Chapter 43 - The mode of gifting the eight guardians of the quarters

Sanatkumāra said:

1-2. The rite of the gift of eight Lokapālas is divine and very rare to be achieved. It is a secret rite bringing about all riches and destructive of all enemies. It guards one’s own land. It causes increase in progeny, in divine elephants and horses. It is holy and conducive to the welfare of cows and brahmins.

3-6. The devotee shall worship Śiva in the middle of the Maṇḍala above the altar at the time and spot mentioned before, in due order. In the quarters and the interstices the bare ground shall be covered with sand. Fresh^[1] cloth shall be spread and eight brahmins made to sit facing Siva. They shall be masters of the Vedas and the ancillaries; they shall have conquered the senses, be born of noble families and endowed with all good characteristics. The devotee shall worship them with divine scents, fragrant flowers and good incense. They shall be duly honoured by means of clothes and ornaments repeating the mantras of the Lokapālas.

7-11. At the outset he shall perform Homa in the fire beginning with the east, repeating the mantras of the Lokapālas. Homa shall be performed gradually by means of sacrificial twigs and ghee. The preceptor, a favourite devotee of Śiva, shall duly perform Homa and then call the sacrificer. He shall adorn the brahmins with ornaments and give them wealth, severally repeating the respective mantras. A fee of ten gold coins is decent. The seat shall be made with ten gold coins for each one of them separately. The rite of ablution of Śiva shall be duly performed there. Monetary gifts shall be given in accordance with one’s capacity. The learned man who performs this rite of the guardians of the quarters with devotion shall remain in the worlds of the guardians of the worlds for a long time and shall become an emperor.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

anāhata [anāhateṣu]—nava [naveṣu], i.e. dressed in new robes.