Puja

What it is

Puja is how Hindus offer devotion. It can honour one or more deities, welcome a guest, or mark an event. Those who perform it often say that the deity is present in the image and looks back at the worshipper, and this meeting is called darshanam. It takes many forms. There is puja done at home each day, puja performed now and then in a temple, and puja tied to annual festivals. There is also puja for the moments of a life: a baby's birth, annaprasana or first rice-eating, a wedding, a sacred thread ceremony, or the start of a new venture. In Sanskrit the word carries the sense of honour, respect and hospitable welcome.

Origins and history

Scholars do not agree on where puja began. One common view holds that its elements were deliberately joined to older Vedic ritual. The Grihya Sutras, rules for domestic rites dated to about 500 BC, use the word for the hospitality shown to priests invited to lead rites for the dead. Later the same welcome was offered to a deity as an honoured guest. Puranic texts from about the 6th century CE give a detailed outline of deity worship, joining Vedic rites with devotion. Natalia Lidova and others suggest the word has Dravidian roots, since it has no Sanskrit root, and one proposal reads it as making a flower offering. The Shiva Purana gives its own account of the word.

How it is kept

A puja may be simple or long. Often a lamp or incense stick is lit, and the worshipper chants a prayer or sings a hymn. Water, flowers, fruit and sweets are set before the deity. Some ceremonies, called Nigama, light a fire for Agni and use no image; others, called Agama, centre on an idol or picture. A short puja, called pancopacara, offers five things: fragrant paste, flowers, incense, a flame and food. First the deity is greeted and welcomed, then the worshipper meditates or chants, then personal prayers follow, and at the end the divine guest is thanked. A priest may lead, but many people perform puja alone.

What it means

A puja is not only a request. Heinrich Zimmer links it to yantras, diagrams that help the devotee hold a spiritual idea in mind, and describes it as a process in which consciousness changes and the worshipper is brought close to what the deity stands for. In different parts of India people call this process purifying, releasing and liberating, a yoga of the spirit and the emotions. Petitions still have their place. Someone may ask for a child's good health, a speedy recovery from illness, or success in a plan, but such appeals are added at the close of the rite.

Around the world

The two forms, Nigama and Agama, are both practised in India. Bengali Hindus keep Durga Puja each year, a festival of ten days whose last five matter most. It is kept in Bengal, Assam and other eastern states, and in Bangladesh, with temporary structures called pandals, readings from scripture, processions, feasting and gifts, ending when clay images of the goddess are placed in a river. In Indonesia, Balinese Hindus follow Agama puja most often, at home and in temples, and there the practice is sometimes called Sembahyang.

How Puja is kept

Puja can be done by one person alone or led by a priest. A lamp or incense is lit. The deity is greeted by name and welcomed. The worshipper offers water, flowers, fruit and sweets, or a set of five offerings: fragrant paste, flowers, incense, a flame and food. Hymns or mantras are chanted and the person meditates, which is a form of darshan, the meeting of worshipper and deity. Personal requests may follow at the end. The divine guest is thanked. In temples, food offered becomes prasadam, blessed food shared with everyone gathered.

When and where

Puja has no single date. Many Hindus keep it every day at home. Others perform it on set occasions: at temple ceremonies, on annual festivals, or at the milestones of a life. The festivals that include it are spread through the year, among them Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Lakshmi Puja at Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi and Janmashtami.

Puja is kept wherever Hindus live. The two forms, Nigama and Agama, are both practised in India. Durga Puja is strong in Bengal, Assam and other eastern states, and in Bangladesh. In Indonesia, Balinese Hindus perform Agama puja at home and in temples, and call it Sembahyang.

What Puja means

For those who keep it, puja is a meeting. The worshipper offers what a well-off household would offer a dear guest: light, water, flowers and food, and in return receives the deity's presence and blessing. Some texts call the aim union with Brahman, helped by the deity; others speak of the burning away of past karma. Many Hindus say the divine is not limited to an idol, and may be honoured in a person, a river, a place or an object. Petitions for health or success are added, but the ritual itself is directed towards spiritual ends.

Days Puja is marked

Questions people ask about Puja

See also

Eid al-FitrThe feast that ends Ramadan, opened with morning prayers, sweets and visits homeTheyyamA sacred ritual dance and divine invocation from North Malabar in IndiaKenduriA communal prayer meal and gathering shared across Indonesia, Malaysia and BruneiPretaOfferings and rites for spirits enduring deep hunger across Asian traditions.

Good reading and sources

• Encyclopaedia BritannicaArticle

• Puja (Hinduism) on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.