Pitṛs

Pitṛ, “the fathers”

The pitṛs are the ancestors. In Sanātana Dharma they are a special class of divine beings who live in the Pitṛloka (world of the ancestors) and receive the offerings of śrāddha, the rite their descendants on earth perform to honour and feed them.

The Purāṇas name the pitṛs in seven groups (gaṇas), and tell where they come from, where they live, and which family lines of the living each group watches over.

The Vāmana Purāṇa tells that the pitṛs called the Agnishvāttas gave their mind-born daughter Menā to Himavān after Devendra offered them piṇḍa at Pṛthūdaka in Kurukshetra, so that Devī Pārvatī is the daughter’s daughter of the pitṛs. It names Bhagavān Vishṇu as the supreme lord of the pitṛs, and its Saro Māhātmya gives, tīrtha by tīrtha, the śrāddha, tarpaṇa and piṇḍa that satisfy them at the sacred lake of Kurukshetra.

Per Vāyu Purāṇa

The Vāyu Mahā Purāṇa describes the pitṛ-gaṇas in an orderly way in its Uttarārdha (second part), Chapter 3.

How the Pitṛs Came to Be

The account of how the pitṛs came to be is told as a conversation between Bṛhaspati and his son Śaṃyu, who asked: “Who are the pitṛs? How many are they? How did they become pitṛs?”

Brahmā’s Curse: The First Origin

Brahmā created the devas. But the devas, proud of their existence, did not honour him and turned to their own purposes. Brahmā cursed them: “You shall become senseless and deluded.” The devas lost all awareness. Frightened, they begged Brahmā for help. He told them to seek wisdom from their own children (prajā). The sons, who had kept their knowledge of dharma, taught their fathers prāyaścitta (acts of atonement). With their clarity restored, the devas said: “You who woke us up are our fathers (pitaras).”

Brahmā confirmed it: the sons became pitṛs, and the fathers became sons. Both roles, pitṛ and putra (son), now exist together in every being. This is why śrāddha, in which the living nourish the pitṛs, reflects that first reversal at the beginning of creation.

The Seven Pitṛ-Gaṇas

The Purāṇa names seven pitṛ-gaṇas: three amūrti (without form) and four sumūrti (with a fine, subtle form).

The amūrti gaṇas, who live in Tapoloka and above:

1. Vairajas: the highest pitṛ-gaṇa. They were born from Brahmā’s first tapas (spiritual discipline) and support all creation through yoga. Through their yoga they draw soma from śrāddha offerings and nourish the world through Parjanya (the deva of rain). At the end of the kalpa (cycle of creation) they reach mahā-yoga-mukti (the great freedom through yoga). Their daughters include Menā, wife of Himavān and mother of Pārvatī.
2. Agnishvāttas: pitṛs who performed homa (fire offering) through the inner fire.
3. Barhishads: pitṛs linked with the barhis grass of the yajña.

The sumūrti gaṇas:

1. Somapas: soma-drinking pitṛs linked with the world of the moon.
2. Ājanabhas: pitṛs of the kshatriya line.
3. Svasadhas: pitṛs of the vaiśya line.
4. Kāvyas: pitṛs of the brāhmaṇa class.

The Vairajas are the highest of all: “Thousands of aśvamedhas, hundreds of rājasūyas, thousands of pauṇḍarīka yajñas: the dwelling [of the yogīs who stand for the Vairajas] is greater than all of these.”

The Daughters of the Pitṛs

The Purāṇa notes that the daughters of the Vairajas became the mothers of great family lines:

• Menā: wife of Himavān, and mother of Pārvatī (Umā), Gaṅgā, Ekaparṇā and Ekapāṭalā

This is why Pārvatī’s mother’s line is described as pitṛ-duhitā, “daughter of the pitṛs”.

The Disciples of Lomaharshaṇa

The Purāṇa lists by name the thirteen disciples of Lomaharshaṇa Sūta:

1. Ātreya
2. Sumati
3. Dhīmān
4. Kāśyapa
5. Akṛtavraṇa
6. Bhāradvāja
7. Agnivarṇa
8. Vasishṭha
9. Mitrāyu
10. Sāvarṇi
11. Somadatta
12. Suśarman
13. Śāṃśapāyana

Three of them, Kāśyapa, Sāvarṇi and Śāṃśapāyana, composed their own Purāṇa-saṃhitās (collections of Purāṇa). Together with Lomaharshaṇa’s original Saumikā-saṃhitā, these make up the four accepted Purāṇa-saṃhitās.

Per Matsya Purāṇa

The Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, in Chapters 13 to 15, gives a trusted account of the seven great classes of pitṛs: where they come from, where they live, and which groups of beings (devas, brāhmaṇas, kshatriyas and others) each class watches over as ancestors. The best-known story about the pitṛs here is that of Acchodā, a divine being born from the pitṛs’ meditation, who fell because of desire placed where it should not have been.

The Seven Classes of Pitṛs

The Purāṇa names seven main pitṛ gaṇas (groups of ancestors). Each class has its own origin, form and dwelling, and its own link with particular groups of living beings.

1. Vairāja Pitṛs

These are the pitṛs who are the ancestors of the devas and the ṛshis. They came from the mind (mānasa) of Brahmā, as direct expressions of his creative will, and so they are the highest of all the pitṛ gaṇas. They have no physical form (amūrta) and live in the highest Pitṛloka. The devas themselves honour them.

2. Agnishvātta Pitṛs

These pitṛs practised tapas (spiritual discipline) and jñāna (knowledge) but did not keep the household fire (gṛhāgni). They are the ancestors of the great ṛshis, especially the ṛshis who were not householders and who followed knowledge rather than ritual. They live in the sphere of the moon and are linked with the path of knowledge. Their name, Agnishvātta, “those tasted by fire”, means they were touched by the fire of knowledge rather than the fire of ritual offering.

3. Barhishad Pitṛs

These are the pitṛs of those who kept the household fire and performed yajñas (sacred fire offerings). They are the ancestors of householders who did their dharmic duties rightly. Their name, Barhishad, “seated on kuśa grass”, refers to the ritual seat of the purohita in a yajña. They live in a middle realm linked with the puṇya (merit) of yajña.

4. Saumya Pitṛs

These pitṛs are linked with Soma, the moon, and the moonlit path. They are the ancestors of those who performed Soma yajñas. Their realm overlaps with the world of the moon.

5. Ājyapā Pitṛs

These pitṛs receive offerings of ājya (ghee). They are the pitṛs of the kshatriyas and of those who performed yajñas with offerings of ghee.

6. Sukālin Pitṛs

These pitṛs are linked with the vaiśyas, the merchants and farmers. They receive the offerings that suit the vaiśya way of life.

7. Kravyāda Pitṛs

This is the most unusual class: pitṛs who eat flesh (kravyāda). They are linked with beings on the border between the world of the asuras and the world of the dead, such as rākshasas and certain other beings who eat flesh. They receive a different kind of offering. They show that, in the Purāṇas, even the asura and rākshasa lineages have their own duties to their ancestors and their own ancestral protectors.

The Pitṛloka

The pitṛs live in their own world, the Pitṛloka. In the Purāṇic picture of the universe, it is a separate realm between the earth and the higher divine realms. It is ruled by Yama, the master of dharma and of the dead. Each ātmā goes there after death, before its next birth or before it rises to higher realms. Where an ātmā stays within the Pitṛloka depends on its karma and on the quality of the śrāddha its descendants perform.

The Story of Acchodā

Acchodā was a divine being who came from the meditation of the pitṛs. When the pitṛs meditated with deep focus, their shared tapas brought forth a shining being of divine beauty: Acchodā. She was given a home in the realm of the pitṛs, and they honoured her as their daughter.

Acchodā was extraordinarily beautiful and pure. She lived in a divine lake beside the Pitṛloka (Acchodā means “clear water”, a pure lake). But one day she met a great ṛshi of the Aila line and was overcome with desire for him. For a daughter of the pitṛs to desire a mortal, out of attachment to outward form rather than a dharmic bond, went against the laws of her divine life.

Because of this desire, Acchodā was cursed to fall from her divine place and be born as a mortal woman. The story ends with a promise that she would one day be restored: after living through her mortal life she would be purified and return to her first state. The story teaches about the nature of desire even in the higher realms. No level of existence is free from the force of kāma (desire), and when it crosses the limits of right relationship, it always brings a fall.

