Matsyapurana 83
English (machine translation) 83
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83.1
Nārada said: / O Blessed One, I wish to hear the supreme majesty of gift-giving, / which is imperishable in the next world and worshipped by hosts of divine sages.
83.2
The Lord of Umā said: / I shall declare the gift of Meru in ten ways, O best of sages, / by the giving of which a person attains realms honoured by the gods.
83.3
Not in the Purāṇas, Vedas, sacrifices, or temples / does one obtain that fruit when studied or performed here, which one enjoys [by this].
83.4
Therefore I shall declare the procedure for the mountains in order: / the first is the grain-mountain, the second the salt-mountain;
83.5
the third is the jaggery-mountain, and the fourth the golden mountain; / the fifth is the sesame-mountain, the sixth the cotton-mountain;
83.6
the seventh is the ghee-mountain, the eighth likewise the jewel-mountain; / likewise the ninth is the silver one, and the tenth is the sugar-mountain.
83.7
I shall declare the procedure for these properly, in sequence: / at the solstices, the holy equinoxes, the vyatīpāta yoga, on the day of omission,
83.8
on the third day of the bright fortnight, during an eclipse, on the new-moon day, / at marriages, festivals, and sacrifices, or again on the twelfth day.
83.9
Or on the bright fifteenth day, or under an auspicious lunar mansion, according to the rule, / the mountain of grain and the others should be given according to the treatises by one who knows.
83.10
At sacred bathing places, temples, cow-pens, or the courtyard of a house, / he should construct with devotion a square pavilion facing north, / sloping towards the north-east, and likewise facing east, according to the rule.
83.11
Having smeared the ground with cow-dung and spread kuśa grass upon it, / in its center he should make a mountain together with its buttress mountains.
83.12
Here, a mountain [made] of a thousand droṇas of grain would be the best; / the middling one consists of five hundred, and the lowest would be of three hundred.
83.13
In the center should be Meru made of great unhusked rice, provided with three golden trees; / on the east, endowed with pearls and diamonds; on the south, with hessonites and topazes;
83.14
and on the west, with emeralds and sapphires; on the north, with cat's-eyes and rubies; / surrounded on all sides by pieces of sandalwood, corals, and creepers, its surface of rocks should be mother-of-pearl.
83.15
Brahmā, the lord Viṣṇu, the foe of Tripura, and the sun should also be golden here; / free from envy, he should have them placed on the summit, accompanied by numerous hosts of twice-borns.
83.16
And there should be four silver peaks, and it should also be of silver in the slopes; / likewise, its caves covered with sugarcane and bamboos, and with torrents of ghee for water in the directions.
83.17
White cloths should be a row of clouds on the east, and yellow on the south; / cloths on the west, then variegated ones, and red ones on the north, as a line of clouds.
83.18
Having thus installed the eight world-guardians made of silver, headed by Mahendra, in order, / there should be an array of various fruits all around, and charming garlands and unguents.
83.19
And overhead, a five-colored canopy, adorned with unfading flowers, and white; / having thus set up the foremost immortal mountain, then the buttress mountains of Meru in order,
83.20
he should install them in the four directions with a fourth of the portion, rich in flowers and unguents: / on the east, Mandara, endowed with an array of many fruits, barley, and the tokens of a golden Kadamba tree;
83.21
shining with a golden Kāma, he should fashion it rich in flowers, garments, and unguents, / and likewise shining with the milk lake Aruṇoda and a silver forest fashioned with Śakti.
83.22
On the south, Gandhamādana should be set up, made of a heap of wheat, endowed with silver; / it should be accompanied by the golden lord of sacrifice, the ghee lake Mānasa, garments, and a silver forest.
83.23
On the west, he should fashion a sesame mountain endowed with many fragrant flowers, a golden Aśvattha tree, and a golden swan; / likewise with a silver flower-forest, endowed with garments, and the white curd lake Śītoda in front.
83.24
Having installed that mountain Vipula, then on the north the mountain Supārśva also, made of māṣa beans and good garments, / having a golden banyan tree as its crest with flowers, he should fashion it shining with a golden cow,
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accompanied likewise by the honey lake Bhadra and a radiant silver forest; / then a fire offering [is performed] by four foremost twice-borns, knowers of the Vedas and Purāṇas, / self-controlled, of blameless conduct and appearance.
83.26
Having made here on the east a sacrificial pit measuring a cubit, it should be performed with sesame, barley, ghee, fuel sticks, and kuśa grass; / and at night, a vigil with gentle songs and musical instruments. I shall now declare the invocation of the mountains:
83.27
“O mountain of immortals, treasure of the dwellings of all the host of gods, quickly destroy whatever is contrary in our homes! / Provide welfare, bestow the highest peace upon us, for you have been worshipped by me with supreme devotion!
83.28
You alone are the blessed Lord, Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and the sun, / the seed beyond the formed and the unformed; therefore protect [us], O eternal one!
83.29
Since you are the abode of the world-guardians, of the universal form, / and of the Rudras, Ādityas, and Vasus, therefore grant me peace!
83.30
Since you are never empty of immortals, women, and Śiva, / therefore deliver me from the ocean of worldly existence, which is full of endless sorrow!”
83.31
Having thus worshipped that Meru, he should also worship Mandara: / “Since by Caitraratha and by Bhadrāśva as a region
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you shine, O Mandara, quickly become a giver of satisfaction! / Since you are the crest-jewel in Jambūdvīpa, O Gandhamādana,
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and possess the beauty of the Gandharva forest, therefore let my fame be firm! / Since by Ketumāla and by the Vaibhrāja forest
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you have a golden Aśvattha tree on your peak, therefore let my nourishment be steadfast! / Since by the Northern Kurus and by the Sāvitra forest
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you ever shine, O Supārśva, therefore let my prosperity be undecaying!” / Having thus addressed all of them, again in the clear morning,
83.36
having bathed, he should give the middle, best mountain to the preceptor; / he should give the buttress mountains in order to the officiating priests, O sage.
83.37
And he should give twenty-four cows, or ten, O Nārada, / or nine, seven, eight, or if incapable, he should give five.
83.38
Even a single brown cow yielding milk should be given to the preceptor; / this alone is remembered as the rule for all the mountains.
83.39
The mantras are the very same in the worship, and the very same utensils are considered / for the planets, the world-guardians, and Brahmā and the others at all times.
83.40
The fire offering in the case of all the mountains is recited with its own mantra; / he should constantly observe a fast, or if incapable, a night meal is prescribed.
83.41
Hear in order, O Nārada, the rule of all the mountains, / the mantras at the time of giving, and the fruit in the case of the mountains:
83.42
“Since food is declared to be Brahman, in food the vital breaths are established; / from food all beings arise, and the world is sustained by food;
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therefore food alone is Lakṣmī, food alone is Janārdana; / in the form of a mountain of grain, protect [me] therefore, O best of mountains!”
83.44
He who gives a mountain of grain according to this rule / is honored in the realm of the gods for fully a hundred cosmic epochs of Manu.
83.45
In a radiant aerial car filled with crowds of Apsarases and Gandharvas, / attended [by them], he comes to the surface of heaven; / when the merit is exhausted, he attains kingship here without doubt.
Translations (1)
- The Matsya Puranam — A Taluqdar of Oudh 1916, English
Linked texts (1)
- Matsyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit