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LUCKNOW, INDIA, June 7, 2003: If you have been forced to postpone or cancel a family samskara because the priest was booked or ill, the Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Sansthan has found a solution. For Rs 100, one can purchase the Paurohitya Karm Prashikshak or simply the Karmkand Manual, a perfect do-it-yourself guide to various elaborate Hindu rituals. From the rituals that are held at the birth of a child to the rituals followed at the time of death and thereafter, this book has it all. The directions and the steps of a particular ritual are written in Hindi while the mantras to be recited on the occasion are in Sanskrit. Written by a team of experts in Hindu Karmakand and Sanskrit, the reader can become his own priest and conduct even the most elaborate of pujas and rituals on his own, claims the Sanskrit Sansthan. Chandra Kant Dwiwedi, assistant director of the UP Sanskrit Sansthan, and one of the book’s editors, admits that it was necessity that led to the book. “We found that the number of priests was too few in relation to the demand. We decided that if individuals in a household, be it a man or a woman, could get a handbook of rituals and mantras it would not only solve the problem but would also maintain the sanctity of Sanatana Dharma,” he said. HPI adds: We do NOT have the address where one can purchase this book, and would appreciate if someone could find and send it to us. We’d also point out that it is unlikely someone lacking years of training and the proper initiation could really conduct “even the most elaborate of pujas and rituals on his own.”

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