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There are certain flowers that should not be offered to a specific deity. For example, Tulasi is not offered to Ganesha and Ketaki or Champa is not offered to Lord Shiva. Are there any flowers, mentioned in scriptures, that should not be offered to Lord Vishnu?

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    No. There are no restrictions. I have read somewhere that Flowers are offerings to Vishnu from Bhoothatmas which means any Soul that has a body. There are other such offerings to Vishnu from body-less souls( Devas and Pitr) . BTW, can you think of how they can do the offering? So, Any ‘thing’ is an offering. In fact he himself is the offering, the act offering AND the one who Offers.. so anything good or bad! But the devas around him wouldn’t let bad stuff pass through for a Special Reason is all I can say....
    – Gopal Anantharaman
    Oct 4, 2019 at 14:37
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    The answer that you have accepted is not only wrong but it is also just an opinion without any references given. It is not recommended that we accept such unsourced answers here.
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    Feb 9, 2020 at 8:04

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All deities have a list of prescribed (Vihita) and proscribed (Nishiddha) offerings, flowers etc. And, Lord Vishnu is also not an exception in this regard.

There are certain flowers that must not be offered to Lord Vishnu. The book "Nitya Karma PujA PrakAsh (GitA Press)" ( on p 372) gives the names of some flowers that are not to be offered to Lord Vishnu:

Lord Vishnu should not be offered the following flowers - Arka, DhaturA, KAnchi, aparAjitA (GirikarnikA), BhatakattaiyA, Semala, Shirisha, ChichirA, Kaitha, Languli, Hijana, KachnAra, VaragadA, Gular, PAkar, Pipar and AmrA (Kapitan).

The book quotes verses from Vishnu Dharmottara PurAna (which is an UpapurAna):

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NArkam nonmattakam kAnchim tathaiva girikarnikAm |
Na kantha-kAtikA-pushpam achyutAya nivedayeth ||
Kautajam ShAlmali pushpam shairisham cha janArdane |
Niveditam bhayam shokam nihsvatAm cha prayacchati ||

Never offer flowers like Arka, nonmatta, KAnchi, GirikarnikA etc to Achyuta (Vishnu). Kautaja, ShAlmali, Shirisha etc, if offered to JanArdana (a name for Vishnu), brings fear, sorrow and severe poverty.


There is also a similar list (Nishiddha patra-pushpAni in Vishnu pujA) given in the book "Nityotsava" but I am not citing that here.

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No. There is no such thing. If that is the case, then Vishnu the creator doesn't create anything which won't be any use to him. If you offer any flower with pure devotion from the bottom of your heart then the Pooja is fulfilled. If you offer Gold flowers without devotion then the pooja is useless.

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    Bhagwan Bhrahama is creator ... Shri Hari Vishnu is palanhar (preserves) the universe and Shiva recycles it.
    – Tiwari
    Oct 7, 2019 at 2:29
  • The question is not about who created what but are there any flowers not to offer to Vishnu. I answered that there is no such thing as not to offer this particular flower to Vishnu to that matter any God deity in Hinduism.
    – sri tulasi
    Nov 24, 2019 at 18:06

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