The Pitṛs and Śrāddha

The teaching on the pitṛs in Chapters 13 to 15 leads straight into the long Śrāddha Kalpa (rules of śrāddha) taught in Chapters 16 to 22. Naming the seven classes of pitṛs and their links with living beings shows whom one is actually feeding in śrāddha. The offering is not made to some general world of ancestors. It is made to a particular class of beings who stand in a clear relationship with the one making it. Understanding this correctly is part of what makes śrāddha work.

Per Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa

A gaṇa is a group. The pitṛ-gaṇas are the seven groups of ancestral beings who live in the pitṛ-loka (the world of the ancestors) and receive the offerings made in śrāddha, the rite of honouring and feeding the departed. Each gaṇa has its own name, its own task in the universe, and its own link with particular human family lines.

The Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa describes them in an orderly way in its Madhyama Bhāga (middle part), Chapter 9. The Pitṛkalpa section of the Madhyama Bhāga (Chapters 9 to 20) is the fullest teaching on the pitṛs in this Purāṇa.

The Seven Pitṛ-Gaṇas

The Purāṇa names and describes seven main pitṛ-gaṇas, each with its own nature and place in the universe:

1. Barhishads: the highest of the pitṛ-gaṇas. They are named after the sacred grass (barhis) used in yajña, which they always carry. They live in a divine realm of great purity and are linked with the lunar dynasty. The apsarā Acchodā was born from their sacred lake and was their divine daughter.
2. Agnishvāttas: pitṛs who were not householders in their human lives and did not keep the sacred fire (agni), but who still reached the pitṛ-loka through other kinds of puṇya (merit). They are especially honoured in the tradition of śrāddha.
3. Somapas: pitṛs who drank soma in their human lives and are linked with Soma, the Moon deva. They receive the śrāddha offerings made by brāhmaṇas.
4. Havirbhujas: those who ate the havis (offerings) of yajña in their human lives. They are linked with the kshatriyas.
5. Ājyapas: those who lived mainly on ājya (ghee) in their human lives. They are linked with the vaiśyas.
6. Sukālis: pitṛs of the śūdra line, who receive suitable offerings from their descendants.
7. Māsas: pitṛs of mixed lines, who receive offerings suited to their birth.

The Saptārcisha Mantra

The Purāṇa keeps the Saptārcisha mantra, a mantra addressed to the seven pitṛ-gaṇas that calls on their seven fires (arcis). It is recited during śrāddha and tarpaṇa (water offerings). It is the main way of linking the living with their ancestors, so that the offerings made in the human world reach the pitṛs wherever they are placed in the order of the universe.

Śrāddha in Silver Vessels

Chapter 9 teaches in particular about the puṇya of doing śrāddha with silver vessels (rājata pātras). The Purāṇa says silver is the most auspicious material for pitṛ-pūjā, because it is linked with the moon and with the lunar amṛta (nectar) that the pitṛs take. Offerings made in silver vessels reach the pitṛs in the purest way and multiply the puṇya of the śrāddha many times over, compared with vessels of other materials.

What the Pitṛs Do

The pitṛ-gaṇas do not just sit and receive śrāddha offerings. They are active in the working of the universe. They support the living with their blessings, share out the puṇya of śrāddha rightly across the different planes of existence, and plead on behalf of departed ātmās who are waiting for their next birth. Through śrāddha, the living and the dead support each other. The living nourish the dead through offerings, and the dead nourish the living through blessings of long life, children, prosperity and spiritual growth.

The Pitṛ-Tīrthas: Gayā and the Undying Fruit

Of all the tīrthas (holy places) where śrāddha may be done, Gayā holds the highest place. The Pitṛkalpa section teaches that śrāddha done at Gayā gives akshaya-phala, merit that never grows less, to the departed, and secures their freedom from the cycle of rebirth. This teaching is found all through the Purāṇic tradition. It makes Gayā the most important place for those who wish to honour their ancestors with the most powerful form of śrāddha.

Per Vāmana Purāṇa

The Vāmana Purāṇa calls the ancestors the pitṛ-devatās and the pitṛ-gaṇas. It tells how the pitṛs called the Agnishvāttas gave their mind-born daughter Menā to Himavān, so that Devī Pārvatī is the daughter’s daughter of the pitṛs. It names Bhagavān Vishṇu as their supreme lord, teaches how the departed become pitṛs and what pleases them, tells how the pitṛs blessed Bhārgava Rāma at Rāmahrada, and in the Saro Māhātmya gives, tīrtha by tīrtha, the śrāddha, tarpaṇa and piṇḍa that satisfy them in Kurukshetra.

The pitṛs, their dharma and their lord

When the rākshasa king Sukeśī asked the maharshis of a forest in Magadha what dharma is, they gave him the dharma of the twelve classes of beings. The dharma of the pitṛ-devatās is brahmacarya, amānitva (freedom from pride), firm devotion to the practice of yoga, and kāma-gamana, going wherever they wish.

The pitṛs come forth from Bhagavān Vishṇu. In the Vishṇu Sārasvata stotra, which Devī Sarasvatī spoke through the tongue of a brāhmaṇa boy, the twenty-first verse bows to “the all-pervading Sanātana, from whom suras, asuras, the pitṛ-gaṇas, devas”, gandharvas, yakshas and rākshasas come forth. In the Saro Māhātmya, Devamātā Aditi praises Bhagavān Vishṇu in her stotra: “I bow to Śrī Kṛshṇa, the first of all, Prajāpati, the supreme lord of the pitṛs, Devanātha.” When Kaśyapa, Aditi and the devas asked him to be born as Aditi’s son, Bhagavān Vishṇu promised that he would destroy their enemies in a muhūrta and cause the havyas to be given again to the devas who share in the yajña, and the kavyas, the offerings made to the ancestors, to the pitṛ-devatās.

Bhagavān Śiva too is honoured by them. In the stotra of Andhaka, each kind of being praises Bhagavān Śiva by its own name for him: the devas as Śiva, the siddhas as Hara, the maharshis as Sthāṇu, and the puṇya ones and the pitṛs bow to him as Bhava. After the birth of Gajānana, Bhagavān Śiva bathed and performed the pūjā of the devas and the pitṛs with sacred mantras.

In Mārkaṇḍeya‘s stotra to Devī Sarasvatī, the pitṛs are named among the triads that are her own form: the three letters and mātrās of the Oṃkāra, the three worlds, the three Vedas, the three states, the pitṛs and the three mātrās.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 11, 28, 44, 59; Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 6, 11

The pitṛs give Menā to Himavān

After Satī Devī gave up her body, Bhagavān Śiva took the vow of brahmacarya and gave up the command of the devas’ army, and the devas were defeated by Mahishāsura. They took refuge in Śrī Hari in Śvetadvīpa, and he told them what to do. “There are the pitṛ-devatās called the Agnishvāttas. Their mānasa-putrī (mind-born daughter) is the maiden Menā.” On the holy Mahātithi they were to worship and make gracious that Mahāsatī so that she would marry Himavān. From her womb the great tapasvinī who had given up the body born of Daksha would be born again as Pārvatī, and Pārvatī would bear a son with a share of Śaṅkara’s tejas, who would slay Mahisha. “So go, all of you, to Kurukshetra, and at the Pṛthūdaka tīrtha, on the holy Mahātithi, worship the pitṛs. There is no other way.”

Mahāvishṇu told them that the holy tithi on which Sūrya, Candra and Bṛhaspati stand together in the Mṛgaśira nakshatra is called akshaya (imperishable), and that they should perform śrāddha with bhakti on the bank of the ancient Sarasvatī and worship the pitṛs. The devas went to Pṛthūdaka, bathed, and prayed to Bṛhaspati to enter Mṛgaśira, since Sūrya and Candra had already entered it; Bṛhaspati asked for the lordship of the year, the devas agreed, and he entered it. Then, on the amāvāsyā of Āshāḍha joined with the Mṛgaśira nakshatra, Devendra offered piṇḍa-pradāna to the pitṛs in Kurukshetra, made of sesame, honey and havishya-anna. Pleased with it, the pitṛ-devatās gave their daughter Menā Devī in marriage to Himavān. Himavān received her as the prasāda (gracious gift) of the devas, and she bore him three daughters equal to the maidens of the devas.

