Garudapurana 2.44
English (machine translation) 2.44
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- 2.44.29 — 1 part
2.44.1
Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa—Chapter 44
Śrī Viṣṇu said:
Death by one's own will, O Tārkṣya, or by horned animals, fanged beasts, reptiles, / Cāṇḍālas and the like, by suicides, or by poisons, blows, and the like,
2.44.2
or by water, fire, a fall, winds, starvation, and the like— / those whose death occurs in these ways are declared to be evil-doers.
2.44.3
Likewise heretics, those belonging to no stage of life, perpetrators of heinous sins, / unchaste women, and those who have fallen from asceticism—
2.44.4
for them there is no new funeral rite, no cremation rite, no Sapiṇḍana rite; / and the sixteen funeral rites that are prescribed do not take place for them either.
2.44.5
Whatever [sacrificial] fee [remains] should be thrown into water, and the household fire at a crossroads; / one should burn the vessels in the fire when an evil-doer who maintained the sacred fire [dies].
2.44.6
When a full year has passed, this should be done for them by compassionate persons: / on reaching the eleventh lunar day in the bright fortnight, O Kaśyapa,
2.44.7
having worshiped Viṣṇu and Yama with perfume, flowers, unbroken rice grains, and the like, / [one should prepare] ten rice balls smeared with ghee and mixed with honey upon darbha grass.
2.44.8
Wearing the sacred thread, with sesame seeds, meditating upon Viṣṇu and Yama, / facing the south, in silence, he should offer them one by one.
2.44.9
Having gathered and mixed them afterward, he should cast them into the waters at a sacred bathing place; / while casting them, he should utter the name and clan name of the deceased.
2.44.10
Again he should worship Viṣṇu and Yama with flowers and sandalwood paste, / with incense, lamps, and food offerings accompanied by eatables and delicacies.
2.44.11
He should fast on that day and invite Brāhmaṇas / endowed with good family, learning, and asceticism, and endowed with virtuous conduct,
2.44.12
nine, seven, or five, according to his own means. / On the next day, at midday, he should worship Yama and Viṣṇu in the same manner.
2.44.13
He should seat those Brāhmaṇas properly, facing the north; / in invoking, offering the guest-water, and the like, [he should meditate on] Viṣṇu together with Yama.
2.44.14
Wearing the sacred thread over the right shoulder, he should pronounce the name of the departed spirit; / remembering the departed spirit, Yama, and Viṣṇu, he should complete the śrāddha.
2.44.15
He should also take out [rice balls] for all the others to offer rice balls; / or he should give ten rice balls separately, or five in proper sequence.
2.44.16
He should give the first to Viṣṇu, to Brahmā, and to Śiva, / then to Śiva with his attendants, and the fifth to the departed spirit.
2.44.17
He should recall his name and clan name, and pronounce the word 'Viṣṇu'; / bowing with his head lowered, he should take up the fifth rice ball.
2.44.18
By giving a cow, land, rice balls, and the like according to his means, and remembering that departed spirit, / [he should place] sesame seeds into the hands of the Brāhmaṇas that hold darbha grass.
2.44.19
He should give food to the twice-born, as well as betel and the priestly gift; / in this manner he should worship the most eminent Brāhmaṇa with gold.
2.44.20
Remembering the name and clan name, he should give, saying: 'May Viṣṇu be pleased!' / Then, after escorting the twice-born, having poured out water, facing the south,
2.44.21
proclaiming the name and clan name, he should throw [water] on the ground, saying: 'May he be pleased!' / Restraining his speech, he should eat the remainder together with friends and kin. / Every year and on other occasions it should be performed according to the rule for a single deceased ancestor.
2.44.22
When this is done, evil-doers will go to heaven; / and when the Sapiṇḍīkaraṇa and other rites are performed, they surely attain it.
2.44.23
Now, if someone dies through negligence by water and the like, / the head of the family should perform everything for him according to the ordinance.
2.44.24
A mortal should not approach a serpent intentionally out of carelessness. / In both fortnights, on the fifth lunar days, one should worship the serpent.
2.44.25
He should make an outline of the serpents out of flour upon the ground; / he should worship it with white fragrant flowers and sandalwood paste.
2.44.26
He should offer incense and a lamp, and scatter white husked rice; / likewise he should offer raw flour, cooked rice, and milk.
2.44.27
Approaching, he should speak thus, presenting seals and garments; / on that day he should eat sweet food and conclude the śrāddha to the deities.
2.44.28
Then, according to his means, he should give a golden serpent to an excellent twice-born; / having given a cow, he should then say: 'May the king of serpents be pleased!'
2.44.29
According to his means, he should perform the other rites as before; / according to the rite prescribed in his own Vedic branch, he should do this properly. / He should deliver them from the state of a departed spirit and lead them to the path of heaven.
2.44.29.p1
Thus ends the forty-fourth chapter, entitled 'Determination of Rites to Be Performed and Not Performed in Unnatural Death', in the Pretakalpa of the Dharmakāṇḍa, belonging to the second part of the glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa, in the dialogue between Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Garuḍa.
Linked texts (1)
- Garuḍapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit