Rituals and Ritual Utensils

Tipu Sultan's Donation

Emarald panchapatre with flat diamonds.

Tipu Sultan donated to the Srirangapattana temple three silver vessels, and these carry inscriptions to this effect. These three vessels were originally used by the temple authorities for conducting Arghya, Padya and Achamaniya, but later one vessel was donated to the Daria Daulat Museum at Srirangapattana. In the same temple, the three silver cups belonging to Ranganayaki shrine are identical to the above but for the weight specified.

The emerald panchapatre inlaid with flat diamonds donated by Krishnaraja Wodeyar to a Sakti temple near coastal Karnataka is a rare piece of artistic merit. Similarly, another panchapatre is a very heavy copper utensil of a good proportion and is about 500 years old.

Silver vessels donated by tipu Sultan

Equally attractive is the 500year-old heavy copper panchapatre at the Ganapati temple, Mangalore. Of as much significance is the silver arghyapatre used in a temple dedicated to Lord Ganesa and hence appropriately symbolised at the centre of the vessel.

It has to be clarified here that though panchapatre refers to five vessels, many temples call each vessel a panchapatre or arghya patre. Hence, the term panchapatre can indicate a set of five vessels or one vessel forming a part thereof.

A vessel which, more or less, serves the above purpose in a Srivaishnava temple is the Snapana battalu or the gundu battalu (battalu means vessel). Distinctively shaped, it is used as a container for sanctified water earmarked for distribution among the devotees. It can either be plain or can have the Srivaishnava insignia on it.

A 500-year-old heavy copper panchapatre