THE GARUDA PURANA 58 страница

5. Three generations from one are those who share the pinda. The next three generations are those who do not share the pinda. The next three generations are those who receive the wipings of the food-offerings sticking to the hand and the tenth is near the line.

6. These are the names assigned to men in one’s father’s as well as mother’s family. The householder who performs the sraddhas saves ten preceding and ten succeeding generations.

7. When sapindlkarana is done, the householder is considered first ( i. e. reckoning is made from him). His fourth grandfather, i. e. the greatr-great-grandfather is tyajaka for him i. e. neither pinda nor water libation is offered for him.

8. Grandfather of the fourth degree of the first tyajaka is the first lepaka [i. e. the 7th grandfather reckoning from the householder]. Grandfather of the 4th degree of the first lepaka is in the 10th degree since he is the fourth in reckoning from the 7th one.

9. The householder is one, ten generations before and ten generations after. These twentyone generations are meant whenever the word twentyone generations is used.

10. Now, listen to the benefit accruing from performing the sraddhas and offering gifts according to sastras in favour of the dead.

1 1. The father blesses the performer with the birth of sons, the grandfather with cattle-wealth and the greatgrandfather with coins of gold.

12. Such are the benefits derivable from sraddhas and tarpanas. The great grandfather blesses one with plenty of foodstuffs.

13. O bird, the man whose line is broken shall stay in hell permanently like an elephant stuck in the mud.

14. Or he may be born in other species of living beings such as a tree, a bird, a reptile. If a child is born and dies, the man cannot be freed from hell, still.

15. For his sake the Narayanabali should be performed by his preceptor or disciple or even by a distant relative.

16. He will be freed from sins and saved from hell. He will stay permanently in heaven. No doubt need be entertained on this account.

17-18. If a member of the brahmin caste dies on days when the moon is in conjunction with any of the stars Dhanistha and the four succeeding ones, ending with Revati, it is very inauspicious. Cremation or water libation is not performed during those days.

1 9. Even if the family is excessively miserable no job for livelihood should be taken up during these days. Every job shall be done after the five days are over.

20. Great distress will befall sons and clansmen of the dead who dies on any of these five days. Loss in the house is also inevitable.

21. Still if the immediate cremation is conducive to the welfare of the people the cremation with the following extra procedure can be duly performed and an immediate offering in the fire can also be made.

22. The immediate offering is held to be sacred in regard to the body to be cremated. The body is well consecrated with mantras by the brahmins duly.

23. Four effigies of Darbha are consecrated with the mantras of the naksatras. These are thrown beside the corpse.

24. Cremation is proceeded along with the effigies. On the expiry of the period of impurity the son shall perform rites for tranquillity and peace.

25. The man who dies on any of these five days does not attain salvation unless for his sake the gingelly seeds, cow, gold and ghee are gifted away.

26. Gifts are made to brahmins to ward off impending calamity after the expiry of impurity period. Gifts help the deceased attain release from the bonds of his previons actions.

27. Food-stuff's, sandals, umbrella, gold coins, clothes and other gifts are given to the brahmins for redemption from all worldly sins.

28. Whether it is a young man or an old man or a child, if any one dies in five days and no redemptionary rites are performed it will create obstacles.

29-32. In the sraddha for the deceased the following eighteen are prohibited; benediction, twice-twisted darbhas recital of svasti astu (hail), pranava ( orh), Ekoddifta, Agnikarana (consigning cooked rice to the fire, Ucchifta (leavings of food), VaiSvadeva sraddha, Vikira, (scattering of cooked rice bits), recital of the words svadha, Pitr, and Anu Avahana invocation, lighting of the torch ( ulmuka ) the circumambulation, following upto the border, offering of gingelly seeds into the fire (Tilahoma) and Purnahuti. If these are included in the rites, the performer will suffer utter destruction. O son of Kasyapa, I have already told you about the sixteen sraddhas.

33-34. The sixteen sraddhas already mentioned are: —

One at the place of death, then midway to the cremation ground, at the funeral pyre, in the hand of the corpse and the fifth Prativefyaka offered to the spirits living in the cremation ground, the sixth at the collection of ashes and bones, then the pindas offered during the ten days. Thus sixteen in all.

35-36. O Tarksya, listen to another mode of reckoning sixteen sraddhas. Ten daily pindas, one extra at the collection of bones, then five for Brahma, Visnu, Siva and others. These sixteen sraddhas are reckoned by persons who know the Ritual.

37. O bird, a third method of reckoning the sixteen sraddhas is as follows: — the twelve monthly sraddhas together with that on the eleventh, that on tripaksa ( after the expiry of six weeks ) and those on the two rikta days.

38. The first set of sixteen sraddhas are for purifying the corpse. The fifty sraddhas are for purifying the line of Manes (pitrpankti).

39. If enjoining ( sapindikarana ) is devoid of fifty sraddhas it shall not reach the pitrs. The redemption from ghosthood is possible only if fifty sraddhas are performed.

40. If the performance of fifty sraddhas is even slightly deficient, the presence of pitrs cannot be effected. It is corollary to the fifty sraddhas that the descendent should perform sapindana (effectively).

The rules regarding the cremation of the corpse 41-43. The hands and feet of the dead together with the covering cloth should be tied to the bamboo bier. If this is not done, there is risk of an attack by the pisacas. If the dead body is taken out during the night there is a fear from spirits roaming in the sky. The dead body should not be left unattended.

By touching it mishaps may occur.

44. When there is dead body in the middle of the village and if any one takes food with that knowledge, that food is known as flesh, and water as blood. (No one shall take food or water before the dead body is removed).

45. When there is a dead body in the village the following is avoided: Chewing the betel; chewing the toothbrush twig, taking food, sexual intercourse and offering of pinqlas.

46. Ceremonial ablutions, gifts, sacrifices, waterlibations and worship of gods are futile when performed with a dead body in the village. The convention holds good for all kiths and kins.

47. O lord of birds, this convention prevails among cousins and kins. If it is violated, the dead man is tarnished by sins.

CHAPTER THIRTYSIX.

On fast and pilgrimage.

Garuda said:

1-4. Why is the rite of fasting considered holy and the bestower of salvation? What is the goal attained by a person who had left his house and died in a holy centre? What is it if he died before reaching the holy centre? What is it if he died in the house itself? What is it if he died in a cottage (as a Vanaprastha) or if he took to Sannyasa either in the holy centre or in the house. How shall the rites be performed in such cases? What is the procedure if he does not die a proper death? O lord, what are the rules if the performer wavers and does not stand on his resolve? What are the rites which enable him to achieve realization?

The lord said:

5. If any one observes the rite of fasting and dies he will cast off his human form and become equal in lustre to me.

6. He will have the benefit of performing as many sacrifices, complete with due fees as the number of days he was able to live observing the rite of fasting.

7. If such a death takes place after taking to Sannyasa whether in the holy centre or elsewhere the benefit accruing from the same is twice that of the previous one.

8. If a person suffering from an incurable disease such as plague etc. observes fast and dies he has no rebirth. He rejoices in heaven like a deity.

9. If a sick man takes to Sannyasa he is released from the cycle of rebirth in this world of sorrows and afflictions.

10. Brahmins should be fed everyday. Gifts of a vessel full of gingelly seeds or gifts of lamps according to his capacity should be made. Gods should also be worshipped.

11. If gifts are made in favour of the dead, his major and minor sins are washed away. On death, he attains immortality on par with sages.

12. Hence, observance of fast enables men to attain heaven. Man should strive for salvation when his body is in perfect health.

1 3. The deities Brahma and others bestow contentment and nourishment on the man who forsakes his sons, wealth and goes to a holy centre.

14. If a person dies af ter observing the fast on reaching the holy centre or on the way, he goes to the sphere of sages.

15. If a person dies at home after observing the fast he alone will sojourn in heaven leaving the members of his family.

16. If a person casts off food and water and drinks only the water from my feet he is not reborn on the earth.

17. The family deities protect the man who goes to a holy centre and abstains from food. The emissaries of Yama guard him. No torture at the hands of Yama’s attendants is in store for him.

18. A person who makes frequent pilgrimages to holy centres can destroy sins. The person who cremates him, if he dies, enjoys the benefit of making the pilgrimage.

19. A frequent visitor to holy centres, even if he dies outside the holy centre, is reborn as an intelligent Brahmin wellversed in the Vedas at a holy place and in a noble family.

20. If a man observing fast, O Tarksya, survives it he should invite brahmanas and gift away his possessions.

21. Following the instructions of brahmins he should observe Candrayana and Krcchra. He should never tell a lie thereafter. He shall practise virtuous actions.

22. When a person returns to his own house after making pilgrimage to the holy centre he should take the permission of pious brahmins and perform expiatory rites.

23. If a person is able to make pilgrimage to holy centres at the stage of death after previously making gifts of gold, cow, land, elephant and horses, he is the most fortunate of all.

24. A person starting on a pilgrimage when death is imminent should make gifts of cows at every step if the act is not involved in violence.

25. The sin committed at home is washed off by oblutions in holy waters, while the sin committed at the holy centre becomes adamantine and is never washed off at all.

26. There is no doubt in this that he will be distressed for ever by those sins as long as the sun, the moon and the stars shine. O bird, the gifts made therein are of everlasting benefit.

27. Even indigent persons when sick should make gifts.

Such gifts should consist of a cow, gingelly seeds, gold and of seven grains.

28. On seeing a person making liberal gifts, the deities, sages and Citragupta are excessively delighted.

29. So long as one is in free possession of one’s wealth, one should make it over to the brahmanas. After death, the entire wealth goes to others. Who will not therefore have the grace to give?

30. By offering gifts of wealth to brahmanas, the sons in fact, prepare for their salvation along with sons, grandsons and great grandsons.

31. What is given to father will be requited a hundredfold; to mother a thousandfold; to a sister a hundred thousand fold and to a brother manyfold.

32. If, out of covetousness, a person does not give any thing during sickness, that miserly sinner will indeed repent after death.

33. Wealth is acquired with strain and stress. It is naturally unsteady. The only solution is in being gifted to others. Otherwise there awaits only disaster.

34. Just as an unchaste wife laughs at her husband who fondles the son too much, as also death laughs at a person who makes fuss about protecting himself, and the earth laughs at a person who guards too much his wealth.

35-36. A virtuous man of liberal temperament and gentleness, even after acquiring a lot of wealth, considers it to be as useless as a blade of grass. He feels no torment, no delusion and no fear of the emissaries of Yama at the hour of death.

37. The after-effects of death in water last for seven thousand years; those of death in fire for eleven thousand years; those of death in scorching sun for sixteen thousand years;

those of death in a battle for sixty thousand years; those of death in thwarting the seizure of cow for eighty thousand years, and O Bharata, those of death in fasting are everlasting.

CHAPTER THIRTYSEVEN.

Gift of a Vessel filled with water.

Garuda said:

1-2. O lord, please explain to me the mode of giving water-jar precisely. What are the rules of giving? How many vessels should be given? What are their characteristics? By what stuff are they to be filled? To whom are they to be given? When are they to be given to propitiate the dead?

The lord said:

3. O Tarksya, now I shall explain the mode of gifting a water-jar. It should be offered to the brahman in favour of the dead along with a rice-ball and the libation of water.

4. For the pleasure of the dead on their way to Yama’s abode, these vessels should be given on the twelfth day, after six weeks, after six months or at the end of a year.

5. The vessel should be placed on the ground cleaned and smeared with cowdung. They should be filled with cooked food and water.

6. Satiating food should be given to the dead. The dead man is delighted thereby as he goes along with the attendants of Yama.

7. On the twelfth day, twelve such jars should be given.

8. A Vardhani [a vessel] filled with cooked food and water should be given to a brahmin with Visnu in view after due samkalpa. 1

9. A single vessel should be given in favour of Yama.

Thereby, the dead man attains release. Another vessel should be given in favour of Citragupta. Thereby, the dead man remains happy at Yama’s abode.

10. Sixteen vessels filled with cooked black gram and water should be given to sixteen brahmanas, one to each.

1 1. The sixteen sraddhas are performed beginning with Utkranti-sraddha (the first of the series).

12. From the eleventh day a vessel should be given every day for a year.

1. Samkalpa — a solemn vow to perform an observance.

1 3. A VardhanI filled with cooked rice and water should be given everyday for a year along with a bamboo vessel.

14. A vessel full of water should be given to a brahmin, after covering it with a cloth and scenting it with fragrant stuffs.

15-16. Every day, O bird, with due samkalpa, a vessel should be given to a brahmin well versed in the Vedas and observing all rites. He must be a deserving person, not a fool.

Only the man who is endowed with Vedic lore can cross and enable others to cross the ocean of worldly existence.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT.

On Salvation, Heaven, Gifts, Pilgrimage and good deeds.

Garuda said:

1-3. O lord, please explain to me the nature of salvation and heaven realizable or accessible by gifts or pilgrimages.

How does a man attain salvation and how does he reach and stay in heaven for a long time? What are the causes of fall of living beings from heaven and other regions among the upper seven worlds.

4. After obtaining human form in any of the thirteen castes in Bharata, if a man dies in a holy centre he is never born again.

5. The seven cities of Ayodhya, Mathura, Maya, Kanci, Avantika, Kasi and Dvaravatl confer salvation.

6. If at the time when the vital airs have reached the throat (when death is imminent) a man says ‘I have renounced’, he attains the region of Visnu after death and is not born again.

7. He has already tucked his clothes for his journey to his goal of salvation if he pronounces the two letters Hari even for once.

8. He who remembers me ever and anon saying Krfna, k; sna, krsna is lifted up by me from hell just as the lotus springs up breaking through the water.

9. Undoubtedly one attains salvation if one dies near a Salagrama stone which is powerful for annihilating all sins and defects.

10. There is no doubt in this that salvation is ever present wherever Salagrama stone or the stone of Dvaravatl or both are present.

11. O bird, by growing, nurturing, sprinkling, saluting and extolling the TulasI plant Man’s sin accumulated in various births is wiped off.

1 2. He who has taken ablution in the holy lake of Manasa where wisdom is the eddy, truth the water and which removes the dirt of love and hatred is never tarnished by sins.

13. God is not present in wood, stone or clods of earth.

He is present in our heart. Hence, one should invoke the heart •which plays a prominent part in devotion.

14. Fishermen visit Narmada, the holy river, every morning. But their mind does not become pure.

15. Men reap the fruits of their actions in accordance with their feeling; their goal in the other world is also befitting that. Their activity yields accordant fruits.

16. He who lays down his life for the sake of his preceptor, a brahmin, a woman or a child attains salvations.

1 7. After making various gifts to brahmins if a person dies during the period of fast he is freed from all bondage and attains salvation.

18-19. Such are the ways which lead either to salvation or heaven. In thwarting the seizure of cows, civil commotions and national calamities or disasters in holy places and temples, it is equally beneficent whether one succumbs or survives. Life becomes pleasant by making gifts and enjoyments. Death is efficacious in battle and holy places.

20. Casting themselves off, human beings whether of high, middling or low class attain their heavenly abode.

21-22. A man dying in Hariksetra, Kuruksetra, Bhrguksetra, Prabhasa, Srisaila, Arbuda, Puskara or Bhutesvara attains heavenly abode for the period of a day of Brahma and thereafter falls to the earth.

23. He who accords gifts to a brahmin devoted to the observance sufficient to last for a year raises his family and is honoured in heaven.

24. He who offers a virgin in marriage to a brahmin well versed in the Vedas shall stay in lndraloka along with the members of his family.

25-26. By giving gifts a man shall reap the fruits thereof.

There is no doubt in this that he who resuscitates and repairs tanks, wells, lakes, parks and temples in ruins reaps twice the merit derived by the original builder.

27-29. He who gives to a scholarly brahmin burdened with a family, ornaments for the ears, neck, fingers and arms, a cosy house fully furnished with utensils and other requisites, a cow and the contrivances to prevent chillness, gusts

of wind and scorching heat, is honoured in heaven for thirty-five million years. The woman of the same caste who follows her husband in death attains heaven and stays for as many heavenly years as she spent human years in this world with him.

30. If a woman leaves her sons, grandsons and other relatives and follows her husband in death both of them attain heaven along with three generations.

