Adhyaya 88: The Greatness of Mount Kārpāsa and the Rite of the ‘Kārpāsa-Śailendra’ (Cotton-Mountain) Gift

Verse 1

*ईश्वर उवाच अथातः सम्प्रवक्ष्यामि कार्पासाचलमुत्तमम् यत्प्रदानान्नरो नित्यम् आप्नोति परमं पदम् //

The Lord said: Now I shall fully declare the supreme Mount Kārpāsa; by making offerings there, a man indeed unfailingly attains the highest state.

Verse 2

कार्पासपर्वतस् तद्वद् विंशद्भारैर् इहोत्तमः दशभिर्मध्यमः प्रोक्तः पञ्चभिस्त्वधमः स्मृतः भारेणाल्पधनो दद्याद् वित्तशाठ्यविवर्जितः //

Likewise, for a ‘mountain’ (heap) of cotton, a gift of twenty bhāras is considered the best here; ten bhāras is declared middling, and five bhāras is remembered as inferior. One of modest means should give according to (even) a single bhāra, free from deceit concerning wealth.

Verse 3

धान्यपर्वतवत्सर्वम् आसाद्य मुनिपुंगव प्रभातायां तु शर्वर्यां दद्यादिदमुदीरयेत् //

O best of sages, having gathered everything so that it is heaped like a mountain of grain, one should make the gift at daybreak, at the end of the night, while reciting this prescribed formula.

Verse 4

त्वमेवावरणं यस्माल् लोकानामिह सर्वदा कार्पासाद्रे नमस्तुभ्यम् अघौघध्वंसनो भव //

Since you alone are ever the shelter and protective covering of all worlds here, O Lord of Kārpāsādri, I bow to you—be the destroyer of the flood of sins.

Verse 5

इति कार्पासशैलेन्द्रं यो दद्याच्छर्वसंनिधौ रुद्रलोके वसेत्कल्पं ततो राजा भवेदिह //

Thus, whoever offers the gift called the “Kārpāsa-Śailendra” in the presence of Śarva (Śiva) dwells in Rudra’s world for a kalpa; thereafter, in this very world, he becomes a king.