DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.641#0179
172 THE HINDOO MYTHOLOGY.
the pishachtis, the gundhiirvus, the kinntirus, the iipsuras,
the vidyadhiirus, the mountain gods, &c. Before this
assembly the iipsiiras dance; the kinntirus, (with horses'
mouths,) and the gundhiirvus, sing and play on heavenly
instruments. All the pleasures of the other heavens are to
be found here.
The following are esteemed works of merit, capable of
raising a person to celestial happiness :—Honouring, enter-
taining, serving, and giving gifts to bramhuns: the more
learned the bramhtin, the greater the merit. Worship-
ping and repeating the names of the gods, and par-
ticularly that of a person's guardian deity; visiting or
residing at holy places, and performing the accustomed
religious ceremonies there; performing the shraddhii for
deceased ancestors; bathing in the Ganges and other
sacred rivers; offering sacrifices ; building temples; cut-
ting roads and pools; planting trees, especially sacred trees;
making and setting up images; repeating the gayutrgg,
and other parts of the v£dus; reading the vedu and other
shastriis, or hearing them read; honouring and serving a
spiritual guide; hospitality to guests, especially to bram-
huns ; fasting, particularly at times directed by the shas-
trus; burning with a deceased husband; parting with life
in sacred places.
King Sooriit'hu was raised to the heaven of Indru for
performing the sacrifice of a horse a. King Trishiinkoo ob-
tained heaven by the power of the merits which Viishisht'-
hu, a bramhun, transferred to himb. Cmbureeshu, a king,
was about to perform a human sacrifice, in order to obtain
heaven; but when going to slay the victim, through the
* Shiee-bhagftviitti. » Ibid.
the pishachtis, the gundhiirvus, the kinntirus, the iipsuras,
the vidyadhiirus, the mountain gods, &c. Before this
assembly the iipsiiras dance; the kinntirus, (with horses'
mouths,) and the gundhiirvus, sing and play on heavenly
instruments. All the pleasures of the other heavens are to
be found here.
The following are esteemed works of merit, capable of
raising a person to celestial happiness :—Honouring, enter-
taining, serving, and giving gifts to bramhuns: the more
learned the bramhtin, the greater the merit. Worship-
ping and repeating the names of the gods, and par-
ticularly that of a person's guardian deity; visiting or
residing at holy places, and performing the accustomed
religious ceremonies there; performing the shraddhii for
deceased ancestors; bathing in the Ganges and other
sacred rivers; offering sacrifices ; building temples; cut-
ting roads and pools; planting trees, especially sacred trees;
making and setting up images; repeating the gayutrgg,
and other parts of the v£dus; reading the vedu and other
shastriis, or hearing them read; honouring and serving a
spiritual guide; hospitality to guests, especially to bram-
huns ; fasting, particularly at times directed by the shas-
trus; burning with a deceased husband; parting with life
in sacred places.
King Sooriit'hu was raised to the heaven of Indru for
performing the sacrifice of a horse a. King Trishiinkoo ob-
tained heaven by the power of the merits which Viishisht'-
hu, a bramhun, transferred to himb. Cmbureeshu, a king,
was about to perform a human sacrifice, in order to obtain
heaven; but when going to slay the victim, through the
* Shiee-bhagftviitti. » Ibid.