Agni Purana — Raja-dharma, Shloka 7
Chapter 230: शकुनानि (Śakunāni) — Omens
दीप्तायान्दिशि दिग्दीप्तं शकुनं परिकीर्तितं ग्रामो ऽरण्या वने ग्राम्यास् तथा निन्दितपादपः
dīptāyāndiśi digdīptaṃ śakunaṃ parikīrtitaṃ grāmo 'raṇyā vane grāmyās tathā ninditapādapaḥ
မီးတောက်လောင်နေသော အရပ်၌ ပေါ်ထွက်လာ၍ «အရပ်တောက်လင်း» ဟူသကဲ့သို့ ထင်ရှားသော ငှက်အနိမိတ်ကို အထူးအရေးကြီးဟု ကြေညာထားသည်။ ထို့အတူ ရွာသည် တောကန္တာရကဲ့သို့ ဖြစ်သွားခြင်း၊ တောထဲ၌ ရွာငှက်များ ရှိခြင်း၊ အမင်္ဂလာဟု ရှုတ်ချထားသော သစ်ပင် ရှိခြင်းတို့သည်လည်း အဆိုးအနိမိတ်ဖြစ်သည်။
Lord Agni (in discourse to Vasiṣṭha, Agni Purana’s standard frame)
Vidya Category: {"primary_vidya":"Jyotisha","secondary_vidya":"Dharmashastra","practical_application":"Reading nimitta (omens) from anomalous bird-behavior and ecological inversions to decide auspicious/inauspicious timing for travel, war, rites, or settlement decisions.","sutra_style":true}
Encyclopedic Reference: {"reference_type":"List","entry_title":"Shakuna-nimitta: dīptadig-śakuna and grāma–araṇya viparyaya (inauspicious inversions)","lookup_keywords":["śakuna","nimitta","dīptadig","grāma-araṇya-viparyaya","nindita-pādapa"],"quick_summary":"A bird-omen is especially weighty when it appears ‘direction-flaming’ in a blazing quarter; ecological inversions (village turning wilderness, village-birds in forest) and an inauspicious tree are treated as adverse portents."}
Concept: Viparyaya (inversion of natural order) is read as a sign of disorder and impending adversity; heightened phenomena (dīpti) intensify omen-significance.
Application: Treat sudden ecological reversals and ‘blazing-direction’ sightings as caution-signals; postpone ventures, intensify protective rites, and reassess local stability.
Khanda Section: Shakuna-shastra (Omens and Portents / Nimitta-vidya)
Primary Rasa: bhayanaka
Secondary Rasa: adbhuta
Visual Art Cues: {"scene_description":"A landscape split between village and forest: a bird glowing against a blazing horizon in one direction; a village overgrown like wilderness; village birds appearing deep in the forest; a marked ‘censured’ tree standing ominously.","kerala_mural_prompt":"Kerala temple mural style, flat yet vivid colors, a blazing quarter of the sky with a luminous bird flying toward it, stylized village turning into wild thicket, forest with domestic birds, an ominous tree with dark aura, traditional ornamental borders.","tanjore_prompt":"Tanjore painting, gold-leaf highlights on the ‘blazing direction’ sky and the shining bird, richly patterned village huts overtaken by vines, symbolic inauspicious tree with embossed gold accents, devotional-like composition but focused on omen imagery.","mysore_prompt":"Mysore painting style, delicate linework and soft shading, diagrammatic split-scene showing grāma vs araṇya inversion, labeled directional blaze, a single highlighted bird as the key nimitta, calm instructional palette.","mughal_miniature_prompt":"Mughal miniature, detailed naturalism: a glowing bird against a red-gold horizon, village lanes choked with weeds, forest clearing with domestic birds, a gnarled tree singled out, fine foliage detail and atmospheric perspective."}
Audio Atmosphere: {"recitation_mood":"instructional","suggested_raga":"Bhairavi","pace":"medium","voice_tone":"instructional"}
Sandhi Resolution Notes: दीप्तायान्दिशि → दीप्तायाम् + दिशि; ग्रामो ऽरण्या → ग्रामः + अरण्या; दिग्दीप्तम् is a तत्पुरुष compound (दिक्+दीप्त).
Related Themes: Agni Purana 230 (Shakuna/Nimitta classifications)
FAQs
It gives nimitta-vidyā criteria for reading omens: unusual ‘blazing’ directional appearances of birds and abnormal habitat inversions (village becoming wilderness, village-birds in forests), plus the presence of an inauspiciously classified tree, are treated as significant (generally adverse) portents.
Beyond theology, it preserves applied prognostic lore (śakuna/nimitta-śāstra)—a practical branch used in travel, governance, and ritual decision-making—showing the text’s wide coverage of predictive sciences alongside rites, polity, and other disciplines.
Recognizing inauspicious anomalies is meant to prevent undertaking actions at adverse times; by heeding such signs and postponing or performing pacificatory measures, one avoids harm and mitigates negative outcomes attributed to unfavorable karmic conditions.