[INDOLOGY] Aghorasupūja and adṛṣṭamukha/adṛṣṭayatna

[Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan]

K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, in The Cōḻas, 1955, p. 368, says the following

 

“Ediviliśōla Sambuvarāya, when he heard of these occurrences, became greatly concerned about how it was all to end and sought divine intercession through Svāmidēvar, a holy man, also called Umāpatideva or Ñānaśivadeva, a native of Dakṣiṇalāḍa in Gauḍa-deśa,whom he besought to ward off by prayer, sacrifice and worship the invasion of the Cōḻa country by the wicked troops from Ceylon and the resulting harm to the Brahmins and temples thereof; Svāmidēvar said in reply that he knew that the Ceylon army had put an end to worship in the temple of Rāmēsvaram and had plundered its treasury; he would endeavour by occult means to bring down disaster on the enterprise of the invaders who were Sivadrōhis. With this object he performed pūja for full twenty-eight days, and then came news from Piḷḷai Pallavarāyar that the pradhānis including Jayadratha and Lankāpuri daṇḍanāyakas and the entire force from Ceylon had sustained defeat. And the Śāmbuvarāya in his gratitude presented the village of Ārppākkam to Svāmidēvar.” 

 

What Sastri refers to as “occult means” is characterized in the inscription as adṛṣṭamukha/adṛṣṭayatna and named aghorasupūjā. Does anybody know the meaning of adṛṣṭamukha/adṛṣṭayatna? Also what did aghorasupūja entail? From this can one characterize the cult Svāmidevar belonged to?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Regards,

Palaniappan

 

 

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