Agnipurana 210

English (machine translation) 210

Language: English

210.3 — 2 parts
210.14 — 2 parts
210.25 — 1 part
210.35 — 6 parts

210.1

Agni said: / I shall declare all gifts, the sixteen great gifts. / The weighing of a man [against gold] is the first, then the gift of the golden embryo,

210.2

the cosmic egg, the wishing tree, and a thousand cows as the fifth, / the golden wish-granting cow, and the golden horse as the seventh,

210.3

likewise the golden chariot with horses, and so the golden elephant chariot, / likewise the five ploughs, and in the same way the gift of land,

210.3.p2

1. Manuscript ṅa reads: "samutpātādyapāpahṛt"; manuscript gha reads: "samutpātādipāpahṛt".
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210.4

the universal wheel, the wishing creeper, next the seven oceans, / the jewel-cow, and the jar of the elements. One should present [these] on an auspicious day.

210.5

Having worshipped the gods in a pavilion on a maṇḍala, one should bestow the gift on a twice-born man. / Listen to the meritorious gifts of Merus; they are ten Merus.

210.6

The highest [mountain of grain] is [made] with a thousand droṇas of grain; the other two are successively halved. / The highest mountain of salt should be made with sixteen droṇas;

210.7

the highest mountain of raw sugar should be [made] of ten bhāras; the other two are successively halved. / The highest golden Meru is [made] with thousands of palas; likewise the other two.

210.8

The mountain of sesame seeds should be of ten droṇas, five [droṇas], and three [droṇas] respectively; / and the cotton mountain with twenty bhāras, ten, and five.

210.9

The highest mountain of ghee is [made] with twenty jars of ghee; / the highest silver mountain with ten thousand palas;

210.10

the sugar mountain with eight bhāras, the middling and inferior halved and halved [again]. / I shall declare the ten cows, having given which one partakes of worldly enjoyment and liberation.

210.11

The cow of raw sugar is the first, and the cow of ghee is another; / the cow of sesame seeds is the third, and the fourth is the cow of water;

210.12

the cow of milk, the cow of honey, the cow of sugar and the cow of curds; / the cow of sugarcane juice, and the tenth [consists of a cow] in its actual form; the rule is declared [here].

210.13

Jars are [used] for the liquid cows, but heaps for the others. / One should place on the ground a four-cubit black antelope skin with the neck to the east,

210.14

on [ground] smeared with cow dung, having scattered darbha grass all around.

1. Here a passage indicating the jewel-mountain has dropped out, since a division of ten kinds of mountains was promised, and because in chapter seventy-seven of the Matsyapurāṇa, with the phrase "likewise the jewel-mountain is the eighth", the jewel-mountain is mentioned as included among the ten kinds of mountains.
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210.14_2

In the same way, one should prepare a small skin of a blackbuck for the calf.

210.15

One should fashion the cow facing east, with its legs to the north, accompanied by its calf. / The superior cow of raw sugar is always [made] from four bhāras;

210.16

one should make the calf with one bhāra. The middling [cow] is stated to be of two bhāras; / the calf should be with half a bhāra; and the smallest with one bhāra,

210.17

and the calf should be with a quarter [bhāra], according to the wealth of raw sugar. / Five kṛṣṇalakas are a māṣa, and sixteen of those are a suvarṇa;

210.18

a pala is four suvarṇas, and a tulā is recorded as a hundred palas; / a bhāra is twenty tulās, and a droṇa is four āḍhakas.

210.19

Both cow and calf made of raw sugar are covered with white, fine garments, / with mother-of-pearl ears, sugarcane legs, and eyes of pure pearls,

210.20

with white thread veins, white woolen blankets as dewlaps, / with copper vessels for backs, and white yak-tail chowries for hair,

210.21

with pairs of coral eyebrows, provided with butter udders, / linen tails, bronze milking vessels, and sapphire pupils,

210.22

endowed with gold-adorned horns and silver hooves, / teeth made of various fruits, and fashioned with fragrant scents for nostrils.

210.23

Having fashioned it, one should worship the cow with these mantras, O best of twice-born: / 'The Lakṣmī who belongs to all beings, and who abides among the gods,

210.24

may that goddess, in the form of a cow, grant me peace! / And the Rudrāṇī who resides in the body, who is ever dear to Śaṅkara,

210.25

May that goddess in the form of a cow remove my sin. / That Lakṣmī who is on Viṣṇu’s chest, and who is Svāhā of the fire,

210.25.p1

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210.26

And who is the power of the moon, sun, and stars—may she in the form of a cow bring prosperity. / She who is the Fortune of the four-faced [Brahmā], and the Fortune of the giver of wealth [Kubera],

210.27

And the Fortune of the world guardians—may that cow be the granter of boons to me. / Since you are Svadhā for the chief ancestors, and Svāhā for the eaters of sacrificial offerings,

210.28

And the cow that removes all sins, therefore grant me peace!’ / Having addressed the cow in this manner, he should present it to a brāhmaṇa.

210.29

And this very ritual is the same for all [symbolic] cows. / Attaining the fruit of all sacrifices, free of impurity, he partakes of worldly enjoyment and liberation.

210.30

With golden horns, silver hooves, well-tempered, clothed with garments, / with a bronze milking vessel, a milch cow should be given accompanied by a sacrificial fee.

210.31

Its giver attains heaven for years equal [in number to the rays of] the moon. / If it is a tawny cow, it delivers his lineage up to the seventh generation furthermore.

210.32

Having given [a cow] with golden horns, silver hooves, accompanied by a bronze milking vessel, / along with a sacrificial fee according to one's means, one partakes of worldly enjoyment and liberation.

210.33

Having given an ubhayatomukhī cow, he attains heaven for yugas / equal [in number] to its hairs along with the calf; he should give it according to the previously stated rule.

210.34

A cow with calf should be given by one whose death is near, just as before: / ‘At the entrance of Yama, O mighty hero, is the scorching Vaitaraṇī river;