India is a land where we find tradition and culture, temples and monuments, fairs and festivals, tons of varieties of language colorful clothes, jewelry, and food and drinks. It’s a country which has one of the richest and most vivid historical background and heritage. This country has diverse religious and cultural legacy. India presents endless varieties of physical characteristics and cultural patterns. And one such unique feature is the Bells in Indian temples.
Bells or commonly called as Ghanta in Sanskrit is the unique cultural form of Indian culture.These Ghanta or ritual bells are the essential part of Indian temples. Hindu temple has a metal bell hanging at the entrance and devotees use to ring the bell while entering the temple as a sign of their prayer. These Ghantas are made up of various metals like brass, cadmium, lead, copper, zinc, nickel, chromium, and manganese in a right proportion. And as a result, the sound and the ripple echo the bell generates reverberates on the human aura.
The sharp, ringing sensation sound produces resonance for about seven seconds which works on our seven healing energy centers. These bells and their sound associated with the spirituality of Hindu people. These bells generate the sound of life, sound of beginning and sound of the end. The bell of temples has a dome like structure in the top and a flat and circular hollow bottom attached with a clapper.This dome like structure represents the heaven of vault above whereas circular bottom represents the shape of planet earth. The clapper represents the tongue, word, and voice of divinity. And the hollow dome like structure signifies the space between heaven and earth.
When clapper hits the inner side of the bell, it generates a divine sound which in turn numb the surroundings. This melodious sound of Ghanta generates the sound of word “Om”. It is also a belief that the bell ringing in temples is to ward off evil spirits.
“Ghantaayam tadayeth kim prayochanam
Yaksha rakshasa paisasa tanava brahmarakshash gacchanti mani sapthah”
This states that why to ring bells in holy places? Because after hearing the ringing sound of bell all the evil spirits like Yaksha, Rakshasa, Paisasa, and Brahmarakshash go out of the temple and makes it helps to remain a holy place. Another reason is ringing bell is the resonated sound which generates from the bell is pleasant to God. And, hence, Ghanta is an essential part in most of the Hindu pujas. The most widespread belief is that bell is rung to invite the divine power to accept the worship and prayers.
Or one such and gullible explanation for ringing the bell is, unlike the door bell which rings when someone is at the doorstep. Temples are also a God’s home and before entering somebody’s home we should ring the bell to make them aware.
