Skandapurana 16.205
English (machine translation) 16.205
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16.205.1
The goddess said:
O Lord, Lord of the gods of gods, O redeemer across the ocean of worldly existence, / O Lord of the worlds, explain in detail the holy procedure of śrāddha.
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At which portion of the day should the performer of śrāddha perform the śrāddha / at this sacred ford of the Sarasvatī, in the supreme sacred field of Prabhāsa?
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At which sacred ford does the śrāddha performed yield great meritorious fruit? / You ought to explain all this properly, O Mahādeva.
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Īśvara said:
The morning time lasts three muhūrtas; the forenoon is just as long; / midday lasts three muhūrtas, and the afternoon comes after that.
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Evening time lasts three muhūrtas; one should not perform a śrāddha then; / that time belongs to demonesses and is condemned in all rites.
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The muhūrtas of the day are always known to be fifteen; / among them, the eighth muhūrta is considered the time called kutapa.
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Since the sun's motion always slows down at midday, / therefore an undertaking begun then yields endless fruit.
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Midday, a rhinoceros-horn vessel, and similarly black blankets, / silver, darbha grass, sesame seeds, cows, and a daughter's son is recorded as the eighth.
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They declare sin to be 'kutsi' (vile); because they torment (tap) it, / these eight are considered thus and are known as 'kutapas'.
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The period of four muhūrtas following the kutapa muhūrta, / and indeed that span of five muhūrtas, is held to be the time for the svadhā offering.
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Kuśa grass and black sesame seeds arose from the body of Viṣṇu / for the protection of the śrāddha; so say the gods.
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An añjali of sesame water is to be offered by dwellers at the sacred ford standing in the water; / performance of the śrāddha is prescribed with one hand holding darbha grass.
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Three things are purifying in a śrāddha: a daughter's son, the kutapa period, and sesame seeds; / and here they praise three things: purity, absence of anger, and lack of haste.
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The rhinoceros horn is called 'dauhitra'—that horn which is on its forehead; / whatever vessel is made of that horn is known as 'dauhitra'.
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Or a milch cow with variegated colors: whatever ghee is made from her milk, / that is declared to be 'dauhitra' in rites for gods and ancestors.
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The tip of darbha grass is designated for the gods, but that with root and tip is for the ancestors; / those kuśa blades that hang downwards there are known as kutapas.
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Body, material wealth, wife, ground, mind, mantra, and twice-born brahmins— / purity in these seven should be recognized, especially at the time of a śrāddha.
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The purity of materials is sevenfold, classified as superior, middling, and inferior:
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Sacred learning, valor, austerity, a maiden, beginning with a disciple, and inherited through lineage— / such wealth is sevenfold white (pure), and the means [to acquire it] are likewise so.
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Agriculture and trade are vile; wealth obtained through craft professions is pure; / and what is obtained from a service rendered is called provisions for the path.
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And whatever is obtained through bribery, and whatever is obtained through violence, / and whatever is acquired by deceit—that is declared to be black wealth. // 21
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When men perform a śrāddha with wealth acquired unlawfully, / through that, caṇḍālas born into Puṣkasa and other [low] wombs are satiated. // 22
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And the scattering of food that is done on the ground by men— / through that, those who have attained the state of piśācas find satisfaction. // 23
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The water that drops onto the earth from bathing garments, O son— / through that, satisfaction arises for those who have become trees. // 24
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The drops of fragrant water that fall onto the surface of the earth— / through them comes the nourishment of those who have attained godhood. // 25
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Even after the piṇḍas are removed, whatever particles of food remain on the ground— / through them comes the nourishment of those in the family who have become animals. // 26
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And the children in the family who were uncremated, and the women who died without the rites— / they eagerly crave the scattered [food] and the sweepings. // 27
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And whatever water is stirred around after eating, and whatever water is used by day, / as well as through the food of the brahmins—through that they attain satisfaction, // 28
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those who have attained the state of piśācas, or that of worms and insects. / Now I will proclaim the proper times; listen to me as they are declared: // 29
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A śrāddha should be performed on the new moon day, month by month, at the waning of the moon, / likewise on the arrival of the aṣṭakā days, and during an eclipse of the sun or moon; // 30
