Agnipurana 163
English (machine translation) 163
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Contents
163.1
Puṣkara said: / I shall declare the rules for the ancestral rite, which grant worldly enjoyment and liberation; listen. / Having invited the brāhmaṇas on the preceding day in the afternoon with a welcome,
163.2
he should seat an even number facing east on a seat for the gods, and for the ancestors, / an odd number facing east for the gods, or three for the ancestors, or even one.
163.3
The procedure is the same for the maternal grandfathers, or the rite for the gods may be common to both. / Having offered water for washing hands and also kuśa grass for seats,
163.4
he should invoke [the deities], being permitted, with the verse "viśve devāsaḥ". / Having scattered barley grains into a vessel containing a purifier,
163.5
pouring water with "śan no devī" and barley with "yavo 'si", / he should indeed pour the water offering into the hand with the mantra "yā divyāḥ".
163.6
Having offered water, perfume, a garland, the presentation of incense, and a lamp, / then placing the sacred thread over the right shoulder, he performs the rites counter-clockwise for the ancestors.
163.6.p1
[p. 150]
163.7
Having folded kuśa grasses double, he invokes the ancestors with the verse "uśantas tvā"; / having been permitted by them, he should then recite "ā yāntu naḥ".
163.8
The purposes of barley are to be served with sesame seeds; he should perform the water offering and other rites as before. / Having offered the water offering and poured the remaining wash-waters into a vessel according to rule,
163.9
he turns the vessel upside down below with "pitṛbhyaḥ sthānam asi". / Taking food steeped in clarified butter, he asks, "I shall make the offering into fire."
163.10
Having been permitted with "Perform it!", having offered into fire as in the ancestral sacrifice, / attentive, he should distribute what remains of the oblation into the dishes,
163.11
which are obtained according to means, but especially silver ones. / Having offered the food, consecrating the vessel with "pṛthivīpātram",
163.12
and having recited "idam viṣṇuḥ", he should place the brāhmaṇa's thumb in the food. / Having recited the Gāyatrī with the sacred utterances and the triplet "madhu vātāḥ",
163.13
he should say, "Eat at your ease," and they should eat, restraining their speech. / Having recited the purifier, he should give the food they desire and sacrificial food.
163.14
Taking the food, [he asks,] "Are you satisfied?" and [they reply,] "Let the remainder of the food be his." / He should scatter that food on the ground and offer water once each time.
163.15
Taking all the food mixed with sesame, facing south, / he should offer rice balls near the leftovers, as in the ancestral sacrifice.
163.16
He should do likewise for the maternal grandfathers; then he should give sipping-water. / Then he should recite the svasti-blessing and offer water for imperishable satisfaction.
163.17
Having given the sacrificial fee according to ability, he should utter the word "svadhā". / Being permitted with "Let it be uttered", [he says,] "Let svadhā be uttered to one's own ancestors!"
163.17.p1
[Footnote]
163.17.p2
1 The text beginning with "mātāmahānām" and ending with "svapitṛbhyaḥ svadhocyatām" is absent in manuscript jha. / [p. 151]
163.18
When they say, "Let there be svadhā," he should then sprinkle water on the ground, / or he should offer water to the divine All-Gods with "May they be pleased!"
163.19
"May our benefactors prosper, and also the Vedas and progeny; / and may our faith never waver, and may we have much to give."
163.20
Having spoken these pleasant words and bowed down, he should dismiss them. / The dismissal is preceded by the ancestors being pleased, with "vāje vāje".
163.21
Having turned upright that ancestral vessel in which the wash-waters were previously collected, / he should dismiss the brāhmaṇas.
163.22
Having circumambulated them and walked after them, and having eaten what was enjoyed by the ancestors, / he should remain celibate for that night, together with the brāhmaṇas.
163.23
Having circumambulated thus, at an auspicious occasion he should worship the Nāndīmukha ancestors / with rice balls mixed with curds and jujube fruits; the rite is performed with barley.
