Hiraṇyāśva
Hiraṇyāśva · hiraṇya-aśva, “the horse of gold”
Grammar: masculine noun; a compound of hiraṇya (gold) and aśva (horse).
Meaning: a horse made of gold, given as a dāna.
In the scriptures: Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Yudhishṭhira this rule, by which a man gains endless fruit. On a puṇya tithi a horse of gold is made, as one is able, from three palas up to one hundred palas. It has the spiked bit of the rein, high shoulders, and fine knees and tail. It is covered with silk, smeared with kuṅkuma and set on a heap of sesame on a black antelope skin spread over the vedī. It is worshipped with white flowers, and gram is offered as naivedya.
At an auspicious muhūrta the vratī takes flowers in the añjali and says the mantra. It calls on the ruler of all the devas, eager to bring the Vedas, to protect him in the form of a horse from the ocean of saṃsāra; and it calls on Bhāskara, who, dividing into seven in the form of the chandas, upholds the lokas. Then he goes round the horse in pradakshiṇā and gives it to a brāhmaṇa. Afterwards he eats food without oil and hears the Purāṇas.
The phala: by this gift a man attains the imperishable loka of Bhagavān Sūrya. One who completes the rite on a puṇya day is freed of pāpas and, honoured by the Siddhas, attains Vaikuṇṭha, the city of Murāri. One who reads the rule is freed of all pāpas, becomes a king with horses, goes by a vimāna of gold to the loka of Sūrya and is honoured there by the Devāṅganās. A man of little wealth who hears it, remembers it or praises it among people has his pāpas destroyed and goes to the place served by Purandara and Maheśvara.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 186
Related terms: Hiraṇyāśvaratha · Dāna · Chandas
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Uttara Parva, Chapter 186