Markandeyapurana 35
English (machine translation) 35
- Language
- English
Contents
35.1
Hear now from me regarding the remedy for what is to be avoided and not avoided: / Food that is stale, [yet] cooked with fat and kept for a long time, may be eaten;
35.1.p1
and also preparations of wheat, barley, and cow's milk made without fat.
35.2
The hare, the tortoise, the monitor lizard, the porcupine, and the rhinoceros, O son,
35.3
these are indeed edible; likewise, the domestic pig and cock are to be avoided. / And the remainder of offerings to ancestors, gods, and the like, [eaten] at a śrāddha at the desire of brahmins,
35.4
or sprinkled with water, or for medicine—eating such meat brings no taint. / For conch shells, stones, gold, silver, ropes, and garments,
35.5
for vegetables, roots, and fruits, likewise for split bamboos and hides, / for gems, diamonds, and corals, and likewise for pearls,
35.6
and for the limbs of men, purification is prescribed with water. / Just as iron objects are cleaned with water and by scouring with a stone,
35.7
so the purification of vessels smeared with fat is with hot water. / For winnowing baskets, grain, deer-skins, and a pestle and mortar,
35.8
and for bundles of cloth and heaps [of grain], [purification is] by sprinkling; / for all bark garments, purification with water and earth is prescribed.
35.9
For grass, firewood, and herbs, purification is prescribed by sprinkling; / and the purity of all woolens and hair [garments],
35.10
when they have suffered defilement, is always effected, O dear child, / with a paste of white mustard or a paste of sesame seeds together with water.
35.11
Likewise, the purification of cotton garments is with water and ashes; / of wood, ivory, bone, and horn, purification is prescribed by scraping.
35.12
The purity of earthen vessels is by refiring. / Pure are alms, the hand of an artisan, articles for sale, and the mouth of a woman;
35.13
what is found on a road, what is of unknown origin, what is fetched by servants and the like, / what is commended by word, what is long past, what has undergone many intermediaries, what is light,
35.14
what is abundant, and the actions of a child, the aged, or the sick; / workshops, charcoal sheds, and women nursing infant children [are also pure].
35.15
And pure likewise is flowing water that is free of odor and bubbles. / The ground is purified by time, by burning, sweeping, and the treading of cattle;
35.16
by plastering, scraping, sprinkling, and sweeping and washing the house. / And when [food] is contaminated by hair or insects, smelled by a cow, or touched by flies,
35.17
it should be sprinkled, dear child, with earth, water, and ashes for purification. / [Vessels] of copper [are purified] by acid, of tin and lead by alkaline ashes,
35.18
and of bell-metal by ashes and water; of liquid, by skimming. / Of an object smeared with impure matter, [purification is] by earth and water and the removal of the smell,
35.19
and of other things, by those substances along with the removal of color and smell. / Water resting on the earth in its natural state, which satisfies cows, is pure;
35.20
and likewise meat brought down by Caṇḍālas, carnivorous beasts, and the like. / And cloth and other things lying in the street, dear child, are considered pure by the wind.
35.21
Dust, fire, a horse, a cow, shade, rays of light, wind, the earth, / drops of water, flies, and the like are not defiled by contact with the impure.
35.22
The goat and the horse are pure at the mouth, but not the cow; and the mouth of the calf [is pure]. / The mother's breast-flow is pure, [and so is] a bird when making fruit drop.
35.23
A seat, a bed, a vehicle, boats, grass on the road— / these are purified like merchandise by the rays of the moon and the sun, and by the wind.
35.24
After walking in a street, bathing, sneezing, drinking, and feeling faint, / one should sip water according to rule, and [also] after changing one's garment.
35.25
The purity of the mud and water of cross-streets, and of structures made of baked bricks, / even when touched without direct contact, [comes] from connection with the wind.
35.26
When a large quantity of food is defiled, one should remove and discard the upper portion; / one should sprinkle the remainder [with water], having sipped water, and likewise [cleanse it] with earth.
35.27
A three-night fast must be observed by one who eats defiled food unwittingly; / but if done knowingly, [purification is attained] by expiating that offense.
35.28
Having touched a menstruating woman, a dog, a jackal, or the like, a woman in childbed, or an outcaste, / or likewise corpse-bearers, one should bathe for purification.
35.29
Having touched a human bone containing fat, a man is purified by bathing; / but if it is without fat, [he is purified] merely by sipping water, touching a cow, or looking at the sun.
