Agni Purana .. part ....8

January 21, 2009

Agni Purana part… 8

Namaste

Let us Continue Reading Puranas.

Puranas are also a Treasure to Sanathana Dharma.

Agni Purana, Brahma Purana, Garuda Purana,

Markandeya Purana, Varaha Purana, Matsya Purana

Vishnu Purana, Linga Purana, Narada Purana,

Padma Purana, Shiva Purana, Skanda Purana,

Vamana Purana

Let us start read one by one .

We start with AGNIPURANA same like

before I will post Each Purana as part by part.

I Know while reading Manusmriti to read

Other puranas may be difficult , but as you know

atleast to taste our great values in

Sananthana Dharma One Human life is not enough,

so I try my level best to spread this values

to my respected friends.

If anyone miss to read or interest to read my

previous postings Chanakya Neetisastra,

Kautiliya Arthasastra , Vidura niti or

Tiruvallurs Tirukkural,and Uddhavagita or

any part of Manusmriti

pls mail to me , I will send again to you.

I humbly request you to forward this values to your family, friends and to your groups. Allow all people from different religion to understand the value of our Sanathana Dharma. At least let them learn and then let them criticize.

Here we Continue reading the translation of the text of the AGNIPURAN in Short at the currently available form :

I am not a scholar to modify any of this laws or puranas or its languages suitable for modern life .I Humbly request you to read it and think in a modern scientific way. Like in Bhagavadgita Chapter 18 text 63 it is said by lord Krishna Thus I have explained to you knowledge still more confidential. Deliberate on this fully, and then do what you wish to do.

Or, as my guru told me One need not worry too much about the source of certain knowledge. Just adopt in our life if they are good. If needed refine the knowledge by way of addition, deletion, modification and correction.

Agni Purana part… 8

Battle Once a king decides to go out to battle, seven days are needed for preliminaries. On the first day, Vishnu, Shiva and Ganesha have to be worshipped. On the second day the dikpalas (guardians of all the directions) are worshipped, the Rudras on the third day, the planets and the stars on the fourth day and the two Ashvinis and the rivers on the fifth day. On the sixth day, the king has a ceremonial bath in honour of the victory that is to come. And on the seventh day, the king leaves to do battle. Prior to the marching, the army must always assemble to the east of the capital city. The start of the march must be accompanied with the playing

of musical instruments. Once the army has begun to march, it must never look back. After having travelled for a couple of miles, it must stop to rest and pray to the gods and the brahmanas. The king must never directly fight. Because if the king is killed, the battle is lost. The king must be right behind his army, not too far away from it. An elephant will be guarded by four chariots, a chariot by four horses and a horse by four infantryment. The infantry will also be at the front of army, followed by archers and then by the horses. The chariots and the elphants come last of all. The cowards in the army must not be in the front, they must be at the back. The front is for the brave soldiers. To the extent possible, one should fight with the sun behind one’s army. If a soldier dies in the course of battle, he goes straight to heaven. The blood of brave men wash away all sins. To be struck with a weapon is better than to

perform many sacrifices. A person who flees from the field of battle performs a sin that is worse than that of killing a brahmana. The fight should be between equals. Those who are running away should not killed. Nor should spectators and those who are unarmed be killed. An enemy captured in battle should not be kept imprisoned. He should be release and treated like a son. Rama’s Precepts Rama had once taught Lakshmana about the duties of a king. The Agni Purana now relates these precepts of Rama’s. The duties of a king are fourfold. Firstly, he has to earn wealth. Secondly, he has to increase it. Thirdly, he has to protect it. And fourthly and finally, he has to donate it. The king must also be polite and politeness comes through the conquering of the senses. The king must be humble. The senses are like mad elephants. If the senses are pampered, like mad

elephants, they trample politeness and humility underfoot. The king must also be non-violent, truthful, clean and forgiving. He should take care to observe all the rituals. He should give food to those who are poor, he should protect those who seek royal protection. He should always use words that are pleasant to hear. The body is here today and gone tomorrow. Stupid is the king who deviates from the path of righteouness to give pleasure to a body that is transient. The curses of unhappy people are enough to bring down a king. There is only one difference between gods and animals. Gods use pleasant words, while animals use rough words. The king must use pleasant words like a god. And he must use pleasant words not only for those who are his friends or are good, but also, for those who are his enemies or are evil. With obeisance the king pleases his guru, with good behaviour the righteous, with duties the gods, with love the

servants and with alms those who are inferior. The kingdom has seven components. These are the king, the ministers, the friends, the treasury, the army, the forts and the state itself. Of these, the most important is the state and it has to be preserved at all costs. The king must be extremely careful in the choice of the ministers and the royal priest. The king must not choose or consult ministers who are stupid. The king’s signs are his golden rod or scepter and an umbrella that is held over his head. The umbrella should be made of the feathers of swans, peacocks or cranes, but the feathers of different types of birds should not be mixed in the same umbrella. The throne should be made of wood and should be embellished with gold. A bow can be made of iron, horn or wood. The best bow is one that extends over four armlengths. The king can spend upto one year’s tax revenue on armaments and flags. Dhanurveda The section on Dhanurveda is on arms and weapons. There are five types of weapons that are used in war. The first category is that of yantramukta weapons, released from a machine (yantra). This machine may be a launcher or even a bow. The second category is that of panimukta weapons, weapons that are flung by the hand (pani). Examples are spears and stones. The third category is known as muktasandharita. These are weapons that can be flung and also withdrawn. The fourth category consists of weapons like swords that are never released from the hand during battle. These are known as amukta weapons. And the last category of weapons consists of brute force and strength. This is of use in bouts of wrestling. The best form of fighting is that with bows and arrows. Next comes fighting with spears, followed by fighting with swords. Wrestling is the worst form of

fighting. Before aiming, the bow (dhanusha) should be held with the arch pointing down towards the earth. The arrow (vana) should be placed against the bow with the head pointing down. The bow should now be raised and the lower end of the bow should be in line with the archer’s navel. The quiver should be at the back. Before releasing the arrow, the bow should be held firm with the left hand and the arrow with the fingers of the right hand. The string of the bow should be pulled back such that the tassel of the arrow is between the archer’s ear and right eye. The body should not be bent when one is releasing an arrow. Nor should one get excited. The archer has to be still as a pillar. The target has to be in line with the left fist and the archer’s posture has to be like that of a triangle. It is best to pull back the string of the bow upto the right ear. A noose (pasha) is ten arms in length, with both ends of the weapon

being circular. The main body of the weapon is made of rope. There are eleven different ways in which a noose may be held. A noose must always be flung with the right hand. A sword (asi) must hang to the left of the waist. When a sword is to be taken out, the scabbard should be grasped in the left hand and the sword should be taken out with the right hand. There are thirty-two different ways in which a sword and a shield may be held. Property What happens to a person’s debts when he dies? If he does not have any sons, the person who inherits the property also inherits the debts and has to pay them off. If there is a son, the son pays the debts off. But a woman is not be held responsible for debts contracted by her husband or her son. Nor is a man responsible for debts contracted by his wife or son. Exceptions are instances where a husband and a wife contract a debt

jointly. If there are no witnesses to a contracted debt but the king feels that the debt was indeed contracted, the king must arrange for the debt to be repaid within a period of sixty-four days. In cases of a dispute, the person who brings a false suit will be punished by the king. And a false witness will be given twice the punishment that is meted out to the one who brings a false suit. A brahmana who bears false witness will be banished from the kingdom. A person who agrees to be a witness, but later withdraws, will be punished eight times as much as the bringer of the false suit. A brahmana who does this will be banished from the kingdom. It is better that the details of a debt contracted be written down, with the names of the two parties and the witnesses clearly indicated. If the debtor pays in instalments, the details of all such payments must be recorded on the written document. Debts made in the presence of witnesses

.. If a witness has to take an oath, the oath should be administered after cotton, fire, water or poison has been placed on the head of the witness. Fire or water can be used to find out if a person is lying or not. If fire is used, seven banyan leaves are placed on the accused’s hand. A red hot lump of iron is then placed on the hand and the accused has to go around a fire seven times. If it is found that the hand has not been burnt, the person has been telling the truth. And if the hand has been burnt, he has been lying. Similarly, an accused person can be immersed in the water and if he does not drown, he has been telling the truth. Aternatively,the accused can be made to drink poison. If the poison does him no harm, he is truthful. If the father makes a will, the property will be divided amongst the sons in accordance with the provisions of the will. But if all the sons get an equal share of the property, the wife should

also be given an equal share. Otherwise, the father can leave all his property to the eldest son. The sons and the father obtain equal shares to any property or debt that has been left by the grandfather. But the sons are not necessarily entitled to any property that has not been left by the grandfather, but been earned by father. If a son is born after the property has been divided, he too will be entitled to an equal share of any property left by the grandfather. Daughters are not entitled to property. But sons who have married will use one-fourth of their inherited property to get their sisters married.

Will be continue on part 9

with regards

dilip