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at the solstices, the pair of equinoxes, and ordinary solar transits, / on the new moon, on the aṣṭakā day, and especially during the dark fortnight; // 31
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under the asterisms Ārdrā, Maghā, and Rohiṇī; when wealth and brahmins are assembled; / during a gajacchāyā conjunction, at vyatīpāta, on a viṣṭi [karaṇa], and on a vaidhṛti day; // 32
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on the third day of Vaiśākha, and on the ninth of Kārttika, / on the fifteenth of Māgha, and the thirteenth of Nabhasya (Bhādrapada). // 33
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These are remembered as the yugādis (beginnings of yugas), rendering what is offered imperishable. // 34
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At the beginning of that Manvantara when the Sun mounted his chariot / on the seventh day of the month of Māgha—that day is Rathasaptamī. // 35
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On the third day of Vaiśākha, and in the dark fortnight of Phālguna, / on the fifth of the month of Caitra, and likewise another on its last day, // 36
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the bright thirteenth in Māgha, and the seventh of Kārttika; / the full-moon days of Kārttika, Phālguna, Caitra, and Jyaiṣṭha— / these are remembered as the Manvantara days, rendering what is offered imperishable. // 37
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The dark eighth of Śrāvaṇa, and likewise the full-moon day of Āṣāḍha; / the fifteenth lunar day of Kārttika, Phālguna, Caitra, and Jyaiṣṭha— // 38
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these are remembered as the manvādis (beginnings of Manvantaras), rendering what is offered imperishable; / and the ninth of Mārgaśīrṣa: these seven I recall. // 39
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These beginning times, O goddess, render what is offered imperishable, / and likewise twelve at the start of a Manvantara, O fair-faced lady. // 40
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The daily (nitya), the occasional (naimittika), the optional (kāmya), the prosperity-śrāddha (vṛddhi), the sapiṇḍana, / the pārvaṇa, that with superior wisdom, the goṣṭha, and the excellent one for purification; // 41
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the subordinate rite (karmāṅga) is declared the ninth, that for the gods (daivika) is recalled as the tenth, / the anniversary of death (kṣayāha) is the eleventh, and the twelfth is for nourishment (puṣṭi). // 42
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Among all śrāddhas, the annual rite is recalled as best. / The śrāddha that is performed day by day is proclaimed as nitya. // 43
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Deceiving no one, it is done without the Vaiśvadeva rite, or with just water if incapable. / The śrāddha offered to one deceased person (ekoddiṣṭa) is called naimittika. // 44
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That which is performed out of desire for the attainment of a longed-for goal is kāmya. / The śrāddha that is performed at an auspicious event (vṛddhi) is called vṛddhi-śrāddha. // 45
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With the two verses beginning 'ye samānāḥ', this śrāddha is the sapiṇḍana. / The śrāddha that is performed on the new moon day is proclaimed as pārvaṇa. // 46
16.205.47
The śrāddha performed in an assembly (goṣṭhī) is called goṣṭhī-śrāddha. / That which is performed for purification from sin is called śuddhi-śrāddha. // 47
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At the time of insemination, at the Soma sacrifice, at the parting of the hair, / and at the rite for securing a male child, the śrāddha is an auxiliary part of the ritual (karmāṅga). // 48
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That which is performed directed towards a deity is called daivaka. / When one is about to travel to another country, a śrāddha should be performed with clarified butter; // 49
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this should be known as being for nourishment (puṣṭyartha); and the twelfth is remembered as the anniversary of death. / A person who, out of negligence, does not perform a śrāddha on the day his father died, // 50
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or his mother, O lady of fair limbs, at the end of the year on the day of death— / I do not accept his worship, O great goddess, nor does Hari. // 51
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If a man does not know the day of death at any time, / by him a śrāddha should be performed on the new moon in Māgha or Mārgaśīrṣa. // 52
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Now I will proclaim the brahmins who are worthy in a śrāddha: / an eminent man, learned in the Veda, a yogin, endowed with Vedic learning, // 53
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one who has kept the Triṇāciketa fire, one who knows the Trimadhu hymns, one who recites the Trisuparṇa, one who knows the six Vedāṅgas, / a daughter's son, a son-in-law, a sister's son, and a father-in-law; // 54
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one devoted to the rites of the five fires, one devoted to austerity, a maternal uncle, / one devoted to his father and mother, a disciple, a relative, an affine; // 55
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one who knows the meaning of the Veda and expounds it, a celibate student, one who gives thousands, / an affine, a virtuous person, a daughter's son, a daughter's husband, // 56
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especially a sister's son, and likewise the host of kinsmen— / a man should not bypass these, even if they are unlearned, O fair-faced lady. // 57
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One should not examine brahmins when a rite for the gods is undertaken; / but when a ancestral rite has arrived, one should examine them with effort. // 58
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Those who are thieves, outcasts, eunuchs, and those whose conduct is atheistic— / these brahmins Manu declared unfit for offerings to gods and ancestors. // 59