35.30
Likewise, one should not step over blood, spit, and cosmetic ointments; / nor should a wise man ever stay in a park or similar places at twilight.
35.31
And one should not converse with a woman who is hated by the people or who has lost her husband and sons. / One should cast leftovers, feces, urine, and foot-washing water far out of the house.
35.32
Without lifting out five lumps [of earth], one should not bathe in another's water; / one should bathe in reservoirs dug by gods, and in the Gaṅgā, lakes, and rivers.
35.33
Having made contact or conversed with revilers of the gods, the ancestors, the true scriptures, / sacrifices, mantras, and the like, one is purified by gazing at the sun.
35.34
Likewise, having looked upon a menstruating woman, a person of the lowest caste, an outcaste, a corpse, / a heretic, a woman in childbed, a eunuch, a naked person, an outcaste,
35.35
or those who have performed a funeral, and those who take pleasure in another's wife, / this very act must be done by the wise for their own purification.
35.36
A woman in childbed, a eunuch, a cat, a mouse, a dog, a cock, / one whose food is forbidden, an outcaste, a piercer, a Caṇḍāla, and corpse-bearers—
35.37
having touched [any of these], a knower of dharma is purified by bathing; [so also for] a menstruating woman, village pigs, / and likewise two men defiled by the impurity of childbirth.
35.38
He whose daily obligatory rite in the house is neglected day by day, / and he who is abandoned by brahmins, is a sinner, the lowest of men.
35.39
One should never neglect the obligatory rite; / its omission results in bondage, except during times of death and birth.
35.40
A brahmin shall remain for ten days free from gift-giving, burnt offerings, and the like; / a kṣatriya for twelve days, and a vaiśya for half a month;
35.41
a śūdra, however, shall remain for a month, desisting from his own rites. / After that, all of them may perform their own rite as prescribed.
35.42
Water must be offered to the deceased by the kinsmen outside after burning [the body], / on the first day, the fourth, the seventh, and likewise on the ninth.
35.43
The gathering of the ashes and bones is to be done on the fourth day by the kinsmen; / after that collection, the touching of their limbs is permitted.
35.44
All rites are to be performed by the distant kinsmen after the gathering [of bones]; / touching [is allowed] only for the near kinsmen, and likewise on the day of death for both.
35.45
When death occurs through one single asterism, or by weapons, water, hanging, or fire, / or by poison, falling from a precipice, or the like, or for those who fast to death,
35.46
or in the case of a child, one who dies in another country, or an ascetic who has died, / purification is immediate; or else an impurity of three days is declared by others.
35.47
If among sapinda-kinsmen another sapinda dies while [an impurity] is underway, / the rites are to be performed within the days declared for the prior impurity.
35.48
This very rule is recognized in the impurity arising from childbirth / for sapinda-kinsmen among sapindas, and likewise for sodaka-kinsmen.
35.49
When a son is born, a bath with his clothes on is prescribed for the father; / there too, if another [child] should be born while another [impurity] is present,
35.50
purification there also is declared [to occur] with the days of the earlier birth. / When the days numbering ten, twelve, half a month, and a month have passed,
35.51
all the varṇas should perform their respective rituals according to rule. / Thereafter, the single-ancestor rite should be performed for the deceased,
35.52
and gifts should be given to brahmins by the wise. / Whatever is dearest in the world, and whatever is cherished in the house,
35.53
that very thing should be given to a virtuous person by one who desires it to be imperishable. / When the full days have elapsed, having touched water, a mount, a weapon,
35.54
or a goad and a staff, the varṇas, having completed their rites, / [should perform] livelihood and rituals prescribed by the dharma of their own varṇa.
35.55
Being pure, they should perform all [actions] that grant prosperity here and in the hereafter. / The threefold Veda should be studied constantly; one should become wise;
35.56
wealth should be acquired through dharma, and sacrifice should be made with effort. / And that by doing which one's self feels no disgust, O son,
35.57
that should be done without hesitation, which need not be concealed among great people. / Acting thus, my dear child, a man residing in the house / attains dharma, wealth, and desire, and flourishes here and in the hereafter."
35.57.p1
Thus ends the thirty-fifth chapter, named "What is to be Avoided and What is Not to be Avoided," in the instruction of Alarka in the glorious Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa.
35.57.p2
Thirty-sixth Chapter
Translations (1)
- The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa — Frederick Eden Pargiter 1888, English
Linked texts (1)
- Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit