Nāndīmukha
Nāndīmukha · nāndī-mukha, “a class of the pitṛs”
Pitṛ-tīrtha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Pitṛ-tīrtha.
Grammar: masculine noun, used in the plural, Nāndīmukhas; nāndī with mukha.
Meaning: the amūrta (formless) class of the pitṛ-devatās, as against the Pārvaṇas, who are mūrtimat (embodied).
In the scriptures: Vyāsa, teaching the munis the rules of śrāddha, tells of the rites after a death: the ekoddishṭa śrāddha at home at the end of the sūtaka, on the twelfth day, at the month and at the three fortnights; the monthly śrāddha until the end of the year; and then the sapiṇḍīkaraṇa by the pārvaṇa procedure, from which the dead jīva leaves the state of preta and attains the state of a pitṛ-devatā. He then says that the pitṛ-devatās are of two kinds, amūrta and mūrtimat: the Nāndīmukhas are amūrta, and the Pārvaṇas are mūrtimat (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 220).
Related terms: Pitṛ · Śrāddha · Pārvaṇa · Sapiṇḍīkaraṇa · Ekoddishṭa
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 220