Indian sandalwood is very sacred in the Hindu Ayurveda and is known in Sanskrit as chandana. The wood is used for worshipping the god Shiva and it is believed that goddess Lakshmi lives in the sandalwood tree.The paste is prepared by grinding wood by hand with SANDALWOOD STONE shaped for this purpose. With the gradual addition of water a thick paste forms (called kalabham "à´à´³à´à´" in Malayalam language and gandha à²à²à²§ in Kannada) and is mixed with saffron or other such pigments to make chandanam.