Garudapurana 2.9

The glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa: Chapter 9.
Garuḍa said: / Up to the first rite has been declared by you, O sinless one, [saying] ‘even a king [may do it]’; / was that first rite ever performed in the past by any king for anyone?

Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: / Listen, O fair-winged one, I shall tell how that rite was performed by a king. / In the Kṛta age there was a king of Vāṅga named Babhruvāhana,

the protector of the four-cornered earth according to dharma, O lord of birds; / that king of the earth enjoyed the entire four-quartered earth.

While he was ruling the kingdom, no one was an evildoer; / there was no fear of thieves, O Tārkṣya, nor indeed any fear of mean [miscreants].

There was also no fear of disease while he was ruler of the land; / [the people] delighted in their own dharma, and he was like the sun in splendour.

In calmness he was like a mountain; in patience, like the earth. / Once, that mighty-armed king, possessing abundant forces and mounts,

surrounded by hundreds of horses, went to a dense forest / with the lion-roars of warriors and the sounds of conches and kettledrums.

There was a loud clamour as that king advanced, / praised on every side in various places by foremost brahmins.

With great delight he set forth into the forest, wishing to kill deer. / As he went, the wise king beheld a forest resembling the Nandana garden,

thronged with bilva, arka, and khadira trees, filled with wood-apple trees, / and bounded on all sides by rugged hills;

waterless, devoid of humans, extending for many leagues, / filled with deer, fierce lions, and other forest-roamers.

That tiger among men, with his servants, army, and mounts, / stirred up that forest in sport, slaying various deer.

Then the king pierced the belly of a certain deer; / pursuing that deer, the king entered deep into the forest.

Alone, his troops left behind, overcome by hunger and thirst, / having reached the edge of the forest, he arrived at a great wilderness.

Seized by great thirst, searching here and there for water, / he came to a lake indicated from afar by the cries of geese and cranes and full of ruddy sheldrakes;

along with his horse, he plunged into it. / Having drunk the pure, cold water, fragrant with the pollen of lotuses / and the dust of blue water-lilies, he came out.

Exhausted by the fatigue of the journey, / seeing a banyan tree like a pavilion on the bank of the pond,

he quickly tied his horse to its aerial roots. / Spreading a bed there and using his shield as a pillow,

fanned by the wind, he then slept there for a moment. / When the king had slept there for a moment, a preta indeed, mounted on a preta,

accompanied by a hundred pretas, then arrived there, / wandering about, his body reduced to mere bones, skin, and veins,

seeking food and drink, finding no firmness anywhere. / Seeing that unprecedented [being], the king fitted an arrow to his bow.

Having also gazed at the king for a long time, he stood before him like a post. / Seeing him standing thus, the king, filled with curiosity,

asked him: ‘Who are you, and whence have you fallen into this deformed state?’ / The preta said: / ‘The state of a preta has been abandoned by me; I have quickly attained the supreme state.

Through contact with you, O mighty-armed one, none is more blessed than I.’ / Babhruvāhana said: / ‘What is this in the dreadful forest, terrifying on all sides,

shaken by the wind in the form of a whirlwind, O ghost? / Moths, gnats, vermin, headless trunks, and heads,

fish, tortoises, chameleons, scorpions, bees, and snakes, / crying out piteously, with their heads down and feet up!

Harsh winds blow, fires of lightning blaze; / heaps of grass seem to whirl here and there driven by the wind.

Various creatures are seen, serpents and swarms of locusts; / manifold shrieks are heard, and [yet] nothing is seen here and there.

Having seen all this monstrosity, my heart trembles.’ / The preta said: / ‘Those who have had no cremation, no śrāddha, no water-rites,

no six rice-balls, no ten bodily parts [formed through rice-balls], and no sapiṇḍīkaraṇa rite; / and those who are betrayers of trust, drinkers of liquor, stealers of gold,

those who have died an unnatural death, and people intent on malice, / those destitute of expiation, and those devoted to intercourse with forbidden women—

driven about here by the deeds done by themselves, / those creatures, finding food and drink hard to obtain, are seen severely afflicted.

Out of compassion, O King, please perform the funeral rites for those / who have no mother, no father, no son, and no relatives.

For them, the king himself should perform the rites, because he is the king. / And an auspicious rite for the next world should be performed by oneself for oneself,

by which one, freed from all sorrows, quickly crosses beyond misfortune. / Whose brothers are they? Whose sons? Even wives are skilled only in their own self-interest.

No trust should be placed in them, since one experiences what is done by oneself. / Wealth turns back at the house, and kinsmen at the cremation ground;

the body takes to the wood [of the pyre]; [only] evil and merit go along with [the soul]. / Therefore, desiring your own welfare, with an impermanent body,

the post-mortem rite should be performed properly by you without delay.’ / The king said: / ‘Emaciated in form, with terrifying eyes, you appear like a preta.

Tell me truly out of affection, O king of pretas!’ / Thus questioned indeed by the king, he told his entire story.

The preta said: / ‘I shall tell you everything from the beginning, O best of kings; / having heard the cause of my ghosthood, you ought to show mercy here.

There is a city named Vaidiśa, which brings all prosperity and joy, / teeming with diverse peoples, filled with various kinds of gems.

filled with various flower gardens and crowded with all kinds of meritorious people. / There I dwelt, O king, constantly devoted to worshiping the gods.

Know me by name as Sudeva, of the vaiśya caste. / The gods were satisfied by me with oblations, and the ancestors with offerings to the ancestors.

And the brahmins were gratified by me with various gifts; / food and entertainment were truly provided well by me.

Much was given by me in many ways to the poor, the helpless, and the distinguished. / All of that has become fruitless, fallen upon me by destiny.

I have no offspring, dear friend, nor a well-wisher, nor relatives, / nor a friend or benefactor such as would perform the funeral rites.

Therefore my ghosthood has become firmly fixed, O best of kings. / The eleventh-day, the three-fortnight, the six-month, and the annual [rites],

and the other monthly ones—thus the sixteen śrāddhas. / He for whom these ghost-śrāddhas are not offered, O king,

his ghosthood remains firmly fixed, even by hundreds of śrāddhas offered [otherwise]. / Knowing this, O great king, rescue me from ghosthood!

The king is said to be the kin of all castes here in this world; / therefore, rescue me, O king of kings! I will give you a precious gem.

Act in such a way, O best of noble kings, that auspiciousness may come to me, / having taken pity on me, O lord and ruler of the earth!

The bull-release was not performed for me by harsh sapinḍas or sagotras; / therefore I have attained this wretched ghosthood.

My body is seized by hunger and thirst, and I obtain neither food nor drink; / hence [arises] this deformity: emaciation and fleshlessness.

Again and again I experience the great suffering born of hunger and thirst. / Inauspicious indeed is ghosthood caused by the absence of the bull-release.

Therefore, O king, ocean of compassion, I pray before you. / The king said: / How are men to know that a ghost exists in their family?

Tell me that, ghost, and also how one is released from ghosthood. / The ghost said: / By signs and by afflictions a ghost must always be inferred by men.

I shall declare those afflictions, O king, that are caused by a ghost on earth: / when women's fertile season becomes fruitless, when lineage does not increase,

and when young children die—that affliction is caused by a ghost. / Sudden loss of livelihood, lack of respect among people,

and sudden house-fire—that affliction is caused by a ghost. / Constant quarrel in one's own house, and false accusations,

the onset of pulmonary consumption and other diseases—that affliction is caused by a ghost. / Even when wealth is abandoned by oneself intentionally on a well-known path,

it is not found and is lost—that affliction is caused by a ghost. / Failure of crops despite good rain, loss of livelihood from commerce,

and a wife being hostile—that affliction is caused by a ghost. / Thus by affliction, O king, knowledge of a ghost may arise for men.

If the bull-release is performed, then one is released from ghosthood. / Therefore, O king, O lord, do you also perform the bull-release in this way,

dedicated to me; even in this matter the king has entitlement out of great compassion. / A certain prince was killed by me, and [the gem] was obtained by me from him.

Having taken it from me, perform the festival of the bull-release with that wealth, / on the full moon of Kārttika, or in the middle of Āśvina, O king,

on a day joined with Revatī; perform for me the bull-release, / having summoned virtuous brahmins and established the fire according to rule.

And an oblation should be made according to rule with the six mantras, O king. / Feed many brahmins with the wealth obtained from that gem; / when this is done, O ruler of the earth, my liberation will come to pass.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: / Saying "So be it," the king then accepted the gem, O bird.

Right to the ritual belongs only to him who takes the wealth. / As the two—the ghost and the ruler of the earth—were conversing thus,

there arose the clanging of bells and the booming of kettle-drums, / and then the king's fourfold army arrived.

As soon as it arrived, the ghost disappeared. / Leaving that forest, the king too returned to his city.

On the full moon of Kārttika, he performed according to rule the bull-release / dedicated to the ghost, with the wealth obtained from that gem.

And this ghost, having immediately obtained a golden body, came at the conclusion of the ritual and bowed to the king; / praising him, "O lord, this is your majesty!", the grateful one went to heaven, O Garuḍa, through the king.

All this has been told to you: how he too was rescued / from ghosthood by the ruler of the earth. What else do you wish to hear?

Thus ends the ninth chapter in the Pretakalpa of the Dharmakāṇḍa, in the second part of the Uttarakhaṇḍa of the glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa, in the dialogue between Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Garuḍa, entitled 'The Explanation of the Bull-Release Ritual and Other Rites Performed by the King.'