When the Saptarshis came to ask for Kālī as the bride of Bhagavān Śiva, Menā Devī reminded her husband that it was for this holy alliance that the pitṛ-devatās had granted her this daughter, and that the son born to her from Tripurahara would slay the asuras Mahisha and Tāraka. At the wedding Himavān, with joined palms, gave his daughter to Bhagavān Śiva with these words: “O Deva! My daughter, the anna-pautrī of Pulaha, the dauhitrī (daughter’s daughter) of the pitṛ-devatās, this maiden Kālī I give to you. Accept her and bless me.”

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 22, 24, 26–27

Becoming a pitṛ, and the duties owed to the pitṛs

The maharshis taught Sukeśī the rites for the dead. The ekoddishṭa rite is done according to the vidhi, and at the end of the year the sapiṇḍīkaraṇa. Once the departed is freed from the preta state and has reached the state of a pitṛ, one should perform the rites the Veda enjoins and offer them tarpaṇa (offerings of water). For the pitṛs to gain ever higher good states, one should make gifts of gold and the like; and whatever things the pitṛs liked in their lifetime, if those very things are given in dāna (gift), the pitṛs gain imperishable worlds.

The same teaching marks out those who neglect the rites to the devas and the pitṛs. One who does not perform them at the proper time is called a shaṇḍha, and the one who abandons them is called apaviddha, “cast out”; food is not taken from either. One who has touched or spoken with those who revile the devas and the pitṛs becomes pure at once by looking at the Sun. The vānaprastha too worships the pitṛs and the devatās in the forest.

Brahmā taught the Sādhya Sanatkumāra why a son is called putra. To escape the group of pāpas called the naraka “Put”, one should beget a son and be protected through him. A good son, granted by divine grace, frees the pitṛs from naraka. Among the remaining pāpas Brahmā names being in debt to the devas, the ṛshis and the pitṛs.

In the account of the Vishṇu Sārasvata stotra, a kshatriya who always hated and harmed the pitṛ-devatās and the brāhmaṇas was born, after his death, as a fearsome man-eating rākshasa. When the brāhmaṇas of the Ātreya, Gautama, Kauśika and Āṅgirasa lines left Kurujāṅgala at the time of Bali‘s yajña, they bathed in the Vipāśā and worshipped the pitṛs there before going on.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 15, 35, 59, 62

Bhārgava Rāma and the pitṛs at Rāmahrada

At Rāmahrada in Kurukshetra, the greatly radiant Bhārgava Rāma slew the kshatriyas and filled five lakes with their blood, and with those waters he gave tarpaṇa to his fathers and grandfathers. His pitṛs, supremely pleased, said to him: “Rāma of great valour! We are pleased with your valour and with your bhakti towards the pitṛs. Ask what vara (boon) you want. May good come to you.”

Bhārgava Rāma raised his hands, bowed to the pitṛ-devatās standing in the sky, and asked three varas: that by their grace he might again gain the siddhi of tapas; that the pāpa that had come to him from slaying the kshatriyas might be destroyed; and that by their power the five lakes might become famous as holy tīrthas. His pitṛs gave him abhaya (fearlessness) with love and said: “Son! By your special pitṛ-bhakti your tapas will grow. The pātaka (grave pāpa) of slaying the kshatriyas has gone; those kshatriyas were slain by their own evil deeds. Without doubt these lakes will become tīrthas. Whoever plunges in these lakes and offers tarpaṇa to his pitṛs, his pitṛs will fulfil his desires, and he will gain eternal svarga.” Having given these varas, the pitṛ-devatās vanished.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 14

The pitṛs at the tīrthas of Kurukshetra

The Saro Māhātmya, walking from tīrtha to tīrtha around the sacred lake of Kurukshetra, gives these rites for the pitṛs and their phala (fruit), in the text’s order:

