Kṛshṇājina Dāna Mantra
Kṛshṇājina Dāna Mantra · kṛshṇa-ajina dāna mantra, “the gift mantra of the black antelope skin”
The Kṛshṇājina dāna mantra is the two-verse mantra recited at the gift of the kṛshṇājina, the skin of the black antelope, which is honoured as a form of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa gives it to Mahārāja Yudhishṭhira in the Uttara Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa.
The setting
The kṛshṇājina-dāna is a mahādāna, given at the yugādi tithis, at eclipses of Sūrya and Candra, at saṃkrānti, at tithi-kshaya, on Māghī Pūrṇimā, at graha-pīḍā or on seeing a bad dream, to a brāhmaṇa who is an agnihotrī, master of Veda and Vedāṅga and knower of the Purāṇa. A pure place is smeared with cow dung and a woollen cloth spread on it. On the cloth the form of a deer is made with black sesame, with gold for the horns, silver for the teeth, a string of pearls for the tail, and a head of sesame covered with cloth and adorned with gold. It is worshipped with flowers, gandha, fruit, gems and naivedya, and four bronze vessels of ghee, milk, curd and honey are set in the four directions. At the puṇya-kāla the mantra is recited.
The mantra
Its meaning, as the Hindi gives it: “O excellent Kṛshṇājina Deva, you are of the form of Vishṇu, the destroyer of pāpas. By giving you, may all my pāpas be destroyed. Namaskāra to you again and again. You stand as the support of the thirty-three devatās. You are Kṛshṇa-Vishṇu in visible form. Namaskāra to you.”
The phala
After pradakshiṇā and repeated bowing, the giver adorns the brāhmaṇa and gives him the kṛshṇājina, holding it by its tail, as Brahmā has taught. The man who gives kṛshṇājina by this vidhi gains the whole fruit of bhūmi-dāna, and the pāpa of the three avasthās is destroyed in a moment.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 188
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 188