Fire is believed to reduce all substances to their primal state of purity. Hence, bhasma or ashes have always been considered as sacred by certain sections of the hindu society, especially the saivas and the saktas (followers of siva and sakti or the divine mother).

Bhasma derived from the vedic fires is called 'srauta-bhasma'. It is to be taken out of the fire when the vedic ritual is in progress and applied on the body. That derived from the fire lit up during a ritual performed as per the directions of smrtis (secondary scriptures like the dharmasastras) is called 'smarta-bhasma'. If the fire is kindled by the aghora-mantra (a mantra describing the aghora or non-fierce aspect of siva) with the wood of the bilva tree (aegle marmelos), the ashes are called 'sivagni-bhasma'. This bhasma is considered to be extremely sacred and capable of destroying sins as also ritual impurities.

Wearing a 'tripundra', a mark of three lines on the forehead with bhasma, using the fingers on the right hand (the thumb, the middle finger and the ring finger) is considered a must for all the devotees of siva. These three lines are supposed to represent: the three vedas (rig, yajus and saman); the three syllables (a, u, and ma) of om; the three gunas (sattva, rajas and tamas); the three saktis or powers (kriyasakti, icchasakti and jnanasakti) of Devi or divine mother; the three pressings of soma juice in somayaga (pratassavana, madhyandinasavana and trtiyasavana) and so on. The whole idea seems to be to bring into one's mind, various religio-spiritual concepts so as to feel pure and elevated.

Bhasma may be smeared over other parts of the body also, often to the accompaniment of appropriate mantras, thus purifying both the body and the mind. This is sometimes called bhasma-snana or bath with bhasma.

Among the lingayats (saivites of karnataka state) bhasma-dharana or applying the tripundra of bhasma on the forehead is considered as an important act of practice classed under 'astavaranas'. According to their philosophy, bhasma is really that which burns up all illusions and paves the way for the intuition of the inner self. The ashes are only an external and gross symbol of the process.

Bhasma as consecrated ash is used for ritual purification (like the water of the Ganga river) of objects defiled by the touch of undesirable (or sinful) persons or animals etc., for protection against inauspicious things or evil spirits or even for purposes of sorcery and magical rites.