Panchayatana pooja

Panchayatanam means location of symbols of Gods before the worshipper.  There is a rule as to where the symbol of a particular divinity should be placed in the worship. The important Divinity is placed in the Centre and the rest are placed in the corner directions around the central Divinity starting from North East.

Who is the important divinity is determined by the family tradition, or the inclination of the worshipper arising from his karmas (vasanas).

Saiva:          worshipper of Shiva as the important divinity

Vaishnava:  worshipper of Vishnu as the important divinity

Sakta:          worshipper of Sakti as the important divinity

Saura:          worshipper of Surya as the important divinity

Ganapatyam: worshipper of Ganapati as the important divinity

Skanda (Kumara or Murugan or Kartikeya) is not separately included in the Panchayatana (Five).because Shiva is generally worshipped in association with Uma and Skanda as Somaskanda. So it gives the certainty that Skanda is located between Shiva and Devi as evidenced by the placement of Skanda between Shiva and Devi.in temples.  Therefore in Panchayatana Skanda is placed as shown in the diagrams.

Also Skanda and Ganapati need not be totally distinguished but are counted as one as Skanda is but a child.-Kumara.

If still one consider that Skanda must be the centre Divinity it can be as per arrangement shown.

In Panchayatana pooja the divinities face East and the worshipper sits facing north. The positions of Divinities have been stated accordingly.

Some times and some places t may be necessary that Divinities face north or south and the worshipper sitting in front of them. What position the divinities occupy then???

The Smriti says

                “poojayapoojakayormadhyam prachi prokta vichakshanaihi

                Prochyeva prachi sodishta muktava vai devapoojanam

In the matter of devotional worship the middle space between the Divinity and the worshipper must be considered as east.  In other matters the natural East is considered as such. The determination of other directions should be made accordingly. The worshipper must invariably avoid facing south.

The diagram showing the placement of divinities for different Panchayathanam along with Skanda is shown.