Markandeyapurana 30
English (machine translation) 30
- Language
- English
Contents
30.1
Hear, my son, what duties of the householder are constant,
what are occasional, and what are both constant and occasional!
30.2
The regular duty, resting on the five sacrifices, is that which has been told to you; / and the occasional duty is likewise different, [such as] the rites of the birth of a son and the like.
30.3
The regular-occasional [duty] is to be understood by the wise as the new-and-full-moon śrāddhas and the like. / Among them, I will declare to you the occasional śrāddha [performed for] prosperity,
30.4
which is to be performed by men at the birth of a son, identical to the birth-rites, / and is to be performed at marriage and the like—all properly prescribed in due order.
30.5
And here the ancestors known as the Nāndīmukhas are to be worshipped; / and one should offer rice balls mixed with curds and accompanied by barley.
30.6
Facing north or facing east, the sacrificer, concentrated in mind; / some people desire that [rite] to be devoid of the Vaiśvadeva [offering].
30.6.p1
And an even number of twice-born men are to be employed here, and they are to be honoured moving to the right.
30.7
This is the occasional [rite] at times of prosperity; and likewise there is another, the post-mortem rite.
30.8
And on the day of death, the single-ancestor śrāddha is to be performed; hear that! / It is to be performed without the gods, and likewise with only a single purifying strainer [of kuśa grass].
30.9
No invocation is to be made, and it is devoid of the offering into fire; / and one should offer a single rice ball for the departed near the leftover food.
30.10
And water with sesame seeds, turned to the right side, accompanied by the utterance of his name; / in place of [the formula] 'May it be imperishable for so-and-so!', at the dismissal of the brahmins,
30.11
he should say: 'May you be pleased!' They should say: 'We are pleased indeed.' / This should be performed by men every month for up to a year.
30.12
Then, when a full year is completed, or whenever it is performed by men, / the rite of uniting with the ancestors is to be performed; its rule is also declared:
30.13
That too is devoid of the gods, with a single water offering and a single purifying strainer; / there is no offering into fire there, and it is devoid of invocation.
30.14
And there too, with [the sacred thread] over the right side, one should feed an uneven number of twice-born men. / And there is another distinction there, surpassing the monthly rite;
30.15
Hear that, single-minded, as it is told by me as I speak: / there, four vessels containing sesame, fragrant substances, and water,
30.16
he should prepare—a triad for the ancestors, and one for the departed, O son. / And he should pour the vessel for the departed into the three vessels as the guest-water,
30.17
chanting: 'Those who are equal...', and perform the rest as before. / For women also, this single-ancestor śrāddha is declared in the very same way.
30.18
In the absence of a son, the rite of uniting with the ancestors does not exist for them; / a single-ancestor śrāddha is to be performed by men every year for a woman,
30.19
on the day of death, according to rule, just as has been declared here for men. / In the absence of a son, the sapindas [shall perform it]; in their absence, the sahodakas;
30.20
and whoever are the sapindas of the mother, and whoever are the sahodakas of the mother, / should properly perform this rite; [or] the daughter's son of a man without a son.
30.21
The sons of an appointed daughter should perform it thus for their maternal grandfather; / and those designated as sons of two fathers should honour maternal and paternal grandfathers
30.22
according to rule, through occasional śrāddhas as well. / In the absence of everyone, women should perform it for their husbands without mantras.
30.23
And in their absence, the king should cause all the rites, beginning with cremation, / to be properly performed by men of his own family or of the same caste,
30.24
since the king is the kinsman of all varnas whatsoever. / These, child, have been told to you: the regular-occasional [duties].
30.25
Hear another regular-occasional rite based on the śrāddha: / the new moon, a time consisting of the waning of the moon, is the occasion there; / then, the fixed time indicates its regular character.
30.25.p1
Thus ends the thirtieth chapter in the venerable Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, in the instruction of Alarka, entitled 'The Procedure for Occasional and Other Śrāddhas'.
30.25.p2
Thirty-first chapter.
30.25.p3
Madālasā said:
Translations (1)
- The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa — Frederick Eden Pargiter 1888, English
Linked texts (1)
- Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit