Matsyapurana 95

English (machine translation) 95

Language: English

95.1

*Nārada said:* / O Lord, master of past and future, you ought to declare again / that other [teaching] which was heard, fully sufficient for the fruit of enjoyment and liberation.

95.2

Being thus addressed, Śambhu said: 'This [sage] has crossed to the other shore of sacred speech, / equal to me in austerities, O brāhmaṇa, and in extensive knowledge of the Purāṇas and scriptures.'

95.3

This is Dharma in the form of a bull, the leader of the gaṇas named Nandī. / He will declare the rites sacred to Maheśvara, beginning from this [matter], O Nārada."

Matsya said: / Having spoken thus, the god of the gods disappeared right there. / Nārada too, eager to listen, asked Nandikeśvara: / "You have been instructed here by Śiva; tell me the vow dedicated to Maheśvara."

95.5

Nandikeśvara said: / Listen attentively, O brāhmaṇa, I shall declare the vow dedicated to Maheśvara, / known throughout the three worlds by the name Śivacaturdaśī.

95.6

On the thirteenth day of the bright fortnight of the month of Mārgaśīrṣa, eating only one meal, / one should pray to the god of the gods: 'I have taken refuge in you.

95.7

Fasting on the fourteenth day, having properly worshipped Śaṃkara / and given a golden bull, I shall eat on the following day.'

95.8

Having thus made the vow and slept, rising in the morning, a person / who has bathed and muttered [sacred prayers] should then worship Śaṃkara along with Umā / with white lotuses, perfumes, garlands, and ointments.

95.9

The feet with 'Obeisance to Śiva'; the head with 'Obeisance to the Soul of All'; / the eyes with 'To the Three-eyed One'; the forehead with 'Obeisance to Hari';

95.10

the face with 'To the Moon-faced One'; the neck with 'To the Beautiful-throated One'; / the two ears to Sadyojāta; and the two arms to Vāmadeva;

95.11

and one should worship the heart with 'To Aghorahṛdaya'; / the two breasts with 'To Tatpuruṣa'; and likewise the belly to Īśāna;

95.12

and the two flanks to Anantadharma; the hips to Jñānabhūta; / and one should worship the two thighs with 'To Anantavairāgyasiṃha';

95.13

the wise one should worship the two knees to Anantaiśvaryanātha; / the two shanks with 'Obeisance to Pradhāna'; the two ankles with 'Obeisance to Vyomātman';

95.14

the hair and back one should worship to Vyomakeśātmarūpa; / and one should also worship Pārvatī with 'Obeisance to Puṣṭi, obeisance to Tuṣṭi.'

95.15

Then, having a water jar, wearing white garlands and garments, / endowed with the five gems, and provided with various kinds of food, / one should present a golden bull to a brāhmaṇa [with the prayer]:

95.16

'May the god of the gods, Sadyojāta, wielder of the bow Pināka, be pleased here.' / Then, summoning auspicious brāhmaṇas, one should gratify them with devotion, / and, having consumed ghee mixed with curd, one should sleep on the ground facing north.

95.17

And on the fifteenth day, having worshipped the brāhmaṇas, one should eat in silence. / In the same manner, one should perform all this on the fourteenth day of the dark fortnight.

95.18

On all fourteenth days one should perform worship as before. / But hear in order the specifics that occur month by month here:

95.19

In the months beginning with Mārgaśīrṣa, one should utter this in succession: / 'Obeisance to you, O Śaṃkara; obeisance to you, O Karavīraka;

95.20

obeisance to you, O Tryambaka;' after this, 'to Maheśvara'; / 'Obeisance to you, O Mahādeva;' and after that, 'to Sthāṇu';

95.21

'Obeisance, O Paśupati, O Lord; obeisance again to Śambhu; / obeisance to you, O Highest Bliss; obeisance to the Bearer of the Crescent Moon;

95.22

obeisance to Bhīma'—thus, 'I have taken refuge in you.' / Cow urine, cow dung, milk, curd, clarified butter, water with kuśa grass,

95.23

the five cow-products, then wood-apple, camphor, and agallochum, barley, / and black sesame seeds are properly prescribed for consumption in succession; / one item is prescribed for consumption on each fourteenth day, month by month.

95.24

With coral-tree and royal jasmine flowers, and also with thorn-apple, / with chaste-tree and aśoka flowers, and with Arabian jasmine and trumpet flowers,

95.25

with swallow-wort flowers, and with kadamba, with hundred-petalled lotus, and with water lilies, / one should worship the husband of Pārvatī on each fourteenth day with one of these.

95.26

Then again, when the month of Kārttika arrives, one should gratify the twice-born / with diverse foods, delicacies, garments, garlands, and ornaments.

95.27

Having performed the setting free of a dark bull according to Vedic rules, a man / [should present] a golden Umā and Maheśvara, and a bull along with a cow,

95.28

endowed with eight pearls, covered with white silk cloth, / equipped with all furnishings, along with a jar; [and] he should give a bed,

95.29

placing it on top of a copper vessel along with winter-rice grains, / to a tranquil brāhmaṇa devoted to Vedic observances,

95.30

to one knowing the Jyeṣṭhasāman, or somewhere to one observing the ninefold vow, / to a Vedic scholar who knows good qualities, to a teacher who knows the truth,

95.31

whose limbs are complete, gentle, who always works for good, / having worshipped him accompanied by his wife with garments, garlands, and ornaments.

95.32

When a guru is present, it should be given to the guru; in his absence, to a twice-born. / One should not commit deceit with wealth; committing it, one falls low through fault.

95.33

A person who performs the Śivacaturdaśī according to this rule / obtains the fruit of a thousand horse sacrifices.

95.34

Whatever [sin] such as killing a brāhmaṇa has been done here or in the other world, / or by fathers or brothers, all that reaches destruction.

95.35

Long life, health, increase of family and grain are imperishable here; four-armed status in the other world; / and having dwelt for hundreds of crores of cosmic ages in heaven as leader of the gaṇas, he attains the state of Śambhu.

95.36

Even Bṛhaspati, even the moon, even Pitāmaha is not able to declare its endless fruit, / nor is the host of siddhas sufficient, nor am I, even if there were crores of tens of thousands of tongues in my mouth.

95.37

He who, free from malice, recites, remembers, or constantly listens to / this Śivacaturdaśī which frees from all sins, becomes beloved to the immortals; / crores of heavenly maidens praise that blameless man—how much more so one who always performs it!

95.38

Or whatever woman performs it with supreme devotion, having asked her husband, sons, or elders, / she too, by the grace of the Supreme Lord, goes to the supreme abode of the Bearer of the Bow Pināka.

Translations (1)

The Matsya Puranam — A Taluqdar of Oudh 1916, English

Linked texts (1)

Matsyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit