Dense smoke covered the Jhunsi side of Sangam as saints performed ‘panchagni tap’ on Basant Panchmi on Saturday. The saints performed the oldest form of penance surrounded by huge mounds of burning cow dung cakes. Through out the ritual, saints observed fast with limited intake of fruits and performed meditation while sitting in yogasans for hours.

Also referred as ‘Dhuni tap’, it also finds mention in ancient scriptures like Padma Puran and Shiv Puran. “Initially it involved sitting under hot mid-day Sun surrounded by a ring of burning cow dung. The Sun acted as the fifth fire. Nowadays, the penance is performed with varying numbers of fires. It starts with five and the number continues to increase for the next 18 years till it becomes a ‘circle of fire.’ The saint also carried a fire pot on his head,” explained a saint practicing ‘Dhuni Tap’ for the last 15 years. At Magh Mela, dhuni tap was executed for a fixed length of time per session and most observe the same for four to five hour session, he added.

Making offerings to smoldering cow dung heaps – holy fire – amidst chanting of mantras is an integral part of the excise. “After making the offerings, the saint blows his conch-shell to invoke the deity. This concludes the preliminary rituals, and now he can sit in meditation,” explained another saint Baba Ram Karan Das, who has been performing the ritual for the last 16 years.

He said that Panch-agni-tapasya must be done for 18 consecutive years. The first stage involves surrounding oneself with five fires. In the next stages the numbers increases to seven, twelve and 84 fires, culminating in ‘innumerable’, i.e. a circle of fire. In the final stage a pot with fire is balanced on the head. Each stage is performed for three consecutive summers.

Explaining the ritual, a saint from Chitrakoot said that each session of the fire-austerity usually concludes with some hath-yoga exercises. Preparing for his fire-austerity, a saint purifies the place with fresh cow-dung, arranges the heaps of fuel and the ritual paraphernalia and takes a bath. He then sanctifies his body by applying tilak. The final stage of the fire-austerity is called kapal-dhuni that is the fire (dhuni) in the bowl (kapal) on the skull (kapal), he added.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / by Rajeev Mani, TNN / January 24th, 2015