• Pushkara tīrtha, installed by Paraśurāma, where the pitṛ-devatās are worshipped: a king who worships the pitṛ-devatās there gains the phala of an aśvamedha and is blessed (Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 13).
• Kapila tīrtha, where Mahādeva is manifest in the form of Kapila: one who bathes there and worships the devas and the pitṛs gains the phala of giving a thousand kapilā (tawny) cows (Chapter 14).
• Sūrya tīrtha: one who bathes there and, fasting, with a steady mind, worships the pitṛs and the devas gains the phala of the agnishṭoma and reaches Sūryaloka (Chapter 14).
• Sutīrthaka, the eternal dwelling of the devas and the pitṛs: one who worships the pitṛs and the devas there, with abhisheka and the rest, gains the phala of an aśvamedha (Chapter 14).
• The Āpagā river, a krośa east of the Mānusha tīrtha: for those who perform śrāddha on its bank, every desire is fulfilled. The pitṛ-devatās wait in expectation: “Will some one of our line, a son or a grandson, be born who will give us tila-tarpaṇa (sesame and water) on the bank of that river, and so give us sadgati (a good state) for a hundred kalpas?” One who gives piṇḍa there on the caturdaśī of the dark half of Bhādrapada, especially at midday, attains moksha (Chapter 15).
• Brahmodumbara: if one feeds a brāhmaṇa there for the sake of the pitṛs, the pitṛs, pleased with the gift, grant him rare varas (Chapter 15).
• Iḍāspada, in the Naraka kshetra: one who bathes there and worships the devas and the pitṛ-gaṇas has his desires fulfilled, and no evil state comes to him (Chapter 15).
• Anyajanma, Nārada‘s āśrama: a man of śraddhā who bathes there and gives tarpaṇa to the pitṛs gains Mahendra-jñāna (Chapter 15).
• Phalakīvana, on the Dṛshadvatī: one who bathes in the Dṛshadvatī and offers tarpaṇa to the devas and the pitṛs gains the phala of the Agnishṭoma and Atirātra. As a śrāddha at Gayā always satisfies the pitṛ-devatās, so a śrāddha at Phalakīvana on a Monday of the dark half gives the same fruit; and merely by remembering Phalakīvana with the whole heart, a man’s pitṛs are fully satisfied (Chapter 15).
• Pāṇikhāta: bathing and pitṛ-tarpaṇa there give the phala of a rājasūya, and sāṅkhya and yoga are accomplished (Chapter 15).
• Madhuvaṭī, the Devī tīrtha: one who bathes there pure and offers tarpaṇa to the devas and the pitṛs gains great siddhis by the grace of that Devī (Chapter 15).
• Kulottāraṇa, made by Bhagavān Vishṇu himself: the pilgrim who serves it makes his maternal grandfathers, paternal grandfathers and the rest cross over (Chapters 15–16).
• Soma tīrtha, where Soma performed tapas: one who bathes there and offers tarpaṇa to the devas and the pitṛs is freed of pāpa and attains a svarga like the moon of the Kārttika pūrṇimā (Chapter 16).
• Madhusrava, at the Yāyāta: one who immerses there and offers tarpaṇa and the rest to the pitṛs with honey crosses over (Chapter 18).
• Ṛṇamocana, served by Brahmā: the man of puṇya who goes there is freed from his debts to the devas, the ṛshis and the pitṛs (Chapter 20).
• Ojasa, the Kumārābhisheka tīrtha: śrāddha there on the sixth of the bright half of Caitra gives the phala of a Gayā-śrāddha and of a śrāddha at the Sannihita at a solar eclipse; Vāyudeva said long ago that śrāddha there gives imperishable phala; and a bath there on Caitra shashṭhī brings the pitṛs imperishable water (Chapter 20).
• The Sthāṇu tīrtha: for one who does śrāddha near the vaṭa and Liṅgeśvara, the pitṛs are pleased and give a fruit hard to obtain. Every single drop of tarpaṇa water offered there to the pitṛ-devatās gives endless fruit. Those who offer tarpaṇa with black sesame on the western side of the liṅga are happy for three yugas, and as long as the liṅga stands, to the end of the manvantara, their pitṛs drink excellent waters (Chapter 24).

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 13–16, 18, 20, 24

The phalaśruti of the Purāṇa

At its close, the Purāṇa tells Nārada that reading this holy Purāṇa surely brings, among its other fruits, the good fruits that come to those who worship the devas, Agni, the ṛshis, the brāhmaṇas and the pitṛ-devatās.

Source: Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 69

Sources

• Vāyu Mahā Purāṇa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 3
• Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 13–15
• Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapters 9–20
• Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 11, 15, 22, 24, 26–28, 35, 44, 59, 62, 69
• Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapters 6, 11, 13–16, 18, 20, 24