Mudgalapurana 3.21: devapitṛkarmavarṇanaṃ nāmaikaviṃśatitamo'dhyāyaḥ

Homage to the glorious Gaṇeśa.

Nara and Nārāyaṇa said:
We shall declare the dharma of women; listen to it, O noble-minded one. / As soon as she is born, she is enjoyed with reverence by three gods.

Soma, the Gandharva, and Agni, each for two years, O noble-minded one, / enjoy the maiden according to dharma, six years in total by division.

In the interim, the maiden should not be given to anyone by her kinsmen; / if given, agitation of the deities would indeed occur because of the destruction of dharma.

When she has reached seven, eight, nine, or ten years of age, by her kinsmen / the maiden should be given to a good man born of noble lineage.

A girl over ten years old is considered endowed with menstruation; / if not given within that time, she greatly multiplies sin.

At every step, her father and relatives incur the guilt of slaying a brāhmaṇa. / Therefore, the maiden should be given according to rule; she will bestow heaven.

There is never any merit equal to the gift of a maiden, / through whom a lineage prospers, bestowing happiness on all.

When she has had the appearance of menses, she then becomes a woman. / Submissive to her husband, he alone is considered her deity.

Like a servant, she should attend upon that husband endowed with devotion. / When the husband has gone to the forest, then she should follow him.

If sons and other children are young, then, when the husband has gone to the forest, / she should remain in their presence for the sake of nurturing [them].

If the husband becomes an ascetic renouncer, O sage, / then permission should be granted to him by the woman, O great sage.

When the husband dies while dwelling as a householder, she should follow him; / so too when he dwells in the forest, such must indeed be done by a good wife.

If the wife is pregnant or menstruating when her husband dies, / then she should not accompany her husband; she should abide by the duty of a widow.

On the fourth day she becomes pure for the rites of her husband; / on the fifth day she becomes clean for the worship of Brahmins and others.

A widowed woman, O Brahmin, should always be devoted to a single meal [a day]; / by vows and the like she should constantly and attentively emaciate her body.

Such is proclaimed to be the primary dharma of faithful wives; / indeed, O great sage, hearing it brings them merit.

The rites for all ancestors and deities should be performed with reverence / by human beings. Hear in brief the rites for the ancestors.

Now, upon reaching the new moon, the best of the twice-born should perform the śrāddha / accompanied by rice-balls, with devotion, bestowing the fruit of enjoyment and liberation.

The śrāddha accompanied by rice-balls is praised during transitions [of the sun], / in the afternoon, performed by twice-born men with commendable offerings.

[khaṇḍa 3, adhyāya 21, page 43] The lunar days in the dark fortnight from the full moon to the new moon, / with the exception of the fourteenth, are praised in the rite of śrāddha.

For those who died by weapons or the effects of poison, O great sage, / the śrāddha is declared to be on the fourteenth; it is not praised elsewhere.

In the dark fortnight there are three aṣṭakās in the three months beginning with Pauṣa; / all four aṣṭakās are sacred at all times in the rite of śrāddha.

Joined with the thirteenth, the initial days of the yugas are remembered; / the initial days of the manvantaras are praised in śrāddha and considered to bestow merit.

This occasional rite is proclaimed during Vyatīpāta and Vaidhṛti; / and the ten rice-balls and so forth, O sage, are prescribed for deceased relatives.

Śrāddhas performed for specific desires are praised during eclipses and the like, / at the solstices and equinoxes, and non-permanent ones at sacred tirthas and holy fields.

Śrāddha should be performed especially on the inexhaustible days of the week and lunar days, / on one's own birth-days, and under all constellations.

Or rather, to attain happiness here and for the happiness of the realm of the ancestors, / śrāddha is proclaimed as granting all desires, like a daily rite at all times, O sage.

Śrāddha is imperishable at Gayā, Prayāga, and Amarakankaṭaka, / and in Mayūreśapura, and especially in Kāśī and elsewhere.

The ancestors sing a song, and the wise make them dance: / 'Many sons should be desired, well-behaved and endowed with virtues.

If even one of those assembled together should go to Gayā, / and having reached Gayā should perform a śrāddha with proper abandonment [of offerings],

the ancestors are delivered by him, and he goes to the highest state.' / Especially on Mount Vārāha and at Gayā,

and so too at Mayūra, Kāśī, the eight sites of Vināyaka, / at Gaṅgādvāra, Prabhāsa, Bilvaka, and Mount Nīla,

at Kurukṣetra, the Setubandha, Bhṛgutuṅga, Mahālaya, / Kedāra, Phalgu tīrtha, and in the Naimiṣa forest and elsewhere—

if one performs śrāddha in these manifold places, / then it is said to grant enjoyment and it bestows final liberation.

The fourth lunar day of both the light and dark fortnights, the eleventh, Sunday, / and Pradoṣa, as well as the eighth, O Brahmin, bestow all perfections.

Daily worship of the gods is prescribed, especially during vows and observances; / thus humans should undertake various vows and the like.

The worship of the gods is approved through paths such as the Agnihotra; / it is commended through pilgrimage, gifts, and the performance of Vedic sacrifices and charitable works.

Thus the various duties pertaining to the gods and the ancestors are related; / when surrendered to Brahman by the wise, they bestow yoga.

This duty, composed of caste and stage of life, is said to consist of Māyā; / it was designed by the Source of the Universe to remove the delusion of Māyā.

Om tat sat. Thus ends the twenty-first chapter, entitled 'Description of Rites for Deities and Ancestors', in the Mahodara-carita of the third section of the glorious and supreme Purāṇa-Upaniṣad, the glorious Maudgala-Mahāpurāṇa.

[khaṇḍa 3, adhyāya 22, page 44]