INDIA, October 10, 2016 (Swarajya): Ayudha puja or shastra puja is the worship of weapons that takes place on the ninth day of the Navaratri festival. Weapons are retrieved for use with the blessings of the Goddess on the tenth day, Vijayadasami. Ayudha puja is a pan-Indian phenomenon, although it is traditionally confined to those closely connected with, and responsible for, the use of weapons such as royal families and schools of martial arts such as kalaripayattu. Today, worship of weapons is primarily carried out by policemen, security personnel and the army. Most Indian army units have long standing traditions of ayudha puja.
Unlike Abrahamic traditions, Hinduism sees divinity in all of creation and God as both immanent and transcendent. Such an attitude infuses divinity into all activities of life. Work itself is worship, and this philosophy of karma yoga is yet another context in which to place the veneration of weapons. Although it means “weapons”, ayudha is also a generic term that means “instrument or implement.” On the ninth day of Navaratri, everyone cleans, decorates and worships the implement that enables them to make a living, seeing a manifestation of the divine in that. This applies to musicians and musical instruments, farmers and the plough, students and their books, as well as factories and machinery. And of course, it applies to soldiers and their weapons.
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