Adhyaya 64
In this adhyāya, Mārkaṇḍeya speaks to a royal interlocutor and directs him to the supremely auspicious tīrtha called Agastyeśvara, praised as a place-based means for removing moral demerit and sin. The chapter sets out a disciplined ritual course: perform snāna (sacred bathing) there, explicitly said to bring release from grievous wrongdoing, expressed in the idiom of brahmahatyā-remission. It also fixes the proper time—Kārttika month, kṛṣṇapakṣa, on caturdaśī—thus uniting time, place, and practice into a single ethical prescription. Further, one should bathe the deity (abhiṣeka) with ghee while remaining established in samādhi and with the senses restrained (jite-indriya). A regimen of dāna is added—wealth, footwear, umbrella, a ghee-blanket, and feeding all—declaring that such acts multiply merit. The teaching emphasizes a structured pilgrimage ethic: purification arises from coordinated observance, devotion, and generosity, not from travel alone.
Shlokas
Verse 1
श्रीमार्कण्डेय उवाच । ततो गच्छेत्तु राजेन्द्र तीर्थं परमशोभनम् । नराणां पापनाशाय अगस्त्येश्वरमुत्तमम्
Śrī Mārkaṇḍeya said: Then, O best of kings, one should go to that supremely beautiful tīrtha—Agastyeśvara, the excellent Lord—for the destruction of human sins.
Verse 2
तत्र स्नात्वा नरो राजन्मुच्यते ब्रह्महत्यया । कार्त्तिकस्य तु मासस्य कृष्णपक्षे चतुर्दशी
O King, by bathing there a man is released even from the sin of brahmin-slaying. This is especially enjoined on the fourteenth lunar day of the dark fortnight in the month of Kārttika.
Verse 3
घृतेन स्नापयेद्देवं समाधिस्थो जितेन्द्रियः । एकविंशतिकुलोपेतो च्यवेदैश्वरात्पदात्
Let him bathe the Deity with ghee, abiding in samādhi and with senses subdued. Endowed with merit that uplifts twenty-one generations, he does not fall from the lordly state.
Verse 4
धनं चोपानहौ छत्रं दद्याच्च घृतकम्बलम् । भोजनं चैव सर्वेषां सर्वं कोटिगुणं भवेत्
He should give wealth, footwear, an umbrella, and also a ghee-soaked blanket; and he should provide food to all. All of this becomes a millionfold in merit.
Verse 64
। अध्याय
Chapter end marker (colophon indicating the close/designation of the adhyāya).