Skandapurana 5.201

English (machine translation) 5.201

Language: English

5.201.1

Viśvāmitra said: / Having heard that, all the brahmins bowed in humility, / and filled with curiosity, O best of men, questioned him:

“How is a decision of an arbiter given by the best among brahmins / by means of Vedic speech, abandoning human speech? / Why should three claps of the hands be given by the high-souled arbiter? / Tell us all this, for our curiosity is indeed great.”

5.201.4

Hearing that, Bhartṛyajña said to those best of brahmins: / “Listen, I will tell the reason for this.

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The speech of the Nāgaras situated in the Vedic assembly never becomes false, / whether [it indicates] auspiciousness or inauspiciousness.

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Therefore, through the utterances of the Veda, the best of brahmins point out / favorable or unfavorable [outcomes] to the inquirer who is seeking an answer.

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The arbiter should then present the question and its omen again and again / to those brahmins, until the final determination is reached.

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If the word of those seated in the Vedic assembly were to become futile, / their greatness would be destroyed, and thence anger would arise.

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From anger hostility arises; from hostility comes association with sin. / For this reason, O brahmins, the arbiter asks repeatedly.

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And when consensus among all is achieved, / then the arbiter gives three claps of the hands.

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With the first of them, he destroys the desire of the questioners; / with the second, he destroys anger; with the third, he destroys greed.

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For this reason, O brahmins, three claps must be given by him.”

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The brahmins said: / “The Ātharvaṇa is renowned as the fourth brahmin. / Why has his question been proclaimed as first among the Nāgaras?”

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Bhartṛyajña said: / “Since the Ātharvaṇa question was declared first by me, O brahmins, / I will explain that; listen attentively.

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Jealousy, which destroys one’s own place, must not be harbored here; / this was properly ascertained by me for the purity of the occupant of the place.

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Sacrifices such as the Agniṣṭoma, known by the names of Ṛg, Yajus, and Sāman, / promote otherworldly welfare; they are neither worldly nor meant for magical rites.

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And in the Atharvaveda, all magical rites are proclaimed / by Brahmā, the maker of the world, for the benefit of all worlds.

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The Atharvaveda must be consulted first for the accomplishment of worldly affairs. / For this reason, though being the fourth, it stands as the first.

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All this has been related to you as I was asked, O best of brahmins; / everything arising from this inquiry must always be carried out as one.”

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Thus ends the two hundred and second chapter, entitled “Description of the Determination of Words by Bhartṛyajña,” in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa of the glorious Skandapurāṇa, a collection of eighty-one thousand verses, in the section on the greatness of the sacred field of Hāṭakeśvara.

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit