Agnipurana 34
English (machine translation) 34
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Contents
34.1
Agni said: / One should enter with this mantra and adorn the sacrificial area: / 'Homage to the god devoted to the Brahman, to Śrīdhara, the imperishable self,
34.1.p1
:n
34.1.p2
1. "oṃ krīm" is the variant reading in manuscript kha. / :p 99
34.2
whose form is the Ṛg, Yajur, and Sāma Vedas, whose body is sound!' / Having drawn a maṇḍala in the evening, one should bring the sacrificial substances and other requisites.
34.3
Having washed his hands and feet, performing the ritual depositions with a water offering in hand, / and having sprinkled his head, the doorway, and the rest with the water offering and other substances,
34.4
he should begin the sacrifice of the doorways and worship the lords of the archways. / The trees in the east and the other [directions] are the aśvattha, udumbara, vaṭa, and plakṣa.
34.5
In the east [are] the Ṛgveda, Indra, and Śobhana; the Yajurveda, Yama, and Subhadraka; / the Sāmaveda, Varuṇa, and the one named Sudhanvan; Soma, the Atharvaveda, and Suhotraka.
34.6
Inside the archways are banners, and Kumuda and others, with a pair of pitchers / to be worshipped by their own names at each door: Pūrṇa and Puṣkara in the east;
34.7
Ānanda and Nandana in the south; Vīrasena and Suṣeṇa; / Sambhava and Prabhava in the north; and one should also worship the door-keepers.
34.8
Having dispelled obstacles by throwing flowers consecrated with the weapon-mantra, one should enter. / Then, having performed the purification of elements, having made the ritual depositions, and having formed the ritual gestures,
34.9
having recited the crest-mantra ending in phaṭ, one should scatter mustard seeds in all directions. / [One should take] cow's urine with the Vāsudeva [mantra], and cow dung with the Saṅkarṣaṇa [mantra];
34.10
milk with the Pradyumna [mantra], curd produced from it, and ghee with the Nārāyaṇa [mantra]. / One, two, three, or more times, each portion increasing from the ghee,
34.11
gathered together in the ghee vessel, that is called the five cow-products: / one [portion] for sprinkling the pavilion and another for drinking.
34.12
Having brought [them] in ten water jars, one should worship Indra and the other world guardians; / and having worshipped them, one should announce the command to them: 'You must remain here by Hari's command!'
34.13
Having protected the sacrificial substances and other requisites, one should then scatter the grain scatterings / and Hari's bundles of kuśa grass consecrated eight hundred times with the root-mantra.
34.14
In the north-eastern direction one should place the water jar and the vardhanī vessel standing there.
34.14.p1
:p 100
34.14_2
Having worshipped Hari with his limbs in the jar, one should worship the weapon in the vardhanī vessel.
34.15
Circling clockwise around the sacrificial pavilion with the continuous stream from the vardhanī vessel, / sprinkling as he carries it, he should then worship the jar on a steady seat.
34.16
In the jar supplied with the five gems and a cloth, [one should worship] Hari with perfumes and other offerings, / and in the vardhanī containing gold, one should worship the weapon on the left.
34.17
Near that, one should worship Vāstulakṣmī, the Earth, and Vināyaka. / One should likewise prepare Viṣṇu's ablution at the solar ingress and other [occasions],
34.18
having placed nine unblemished, full jars at the nine corners.
34.19
In the jars starting from the east and south-east are the five nectars, water, and so forth: / curd, milk, honey, and warm water. The foot-washing water should have four constituents:
34.20
lotus, śyāmāka grain, dūrvā grass, and viṣṇupatnī make up the foot-washing water. / Likewise, the water offering of eight constituents is said to be barley, perfume, fruit, unbroken rice,
34.21
kuśa grass, white mustard seeds, flowers, sesame seeds, and articles of worship. / One should offer the water for sipping containing cloves and cubeb berries.