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One with matted hair who does not study, one who is sickly, a gambler, / and those who officiate for śūdras—these one should not honor in a śrāddha. // 60
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Physicians, temple-priests (devalakas), sellers of meat, / and those who live by market trade—they should be avoided in offerings to gods and ancestors; // 61
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a servant of the village or of the king, one with diseased nails, one with black teeth, / one who opposes his guru, one who has abandoned his sacred fire, a usurer, // 62
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a consumptive, a herdsman, one married before his elder brother, one who neglects Vedic duties, / a persecutor of brahmins, an unmarried elder brother whose younger brother has married, a member of a guild, // 63
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an actor, a one-eyed man, the husband of a śūdra woman, / the son of a remarried woman, the son of an unmarried woman, a gambler, and an imbiber of liquor. // 64
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one afflicted with a sinful disease, an accused person, a hypocrite, a seller of juices [or liquors], / a maker of bows and arrows, and one who marries a remarried woman [or younger sister married before the elder];
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a betrayer of friends, one who lives by the trade of a messenger, a teacher taught by his son, / one suffering from epilepsy, an attendant at an inn [or pavilion keeper], a leper [with variegated body], and a slanderer;
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an insane person, a blind man, a deaf man, a despiser of the Vedas, / a trainer of horses, cattle, and camels, and one who lives by astrology;
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one who keeps birds, an instructor in warfare, / one who diverts watercourses, and one devoted to maintaining courtesans;
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a housebuilder, a courier, a tenant farmer, / a hunter, one who lives by hawking, and a defiler of maidens;
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a violent man, the son of a Śūdra woman, a priest for guilds [or multitudes], / one devoid of right conduct, a eunuch, and one who constantly officiates at sacrifices for anyone;
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one who lives by agriculture, one suffering from elephantiasis, one censured by the virtuous, / a keeper of sheep, a keeper of buffaloes, the husband of a previously married woman, / and carriers of dead bodies—these must be avoided with great effort.
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Indeed, these base twice-born of despised conduct, unfit to sit in a dining line— / when other twice-born are available, one must shun them in both [rites for gods and ancestors].
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A squint-eyed man, a one-eyed man, a leper, the husband of a Śūdra woman, / and one afflicted with a sinful disease destroy the donor's fruit of a thousand [offerings].
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With as many limbs as a priest officiating for a Śūdra touches brahmins, / for that many [ancestors] in the hereafter, or for that donor, the ancestral rite bears no fruit.
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Seeing a keeper of buffaloes at the beginning, the husband of a Śūdra woman in the middle, / and a usurer at the end, the ancestors depart hopeless.
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A wife is called a mahiṣī; if she is unfaithful in her widowhood, / he who endures her faults is remembered as a māhiṣika.
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A Śūdra woman is called a vṛṣalī; he who becomes her husband / is fallen through contact with her saliva and lips, becoming a vṛṣalīpati.
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Abandoning her own lawful husband, she who lusts after another— / she is to be known as a vṛṣalī; a Śūdra woman by birth alone is not necessarily a vṛṣalī.
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A Caṇḍāla woman, an unchaste woman, a prostitute, a girl who has attained puberty, / a deceitful woman, and a woman of one's own gotra—these seven are proclaimed as vṛṣalīs.
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The maiden who sees her menstrual flow in her father's house while unbetrothed / causes her ancestors to fall; that girl becomes a vṛṣalī.
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The brahmin who consciously weds such a girl— / one should know him to be a vṛṣalīpati, unfit for a śrāddha and excluded from the dining line.
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A gaurī girl is indeed the foremost; a kanyakā is considered middling; / a rohiṇī should be known as equal to that, while one who has menstruated is base.
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Before menstruation arrives, she is a gaurī; when menstruation has arrived, she is a rohiṇī; / one without manifested bodily marks and devoid of breasts is a nagnikā.
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At seven years she is a gaurī; at nine years she is a nagnikā; / at ten years she is a kanyā; beyond that she is rajasvalā (menstruating).
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With developed marks she destroys sons; with breasts she destroys the lineage; / and by her menstrual flow she destroys her father's desirable destination and worlds.
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He who marries one who has menstruated should be known as a vṛṣalīpati.
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The sin that a twice-born incurs in a single night by serving a vṛṣalī, / he removes in three years, eating only begged food and constantly reciting mantras.
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Thus ends the two hundred and fifth chapter, titled "Description of the Examination of Brahmins Unfit for Śrāddha in the Rules of Śrāddha," in the Prabhāsakṣetramāhātmya, in the first section of the Prabhāsakhaṇḍa, in the glorious Skandapurāṇa, the great Purāṇa in eighty-one thousand verses.
Linked texts (1)
- Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit