Kumārya (Land)

Kumārya

Kumārya is a land named in the Brahma Purāṇa as one of the places where śrāddha, the rite for the pitṛs (the ancestors), must not be performed. Vyāsa names it when the munis ask him to teach them the śrāddha-kalpa, the rules of śrāddha: to whom it is offered, when and where.

A land unfit for śrāddha

Vyāsa first tells where śrāddha is best performed: at the tīrthas beginning with Pushkara, in holy kshetras, on mountain peaks, on holy rivers and great rivers, by lakes, at the confluences of rivers and on the sea shore. One’s own house smeared with cow-dung, the roots of divine trees and pools fit for yajña are also praised.

Then he names the places where śrāddha must not be performed: the Kirāta lands, Kaliṅga, Koṅkaṇa, Kṛmi, Daśārṇa, the Kumārya land, the land named Taṅgaṇa, the land named Kratha, the north shore of the sea (the north bank of the Sindhu), the south bank of the Narmadā, and the land east of the river Karatoyā.

Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 220

Sources

• Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 220