Homa (ritual)

Traditional In Indian religions, a homa (Sanskrit: होम), also known as havan, is a fire ritual performed on special occasions.

[4] A homa, in all its Asian variations, is a ceremonial ritual that offers food to fire and is ultimately linked to the traditions contained in the Vedic religion.

[25] The homa ritual's altar (fire pit) is itself a symmetry, most often a square, a design principle that is also at the heart of temples and mandapas in Indian religions.

[25] The fire-altar (vedi or homa/havan kunda) is generally made of brick or stone or a copper vessel, and is almost always built specifically for the occasion, being dismantled immediately afterward.

The sacrificer enters, symbolically cleanses himself or herself, with water, joins the homa ritual, gods invited, prayers recited, conch shell blown.

[27] The oblations and offerings typically consist of clarified butter (ghee), milk, curd, sugar, saffron, grains, coconut, perfumed water, incense, seeds, petals, and herbs.

[28][29] The altar and the ritual is a symbolic representation of the Hindu cosmology, a link between reality and the worlds of gods and living beings.

[10][16] The homa (護摩, goma) ritual of consecrated fire is found in some Buddhist traditions of Tibet, China, and Japan.

[32] In some Buddhist homa traditions, such as in Japan, the central deity invoked in this ritual is usually Acalanātha (Fudō Myōō, 不動明王, lit.

[35] Other versions of the Vedic homa (goma) rituals are found in the Tendai and Shingon Buddhist traditions as well as in Shugendō and Buddhist-Shinto syncretism in Japan.

[39] The original medieval era texts of the goma rituals are in Siddham Sanskrit seed words and Chinese, with added Japanese katakana to assist the priests in proper pronunciation.

[30][31] Homa rituals (sbyin sreg) widely feature in Tibetan Buddhism and Bön and are linked to a variety of Mahayana Buddhas and tantric deities.