(“bench”) The basis or foundation of any item in its broadest sense.
It may refer to the material basis or foundation on which a
deity's image is erected.
In certain circumstances, such as with the linga, the
pillar-shaped item that is the deity Shiva's emblem, the foundation becomes an
inherent component of the picture itself.
Because Shiva is both male and female at the same time, the
linga's shape, an upright shaft placed in a horizontal base, depicts not only
the union of male and female, but also their transcendence.
On a more symbolic level, a pitha might be a god's
"seat" or abode, that is, the location where the deity sits
symbolically.
The Shakti Pithas, a network of Goddess-sanctuary sites
dispersed over the subcontinent, are the clearest illustration of this.
Each Shakti Pitha commemorates the location where a piece of
the goddess Sati's severed body fell to earth, assuming the form of a different
goddess at each location.
Any and all ancestor spirits, to whom burial gifts are given
as one of a man's expected obligations.
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