Origins
Pūjā is modelled on the idea of giving an offering or gift to a deity or important person and receiving their blessing in return. The origins of the practice were explored by Paul Thieme who deduced from passages in the Rāmāyaṇa that the word pūjā referred to the hospitable reception of guests and that the things offered to guests could be transferred to the gods and their dwellings. The rituals in question were the "five great sacrifices" or pañcamahāyajña recorded in the Gṛhyasūtra texts. The development of pūjā was thus carried forward by analogy and appropriation: just as important guests had long been welcomed in well-to-do homes and offered things that pleased them, so too were the gods welcomed in temple-homes and offered things that pleased them. Copper-plate charters recording grants of lands to temples show that this religious practice was actively encouraged from the mid-4th century.
Read more about this topic: Puja (Hinduism)
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