පූජාසනය

**පූජාසනයක්** (ඉංග්‍රීසි:Altar) යනු ආගමික වාතාවත්, පූජාවන් හෝ වෙනත් චාරිත්‍රානුකූල අරමුණු සඳහා ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම සඳහා මේසයක් හෝ වේදිකාවකි. පූජනීය ස්ථාන, පන්සල්, පල්ලි සහ වෙනත් ආගමික ස්ථානවල පූජාසන දක්නට ලැබේ. ඒවා විශේෂයෙන් පේගන්, ක්‍රිස්තියානි ධර්මය, බුද්ධාගම, හින්දු ආගම, යුදෙව් ආගම, නූතන පේගන් සහ කොකේසියා සහ කුඩා ආසියාව අවට ඇතැම් ඉස්ලාමීය ප්‍රජාවන්හි භාවිතා වේ. බොහෝ ඓතිහාසික-මධ්‍යකාලීන ඇදහිලි වන රෝමානු, ග්‍රීක සහ නෝර්ස් ආගම් ඇතුළුව ඒවා භාවිතා කර ඇත.

## පුරාණ කාලයේ පූජාසන

File:Tel Be'er Sheva Altar 2007041.JPG|ඊශ්‍රායලයේ Tel Be'er Sheva හි උල් සහිත පූජාසනය.
File:3217 - Athens - Sto… of Attalus Museum - Kylix - Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto, Nov 9 2009.jpg|ක්‍රි.පූ. 480 දී පමණ පූජාසනයක් පෙන්වන පුරාණ ග්‍රීක බීම කෝප්පය. Attalus හි Stoa හි ඇතන්ස්හි පුරාණ Agora කෞතුකාගාරය
File:Berlin - Pergamonmuseum - Altar 02.jpg|බර්ලිනයේ පර්ගමන් කෞතුකාගාරයේ ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණය කරන ලද පර්ගමන්හි පුරාණ පූජාසනය.
File:Opferstein Maria Taferl.jpg|ඔස්ට්‍රියාවේ පූජා පර්වතය. එය පුරාණ කෙල්ට්වරුන් විසින් පූජා කිරීම සඳහා භාවිතා කරන ලද අතර දැන් එය එහි බැසිලිකාවේ ප්ලාසා හි පිහිටා ඇත.

## යුදෙව් ආගම
The first altar recorded in the Hebrew Bible is that erected by Noah. Altars were erected by Abraham, by Isaac, by Jacob, and by Moses.

After the theophany on Mount Sinai, in the Tabernacle—and afterwards in the Temple—only two altars were used: The Altar of Burnt Offering, and the Altar of Incense, both near where the Ark of the Covenant was located.

## ක්රිස්තියානි ධර්මය

File:StMarysWestMelbAltar.jpg|thumb|left|Dedication of an altar
File:Home Altar.jpg|thumb|A home altar in a Methodist Christian household, with a cross and candles surrounded by other religious items
File:Autel.jpg|thumb|left|Early Coptic

### බටහිර ක්‍රිස්තියානි පල්ලිවල

File:Santa Cecilia.jpg|thumb|left|Altar of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere
File:unchurch.jpg|thumb|upright|Altar of Newman University Church, Dublin, with an altar ledge occupying the only space between it and the wall

#### කතෝලික සභාව

File:Interiorvaticano8baldaquino.jpg|thumb|left|High altar of Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome
File:Michaelskirche Munich - St Michael's Church High Altar.jpg|thumb|High altar of St. Michael's Church, Munich, dwarfed by a huge reredos
File:H.13.071 - Osieczna Klasztor.JPG|thumb|left|St. Valentine's Church the altar of Our Lady of Sorrows and Child in Osieczna, Poland

The liturgical norms state:
:It is fitting that the tradition of the Roman liturgy should be preserved of placing relics of martyrs or other saints beneath the altar. However, the following should be noted:
:(a) Relics intended for deposition should be large enough that they can be recognized as parts of human bodies. Hence excessively small relics of one or more saints must not be deposited.
:(b) The greatest care must be taken to determine whether relics intended for deposition are authentic. It is better for an altar to be dedicated without relics than to have relics of doubtful credibility placed beneath it.
:(c) A reliquary must not be placed on the altar, or in the table of the altar; it must be beneath the table of the altar, as the design of the altar may allow.