34.22
One should bathe the god with the root-mantra using the five nectars as well; / with the central jar, one should pour pure water over the god's head.
34.23
A person should touch the water flowing from the jar with the tip of a bundle of grass. / With pure water he should offer foot-washing water, the water offering, and water for sipping.
34.24
Having wiped the limbs with a cloth, he should bring [the image] with its garments to the maṇḍala. / Having worshipped it there, one who controls his breath should perform the fire oblation in the fire-pit and other places.
34.25
Having washed his hands, [he draws] three lines running towards the east,
34.25.p1
:n
34.25.p2
1. "cārhaṇā" is the variant reading in both manuscripts kha and ṅa.
34.25.p3
2. "dūrvāgram" is the variant reading in manuscript ṅa. / :p 101
34.25_2
and from south to north, three lines running towards the north.
34.26
Having sprinkled them with water from the water offering, he should display the yoni ritual gesture. / Having meditated on Agni's form, a person should cast the fire into the womb of the fire-pit.
34.27
Then he should set out the vessels with darbha grass, the śruc, the śruva, and other ladles; / the enclosure sticks measuring an arm's length, and the firewood pieces trimmed [to measure];
34.28
the praṇītā vessel, the prokṣaṇī vessel, the clarified butter bowl, ghee, and the rest; / two prastha measures of rice grains, placed in pairs face down.
34.29
In the praṇītā and prokṣaṇī vessels he should place kuśa grass pointing eastward. / Having filled the praṇītā with water, and having meditated upon and worshipped the god,
34.30
he should place the praṇītā in front, right in the middle of the implements. / Having filled the prokṣaṇī with water and worshipped it, he should place it on the right.
34.31
He should cook the sacrificial porridge on the fire and place Brahmā to the south. / Having spread kuśa grass in the east and other directions, he should then lay down the enclosure sticks.
34.32
A man should perform the Vaiṣṇava consecration [of the fire] through the rites of conception and the rest: / conception, the rite for procuring a male child, the parting of the hair, birth,
34.33
and the rites ending with the return home from studenthood, offering eight oblations, / and full oblations for each rite with the ladle joined with the dipping ladle.
34.34
Having meditated upon Lakṣmī in her fertile period within the fire-pit, he should make oblations. / The Lakṣmī of the fire-pit is described as material nature consisting of the three qualities.
34.35
She is the womb of all beings and of the multitude of sciences and mantras. / Fire is the cause of liberation, and the Supreme Self is the giver of liberation.
34.36
Her head is declared to be in the east; her two arms are placed in the corners: / in the northeast and southeast corners, and her two shanks in the northwest and southwest.
34.37
The fire-pit is called the belly; the pit's vulva is prescribed as her vulva. / The three tiers are the three qualities. Having meditated thus, ten sticks of sacrificial fuel,
34.37.p1
[Page 102]
34.38
increased by five [more], he should offer with the praṇava using the fist gesture. / Again he should offer the two introductory oblations of clarified butter up to the northwest and southeast, and then cook [the oblation].
34.39
He should offer the two portions of clarified butter up to the northeast with the root mantra: / in the north with the twelve-syllable [mantra], in the south with that [same mantra], and in the middle
34.40
with the vyāhṛtis. He should meditate on the consecrated fire situated in the center of the lotus, / related to Viṣṇu, seven-tongued, possessing the radiance of ten million suns,
34.41
with a moon-like face and sun-like eyes; and he should offer one hundred and eight [oblations], / or half of that, and eight with the root mantra, and for the limbs a tenth part.
34.41.p1
Thus ends the thirty-fourth chapter, entitled "The Description of Fire Rites," in the venerable and great Āgneyapurāṇa.
34.41.p3
Now, the thirty-fifth chapter:
34.41.p4
The Rule for the Preliminary Consecration of the Sacred Cord and Related Rites
Other recensions (1)
- Agnipurāṇa (Nag Publishers edition, Delhi) — Sanskrit
Linked texts (1)
- Agnipurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit