Atharvavedaparishishta 3
English (machine translation) 3
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Contents
3.1.1
Om. Now, during the king's first consecration, he should examine the basic materials.
3.1.2
That is to say:
3.1.3
The chariot, throne, sword, umbrella, chowrie, banner, elephant, horse, garments, ornaments, astrologer, physician, royal domestic priest, and so forth—
3.1.4
he should not use those that have already been used.
3.1.5
Materials deposited [for] funeral pyre fires or deities—
3.1.6
from the teacher, royal domestic priest, and the mouth of the thunderbolt, so says that foolish-minded Bhāradvāja;
3.1.7
"for just as with fire, there is no reuse of what has already been used," so says Parāśara.
3.1.8
The Brahman is immeasurable, like the fire of the cosmic egg;
3.1.9
he must not be one who was employed by another family.
3.1.10
If a royal domestic priest who was employed by another family performs for him the pacifying, nourishing, expiatory, sorcerous, omen-prompted, and funerary rites prescribed by the Atharvan, he, becoming an adversary (pratyaṅgiras) to him, [destroys] the elephants, horses, chariots, and infantry from the foremost ministers...
3.1.11
Once he is to choose [a priest], the king must not choose another royal domestic priest again; / just as with discarded ritual garlands, another king should never employ him again.
3.1.12
For in the uninterrupted fire, the lord's cause [of ruin] is a diseased, fallen, insane, accused, destitute, ruined, or debilitated officiating priest.
3.1.13
Therefore, the king should choose as his guru one who is of noble birth, learned in the Veda, knowing the Bhṛgus and Aṅgirases, endowed with discipline, handsome appearance, purity, and good conduct, free from greed, endowed with the qualities of vows, restraints, moral conduct, virtuous practice, and auspicious marks, thoughtful of peace and war, proficient in rites such as great sorcery, having conquered his standing and sitting postures, enduring cold, heat, and rain, having shame and firmness, upright, endowed with calmness, self-control, compassion, and generosity, having the position, appearance, and standard of Bṛhaspati and Uśanas, inferable by color, sacred learning, and body, radiant, profound, and possessed of sattva.
3.1.14
Having procured [supplies] as needed through the procedure beginning with the honey-mixture offering, he should give the sacrificial fee:
3.1.15
a third part from ten million,
3.1.16
or according to the extent of his territory.
3.1.17
He should give to the guru elephants and horses, a palanquin, divine ornaments, an umbrella, gold, land, cattle, wealth, grain, gems, and so forth,
3.1.18
or that with which he would be satisfied.
3.1.19
The consecration has been explained in the Saṃhitāvidhi.
3.2.1
He should give elephants and horses to the guru, and likewise a palanquin, / as well as divine ornaments and an umbrella and the rest.
3.2.2
The king should not take used items for auspicious purposes; / [otherwise] the mantras and herbs do not succeed, and the king is ruined therein.
3.2.3
Neither too tall nor too short, neither too fat nor lean, / and not deficient or redundant in limbs, should he ever appoint as royal domestic priest.
3.2.4
A king should never appoint as guru one with deficient or redundant limbs, a fallen man, one of bad complexion, a thief, an idiot, a eunuch, an impotent man, / one with a broken voice, one-eyed, with deformed eyes, or one who is repulsive.
3.2.5
With one deficient or redundant in limbs, loss of city and kingdom occurs; with a one-eyed or idiotic man, destruction of mounts and treasury; / with a thief or impotent man, all faults arise; with a eunuch or one of bad complexion, the king would perish.
3.3.1
With one of broken voice, breaking of the limbs arises; with a repulsive guru, they speak of discord; / with one having deformed eyes or a fallen man, he destroys his sons; and with an Adhvaryu, his grandsons.
3.3.2
With a dark-eyed one, he should know loss of treasury; with a red-eyed one, destruction of mounts; / a yellowish-eyed one would kill the ruler, while a squint-eyed one would destroy the kingdom.
3.3.3
For whatever ruler appoints a Ṛgvedic priest to the office of royal domestic priest, / he sinks along with him, like an elephant in deep mud.
3.3.4
For whatever ruler appoints an Adhvaryu to the office of royal domestic priest, / he grasps a stone for his own destruction, as though desiring to cross over water.
3.3.5
Slaughter, imprisonment, distress, and the destruction of treasury and mounts— / a chanter of the Sāmaveda, even if endowed with austerities, brings about these conditions for the lineage.
3.3.6
Therefore, the king should appoint as royal domestic priest one endowed with noble lineage and fine appearance, knowing the Bhṛgus and Aṅgirases, / belonging to the gotra of Aṅgiras or Vasiṣṭha.
3.3.7
In sacrifices, in kingdoms, in cities, in armies, and in the kings' own residences, / whatever portents arise of the three kinds, terrible in form, all those the knower of the Brahmaveda should pacify.
3.3.8
Therefore, the king should appoint a guru who possesses the secret of the Vedas, is unslackening in the fourfold ritual, / peaceful, self-controlled, having subdued his senses, and pleasant to look upon—pleasant to look upon.
3.3.8.p1
Thus ends the king's first consecration.
3.3.8.p2
(Supplement 4: The duties of the royal domestic priest)
Linked texts (1)
- Atharvavedapariśiṣṭa — Sanskrit