Agnipurana 223
English (machine translation) 223
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Contents
223.1
Puṣkara said:
I shall explain care for the inner apartments. Religious duty and the other ends of human life
are preserved by mutual protection; therefore, women should be served by kings.
223.1.p1
[...]
223.1.p2
[Variant reading:] 1 "māsenaikena" in MSS cha and ja.
223.2
Having religious duty as its root, wealth as its branch, and action as its great fruit,
the tree of the three ends of life yields its fruit by protection.
223.3
Women are subject to desire, O Rāma, and for their sake jewels are gathered.
They should be enjoyed by the earth-ruler seeking worldly pleasure, but not enjoyed to excess.
223.4
Food, sexual intercourse, and sleep should not be indulged in excessively, for disease arises.
Women should be kept under the authority of the couch and enjoyed within one's own pleasure-grounds.
223.5
She who behaves wickedly, does not welcome his conversation,
sides with his enemies, and haughtily displays pride,
223.6
wipes her face when kissed, does not value what is given,
sleeps first and, even when asleep, wakes up afterward,
223.7
shakes her limbs when touched and recoils her body,
barely listens to words, even affectionate ones, turning her face away,
223.8
does not look at what is offered in front of her, hides her hips,
turns pale in the face when seen, and turns away from his friends,
223.9
and appears indifferent toward women who desire him,
and does not adorn herself even knowing the time for adornment—
223.10
she is averse; having abandoned her, he should resort to a woman who is affectionate.
[An affectionate woman] becomes delighted merely upon seeing him, and turns her face away when gazed at;
223.10.p1
[...]
223.10.p2
[Variant reading:] 1 "kāmādharāḥ" in MSS gha and ña.
223.10.p3
[Variant reading:] 2 "lajjādhikāre" in MSS kha and cha.
223.10.p4
[Variant reading:] 3 "suvāsikāḥ" in MS ka.
223.10.p5
[Variant reading:] 4 "dviṣṭānyācakṣate" in MS ña.
223.10.p6
[Variant reading:] 5 The passage from "na paśyatyagradattantv" up to "mitreṣvatha parāṅmukhī" is missing in MS ja.
223.10.p7
[Variant reading:] 6 "striyaṃ vrajet" in MSS gha and ña.
223.11
when being looked at, she casts a restless glance elsewhere,
yet she is not entirely able to turn it away.
223.12
She exposes her private parts, O descendant of Bhṛgu,
and carefully conceals any flawed limb.
223.13
When he is seen, she embraces and kisses a child;
and when addressed, she speaks truthful words.
223.14
When touched, her limbs bristle with thrill and she is covered with perspiration;
and likewise, O Rāma, she asks only for easily obtainable things.
223.15
Then, having obtained even a little, she experiences great joy;
merely by the mention of his name, she rejoices and values it greatly.
223.16
She sends him fruits marked with her fingernails,
and places what is sent by him upon her heart with reverent affection.
223.17
With her embraces she seems to smear his limbs with nectar;
she sleeps only after he sleeps, and wakes before him.
223.18
She strokes his thighs intensely and awakens him when asleep.
With a mixture of powdered wood-apple and a garland of curd,
223.19
clarified butter becomes fragrant, as it does with milk cast with barley.
Such should be the preparation of food; now the release of fragrance is demonstrated.
223.20
Purification, rinsing the mouth, O Rāma, and purgation,
infusion, boiling, excitation, and fumigation,
223.21
and perfuming: these are stated to be the eight processes.
With the tender leaves of wood-apple, bael, rose-apple, mango, and oleander,
223.22
having made water, whatever ingredient is cleansed, that is purification.
223.22.p1
[Page 314]
223.22_2
In their absence, purification may be performed with musk-water.
223.23
Unguis odoratus, costus, nut-grass, spikenard, delphinium, lichen,
as well as saffron, lac, sandalwood, agallochum, cyperus,
223.24
chir pine, deodar, camphor along with priyaṅgu,
hrivera, olibanum, bdellium, and liquidambar,
223.25
together with resin of shorea: these are the twenty-one incense ingredients.
From this group of twenty-one incense ingredients, according to one's wish,
223.26
taking two substances each, one should combine them with portions of sal-resin,
combining them with unguis odoratus, deodar, and sandalwood, along with honey.
223.27
The incense compounds properly prepared here at will are produced thus.
Cinnamon bark, costus-root, fruit, sesame oil, saffron, ginger, and cumin,
223.28
lichen, tagara, kāntā, cardamoms, and camphor,
spikenard, liquor, and costus: these are declared to be the bath ingredients.
223.29
Taking three substances from these according to one's wish,
a bath mixed with musk should be prepared, which enhances love.
223.30
With equal parts of cinnamon bark, murā, and spikenard, combined with half a part of bālaka,
the bath acquires the fragrance of a blue lotus; mixed with oil, it smells like saffron.
223.31
Combined with half a part of tagara, it has the fragrance of jasmine;
with dhyāmaka, it has the enchanting fragrance equal to that of bakula flowers.
223.31.p1
[...]
223.31.p2
1. "candanāguruśailajam" in manuscripts kha and cha.
223.31.p3
2. "devadāruś ca" in manuscripts gha and ña.
223.31.p4
3. "granthiparṇakam" in manuscripts ga, gha, and ña.
223.31.p5
4. The passage beginning "saha sarjarasena" up to "colaṃ karpūrameva ca" is missing in manuscript ṭa.
223.32
Having added Indian madder, tagara, cardamom, cinnamon, tiger's-claw, nakha,
and gandhapatra, an auspicious perfumed oil is produced.
223.33
The oil pressed, O Rāma, from sesame seeds scented with flowers,
becomes by that perfuming surely equal in scent to those flowers.
223.34
Cardamom, cloves, cubebs, nutmeg, and camphor,
together with mace, are mouth-perfumers in their own right.
223.35
Camphor, saffron, pryaṅgu, musk, hareṇuka,
cubeb, cardamom, and clove, and also the aril of nutmeg,
223.36
cinnamon bark, cardamom, nut grass, latā, and likewise musk,
clove stems, and nutmeg fruit and mace,
223.37
and kaṭukaphala, O Rāma—one should take one karṣa of each.
To this powder one should add one-fourth scented khadira extract.
223.38
From this, with the juice of mango, auspicious pills should be made.
Placed in the mouth, they are fragrant and destroy diseases of the mouth.
223.39
Areca nut thoroughly washed with the water of the five tender sprouts,
and scented according to capacity with the pill ingredients, is a mouth-perfumer.
223.40
And a kaṭuka tooth-stick soaked in cow's urine for three days,
and prepared like the areca nut, O Rāma, produces fragrance in the mouth.
223.41
Equal parts of cinnamon bark and harītakī, combined with half a part of camphor,
shines as a charming mouth-perfumer equal to betel leaves.
223.41.p1
[...]
223.41.p2
1. "kandukañca" in manuscripts kha and cha.
223.41.p3
2. "dadyātturthaṃ tulonmitam" in manuscripts ṭa and cha.
223.41.p4
3. The passage beginning "kakkolailā" up to "guṭikāḥ śubhāḥ" is missing in the two manuscripts gha and ja.
223.42
In this way the ruler of the earth should always protect the women,
and he should never trust them, especially the mother of his son.
223.43
He should not sleep at night in the women's quarters; trust may be feigned.
223.43.p1
Thus in the great Purāṇa of Agni, the two hundred and twenty-third chapter, entitled "The Treatise on Love: The Protection of Women and Related Matters."
223.43.p3
Now begins the two hundred and twenty-fourth chapter.
223.43.p4
The Duties of Kings.
Other recensions (1)
- Agnipurāṇa (Nag Publishers edition, Delhi) — Sanskrit
Linked texts (1)
- Agnipurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit