Collective Wisdom on the use of oil lamp in the Puja Room

Collective Wisdom on the use of oil lamp in the Puja Room

 

I asked my friends in a discussion group to help me solve certain problems in using the oil lamps in Puja room. Questions like: Which type of wick is good? What type of oils give best results? How to avoid incomplete flame cessation? How to avoid black or green deposits in the lamp surface? What is the best way of keeping the lamp clean? How to prevent wick slipping down the stem? What are the factors improving the duration of burning? Where to buy good supplies?  The cumulative experience and wisdom shared by my friends is summarised here. I thank Sri Khanapur Krishna Rao, Sri SV Ramana, Smt Indu Priyadarsini, Sri Seshadri and Sri KS Srinivasan for their contributions.

 

Wick:

·       Threaded wicks will slip. Avoid them. Use cotton wicks

·       Use them thick enough by combining many strands to fit well into the stem

·       Wick must be thin and long. Flame end must be sharp. Fitted just enough part is exposed to yield a pearl like flame.

·       Free end of the wick must be in oil almost at the bottom of the stem to give maximum duration of burning – to ensure no oil is left after flame cessation

·       Change wicks once in three days

 

Oil:

·       Pure Gingeli oil or Cow Ghee is the best. Oil from traditional cold press is preferable.

·       They leave no deposits green or black

·       Oil must be enough to soak entire wick; Smaller stem saves oil

·       Refined Dhara Groundnut oil is the choice of one for decades!

 

Lamp:

·       Clean the lamp with Pitambari powder or soap and water; use a brush to remove black soot stains etc. Tamarind will remove green deposits

·       Use old cloth to wipe it dry

·       4 inch dia, half inch deep AshtaLakshmi brass Lamp – filled with 75% lasts for 20 hours

·       Using a small silver disk / washer near the bottom of the lamp will prevent green deposits

·       Lamp flame may be protected against wind by covering it with a glass cover used in Kerosene hurricane lamps

·       Use terracotta (burnt mud) lamps to avoid green deposits

 Shops & supplies:

·       Amazon sells cotton wicks soaked in ghee at Rs 300 for a pack of 100 wicks

·       Puja shops in Bengaluru have variety of lams to choose from

·       So called Puja Oil sold in ordinary shops & super bazars are adulterated mixed oils,  that includs Soya, sunflower, rice bran, groundnut etc Not preferable at all.

·       A shop outside Parthasarathy temple in Chennai is acclaimed to be the best stocked shop for all Puja items

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