History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.277.4

v4.c62.277.4

160 states that the divine calamities are: shower of fire (fall of lightning?), excessive rainfall, epidemics, famine, damage or disease of crops, swarms of locusts and other vermin, diseases, goblins and female evil spirits, snakes, wild elephants, rats. The purohita is required to know ritual of five kinds,¹⁵⁹ viz. that dealing with the propitiation of Nakṣatras, that of śrauta sacrifices, that of the *saṁhitās* (of Tantra worship), that of Atharvaśiras and that of śāntis (such as grahaśānti &c.). Calamities, according to Kām. XIII. 20-21, are of two sorts, divine (daiva) and human: there are five kinds of the first viz. fire, flood, disease, famine and epidemic, all of which can be met by human effort and by propitiatory rites, while human calamities should be withstood by constant effort and by proper lines of policy. The same verses are Agnipurāṇa 241. 14-16.