Verse 11.259

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

त्र्यहं तूपवसेद् युक्तस्त्रिरह्नोऽभ्युपयन्नपः ।
मुच्यते पातकैः सर्वैस्त्रिर्जपित्वाऽघमर्षणम् ॥ २५९ ॥

tryahaṃ tūpavased yuktastrirahno'bhyupayannapaḥ |
mucyate pātakaiḥ sarvaistrirjapitvā'ghamarṣaṇam || 259 ||

If a man fasts for, three days, and entering the water thrice a dat repeats the ‘Aghamarṣaṇa Hymn’ three times, he becomes absolved from all sins.—(259)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

Construe thus—‘apobhyupayan aghamarṣanam japitvā’; whence it follows that the reciting of the hymn is to be done in water. This has the support of another Smṛti text.

‘Aghamarṣaṇa’ is the name of a set of three verses already described above (Ṛgveda, 10.190.1, etc.).—(259)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

(verses 11.259-260)

These verses are quoted in Madanapārijāta (p. 746).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Gautama (24.12).—‘Thrice repeating the Aghamarṣaṇa hymn, while immersed in water one is freed from all sins.’

Baudhāyana (3.5.1-6).—‘Now we shall describe the rule of the most holy Aghamarṣaṇa:—One goes to a bathing place and bathes there; dressed in a pure dress, he shall raise, close to the water, an altar, and moistening his clothes by one application of water, and filling his hand once with water, he shall recite the Aghamarṣaṇa hymn privately. He shall repeat it one hundred times in the morning, one hundred times at midday, and one hundred times, or an unlimited number of times in the afternoon. When the stars have appeared, he shall partake of gruel prepared of one handful of barley. After seven days and nights of this course, he is freed from all minor sins, committed intentionally or unintentionally; after twelve days and nights, from all other sins, except the Mahāpātakas; after twenty-one days he overcomes even these latter and conquers them.’

Vaśiṣṭha (26.8).—‘Plunging into water, he may thrice recite the Aghamarṣaṇa. Manu has declared that the effect of this is the same as that of joining in the final bath of the Āśvamedha.’

Yājñavalkya (3.302).—‘The slayer of a Brāhmaṇa, having fasted for three days and having recited, in water, the Agha marṣaṇa hymn, and giving a milch cow, becomes purified.’