Deepam

Deepa or waving a lamp lit is an integral part of the upachara. For fire was the only means of light in the past and because of its symbolism of removing ignorance. As a consequence several types of lamps evolved –

1. those that were stationary (a fine example from the Chola period can be seen in the Government Museum, Madras), 
2. those that were suspended from the ceiling and those that were held in the hand. 
3. Those held in the hand had the lamp in the front, the horizontal ‘s' that served as two base pedestals. 

The space behind the lamp and the rear base had separate icons cast and fixed. Icons included

1. a five-headed cobra, then called the naga deepa. The cobra has been a symbol of fertility whose worship in the lesser Hindu traditions was absorbed in the Sanskrit tradition.
2. It could be an elephant, the gaja deepa where the elephant symbolises royalty, the horse, also a symbol of speed and velour, became the ashwa deepa. 
3. Siva temples had rishaba, Siva's mount. They also had the Purushamriga, an animal with the head of a man/sage. There is a minor reference to this ardent Siva devotee in the Mahabharata. 
4. Vishnu temples had a unique Kurma deepa, where the tortoise had in its rear a handle. The carapace of the tortoise had five small holes through which the wick was inserted. the tortoise is considered a symbol of stability and even today in Kerala, wooden seats are made in the same shape for use in Vedic rituals. 
5. In some temples, these icons were a similar pedestal without the lamp, in which case they were ritually shown to the deity much like a King would inspect his army and check if they were all in the best of condition.
6. adukkudeepa, where each platter has several wicks in a circle and then there are smaller levels of platters, always of an odd number. The other lamp used in the end is the Kumbha arathi, this is waved in front by the priest of the temple who would sing special songs and finally place the deepa near Bali peeta. This ensured that the ‘evil eye' cast on the deity was removed in this process. The Kumbha arathi is a pot with one upright wick at the top.