Kīrti
Kīrti · kīrti, “fame, glory”
Grammar: feminine noun, from the root kīrt (to tell, to praise): “that which is told abroad”, good name.
Meaning: fame, glory: the good name of a person that lasts in the world because of his deeds.
In the scriptures: the Brahma Purāṇa gives Bhagavān Śiva‘s teaching on kīrti, in the account of Pippalāda.
Brahmā tells Nārada that Pippalāda, the son of Dadhīci, performed tapas at Cakreśvara on the Gautamī to avenge his father, whose bones the devas had taken for their weapons, and the devas fled in fear. Bhagavān Śiva calmed him: even if the devas were destroyed, his father would not return, for Dadhīci had given up his life to accomplish the devas’ work. His father had won great fame, for by his bones the devas are victorious and happy for ever; his mother, a pativratā, had done a deed of everlasting fame; and he, the son, had won excellent fame that spreads everywhere. Then Śiva taught: one who has gone to svarga lives there, free of every ailment, for as many years as there are days on which his bright fame lasts in the human world. Only those without fame are counted as dead here; only those without renown are blind; those who are not generous in giving are eunuchs; only those who are not always virtuous are to be pitied.
Calmed, Pippalāda bowed to Śiva and asked that the tīrtha be known in the three worlds by the name of those who had brought him up like a father and mother, the pippala trees: “If they win fame, I shall be free of my debt to them.” The tīrtha became known as Pippaleśvara. At the end the devas praised Pippalāda, whose fame had spread in the world and gone up to svarga, and Pippalāda, having married the daughter of Gautama, won wealth and fame and went to svarga with his friends (Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 40).
Related terms: Yaśas · Svarga · Dāna · Puṇya
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 40