[Advaita-l] Vishnu is abhimani devata for the organ 'paada', leg - Bodhayana Grihya Sutra

[V Subrahmanian]

During the Sri Rudra Parayana there is the practice of chanting the Laghu
Nyasa. The passages chanted in the present day dates back to the Bodhayana
Girhya Sutra, of estimated 5th Century BCE. There occurs the expression
'paadayoH vishnuH tiShThatu' (Leg Vishnu preside over the legs). This shows
that Vishnu is the presiding deity for the organ leg. See image below.

This has been stated by Shankara too in the Taittiriya Bhashya while
commenting on the Shanti mantra 'shan no vishnururukramaH'. The
Srimadbhagavatam too specifies that Hari is the abhimani devata for the
leg.

In this article one can see many other interesting aspects of the Bodhayana
Grihya Sutra:
https://adbhutam.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/selections-from-bodhayana-gruhya-sutras.pdf

In the Kannada book 'Saswara Veda mantraah' (of the Ramakrishna Mutt), the
laghu nyasa part occurs on p.115. This is what is followed widely today.
Here for the hands the presiding deity is Indra while in the Grihya sutra
version it is Rudra.

I thank Sri K.Aravinda Rao for reminding me of the Bodhayana resource.

warm regards
subbu