Agnipurana 64

English (machine translation) 64

Language: English

64.5 — 1 part
64.16 — 4 parts
64.27 — 4 parts
64.37 — 5 parts
64.44 — 3 parts

64.1

The Lord said:
I declare the consecration of wells, stepwells, and reservoirs; listen to it.
For Hari is in the form of water, as Soma, and as excellent Varuṇa,

64.2

the universe is made of Agni and Soma, and Viṣṇu is water, the cause.
A man should make [an image of] Varuṇa out of gold, silver, or gemstone,

64.3

two-armed, seated on the back of a swan, granting fearlessness with the right hand,
and with a serpent-noose in his left, accompanied by rivers, nāgas, and others.

64.4

In the middle of the sacrificial pavilion there should be an altar adorned with a fire-pit;
one should erect a gateway, and deposit the jar of Varuṇa along with a pitcher.

64.5

At the doors one should place jars on a bhadraka, a crescent, or a svastika [diagram];
and having performed the establishment of the fire in the fire-pit, one should make the full oblation.

64.6

The master should touch Varuṇa upon the bathing pedestal with [the mantra] ‘ye te śataṃ’,
and afterwards anoint him with clarified butter using the basic mantra.

64.7

Having washed him with ‘śanno devī’ and the Śuddhavatī verses with auspicious water,
he should subject the eight jars to the preliminary consecration: ocean water in the eastern jar,

64.8

Gaṅgā water in the southeast, rainwater in the south, waterfall water in the southwest,
river water in the west, and stream water in the northwest;

64.9

and having placed spring water in the north, and water from a sacred ford in the northeast;
if unobtainable, he should consecrate river water with the mantra ‘yāsāṃ rājā’.

64.10

The wise priest, having wiped and cleansed the deity with [the mantra] ‘durmitriyā’,
should open his wonderful eyes with the three sweets with [the verse] ‘taccakṣuḥ’.

64.11

He should fill [the eyes with] light using a golden [needle], and then give a cow to the guru.
He should consecrate Varuṇa with [the mantra] ‘samudrajyeṣṭhāḥ’ from the eastern jar;

64.12

with ‘samudraṃ gaccha’ from the Gaṅgā water; with ‘somo dhenuḥ’ from the rainwater;
with ‘devīrāpaḥ’ from the waterfall water; with [the waters of] the five rivers from the stream water;

with the spring water from spring [mantras]; then with the Pāvamānī hymns from the waters of sacred fords;
with ‘āpo hi ṣṭhā’ from the five products of the cow; with ‘hiraṇyavarṇāḥ’ from golden water;

64.14

with ‘āpo asmān’ from waters sown by rain; with the sacred utterances from well water;
and Varuṇa with waters sown in reservoirs; and with waters of Varuṇa for subduing;

64.15

with ‘āpo devīḥ’ with mountain water, then with eighty-one jars
he should bathe him with ‘varuṇasya’ and offer the water offering with ‘tvanno varuṇa’;

64.16

the honey-mixture with the sacred utterances; the garment with ‘bṛhaspate’;
the sacred thread with ‘varuṇa’; and the upper garment with the Praṇava;

64.16.p1

[...]

64.16.p2

1 "nadīkṣodam" is the reading in the manuscript marked kha.

64.16.p3

2 "āsāṃ rudreti kīrtayet" is the reading in the manuscripts marked ṅa and ga.

64.16.p4

3 "indriyeti vicakṣaṇaḥ" is the reading in the manuscripts marked ga and gha.
[Page 188]

64.17

with ‘yadvāraṇyena’ he should offer flowers and the rest to Varuṇa,
a fly-whisk, a mirror, a parasol, a fan, and a banner.

64.18

Having raised him up with the basic mantra and ‘uttiṣṭha’, he should keep him for the preliminary consecration that night;
and invoking presence with ‘varuṇañca’, he should worship with ‘yadvāraṇyena’.

64.19

Having performed animation from the basic mantra, he should worship again with perfumes and the like.
Having worshipped in the pavilion as before, and [having placed] firewood and other materials into the fire-pits,

64.20

he should milk four cows endowed with perfumes and other offerings with the mantras beginning with the Vedas;
and then, placing barley caru in the directions, he should make fire oblations;

64.21

or with the sacred utterances, or with the Gāyatrī, he should likewise invoke with the basic mantra:
‘To Sūrya, to Prajāpati, svāhā to Heaven, and to the Antarikṣa,’

64.22

‘to that Earth, for bodily preservation, here for self-preservation,’ then
‘here for delight, and here for rejoicing; Ugra, Bhīma, and Raudra,’

64.23

‘and Viṣṇu, Varuṇa, Dhātṛ, Rāyaspoṣa, Mahendra,
Agni, Yama, Nairṛta, and Varuṇa and Vāyu,’

64.24

‘Kuvera, Īśa, Ananta, then Brahmā the king, the lord of waters;
svāhā to him,’ and he should make fire oblations with ‘idaṃ viṣṇuḥ’ and ‘tadviprāsaḥ’;

64.25

having offered six oblations with ‘somo dhenuḥ’, he should also offer with ‘imaṃ me’;
he should offer with the three verses ‘āpo hi ṣṭhā’ and with ‘imā rudra’.

64.26

He should present bali offerings in the ten directions and worship with perfumes, flowers, and the like;
and the wise man, having raised up the image, should place it in the maṇḍala.

64.27

He should worship it with perfumes, flowers, and the like, and with golden flowers and so on in due order,

64.27.p1

[...]

64.27.p2

1 "maṇḍale" is the reading in both manuscripts marked kha and ṅa.

64.27.p3

2 "mūle tvagnau ca homayet" is the reading in the manuscript marked ṅa.

64.27.p4

3 "vāyuḥ somo mahendrakaḥ" is the reading in the manuscript marked ṅa.
[Page 189]

64.27_2

and the water basins in the directional regions measuring two spans.

64.28

Having prepared eight pleasant sandy mounds, the excellent spiritual master
[should offer] one hundred and eight [oblations] with clarified butter using the mantra beginning with "Of Varuṇa".

64.29

Having offered sacrificial boiled barley, he should perform the pacification water rite;
he should sprinkle [water] on the head of the god and perform the enlivening rite.

64.30

He should meditate on Varuṇa united with Gaurī and the hosts of rivers and streams;
having worshipped with "Om, obeisance to Varuṇa," he should then effect his presence.

64.31

Having raised [him], he should carry [the vessel] around on the back of an elephant and the like with auspicious rites;
and with "The waters indeed are," he should place [him] in water, in a jar smeared with the three sweets.

64.32

He should deposit [it] well concealed, reaching the center of the water reservoir;
having bathed, he should meditate upon Varuṇa and creation named the cosmic egg.

64.33

Having burned [the cosmos] with the fire-seed-syllable, he should inundate the earth with its ashes;
he should meditate upon the entire world as consisting of water, and therein upon the Lord of the Waters.

64.34

Then, [regarding] the god standing in the midst of the water, he should install a sacrificial post,
four-cornered, octagonal, or made round.

64.35

Having worshipped the mark of the deity, [the post should be] ten cubits [long] in a well,
a sacrificial post made from a sacrificial tree; at its root he should place a golden fruit.

64.36

Fifteen cubits in a step-well, twenty in a lotus pond,
called twenty-five [cubits] in a reservoir, he should install it in the middle of the water.

64.37

Or, with a limb of the sacrificial pavilion, with the mantra "O sacrificial post cutter,"
having set it up, he should wrap it with garments and place a small flag atop the sacrificial post.

64.37.p1

[...]

64.37.p2

1. "Having offered sacrificial boiled food with a sacrificial spoon" is the reading in the manuscript marked kha.

64.37.p3

2. "Having arisen" is the reading in the manuscripts marked kha, ga, and gha.

64.37.p4

3. "Well-rounded" is the reading in the manuscript marked ṅa.

64.37.p5

4. "With the mantra 'at the place of the sacrificial post'" is the reading in the manuscripts marked ga, gha, and ṅa.

64.38

Having worshipped that with perfumes and the like, he should perform universal pacification;
he should give a sacrificial fee to the guru: land, a cow, gold, and a water-pot.

64.39

A sacrificial fee should be given to the twice-born, and he should likewise feed those who have arrived:
"Whosoever from Brahmā down to a clump of grass are desirous of water,

64.40

may they attain satisfaction from the water in this reservoir."
In this manner he should release the water, and he should pour in the five bovine products.

64.41

The pacification water prepared by the twice-born with the three verses beginning "The waters indeed are,"
and auspicious sacred ford water he should pour, and he should present a herd of cows to the twice-born.

64.42

He should provide unhindered food and the like for all people;
he who might perform a thousand thousand horse sacrifices,

64.43

if he maintains water for a single day, that merit is myriadfold;
he rejoices in heaven in a celestial chariot and does not go to hell.

64.44

Since cows and other [beings] drink from it, there is no sin for the builder;
from the gift of water, having obtained the fruit of all gifts, he worships heaven.

64.44.p1

Thus in the glorious Mahāpurāṇa of Agni, the sixty-fourth chapter, entitled "The Description of the Consecration of Wells, Step-Wells, Reservoirs, and Other [Water Works]".

64.44.p3

Now, the sixty-fifth chapter.

64.44.p4

The Description of the Establishment of an Assembly Hall.

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Agnipurāṇa (Nag Publishers edition, Delhi) — Sanskrit

Linked texts (1)

Agnipurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit

Agnipurana 64

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