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Garudapurana 1.106

English (machine translation) 1.106

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1.106.1

The glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa — 106.
Yājñavalkya said:
I shall explain impurity caused by death; listen to that, you who are firm in your observances!
One should bury a child under two years of age and should not offer water for it thereafter.

1.106.2

Having followed him to the cremation ground together with other kinsmen,
he is to be burned with ordinary fire by those muttering the hymn to Yama and other muttering prayers,

1.106.3

if he has undergone initiation, in the manner of an consecrated fire-keeper according to ritual need.
From the seventh or the tenth [day], the kinsmen go to the water.

1.106.4

Facing the direction of the ancestors, [they chant] with this [hymn]: 'May our sin burn away...'
Such are the water rituals for maternal grandfathers, teachers, and their wives.

1.106.5

Sons, friends, sister's sons, fathers-in-law, and sacrificial priests offer water at will;
restraining their speech, they pour water once, naming the name and clan.

1.106.6

They should not perform water rituals for heretics or outcasts,
nor for non-celibates, vrātyas, and promiscuous women.

1.106.7

Women who drink liquor or commit suicide are not entitled to impurity or water rituals.
Therefore, one should not weep, for the condition of the living being is impermanent.

1.106.8

The rites should be performed according to one's ability, and then he should go towards his houses.
Biting neem leaves, restrained, at the door of the house,

1.106.9

having sipped water, they should slowly step on a stone and enter
after touching fire, water, cow-dung, and white mustard seeds.

1.106.10

The act of entering and the rest applies even after touching a corpse;
for onlookers, purity is immediate; for others, it comes from bathing and restraint.

1.106.11

Eating food that is purchased or obtained without asking, they should sleep on the ground, separately.
Food prepared as an offering of rice balls should be given to the deceased for three days.

1.106.12

Water should be kept suspended in the open air for one day, and milk in an earthen vessel.
The domestic and Śrauta fire-worship and rites enjoined by the Veda should be performed.

1.106.13

[For a child who dies] before teething, [purification is] immediate; up to the tonsure, it is recorded as one night;
up to the investiture with the sacred thread, three nights; thereafter, ten nights.

1.106.14

Impurity due to death is declared to be three nights or ten nights.
When a child is under two years of age, [it lasts for] both; birth impurity, however, is only for the mother.

1.106.15

If a birth or death occurs in the intervening period, one is purified by the remaining days; / [the periods are] ten, twelve, and likewise fifteen [days] for the castes,

1.106.16

and likewise thirty days for the death-impurity. / But one day is the purification in the case of unmarried maidens and young children.

1.106.17

In the case of a teacher, a pupil, a learned teacher, a maternal uncle, and a Śrotriya, / in the case of sons not born of one’s own body, and wives who have gone to another,

1.106.18

and likewise for the king of one's dwelling-place, that day is the cause of purification. / Immediate [purification is ordained] for those slain by a king, a cow, or a brāhmaṇa, and for suicides;

1.106.19

and for those killed by poison and the like; there is no impurity for an earthly ruler, / nor likewise for those performing a sacrificial session, vow-holders, celibate students, generous givers, and knowers of Brahman.

1.106.20

In the case of giving a gift, a marriage, a sacrifice, a battle, an upheaval in the land, / and even in a severe calamity, immediate purification is prescribed.

1.106.21

Time, fire, action, earth, wind, the mind, knowledge, austerity, recitation, / repentance, and fasting are causes of purification for all.

1.106.22

Giving a gift brings purification to those who have done what should not be done, and the current of a river [brings purification]. / A twice-born in distress may live by the occupation of a kṣatriya or of vaiśyas.

1.106.23

Fruit, soma, linen, herbs, curd, milk, clarified butter, water, / sesame-cooked rice, juices, salt, honey, lac, boiled oblations,

1.106.24

cloth, stone, spirituous liquor, flowers, vegetables, earth, leather shoes, / deer-skin, silk, salt, meat,

1.106.25

oil-cake, roots, and perfumes—he following the livelihood of a vaiśya should not sell [these]. / For religious duty, sesame seeds equal in measure may be exchanged for grain.

1.106.26

A twice-born man fallen into distress should not sell salt and such things. / A brāhmaṇa receiving from an inferior is not tainted, just like the sun.

1.106.27

He may do agriculture and the like; similarly, horses are not to be sold. / Seeing one who has remained hungry for three days and is devoid of a livelihood, / the king should provide a righteous livelihood for the brāhmaṇa and others.

1.106.27.p1

Thus ends the one hundred and sixth chapter, entitled 'Determination of Impurity and Livelihoods in Distress as Declared by Yājñavalkya', in the Ācārakāṇḍa, belonging to the first part of the Pūrvakhaṇḍa in the glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa.

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