Atharvavedaparishishta 44

English (machine translation) 44

Language: English

44.1 — 14 parts
44.2 — 11 parts
44.3 — 10 parts
44.4 — 15 parts

44.1.1

Om. Now, therefore, we shall explain the rules for the ancestral offering.

44.1.2

The ancestral offering is of four kinds:

44.1.3

the regular, the prosperity-conferring, the desire-prompted, and the offering to a single ancestor.

44.1.4

Among them, the regular is [performed] on the new moon day.

44.1.5

The prosperity-conferring is preceded by [offerings to] the mothers, during life-cycle rites such as the rite for conceiving a male child.

44.1.6

The desire-prompted is [performed] upon the conjunction of an auspicious lunar day, [requisite] substances, and brahmins.

44.1.7

The offering to a single ancestor is [performed] from the gathering of the bones until the rite of incorporating into the ancestral body.

44.1.8

There, in the regular [offering], one should invite an even number of brahmins for the gods.

44.1.9

In the prosperity-conferring [offering], an even number on both [sides].

44.1.10

Barley is used in place of sesame; straight darbha grass [is used]; one should perform [the rites] clockwise.

44.1.11

The desire-prompted, however, is like the regular.

44.1.12

Now, the offering to a single ancestor is performed silently as far as has been stated.

44.1.13

There is no rite to Agni and none to the gods; [there should be] an odd number of brāhmaṇas.

Sitting facing south, having served [them] according to the ancestral rite, [he provides] a single purifier, a single water vessel, a seat not returned, [and offers] a single rice-ball with name and lineage, [saying,] 'This is your food.'

44.2.1

He should invite the brāhmaṇas [saying], 'Tomorrow' or 'Today I shall perform an ancestral offering.'

44.2.2

Three, five, or seven [brāhmaṇas]; on account of the teaching: 'one should not be attached to large numbers.'

44.2.3

The Viśvedevas facing east, the ancestors facing north.

44.2.4

[They should be] knowers of the Vedas and Vedāṅgas, maintaining the five fires, learned, not involved in worldly litigations, versed in the Veda, knowers of the Triṇāciketa, knowers of the Trimadhu, knowers of the Trisuparṇa, chant-singers of the Sāmaveda, singers of the Jyeṣṭhasāman, students of the Atharvaśiras, bathers at the twilights, daily performing rites to gods and ancestors, devoted to the service of mother and father, knowers of the Bhṛgus and Aṅgirases, and knowers of the treatises on Dharma.

44.2.5

Restrained, in the afternoon, pure, wearing white garments,

44.2.6

having honored them with a welcome, having performed and offered water for sipping, having clasped the brāhmaṇas' [feet], he should seat them

44.2.7

on seats spread with darbha-grass, for the divine and the ancestral [rites].

44.2.8

Then he should ask permission: 'I shall invite the gods and the ancestors.'

44.2.9

Permitted with the words: 'Invoke them; may they be gentle to you,' he should first invoke the gods with: 'All gods, come!'

44.2.10

'All gods, come, hear this invocation of mine; / sit down here upon the sacrificial grass!'

44.2.11

With 'Come,' he should invoke the ancestors; with 'Bending the knee,' he should seat them; with 'Enter,' he should settle them.

44.3.1

Wearing the sacrificial thread over his left shoulder, having consecrated the water vessel with the Sāvitrī verse,

44.3.2

he should pour [water] into the hands of the Brahmins, saying: 'For the All-Gods: foot-water, respectful water offering, rinsing water.'

44.3.3

He should prepare three water vessels, having mixed [the water] with scent, garlands, and sesame seeds;

44.3.4

with the three [verses] beginning with 'Let them rise up,' he should pour [water from] the water vessels, verse by verse, into the hands of the Brahmins containing purification strainers.

44.3.5

Having presented it, saying: 'To the great-grandfathers, to the grandfathers, and to the fathers,'

44.3.6

there is the offering of scent, garlands, incense, eye-salve, a mirror, and a lamp.

44.3.7

Taking all varieties of food and asking permission: 'I will offer into the fire,' and permitted with: 'Offer,' having strewn sacrificial grass with tips pointing south around the fire, he should offer with the three [verses] beginning with: 'To Agni the bearer of kavya.'

44.3.8

He should give the remnant of the oblation to the Brahmins.

44.3.9

Holding his thumb, clockwise in the rite to the gods, counter-clockwise in the rite to the ancestors, placing his knee on the ground, he should mutter: 'This Viṣṇu.'

44.3.10

Then, free from malice, he should give abundant, purified food with sesame seeds, meats, vegetables, broths, kṛsara rice-gruel, rice pudding, cakes, fried grain, eatables, sugarcane products, beverages, honey, ghee, curd, and milk.

44.4.1

Holding a purification strainer in his hand, seated on sacrificial grass, he should mutter: 'Sweet winds [blow].'

44.4.2

[He should recite] the Pavamāna hymn, a treatise on dharma, the Apratiratha hymn, the hymn to breath, the Puruṣasūkta, an Upaniṣad, or some other text concerning the self.

44.4.3

Knowing them to be satisfied, having scattered food and having given water once each, there is the scattering of food with: 'Those who are burned by fire.'

44.4.4

Having strewn sacrificial grass, having taken up all varieties of food with the three [verses] 'Heaven is the ladle, inexhaustible,' having mixed them with ghee, he sets down three compact balls of rice.

44.4.5

To the south for the wives with: 'This to you, great-grandfather,' [and] 'This to your wife,' there is the counter-clockwise scattering of food with: 'This for those who hope, this for those who expect'; there is the circumambulation with a firebrand with: 'The Dasyus who.'

44.4.6

In the offering to a single ancestor, however, there is one ball of rice and one water vessel. Having sipped water and risen up, having presented the ancestral offering, he should consecrate the remainder with: 'This portion,' 'These co-dwellers,' and 'The eagle, watcher of men.'

44.4.7

Having asked permission, having given water for rinsing, he should cause [them] to declare the day auspicious; and having given a sacrificial fee according to his capacity, he should pour the remainder of the water vessel into the hands of the Brahmins containing purification strainers.

44.4.8

One [pour] with 'Son, grandson,' the second with 'Water, fire,' the third with both combined; Kauśika says: the water vessel with the single verse 'Son, grandson.'

44.4.9

'What has been designated for the great-grandfathers, grandfathers, fathers, maternal uncles, and maternal grandfathers—to all of them, along with their wives, may it be inexhaustible with svadhā! May it be inexhaustible!'—this is the utterance of the Brahmins.

44.4.10

'May our givers increase, and the Vedas, and lineage; / and may faith not depart from us, and may we have much to give!'

44.4.11

Having thus caused them to recite the wishes, beginning with 'Homage to you, O ancestors' and ending with 'Now we invoke the mind,' it is identical to the offering of rice-balls to the ancestors; and [there is] the presentation of the middle rice-ball.

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Atharvavedapariśiṣṭa — Sanskrit

Atharvavedaparishishta 44

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