Agni Purana — Agneya-vidya, Shloka 7
Chapter 34 — होमादिविधिः
The Procedure for Homa and Related Rites
आनन्दनन्दनौ दक्षे वीरसेनः सुषेणकः सम्भवप्रभवौ सौम्ये द्वारपांश् चैव पूजयेत्
ānandanandanau dakṣe vīrasenaḥ suṣeṇakaḥ sambhavaprabhavau saumye dvārapāṃś caiva pūjayet
တံခါး၏ညာဘက်တွင် အာနန္ဒနှင့် နန္ဒနကို ပူဇော်ရမည်။ တောင်ဘက်တွင် ဝီရသေနနှင့် သုသေဏကကို ပူဇော်ရမည်။ ဘယ်ဘက်တွင် သမ္ဘဝနှင့် ပရဘဝကို ပူဇော်၍ တံခါးစောင့်တို့ကို ဤသို့ပူဇော်ရမည်။
Lord Agni (in instruction to the sages, in the Agni Purana’s ritual-vidhi discourse)
Vidya Category: {"primary_vidya":"Puja-vidhi","secondary_vidya":"Mantra","practical_application":"Doorway protection in temple/home worship by installing and honoring specific dvārapāla-devatās at cardinal sides to prevent ritual obstacles and maintain sanctity of entry.","sutra_style":true}
Encyclopedic Reference: {"reference_type":"Procedure","entry_title":"Dvārapāla-pūjā: placement of Ānanda–Nandana, Vīrasena–Suṣeṇaka, Sambhava–Prabhava","lookup_keywords":["dvārapāla","Ānanda Nandana","Vīrasena Suṣeṇaka","Sambhava Prabhava","doorway worship"],"quick_summary":"Worship specific guardian-deities at the doorway by side/direction before entering the worship space; this establishes ritual protection and orderly ingress."}
Concept: Liminal spaces require protection and right-order (ṛta) through honoring attendant powers before approaching the deity.
Application: Before pūjā, consciously mark the threshold as sacred by offering to guardians; reduces distraction and frames worship as disciplined approach.
Khanda Section: Puja-vidhi (Dvārapāla-pūjā / Protective Deities in Worship)
Primary Rasa: shanta
Secondary Rasa: adbhuta
Visual Art Cues: {"scene_description":"A temple doorway with three paired guardian-deities positioned by side/direction as the worshipper offers flowers and incense before entering.","kerala_mural_prompt":"Kerala mural style: richly colored temple doorway, lamp-lit threshold, six dvārapālas in paired groups at right, south, and left positions; devotee offering flowers; flat perspective, ornate borders, traditional jewelry and crowns.","tanjore_prompt":"Tanjore painting: gilded doorway arch with embossed gold, paired guardians with bright silks and heavy ornaments; devotee with plate of flowers; deep reds and greens, halo-like aureoles.","mysore_prompt":"Mysore painting: clean linework showing precise placement of guardians around the door-jambs; instructional composition with subtle gold highlights; calm devotional atmosphere.","mughal_miniature_prompt":"Mughal miniature: architectural doorway with detailed stone inlay; attendants/guardians in courtly attire flanking the entrance; devotee approaching with offerings; fine brushwork and pastel palette."}
Audio Atmosphere: {"recitation_mood":"instructional","suggested_raga":null,"pace":"medium","voice_tone":"instructional"}
Sandhi Resolution Notes: dvārapāṃś caiva → dvārapān + ca + eva (anusvāra before ś from caiva; accusative plural -ān).
Related Themes: Agni Purana 34 (Pūjā-vidhi sections on dvāra/maṇḍapa-śuddhi and rakṣā)
FAQs
It specifies a directional/positional protocol for dvārapāla-pūjā: which named door-guardians are to be worshipped on the right, the southern side, and the left (saumya) side of the entrance.
Beyond mythology, it preserves applied temple-ritual know-how—listing specific guardian-deity names and their placement—typical of the Agni Purana’s catalog-like coverage of pūjā-vidhi, vāstu-linked orientation, and protective rites.
Worship of dvārapālas is a protective rite: it is meant to remove obstacles at the threshold, safeguard the sanctified space, and help ensure the main deity’s worship proceeds without ritual impediments (vighna-śānti).