Skandapurana 5.217

English (machine translation) 5.217

Language: English

5.217.1

Bhartṛyajña said: / This śrāddha has been described in general terms by me, as it should be performed / by men of the castes beginning with brahmins, O best of earthly kings. 1

Hereafter I shall speak of what is traditionally handed down for one's own branch [of the Veda], O king, / according to one's own country, caste, and lineage, so that satisfaction may arise in this matter. 2

5.217.3

Because faith (śraddhā) is the root in a śrāddha, therefore it is called a śrāddha; / therefore, when that is performed, nothing goes in vain. 3

5.217.4

Therefore, even if unexpected, O best of kings, one should perform a śrāddha. / The water from washing the brahmin's feet that falls on the ground, O king— 4

5.217.6

those born of the family who have died sonless, / they attain supreme satisfaction, as gods do with ambrosia. / As long as the earth remains wet with the water from washing the brahmin's feet, / so long do the ancestors drink water from lotus-leaf cups. 6

5.217.7

And while the śrāddha is being performed, whatever falls upon the ground— / flowers, fragrant water, food, and also water, O lord of men— 7

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by that, those who have become worms, / insects, animals, or serpents, O ruler of men, attain supreme satisfaction. 8

5.217.9

The leftover food that falls to the earth, arising from washing the vessels, / by that, those who have become ghosts attain supreme satisfaction. 9

5.217.10

And those born in one's family who have met death through unnatural death, / those who died unpurified by rites, ascetics, and women of the lineage— 10

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their share is the remnant and the scattered offering on the darbha grass; / by the scattered offering that is given, all of them attain satisfaction. 11

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Whatever is deficient in mantra, or deficient in proper time, / or deficient in ritual rule, becomes complete through the sacrificial fee. 12

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Therefore, a wise man should not perform a śrāddha devoid of a sacrificial fee, / if he desires everlasting satisfaction for his ancestors and for himself. 13

5.217.14

A śrāddha devoid of dakṣiṇā is like rain falling on barren soil, / like dancing in the dark, or like a song for the deaf.

5.217.15

Having offered a śrāddha and having engaged in it, one should attain desirelessness in the śrāddha; / no recitation of the Veda should be performed, nor should one travel to another village.

5.217.16

He who, having eaten at a śrāddha, goes to a woman's bed on that day, / for that entire month his ancestors become eaters of semen.

5.217.17

He who eats at a śrāddha and he who offers a śrāddha, whichever of them indulges in sexual intercourse, / his ancestors become eaters of semen for a whole year; / there is no doubt about this, for such is the Vedic revelation.

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That foolish man who, having eaten or having offered [oblations] at a śrāddha, performs recitation of the Veda, / his ancestors, O king, for a whole year, / having their śrāddha-fruit rendered futile, are tormented by hunger and thirst.

5.217.19

Having eaten or having offered [oblations] at a śrāddha, whatever base man / travels to another village, in this matter that śrāddha goes in vain.

5.217.20

A brahmin should not eat [elsewhere] when an invitation has arrived; / but if he eats through delusion, he indeed goes to a low state.

5.217.21

Likewise, a second meal should not be taken by the patron of the sacrifice; / all those men who do so certainly go to hell.

5.217.22

Having eaten at a śrāddha or having offered a śrāddha, he who engages in fighting, / that foolish man undoubtedly leads that śrāddha to futility.

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Therefore, with every effort, one should abandon these faults, / especially the eater at the śrāddha and the patron of the sacrifice, O lord of the earth.

5.217.218

Thus ends the two hundred and eighteenth chapter, named 'Description of the Rules of Śrāddha' in the Śrāddhakalpa of the Māhātmya of the Hāṭakeśvara Sacred Field, in the Nāgarakhaṇḍa, in the sixth [part] of the glorious Skanda Mahāpurāṇa, a compendium of eighty-one thousand [verses].

Linked texts (1)

Skandapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit