THE GARUDA PURANA 50 страница

58. The boy died of thirst and the mother who was struck with grief died too, bythrowing herself into a dry well 59. O Brahmana, by that sin I became a ghost with mouth as small as the hole of a needle and body as huge as a mountain.

60. Although I get food I cannot eat. Although I burn with hunger my mouth is contracted.

61. Since in my mouth I have a hole equal to that of a needle I am known as Sucimukha.

Sight a said:

62. Formerly I was a rich Vaifya and went to a distant country for business.

63. I was accompanied by a friend who was a partner in business. He was rich but greedy. Then due to bad luck we fared badly in business to the extent that even our capital was lost.

64. Then we started from there, travelling in a boat.

Just as the sun reddened, we began to cross the river.

65. My friend was tired due to labour, slept in my lap.

Then a cruel thought entered into my mind.

66. I threw my friend sleeping in my lap into the river.

Nobody in the boat knew anything about my act.

67. I got hold of his belongings, jewels, rubies, gold, etc.

and returned home.

68. I kept that all in my house and told wife: “My brother has been taken away by robbers in the way and robbed of his wealth.

69-71. I ran away and escaped. Do not weep ” She was overwhelmed with grief and burnt herself into the fire. Then seeing my path was without obstruction I returned home gladly. I enjoyed my friend’s wealth to my heart’s content.

Since throwing my friend into the river I returned home quickly, I am called Sighraga.

Rodhaka said:

72-73. O Brahmana, formerly I was a Sudra. By the king’s favour I owned a hundred villages. I had old parents and a young brother.

74. Very soon my brother was estranged from me by a greedy person. I stopped giving him food and clothes. He suffered too much at my hands.

75-79. My parents gave him something secretly.

Whatever they gave him I learnt from my close confidants.

Then I bound my parents with iron chains in a deserted temple. Being miserable they ended their life by drinking poison. The boy who was left all alone wandered here and there and expired ultimately. By this sin, O Brahmana I have become ghost. Since I chained my parents I was called Rodhaka.

Lekhaka said:

80. Formerly I was a brahmana in Avanti. I was authorised to worship the deities of Bhadra king. There were many images with different names.

81. On their bodies they wore gold and jewels. While worshipping them an evil thought entered me 82. Piercing their bodies with an iron-rod I took out jewels from their eyes.

83. When the king saw the images in that state and their eyes without jewels, he became inflamed like fire.

84. Then he vowed, O Brahmana and said: “Whosoever has stolen gold and jewels from these images, if known will be killed”.

85-86. Knowing all that, one night, with a sword in hand, I entered the king’s palace and struck him dead. I then took jewels and gold and went away at midnight.

87-88. Then in' the deep forest, a tiger put on me his nails. Since I had incised the images with iron-rod I was known as Lekhaka.

The Br& hmana said:

89. You have told us facts about your names; now let us know about your way of life as ghosts as well as your food. The Ghosts said:

90-91. We stay where people do not follow the Vedas, where there is no feeling of shame for falsehood, no faith in religion, no sense of discipline, no inclination for forgiveness, no patience and no knowledge.

92-95. We trouble the person who does not perform & raddha or Tarpana.

We eat his flesh and suck his blood. Now hear about our food which is most despicable in the world. Something of this you have already seen. We shall now tell you something unknown to you. Vomiting, waste, cough, urine, and tears —

these we eat and drink. Do not ask us further, O Brahmana, we are ashamed to tell you about our food. We are ignorant, in dark, fools and puzzled. Suddenly have we remembered about our previous births.

96. We are neither humble, nor wild and we know nothing.

The lord said:

97. When the ghosts were speaking thus and the Brahmana was hearing.

98-99. I showed my form, O T& rkhya. When that Brahmana saw before him the Puru$a of his heart, he praised me with hymns and fell prostrate before me. Those ghosts too trembled with eyes wide open in surprise.

100. Their voice muttered with affection, still they could not speak. “Bow to you who release the cruel from rajas and the stupid from tamos This being uttered by the brahmaga that mountain was adorned with six shining aerial cars moving at my will and attended by celestial beings.

101. By that Vimana the Brahmana went to my abode along with the five ghosts. The ghosts went to heaven by virtue of their association with the Brahmana.

102. Living in heaven along with the ghosts that Bralimana Santapana became my famous gana called Visvaksena. Thus I have told you everything, O bird. Whoever tells or hears this narrative, O bird, does not become a ghost.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

Person authorised to perform obsequies.

Garuda said:

1. O Lord, now tell me who are authorised to perform obsequies and what are the methods of performance prescribed in the & astras.

The lord said:

2. Son, grandson, great-grand-son, his brother and brother’s progeny, so also sapin< ja-progeny — all these are authorized to perform the obsequies. In their absence, samanodaka-progeny of all these can perform the rite.

3-4. If both the families are maleless, the women should perform the obsequies. Or the king may perform all the rites — the preliminary, the middling and the final. O bird, the Ekoddista $raddha should be performed every year.

5-6. Now hear about the fruit accruing from the performance of this sacrifice.

7. When Brahma, Indra, Rudra, Nasatyas, Surya, Agni, Vasu, Maruts, ViSvedevas, manes, birds, men, animals, serpents, the Mother deities and other divine beings are given Sraddha with faith, there is rejoicing in the whole world.

8. When they are satisfied they satisfy the performer with sons, wife and wealth. Thus 1 have told you, in brief, about the rites and the persons authorized to perform them.

Garu 4a said:

9. O Lord, now tell me when no authorized person is alive, who should conduct the obsequious rites.

The Lord said:

10. If no authorized person is alive to conduct the obsequious rites after death, one should perform the rites in his life time.

11. After fasting and bathing he should along with his wife worship Visnu, the lord of all, the Creator as well as the Enjoyer.

12. With Svadha he should offer Jaladhenus to the manes along with Daksina and gingelly seeds. 13. Reciting the mantra Agnaye Kavyavdhanaya svadhd> namah, Somdya tvd pitrmate svadhd namah.

14. With right hand he should donate the third one with dakgina reciting Yamdydhgirase cdtha svadhd namah.

15-16. In between he should invite the brahmanas and feast them. The first should be stationed in north and the second one in the south, the third one in the middle. Before he invokes the other deities, he should worship the Visvedevas.

17. He should then tell the Brahmana. < c O Brahmana, I am feeding you for the propitiation of Vasus, Rudras and Suryas. ” He should thus tell all the Brahmanas.

18. He should then perform dvahana (invocation), etc, as it is performed in the case of manes. He should give Saurnya cow to the Brahmana for the propitiation of Vasus.

19. He should give Agneya cow for the propitiation of Rudra and Yamya cow for the propitiation of Surya. He should give a vessel full of gingelly seeds for the propitiation of Visvedevas.

20. Then uttering svasti and giving sacred water (as that of the Ganges) he should dismiss the Brahmanas (i. e.

ask them to go away as they liked), while he himself should set his heart on the eight-syllabled Vi$nu.

21. Then he should think of Kama, KuleSani, Siva and Narayana. He should go to the nearest river on Caturdaii.

22. Muttering the mantra Vastr& ni lohakhan$& ni jitarh U he should light fire facing the south.

23. Then making a Brahml image with fifty KuSas he should burn the same in fire. He should perform the sacrifice usually done in the crematorium and offer the final oblation (Purnahuti).

24. Or he should not kindle fire but simply propitiate Earth, Yama and Rudra. He should invoke each one of them separately and give offering at the appropriate place.

25. He should sacrifice caru mixed with mudga into the fire. He should offer sacred thread, rice and gingelly seeds to a Brahmana.

26. He should say; ‘Om homage to Earth’, Om homage to Yama.

27. Om homage to Rudra, lord of cemetery. Then in the fire lit on the earth 28-29. He should give handful of water to Yama, one to each of the seven names of Yama, viz, Yama, Dharma-raja, Mrtyu, Antaka, Vaivasvata, Kala, Sarvapranahara, muttering svadha, namah and Om seven times, i. e. with each of the seven names of Yama.

30-31. O you of such and such gotra, this water with gingelly seeds is for you. Ten pindas (rice-balls) should be given along with argha, flowers, incense, lamp, bali and gandha. He should then say: Let everyone be prosperous. After giving the ten pinejas he should remember the gentle face of Visnu.

32-33. He should perform this rite spread over for a month. He should do sapinitkoxancL for himself or others at the end of asauca within a month but not later than that knowing fully well the transitoriness of vitality, health, wealth and age.

Thus I have told you all about Jivat-graddha, O bird.

CHAPTER NINE.

The king authorized to perform rites.

Garudasaid:

1. O sinless one, you have just said that a king may also perform the aforesaid rites. Did any king in the past perform such rites for any one?

The Lord said:

2. Hear, O bird, I shall tell you how a king performed such rites (for an issueless deceased). In the Kjrtayuga, there was a king Babhruvahana by name, in the country of Angas. 1

3. O King of birds, He protected the earth on all sides.

Following the laws of the land, he enjoyed the earth, having four divisions. 2

4-6. During his reign, there was no sinner. Fear of thieves or evil-doers did not exist. During his reign there was no fear of any epidemic: He followed the path of religion for the welfare of his people. In lustre he resembled the sun, the earth in stability and the mountain in forbearance. Once, he of long arms, with his ample army and armaments went to a great forest.

7. He was surrounded by hundreds of horses, roars of warriors, sounding of conches and beating of drums.

8. As the king proceeded on journey he was praised by the brahmanas and other learned people on the way.

9. He went to the forest with great pleasure for hunting.

He was delighted to see the forest which resembled the Nandanc? garden of Indra.

10. It was full of Bilva, Khadira, and Kapithadhvaja.

It was surrounded by the mountains on all sides.

1. Afigas — a country and the people inhabiting it, identifiable with the region about the modem Bhagalpur in Bengal.

2. four divisions — comprising elephants, chariots, cavalry and infantry.

These make a complete army capable of subjugating the entire world:

Tntfr wnflf i 3. Nandana — A divine park in the world of gods.

11. It was devoid of water, devoid of human beings.

It spread over many yojanas and abounded in deer, lion, and other fierce wild animals.

12. Accompanied by his attendants and surrounded by his army he walked into the interior of the forest, killing different animals.

13. Leisurely, he struck a deer in the stomach with his arrow. The deer ran helter-skelter with pain, followed by the monarch.

14. While his army was left behind, he wandered all alone, hungry and thirsty and entered another forest.

15. Then suffering from thirst and seeking for water here and there, he got the indication of a lake from the noise of geese and cranes.

16-17. At last he found a lake where he immersed for bath together with his horse. Mixed with the filament of the lotuses, the water was fragrant, clear and cool. As he was tired of travelling a long way he rested beneath a fig tree on the bank of the lake.

18. He fastened his horse to the branches of the tree, spread the coverlet and used the clubs as pillows.

19-20. He slept there for a moment being fanned by air.

Even as he slept for a moment a certain kingly ghost came there along with hundreds of attendant ghosts. It was a remnant of bones, skin and sinews.

21. He was moving here and there, in search of food and drink. He did not rest even for a while. On seeing such a terrible ghost, the king put an arrow on his bow.

22-24. The ghost looked at the king for a long time and stood before him like a branchless post. The king got curious at the sight of the ghost and put the question to him thus:

Who are you? How did you get this deformity? The ghost replied: I have just left my ghosthood and attained a different form, just at the sight of you, O long-armed one. None is more fortunate than myself.

BabhruvSLhana said:

25-26. In this fierce forest, shaken with wind and cyclone, full of flies and mosquitoes, trunks and head, fish, tortoise.

784 Garuia Purdna lizards, scorpions, bees, serpents are seen with their mouth bent downwards and their feet raised upwards.

27. Dry winds are blowing; lightning is flashing; grass is scattered here and there.

28. I see many creatures — Nugas and Salabhas. I hear many sounds at some places and at some places I have no sounds at all. At the sight of all this deformity my heart trembles overwhelmingly.

The ghost said:

29-32. Those for whom the rites of cremation, funeral offering, such as the offering of rice-ball, gingelly-water are not performed nor the rites of dasa-pindas, dasagatras nor sapindfkarana, who daring their life were ungrateful, dr unkards gold-stealers, who died by accident, who were envious, without atonement, attached to women of ill repute, take the form of ghost and suffer for their bad actions through want of food and water.

33. O king, please perform their funeral rites since they do not have mother, father, sons and relations.

34-35. O king, you perform this good deed for their welfare, so that they may be released from misery and may cross the ocean of distress. Of what avail are the brothers and sons?

One should not rely on women for they are expert in selfishness.

36. A person reaps what he sows. All objects or belongings remain at home. The relatives turn back from the cemetery.

37. Body is consumed by fire; good and evil deeds alone accompany the deceased.

38. Therefore, for your welfare, you perform immediately the funeral rites of the kinless deceased, as you are mortal yourself.

The king said:

39. With your emaciated foim and fierce book, you seem to be a ghost. O king of ghosts, now tell me all about yourself in order to relieve my anxiety.

Thus asked, the king of ghosts began to tell all about himself.

The Ghost said:

40. O best of kings, I shall tell you all about myself from the very start. After hearing the causes that obtained ghosthood for me, you will have sympathy for me.

41. There is a city Vidisa 1 2 by name, full of pleasure and prosperity. It has many janapadas and abounds in abundant treasure.

42. It has forests of flowers where dwell the holy sages.

I too lived there, O king, engaged in the worship of gods.

43. I belong to the Vaisva caste, and my name isSudeva.

I propitiated the deities with oblations and the manes with sraddhas.

44. I presented gifts to the Brahmanas and donated food.

45. I gave money and precious articles to the poor and the needy. But by bad luck all that went in vain.

46. I had no progeny, no friends, no kins and no friends who could perform my funeral rites.

47-49. For that reason, my ghosthood became perpetual.

Now hear, O king, there are sixteen principal Sraddhas — the eleventh day, monthly, half-quarterly, six-monthly, etc. The dead who do not receive these Sraddhas turn into ghosts perpetually even though hundreds of other Sraddhas are performed for them. Knowing this, O king, you perform Sraddhas and release me from ghosthood.

50. For, a king is the relative of all castes. Therefore, I request you to release me from ghosthood. I give you the best of jewels in my custody.

51. Taking pity on me, O king, you act in such a way that I may be released from ghosthood.

52-53. ( Moreover, I may tell you why 1 became a ghost).

My kins being disinterested in me did not perform Vrsotsarga in my favour. Hence, I was transformed into ghost. I feel constantly hungry and thirsty, for want of food and drink. Hence this deformity and leanness without food.

1. Vidisa — the capital of the district called Dasarna in M& lava: Cp.

Meg had uta 1. 24:

2. Vffotsarga — setting free a bull on the occasion of a funeral rite or a religious act generally.

54. I suffer pain due to hunger and thirst, for this ghosthood is malevolent.

55. I, therefore, pray you, O king, for, you are the ocean, of pity.

The king said:

56. Tell me, O ghost, how one is released from, ghosthood.

The ghost said:

The people can infer about the present of a ghost at home by signs and tormentations.

57. I shall now tell you about tormentations given by the ghost to the people on earth. When the menses of the women go in vain and the family does not multiply.

58-62. When men die young it is tormentation by ghost.

Sudden loss in profession and insult among the people, sudden setting of house on fire, permanent quarrelling at home, false praise, suffering from consumption and foul diseases are due to tormentation by ghost. When the money invested in the customary way bears no fruit but is destroyed, it is due to tormentation by ghost. When crops are ruined even after proper rains, when commerce is unsuccessful, when wife creates tension, it is due to tormentation by ghosts. By these tormentations, O king, people can know about the presence of ghost at home.

63. IfVrsotsarga is done properly, one is released from ghosthood. Hence, O king, I pray you to perform Vr? °tsarga in my favour.

64 I authorize you to perform this rite for me. Once, I killed a certain prince and as a result thereof I became ghost.

65. O king please take this precious-gem froi l me and with the money received through it, perform Vf? otsarga for me on the fullmoon day in the month of Karttika or ASvayuj or on the day conjunct with Revati 1. For perfoming Vrsotsarga you invite the learned brahma^as and set up fire as prescribed in the $& stras.

1. Revati - — One of the 27 constellations which contains 32 stars.

66-67. Then perform sacrifice, reciting the prescribed mantras. You shall feast the brahmanas, spending the money obtained by the sale of this jewel. When this is done, I shall be released from ghosthood, O king.

The lord said:

68. The king took the jewel, saying, ‘be it so\

69-71. He had no atternative but to perform the rite, for he had taken the gem from the ghost. When the ghost and the king were talking together, there was heard a resounding noise of bells and trumpets. At the indication that the king s caturahga army was close by, the ghost disappeared. The king too left the forest for the capital.

72. Then on the Karttiki Purnima with the money realized from the sale of the jewel, the king performed Vr? ot sarga for the ghost.

73. The ghost obtained a new body as splendid as gold, at the end of the rite. He approached the king in the new splendid body and eulogized him. Attributing his release from ghosthood to the pious deed of the king he was grateful to him for the obsequies he had made in his favour.

74. Thus, I have told you how the ghost was released.

What else do you desire to hear?

CHAPTER TEN.

The Gratifying Nature of Sr& ddha.

Garuia said:

1. After sapindlkarana 1 has been done and the annua!

rites performed, the deceased may obtain godhood, manhood or birdhood as the case may be.

1. Sapfadikarafia—K rite of establishing kinship by offering libations of water, rice-ball etc. to the manes. This relationship extends from the seventh or the eleventh to the thirteenth or the fourteenth degree. Cf. M. S. 5. 60.

According to certain smftik& ras it is performed at the end of a year after the death of a~relative but now usually performed on the twelfth day as part of the funeral obsequies.

2. But they eat different types of food. How can b& ddha satiate them? The irdddha food is eaten by the brahmanas or given as oblation into the fire.

3. The pinda is given by the good as well as the bad relative. How can the ghost discriminate? Why should the $raddha be performed on a particular day?

The Lord said:

4. O bird, hear, iraddha is gratifying to ghosts. There is no restriction on a person if he becomes a deity or a man or an animal according to the actions of his previous life.

5-7. If he becomes a deity, the fr& ddha food turns into nectar; an article of enjoyment if he becomes a gandharva; a grass if he becomes an animal; an air if he becomes a naga;

fruit in case of a bird; meat in case of a demon; blood in case of a ghost; grain in case of a man and an article of enjoyment in case of a child.

Gam da said:

8. How kavya 1 and havya 2 given by men reach pitrloka and devaloka and who takes them there?

9. How can a sraddha gratify the dead? Gan oil in a blown-out lamp light the wick?

10. Tell me, O Lord! How does the deceased enjoy the fruits of the deeds such as rites of obsequy performed by his son.

The lord said:

11. The validity of tradition, O lord, is more powerful than the validity of direct perception. The Sruti declares that the food served to the brahmanas in the Sraddha turns into nectar, etc. for the departed souls.

12. By their names and gotras the manes receive the offerings made by the relatives. The mantras carry the same when they are recited with devotion and faith.

13. How the articles reach the manes should not be doubted, O bird. I tell you how the articles of gift can reach the manes.

1. Kavya — an oblation of food to deceased ancestors.

2. Havya — an offering to the gods or oblation in general.

14-15. The Agnisvatta pitrs ( the manes who are cremated in fire) remain in charge of the departed. When food is offered to the departed souls in the appropriate manner, at the appropriate time and place, as prescribed in the Sastras, they carry the same to the manes in their path.

16. Even though they assume different species and reach different worlds, w'ith different names and gotras, they receive the offering made in their favour by their kins.

17. The three pintfas given on Darbha or spread over the earth, by the nearest relative of the deceased, with his sacred thread worne over the left shoulder, gratify the manes even in their ghosthood.

18-19. Those who have been pious on the earth in all ways do not go to the torture -place. These as well as others who have assumed multifarious forms and those who are born in low species obtain whatever food they eat in those species.

20. Just as when the cow is lost in the herd of cattle, the calf searches for her and ultimately finds her, so the sraddha food searches the deceased person, though he is set on journey (or has, assumed a different form).

21-22. The manes consume the sraddha victuals in the company of Vaisvedevas, Vasus, Rudras, Adityas, ancestors, Sraddha devas. When gratified they gratify the deceased person.

23. Just as a pregnant woman gratifies herself and her foetus by satiating her desire, so also the deities gratify themselves and the manes by partaking the graddhas.

24. They feel elated at the approach of graddha time.

Thus thinking in their mind they reach the sraddha-place with the spread of imagination.

25. Staying in the horizen they eat with the brihmanas.

In their aerial form they eat with pleasure.

26. Whosoever be the brahmana invited for the feast, they enter his body, eat and return to their abode.

27-30. If the performer of Sraddha (such as the son of the deceased) has invited a single brahmana for sraddha, the father stays in his stomach, the grandfather on his left side, the greatgrandfather on the right and the consumer of pirrfa at the backr During the period of graddha Yama releases even the ghosts and the manes staying in hell who being hungry run to the world of mortals to receive the offering made by their relatives. They repent for their misdeeds while they desire to be served with the milk-rice mixed with honey by their sons and grandsons. Therefore, the descendent should gratify them with the milk-rice.

Garufa:

31. O Lord, now tell me, has any one seen the manes descending from the other world and partaking graddha on this earth?

The lord said:

32. Hear, O Garuda, I shall tell you how once Sita saw in the body of a brahmana the manes, the father-in-law, grandfather-in-law and the great-grand-father-in-law.

33-34. At the behest of his father, Rama went to the forest. When he reached Puskara, the holy centre, together with his consort Sita he performed graddha with the ripe fruits Sita collected from the trees.

35-36. When the sun reached the middle of the sky the sages who had been invited by Rama presented themselves.

When Sita saw the sages she was extremely delighted.

37. By the instructions of Rama she served them with food. Then, all of a sudden, she got away from among the brahmanas.

38-40. Covering herself behind the bushes she hid herself.

Then having le«, rnt that Sita had gone all alone, Rama was anxious and lost in thought. He wondered why she had gone away so soon without feasting the brahmanas. He thought to himself. May be she felt shy. I shall search for her. Thinking this way or that he himself feasted the brahmanas.

41. When the brahmanas went away Sita returned. Then Rama spoke to her: “Why did you leave when the sages came here to the forest. Let me know the reason of your abrupt departure.

42. Then addressed by the lord, Sita stood with her face cast dawn. With tears flowing down from her eyes site spoke thus to her lord.

Slid said:

43-44. O lord, hear, I saw a wonder here. I saw your father in front of the brahmanas, dressed in royal costume. I saw two elderly folk doning the similar garb.

45-46. On seeing your father I moved away from his presence. Attired in bark and hide, how could I serve him with food?

47. How could I offer him food in a vessel of grass in which even slaves would not eat?

48. How could I, full of perspiration and dirt, go before him knowing that he had never seen me before in that miserable state. I felt shy and moved away from his presence, O Rama.

49. On hearing these words of his beloved, Rama was -surprised at heart, thinking that it was a miracle never witnessed before.

50-51. Thus I have told you how Sita saw the manes.

Now, here in short is another account of Sraddha. On the day of Amavasya, the airy manes stand at the threshold of their decendants in order to receive sraddha.

52-53. They remain there till Sun-set. When they do not receive sraddha they fall in despair and out of suffering heave long sighs and go back cursing the descendents.

54-55. Therefore, one should carefully perform £ raddha on the amavasya day. If sons or relatives perform sraddha at Gaya, they uplift their ancestors from lower regions and themselves enjoy brahmaloka together with the manes. They never suffer from thirst and hunger.

56-58. Therefore, the wise should perform Sraddha imperatively. If no other article of food is available even vegetable if offered with devotion would suffice. If Sraddha is done in time the family would never perish. Age, sons, fame, heaven, glory, health, strength, splendour, cattle, happiness, wealth and grain — all these can be procured by worshipping the manes.

The rites performed in favour of the manes are more beneficial than the rites performed for the deities.

59-65. Gratification of the manes in proportion to that of the deities is more beneficial. Those who worship manes, deities, brahmanas and fire, in fact, worship me who am the soul of all beings. By performing Sraddha according to the means and method, the man pleases the universe as far above as brahmaloka. Whatever food is spread over the earth by the performer, the same gratifies them, though they have become ghosts. Whatever water falls on the ground dripping from the bathing clothes of the performer the same gratifies them, though they may have become trees. Whatever scents fall on the ground the same gratifies them though they may have obtained deityhood. Those who are outside the caste groups, unfit for rites or averse to rites, consume water scattered after washing.

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