Women who are anxious to prolong the lives of their husbands take turns round the Tulsi plant or the banyan tree. At each turn they wind a fine cotton thread. At the end of the last turn, they throw red lac and rice over the tree and place a betelnut and a pice or a half-anna piece before it.[135]
The Shāstras authorise four pradakshinās (or perambulations) for Vishnu, three for the goddesses, and a half (or one and a half)[136] for Shiva.[137] But the usual number of pradakshinās is either 5, 7, 21 or 108. In taking turns round the image of Vishnu, one must take care to keep one’s right side towards the image, while in the case of Shiva, one must not cross the jalādhari[138] or the small passage for conducting water poured over the Shiva-linga.[137]
Sometimes in pradakshinās the votary repeats the name of the deity round which the turns are taken while the priest recites the names of the gods in Shlokas.[139] Sometimes the following verse is repeated.[140]
पापोऽहं पापकर्माऽहं पापात्मा पापसंभवः ।
त्राहि मां पुण्डरीकाक्ष सर्वपापहरो भव ॥
यानि कानि च पापानि जन्मांतरकृतानि च ।
तानि तानि विनश्यन्तु प्रदक्षिणपदेपदे ॥
‘I am sinful, the doer of sin, a sinful soul and am born of sin. O lotus-eyed One! protect me and take away all sins from me. Whatever sins I may have committed now as well as in my former births, may every one of them perish at each footstep of my pradakshinā.’
The recitation and the turns are supposed to free the soul from the pherā of lakh-choryasi[141]. Alms are given many times to the poor after pradakshinās.[142]
The reason why pradakshinās are taken during the day is that they have to be taken in the presence of the sun, the great everlasting witness of all human actions.[143]