163.24
The rite for a single ancestor is devoid of the rite for the gods, has a single water offering and a single purifier, / is without invocation and the offering into fire, and is performed with the sacred thread over the right shoulder.
163.25
Instead of "akṣayya", he says "upatiṣṭhatām"; at the dismissal of the ancestors, / he should say, "Be pleased!", and they should say, "We are pleased."
163.26
He should prepare four vessels supplied with scented water and sesame seeds; / into the ancestors' vessels meant for the water offering, he should pour the vessel for the newly deceased,
163.27
with the two verses "ye samānāḥ"; the rest he should perform as before. / This is the rite of sapindisation, or the rite for a single deceased woman.
163.28
He whose sapindisation takes place within a year—
163.28.p1
[Footnote]
163.28.p2
1 "pitṛpūrvaṃ visarjayet" in kha, cha, and jha.
163.28.p3
2 "stryā api" in kha and cha. / [p. 152]
163.28_2
food and a water-pot should be given to a brāhmaṇa for him for a year.
163.29
And the rite is to be performed on the day of death every month for a year; / an ancestral rite is to be performed every year, just like the monthly food.
163.30
With sacrificial food [they are satisfied] for a month, but with milk-rice for a year; / with the meat of fish, deer, sheep, birds, goats, and spotted deer,
163.31
and with the meat of black buck, the ruru deer, wild boar, and hare, in that order, / the ancestors are completely satisfied with an increase of one month [for each] when they are offered.
163.32
Rhinoceros meat, large-scaled fish, food mixed with honey, / red meat, kālaśāka greens, and the meat of a rhinoceros or old goat,
163.33
and whatever one gives while staying at Gayā—all that is declared to grant infinity; / likewise on the thirteenth lunar day of the rainy season and in the Maghā constellation, without doubt.
163.34
A maiden, offspring, panegyrists, cattle, and pre-eminent sons, / clarified butter, agriculture, commerce, cloven-hoofed and single-hoofed beasts,
163.35
sons endowed with spiritual luster, gold and silver along with base metal, / pre-eminence among kin, and all desires the giver of ancestral rites obtains at all times.
163.36
On these [days] beginning with the first lunar day, excluding the fourteenth lunar day; / but for those who were killed by a weapon, [an ancestral rite] is offered on that [fourteenth day].
163.37
Heaven, offspring, vigor, valor, land, and strength, / superiority among sons, good fortune, progeny, eminence, sons,
163.37.p1
[Footnote]
163.37.p2
1 "mātsyāvihāriṇaurabhraśākunacchāgapārṣataiḥ" in cha.
163.37.p3
2 "dattair iha" in gha, ṅa, and ña.
163.37.p4
3 "madhumudgānnameva vā" in ṅa.
163.37.p5
4 "sarvamānantyamaśnute" in gha and ṅa.
163.37.p6
5 "svarṇam" in kha and cha. / [p. 153]
163.38
unobstructed authority, sons, trade, and progeny, / freedom from illness, fame, freedom from sorrow, the highest state,
163.39
wealth, knowledge, medical success, silver, cows, goats and sheep, / horses, and long life—[all these] he who properly performs the ancestral rite receives.
163.40
Beginning with Kṛttikā and ending with Bharaṇī, he obtains these desires. / The Vasus, Rudras, and sons of Aditi are the ancestors, the deities of the ancestral rite.
163.41
Gratified by the ancestral rite, they please the ancestors of men; / they grant long life, offspring, wealth, knowledge, heaven, liberation, pleasures,
163.42
and likewise sovereignty, when pleased, to men's forefathers. //42
163.42.p1
Thus ends the one hundred sixty-third chapter, entitled 'Rules for the Ancestral Rite', in the great Agni Purāṇa.
163.42.p3
Now, the one hundred sixty-fourth chapter.
163.42.p4
Fire Oblation to the Nine Planets
Other recensions (1)
- Agnipurāṇa (Nag Publishers edition, Delhi) — Sanskrit
Linked texts (1)
- Agnipurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit