Kamandalu

Kamandalu (Sanskrit: कमण्डलु, kamaṇḍalu[1]), kamandal, or kamandalam is an oblong water pot, originating from the Indian subcontinent, made of a dry gourd (pumpkin) or coconut shell, metal, wood of the Kamandalataru tree,[2] or from clay, usually with a handle and sometimes with a spout.

[6] The kamandalu is often depicted in hands of gods, who appear as ascetics, like Shiva and Brahma and also water deities like Varuna, Ganga (the goddess of the Ganges river) and Saraswati.

[13] The Mahabharata records the god Dhanvantari brought Amrita in a kamandalu, when he emerged from the churning of the ocean (Samudra Manthana).

[14] The Hindu epic Ramayana records the monkey-god Hanuman disguised himself as a sage and fooling the demons to drink his urine stored in his kamandalu.

[19] Another mythical tale about the pilgrimage place Darsha Pushkarini, narrates how sage Agastya trapped river Kaveri in his kamandalu, when she declined his marriage proposal.

This led to famine in the region and, noticing this, Kaveri escaped from kamandalu but with a curse of the sage and was finally purified at Darsha Pushkarini.

At Amarkantak, the source of river Narmada in Madhya Pradesh, an ancient kamandalu which is always filled with water, is called the Brighu Kamandal.

[22] The text Garuda Purana states donation of a kamandalu in the shraddha (funerary ritual) ceremony ensures that deceased has ample drinking water in his afterlife journey.

[26][27] The kamandalu was initially imported from Hinduism to Buddhism, through god Brahma to Maitreya; it later was incorporated in representations of many Mahayana Buddhist deities.