Note 84 — Chapter I
Reading edition
The arghya is an offering of water in a spoon half filled with barley seeds, sesamum seeds, sandal ointment, rice, and white flowers. In offering the arghya the right foot is folded below the left, the spoon is lifted to the forehead and is emptied towards the sun after reciting the Gāyatrī mantra.84 If water is not available for offering the arghyas, sand may serve the purpose. But the sun must not be deprived of his arghyas.85