31. Even if a woman has committed sins including evil intention against her own husband she can wash off her sins if she follows her husband in death. 1

32. Even if the husband has been a sinner and wicked, his sins will be washed off if the wife follows him after death.

33. If a man offers only a morsel of bread to the needy he will be proceeding to heaven in an aerial chariot endowed with chowries and umbrellas.

34. If he offers maintenance sufficient for a year, the sins committed by him till his death are destroyed.

35. If he helps a brahmin to celebrate the marriage of his daughter, he washes off his sins of the past, future and present births.

36. The merit accruing from digging ten wells is acquired by digging a tank. The merit accruing from digging ten tanks is acquired by digging a lake. O bird, a drinking water shed erected in a dry place is equal to digging ten lakes.

1. Refers to Sati custom which seems to be optional when this Purana was written.

37. The drinking water shed erected in a dry place is equal to a gift to an indigent brahmin. He who shows mercy to living beings becomes a leader of the world.

38. By means of meritorious deeds like these one can attain heaven. After reaping the fruits of his virtuous deeds one becomes well established.

39. Leaving off useless insignificant activities one shall ever be virtuous. Gifts, truth and mercy constitute the essential characteristics of the three worlds.

40. A gift made to an indigent man is excellent; the worship of a Linga in a secluded place is so. If a man contributes to cremate the corpse of an orphan he reaps the fruit of performing millions of sacrifices.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE.

Garuda said:

1. O lord, out of compassion for me, please tell me the rules of impurity, for my knowledge and for the welfare of human beings.

T he lord said:

2. O lord of birds, the impurity accruing from birth and death is fourfold. The rules of impurity are applicable to all the four castes.

3. The days of impurity arc ten for the relatives on the father’s and mother’s side. People should avoid taking meals, during this period, with the relatives of the dead. The bereaved family should neither offer nor receive gifts, should neither undertake nor conduct sacrifices. The study of the Vedas and sastras is strictly prohibited.

4. One should observe the following while performing obsequial rites: suitability of place and time, sufficiency of wealth, justification of purpose, validity of reason and his capability.

5. If a person is dead in the forest conflagration or in a foreign country, the relatives should take bath along with the dress; the impurity is soon removed thereby.

6. If a child is dead in the womb or is born dead, there should be no obsequial rite, no water-libation and no impurity at all.

7. Artisans, architects, physicians, slaves (male or female), kings and Vedic scholars are purified immediately.

8. He who is at fast or at sacrifice reciting the mantras or he who has set up a sacrificial fire or he who is a reigning ruler — these are exempt from impurity as also those who are exempted by the king.

9. In impurity accruing from birth, the rules are less strict. Mother is purified after ten days, father just after taking bath.

10. During the days of marriage, festivity, sacrifice, if a person dies, there is no impurity. The food-stuff collected for use can be utilized by the persons concerned. This is what Manu has said.

11. In birth the relatives incur no impurity. Impurity attaches to parents alone. Primarily, it is the mother who becomes impure. Father is purified by the touch of water alone.

12. In birth or death impurity lasts for ten days, O bird.

13. By giving food to the hungry and the indigent, the parents get rid of impurity — the sages have declared.

14. Man is purified after bathing in water from the earthen jar mixed with gingelly seeds and clay from holy places.

15-16. He should gift some articles to the village assembly, gold, cow and bull to a brahmana. If ksatriya he should do the same twice, if vaisya thrice, if £ udra four times.

Wealth should be given to a brahmin.

17. A person distanced by seven or eight generation or he who has not undergone a Sacrament incurs no impurity.

18. For men who have lost life for the sake of a brahmin, a cow, a woman or in the battlefield, infirmity lasts only for a single night.

19-20. Brahmins do not incur impurity if they are engaged in an auspicious rite. Those who arrange cremation of an orphan child with the brahmin assisting them in this act become purified as soon as they take bath.

2 1. When sudras, following a corpse, reach a pond or a stream or a reservoir, they should return home. While returning they should be glanced at by a brahmin which is enough for their purification. This is what the Vedic scholars say.

CHAPTER FORTY.

On accidental death Garuda said:

1-2. O lord, I wish to hear this explained. Some brahmins have tragic deaths. How is the passage in regard to those? What is their place? What is their goal? What are the rules of observance in regard to them? Please tell me the aftereffects of such untimely unnatural deaths?

The lord said:

3. O Garuda, I shall tell you in detail about their passage, rules of observance and place. It is a great secret —

the rite in case of abnormal death.

4-12. There are people who are dead by fasts, killed by fanged animals, dead by strangulation, who are slayers of preceptors killed by wolves, who die of arson or imprecations of brahmins, who die of cholera, who commit suicide, who fall from a peak and die, who hang themselves to death, who are drowned in tank, river or ocean, — listen to their plight. These go to hell. Those who are killed by the mlecchas and other infidels, who are defiled by dogs, jackals, etc., who are not cremated, who are full of germs, who die of leaping or great ailments or contact with foul women, or an attack by a low-born person, who die of water, of serpent-bite, who are struck by lightning, killed by fanged beasts, who die of falling from trees, who are defiled by. women in menses and impurities who are sudras, washermen and others, who are likely to fall into hell by committing sin or escaping it become ghosts — for such persons there is no rite of cremation, no water-libation, no rite of obsequy and no observance of impurity. For these people, O Garuda, the rite of Narayana bali should be performed.

Now, for the benefit of the entire world, I shall narrate the procedure of this rite that dispels the fear of sins.

13. Fora brahmin, the rite should be performed within six months; for a ksatriya within three months; for a vaisya within a month and a half and for a sudra immediately.

14-15. The Narayana bali should be performed through brahmins in Gafiga, Tamund, NaimiSa and Pufkara 1 in a tank full of water, in an eddy of pure water, in a cow-shed, in a house or in a temple in front of Krsna’s image.

16. Water-libation should be performed with mantras from the Vedas and the Puranas. With the articles of worship lord Visnu should be propitiated.

1 7. Rites accompanied by reciting the Purusa-sukta and Visnu mantras should be performed. Facing the south, the dead should be identified with lord Visnu.

18. The mantra runs thus! “May the lord Pundarikaksa who has no beginning, no end, who bears on his person a conch, a discus and a mace confer salvation to the dead.

19-20. After offering water-libation, the house-holder who is not affected by passion and hatred, who is pure, restrained in senses, devoted to virtue and benevolence shall observe silence along with his kinsmen, O Garuda.

1. Puskara — the same as modern Puskara in Rajasthan.

21. Then he shall perform eleven sraddhas with full concentration observing all rules.

22-23. He should make various gifts of water, grain, wheat, Priyatigu, cooked rice soaked in ghi, silver coin, umbrella, turban, cloth, vegetables, milk, honey and sandals.

24. Gifts should be made to all without depriving anyone of the line of those assembled. The rice-balls placed on the ground should be accompanied by scents, flowers and grains.

25. Gifts made to brahmins should be in accordance with the Vedic and sastric injunctions. Water-libation should be offered separately through a conch or a copper vessel.

26. The performer of rites should hold breath and kneel on the ground. He should first give the arghya and then perform ekoddista.

27. The first rice-ball should be offered with the mantras apo daivi, madhumati 2 and the second with the mantra Upayamagrhitosi 1 2 3.

28. The third rice-ball is given with the mantra j vena pdvaka cakfasa, 4 the fourth with the mantra ye devasah 5, and the fifth with the mantra samudram gaccha. 6 7 8 9

29. The mantra agnirjyotih 7 is for the sixth, hiranyagarbhalfl for the seventh, Tarndya 9 for the eighth and yajjagrat 10 11 for the ninth.

30. The mantra yah phalinih 11 is for the tenth and bhadram karnebhih 12 for the eleventh. Thus all the rice-balls should be offered. After this, he shall perform the sraddha for eleven deities on the next day. 1. VS. 12. 35 2. RV. IV. 57. 3

3. VS. VII. 4ff.

4. RV. 1. 50. 6

5. RV. IV. 35. 8

6. VS. 6. 21

7. VS. 3. 9

8. VS. 13. 4

9. VS. 37. 11

10. VS. 34. 1

11. RV. 10. 97. 15

12. RV. 1. 89. 8

31. Five brahmins should be invited and arghya given to them. They should be learned, of good conduct, most excellent in their family, free from physical decrepitude and noble. Never should they be of the condemnable type.

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