#### රෙපරමාදු පල්ලි

File:Jesuskirken Copenhagen quire.jpg|thumb|Altar at the Lutheran Jesus Church in Valby, Copenhagen.
File:HKBP Dame Saitnihuta, Res. Dame Saitnihuta 06.jpg|thumb|An altar located in the middle of the pulpit, namely the Batak Christian Protestant Church, one of the Lutheran churches in Indonesia located in Tarutung, North Sumatra.
File:Bavnehøj Kirke alter.jpg|thumb|left|Contemporary altar at the Lutheran .
File:Bad Doberan, Münster, Blick in den Chor mit Hochaltarretabel und Sakramentsturm 10 edit.jpg|thumb|The Lutheran altar in Bad Doberan Minster

##### ලූතරන් පල්ලි

File:Turku Dom Hochaltar.jpg|thumb|left|Altar of Turku Cathedral

##### ඇංග්ලිකන් පල්ලි

File:altar.stmaryredcliffe.arp.jpg|thumb|The altar in St.&nbsp;Mary Anglican Church, Redcliffe, Bristol. It is decorated with a frontal in green, a colour typically associated with the seasons after Epiphany and Pentecost. Note the reredos behind the free-standing altar.
File:Canterbury Cathedral altar 8.jpg|thumb|The "low" altar area at Canterbury Cathedral
File:All Saints Bristol 07b altar ciborium.jpg|The altar with ciborium at All Saints Anglican church, Bristol, England
File:St Barnabas, Calton Avenue, Dulwich, London SE21 - Altar - geograph.org.uk - 1750566.jpg|The Lord's Table in St Barnabas' Church, Dulwich (Diocese of Southwark)
File:StThomas'Bunyip.jpg|Altar in Bunyip, Victoria, Australia 
File:Cathedral Altar.JPG|Altar at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco
File:High Altar, Church of the Good Shepherd (Rosemont, Pennsylvania).jpg|Altar at Anglo-Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd (Rosemont, Pennsylvania)

### Eastern Christian Rites
#### Byzantine Rite

File:Sankt Petersburg Auferstehungskirche innen 2005 a.jpg|thumb|left|A traditional Russian Orthodox Holy Table (altar), Church of the Saviour on the Blood, St. Petersburg
File:Saint Vladimir Skete (Valaam Monastery) 14.jpg|thumb|The Holy Place (sanctuary) in the church of the Saint Vladimir Skete at Valaam Monastery.
File:At altar.JPG|thumb|left|A contemporary Byzantine Catholic altar during the Divine Liturgy at St. Joseph Church in Chicago, Illinois.

#### Syro-Maronite Church
The Syriac Maronite Church, along with the other Syriac Churches, has freestanding altars in most cases so the priests and deacons can circumambulate the altar during processions and incensations. Traditionally the Maronite liturgy was offered with the priest and people oriented to the East but because of modern latinizations it is common to find Maronite liturgies offered with the priest facing against the people from the opposite side of the altar, in imitation of modern practices in the Latin Church.

### Oriental Rites
#### Armenian Rite 

File:Echmiatsin altair.jpg|thumb|Altar at the Etchmiadzin Cathedral

#### Alexandrian Rite 
#### Ethiopic Rite 
#### West Syriac Rite 
#### East Syriac 
#### Indian Orthodox
### War altar
## හින්දු ආගම

File:Murugan-Temple-Roermond-1.JPG|thumb|left|Murugan temple in Roermond, Netherlands
File:Shree Ganesh Mandir, jhansi hallway.jpg|thumb|Shree Ganesh Mandir, Jhansi|alt=
File:India - Family altar - 7090.jpg|thumb|A family altar in India

## තාඕවාදය
## බුද්ධාගම

File:Bàn thờ gia đình truyền thống.jpg|thumb|A  (worship table) is an altar used in ancestral worship and worship of Buddhas and gods in Vietnam 
File:Butsudan at ShinDo Buddhist Temple.jpg|thumb|left|A butsudan at ShinDo Buddhist Temple

## ශින්ටො

File:Kamidana.jpg|thumb|A Shinto  (household altar) in Japan. Note the , a rope demarking the sanctuary area seen above, along the ceiling.

## නෝර්ස් පේගන්
### Asatru
## Neopaganism
### Wicca
### Neo-Druidism
## උස් ස්ථාන
High places are elevated areas on which altars have been erected for worship in the belief that, as they were nearer heaven than the plains and valleys, they are more favourable places for prayer. High places were prevalent in almost all ancient cultures as centers of cultic worship.

High places in Israelite (Hebrew: *Bamah*, or *Bama*) or Canaanite culture were open-air shrines, usually erected on an elevated site. Prior to the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites in the  the high places served as shrines of the Canaanite fertility deities, the Baals (Lords) and the Asherot (Semitic goddesses). In addition to an altar, *matzevot* (stone pillars representing the presence of the divine) were erected.

The practice of worship on these spots became frequent among the Hebrews, though after the temple was built it was forbidden. Such worship was with difficulty abolished, though denounced time after time by the prophets as an affront to God. A closely related example is a "backyard" altar, so to speak. Before there was a set temple and an established altar people built their own altars. After the temple was built use of these altars was forbidden. Unlike the case of high places, "backyard" altar worship was quickly eradicated. In following years, the practice drastically decreased in popularity.

## පාද සටහන්
## යොමු කිරීම්
## බාහිර සබැඳි
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