'' asKanva Sandhya Vyakshya, p. 15, Bhagavatula Lakshmipathi Sastri, Manjuvani Press, Ellore, 1914.

Smṛtyācamanam

The Smṛtyācamanam is an abridged version of the śrautācamanam. Water is sipped three times, accompanied by the ritual utterance svāhā. Then, 9 parts of the body are touched, accompanied by recitation of the specific sutras that instruct the version of the achamana in question.

Purāṇācamanam

Purāṇācamanam is done with the 24 names of Vishnu starting with keśava, etc. The water is poured on the right hand palm, which made as gokurna sipped thrice with the first three names. Both hands are washed with the next two names. For the remaining 19 names different parts of body are ritually cleansed.

References

Notes

Rituals in Hindu worship Water and Hinduism {{Hinduism-stub