Agnipurana 93
English (machine translation) 93
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Contents
93.1
The Lord said: / Then, having demarcated the ground for the temple with cords, one should mark out the site architecture pavilion. / In a square, level plot, one should make sixty-four squares.
93.2
One should lay two diagonal beams across the corners, and eight cords along the oblique directions.
93.2.p1
1. [Variant:] “oṃ iṃ uṃ” in manuscripts gha and ṅa.
93.2.p2
2. [Variant:] “sprinkled with the five products of the cow” in manuscript ga.
93.2.p3
3. [Variant:] “for the removal of defects such as deficiency” in manuscript gha.
93.2.p4
4. [Variant:] “one should sacrifice with the weapon[-mantra] for purification…” in manuscript gha.
93.2.p5
5. [Variant:] “vāstumaṇḍalam” in manuscripts ga and ṅa; the half-verse beginning with “tataḥ” is missing in manuscript gha.
93.2.p6
6. [Variant:] “vinyasedvaṃśam” in manuscript kha.
93.2_2
These occupy two squares or six squares; therein one should worship the site architecture deity accordingly.
93.3
One should visualize the site architecture deity with curly hair, lying supine, having the form of an Asura, / facing north during rituals of worship and the positioning of walls and other structures.
93.4
His knees and elbows are in the directions of Wind and Fire; / his feet are together in the ancestral [south-west] direction, his head is in the Rudra [north-east] direction, and his folded hands are upon his heart.
93.5
Mounted upon his body, the deities are worshipped and bestow auspiciousness. / There, the eight corner lords are stationed in the eight half-corners.
93.6
Marīci and the others occupy six squares in regular order in the directions beginning with the east. / In the middle is Brahmā, occupying four squares; the remaining deities are traditionally known to occupy one square each.
93.7
At the intersection of all the subtle channels lies the fruit born of the major vital points: / the trident, the svastika, the thunderbolt, the two major svastika-boxes,
93.8
the three-roomed structure, the wrist, and the fully purified square. / Thus one should avoid these twelve vital points of the site architecture deity when erecting walls and other structures.
93.9
One should offer unbroken grains with clarified butter to Īśa, lotus-water to Parjanya, / and a banner gleaming with saffron to Jayanta;
93.10
jewel-water to Mahendra, a smoky canopy to the Sun, / wheat cooked with clarified butter to Satya, and boiled rice with clarified butter to Bhṛśa;
93.11
meatless offerings and vinegar to Antarīkṣa. These are for those in the east. / One should offer a ladle full of honey, milk, and clarified butter to Fire;
93.12
one should present parched grain and water filled with gold to Vitatha;
93.12.p1
[Gap in text]
93.12.p2
1. [Variant:] “with contracted hands” in manuscript gha.
93.12.p3
2. [Variant:] The two verses beginning with “kuryāt” and ending with “muttānamasurākṛtim” are missing in manuscript ga.
93.12.p4
3. [Variant:] “stationed in the half-corners” in manuscript gha.
93.12.p5
4. [Variant:] “pādikāḥ” in manuscript kha.
93.12.p6
5. [Variant:] “a fist, a mouth” in manuscript kha.
93.12.p7
6. [Variant:] “trikoṣṭham” in manuscript ga.
93.12.p8
7. [Variant:] The half-verse beginning with “dadīta” is missing in manuscript ga.
93.12_2
one should give honey to Gṛhakṣata, and meat-rice to Yamarāja;
93.13
perfume to the lord of Gandharvas, the tongue of a bird to Bhṛṅga, / and lotus petals to Mṛga. Thus are the eight deities in the south.
93.14
One should offer water with sesamum seeds to the Ancestor, and milk and a tree-twig tooth-cleaner / to the deity Dauvārika with the cow gesture.
93.15
One should assign cakes to Sugrīva, darbhā-grass to Puṣpadanta, / a red lotus to Pracetas, and liquor and distilled spirits to Asura;
93.16
clarified butter and jaggery-rice to Śeṣa, and flatbreads cooked in clarified butter to Roga, / or parched grain. Thus are declared the eight deities in the western direction.
93.17
To Māruta, a yellow banner; to Nāga, nāgakeśara flowers; / to Mukhya, cooked savouries; to Bhallāṭa, well-prepared mung-bean soup;
93.18
to Soma, sweet milk-rice with clarified butter; to the sage, one should assign water-lily roots; / sweet pastries to Aditi, and a city-offering to Diti. Thus are the eight deities of the north.
93.19
One should offer sweet dumplings to Marīci, who occupies six squares to the east of Brahmā; / red flowers to Savitṛ in the square below the fire corner;
93.20
and in the square below that, one should give water with kuśa-grass to Sāvitrī; / in the south, red sandalwood to Vivasvat, who occupies six squares;
93.21
rice cooked with turmeric to Indra in the square below the demon [south-west] corner;
93.21.p1
[Gap in text]
93.21.p2
1. [Variant:] “terrific offering in Bhūtakṣaya” in manuscripts kha and cha; “honey in Gṛhakṛta” in manuscript gha.
93.21.p3
2. [Variant:] “fruit-rice” in manuscripts kha and gha.
93.21.p4
3. [Variant:] “barley leaves” in manuscript gha; “lotus-coloured” in manuscripts kha and cha.
93.21.p5
4. [Variant:] “thus the eight deities in the south” in manuscript kha.
93.21.p6
5. [Variant:] “with the Aghamudrā” in manuscript kha; “with the Vanamudrā” in manuscripts gha and cha.
93.21.p7
6. [Variant:] “a lotus to Sambara” in manuscript gha.
