Agnipurana 184
English (machine translation) 184
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Contents
184.1
Agni said: / From worshipping the Mothers headed by Brahmā, one should recite on the eighth day sacred to the host of Mothers. / Worshipping Kṛṣṇa on the dark eighth lunar day in the month of Caitra for a year, one gains prosperity.
184.2
I shall declare the votive observance of the dark eighth lunar day. One should perform it in the month of Mārgaśīrṣa: / having taken only an evening meal and having become pure, one should consume cow urine at night.
184.3
Sleeping on the ground at night, the observer of the vow should worship Śaṅkara. / In Pauṣa [one should worship] Śambhu after consuming clarified butter, in Māgha Maheśvara [after consuming] milk;
184.4
in Phālguna Mahādeva, fasting and eating sesame seeds; / in Caitra Sthāṇu while eating barley; and in Vaiśākha one should worship Śiva
184.5
drinking kuśa-grass water; in Jyaiṣṭha Paśupati while drinking water poured over a horn; / in Āṣāḍha Ugra while eating cow dung; in Śrāvaṇa Sarva while consuming calotropis;
184.6
in Bhādrapada Tryambaka while eating bilva leaves at night; / in Āśvina [worship] Īśa while eating rice grains, and in Kārttika Rudra
184.7
while eating curd, performing a fire oblation. At the end of the year, one should worship in a maṇḍala. / One should give a cow, garments, and gold to the guru, and similar gifts to the brāhmaṇas.
184.8
Having prayed and fed the twice-born, one attains worldly enjoyment and liberation.
184.8.p1
[Footnote]
184.8.p2
1 "māghe kṣīrī maheśvaram" in manuscripts gha, cha, and ña.
184.8.p3
2 "tilādī" in manuscript ja.
184.8.p4
3 "varṣe varṣe tu maṇḍale" in manuscript ña.
184.8.p5
4 "dvijān toṣya" in manuscript ja. / [Page 211]
184.8_2
One should eat only at night on the eighth lunar days, and give a milch cow at the end of the year.
184.9
One attains the abode of Indra; this is called the votive observance for reaching heaven. / When the eighth lunar day falls on a Wednesday in either fortnight,
184.10
then one should perform the votive observance, or eat food with molasses. / Those who observe rules on that day do not have their fortunes impaired.
184.11
Taking eight handfuls of rice grains minus two fingerbreadths, / and making cooked food in an folded mango leaf with kuśa grass, / [one should worship] the Mother of the family.
184.12
Having worshipped the pure [goddess], one should eat after hearing the sacred story. / According to one's capacity, one should give a sacrificial fee, [along with] a cucumber accompanied by rice grains.
184.13
There was a wise brāhmaṇa whose wife was Rambhā, and his son was Kauśika; / his daughter was Vijayā. That wise man had a bull that bestowed wealth.
184.14
Kauśika took that bull and grazed it with the cowherds. / Then, during the bath in the Gaṅgā, the bull was carried off by thieves.
184.15
Having bathed and not seeing the bull, he went to search for the bull; / accompanied by his sister Vijayā, he saw at a lake
184.16
a company of celestial women. He said: "Give [us] food!" / The group of women said: "Perform the vow, and then eat, since you are a guest."
184.17
Having performed the vow, he ate, and found the guardian of the forest.
184.17.p1
[Footnote]
184.17.p2
1 "sugativratamucyate" in manuscripts kha, gha, cha, ja, ña, and ṭa; / "suśāntivratamucyate" in manuscript ja.
184.17.p3
2 "karkarīntaṇḍulānvitām" in manuscripts kha, gha, and ṅa;
184.17.p4
"gargarīntaṇḍulānvitām" in manuscript jha.
184.17.p5
3 'vīro dvijo 'sya' in manuscripts ga, gha, ṅa, ja, and ña.
184.17.p6
4 'vīrasya dhanapo vṛṣaḥ' in manuscripts kha, cha, and ṭa; 'vīrasya dhanado vṛṣaḥ' in manuscripts gha, ṅa, ja, and ña.
184.17.p7
5 'snānakṛtyeṣu' in manuscript ṭa.
184.17_2
Then Dhīra went, accompanied by the bull and along with Vijayā.
184.18
Vijayā was given by Dhīra to Yama; his father was concealed [from torment]. / Due to the power of the votive observance, Kauśika also became king in Ayodhyā.
184.19
Having seen the torment of her parents in hell, Vijayā went to Yama / and said to him as he arrived from hunting: 'How may [they] be freed from hell?'
184.20
Yama said, 'From the two votive observances.' Having obtained that, Kauśika gave / the fruit of two Budhāṣṭamī [observances]; thereupon the two parents went to heaven.
184.21
Delighted, Vijayā undertook the votive observance for the attainment of worldly enjoyment and other ends. / Those who drink eight buds of the aśoka tree on the Punarvasu asterism,
184.22
on the bright eighth lunar day in the month of Caitra, shall not incur grief: / 'O aśoka, dear to Śiva, born in the spring month,
184.23
tormented by sorrow, I drink [you]; make me forever free of sorrow!' / One who worships the Mothers on the eighth lunar day in the beginning of Caitra overcomes enemies.
184.23.p1
Thus in the great Purāṇa of Agni, the one hundred and eighty-fourth chapter, entitled 'Votive Observances of the Eighth Lunar Day'.
184.23.p3
Now, the one hundred and eighty-fifth chapter.
184.23.p4
Votive observances of the ninth lunar day.
Other recensions (1)
- Agnipurāṇa (Nag Publishers edition, Delhi) — Sanskrit
Linked texts (1)
- Agnipurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit