Yūpa

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Yūpa (Skt., ‘post’). Stake to which, in Hinduism, a sacrificial victim is tied. It is regarded as the tree of life, uniting earth and heaven (cf. SKAṀBHA), and was clearly associated with liṅga power. It is often eight-sided, and when anointed, it was addressed as ‘the tree of divine sweetness’.

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