93.21.p8
7. [Variant:] “śālūkaṃ śṛṇaye” in manuscripts kha and cha.
93.21.p9
8. [Variant:] “the lower eight deities” in manuscript ga.
93.21.p10
9. [Variant:] “and kuśa-water to Savitṛ” in manuscript ga.
93.21.p11
10. [Variant:] “sandalwood to Sāvitrī” in manuscript ga.
93.21_2
one should present mixed rice to Indrajaya beneath Indra;
93.22
in the western direction, boiled rice mixed with jaggery to Mitra seated on six squares; / rice cooked with clarified butter to Rudra in the square below the wind corner;
93.23
beneath that, deer meat to Rudradāsa; then in the north, / one should give an offering of black gram to Dharādhara, who is stationed on six squares;
93.24
to Āpa beneath the Śiva corner, and to his son in that same place, / one should duly worship and give curd and milk in succession.
93.25
To Brahmā, who is seated on four squares in the central region, / one should present boiled sacrificial rice mixed with clarified butter, accompanied by the five products of the cow and unbroken grains.
93.26
Then, in succession, in the corners from the north-east to the north-west, / outside the site architecture area, one should worship the four goddesses beginning with Carakī accordingly:
93.27
meat with clarified butter to Carakī; curd and lotus flowers to Vidārī; / flesh, bile, and blood to Pūtanā;
93.28
bones, blood, bile, and flesh to Pāparākṣasī. / Then, in the east, one should present black gram cooked with rice to Skanda.
93.29
To Aryaman in the southern quarter [one should offer] cakes mixed with rice cooked with sesame and pulses, / and to Jambhaka in the western quarter, meat accompanied by blood.
93.30
In the northern quarter, to Pilipiñja, red rice and flowers. / Or one may worship the entire site architecture with kuśa grass, curd, unbroken rice grains, and water.
93.30.p1
[Notes]
93.30.p2
1 kha, cha, and ca read māṃsanaivedyam.
93.30.p3
2 gha reads varādhare.
93.30.p4
3 kha reads āpavatsacatuṣṭaye; gha and ja read tadvatsāyai ca tattale.
93.30.p5
4 ṅa and cha read vārāhyai.
93.30.p6
5 kha and cha read vipace.
93.30.p7
6 kha, gha, and cha read tato māṃsaudanam.
93.30.p8
7 cha reads kumbhakāya.
93.30.p9
8 ṅa reads pilipicchāya; cha reads lipipiñjāya. / [Page 298]
93.31
In a house and in a city and the like, one should worship with eighty-one squares. / Cords should be made of three squares [in length], and six squares in the corner-spaces.
93.32
In it, [deities] beginning with Īśa occupy one square; those beginning with Nāga occupy two compartments. / Those beginning with Marīci stand in six squares; Brahmā is traditionally known to have nine squares.
93.33
In a city, village, market-town, and the like, the site architecture may also have a hundred squares. / The pair of bamboo axes going through the corners is always invincible and difficult to support.
93.34
As ritual deposition is performed in a temple, so it is beneficially done on [a site of] a hundred squares. / The planets, Skanda, and others there are known indeed to occupy six squares.
93.35
Carakī and the others have five squares; the cords, bamboos, and so forth are as before. / In laying out a territory, the site architecture should consist of one hundred and thirty-four [squares].
93.36
Brahmā occupies sixty-four squares, and the deities beginning with Marīci / occupy fifty-four squares; the eight beginning with Āpa [occupy] thirty-six squares.
93.37
Those beginning with Īśāna have nine squares; those beginning with Skanda are remembered as occupying one square. / Those beginning with Carakī are likewise; the cords, bamboos, and the rest are as before.
93.38
Site architecture on a maṇḍala is known by squares through a thousand bamboo lines; / one who knows the site architecture of a territory must perform a ninefold ritual deposition there.
93.39
The site architecture of thirty-five squares is taught as named Vaitāla on a funeral pyre; / another site architecture has nine squares, and yet another has sixteen squares.
93.40
In the middle of a hexagon, triangle, circle, and the like, there should be a square.
93.40.p1
[Notes]
93.40.p2
1 kha and cha read nāgādyāścārdhakoṣṭagāḥ.
93.40.p3
2 ga reads śatapade 'pi.
93.40.p4
3 kha, ga, gha, ṅa, and cha read daśamaṃ sthāpane.
93.40.p5
4 ga reads caturviṃśacchataṃ.
93.40.p6
5 gha reads catuḥṣaṣṭipade.
93.40.p7
6 gha reads īśānādyāḥ śivapadā skandādyāḥ padikā.
93.40.p8
7 Manuscript gha contains the additional reading samañca sthāpane vāstuś catustriṃśacchataṃ bhavet. The reading from catuḥṣaṣṭipado brahmā up to rajjuvaṃśādi pūrvavat is absent in manuscript ga. / [Page 299]
93.40_2
When the foundation trench of the site architecture is level on the surface, at the time of ritual deposition consisting of the foundation stone of Brahmā,
93.41
and at the erection of the doorframe, as well as at the installation of the image, / one should present an offering of milk-rice to all [the deities].
93.42
Whether prescribed or unprescribed, the site architecture is five cubits in measure; / the site architecture proportioned to the house or temple is always supreme.
93.42.p1
Thus ends the ninety-third chapter, entitled “The Teaching on the Worship of the Site Architecture,” in the glorious and great Agni Purāṇa.
93.42.p3
Now, the ninety-fourth chapter.
93.42.p4
The Procedure for the Laying of the Foundation Stone
Other recensions (1)
- Agnipurāṇa (Nag Publishers edition, Delhi) — Sanskrit
Linked texts (1)
- Agnipurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit