कुशण्डिकाThe kuśaṇḍikā
Verse 14
सर्वेषां शुभकार्याणामादिभूता कुशण्डिका । तस्मादादौ प्रवक्ष्यामि शृणु तां देववन्दिते ॥ १४ ॥
sarvēṣāṁ śubhakāryāṇāmādibhūtā kuśaṇḍikā | tasmādādau pravakṣyāmi śṛṇu tāṁ dēvavanditē || 14 ||
Translation
The kuśaṇḍikā comes first in every auspicious act. So I shall tell it first; hear it, you whom the gods revere.
Word by word
- sarvēṣāṁ
- of all
- śubha
- auspicious
- kāryāṇām
- (kāryāṇām) acts
- ādi
- the beginning
- bhūtā
- which is
- kuśaṇḍikā
- the kuśaṇḍikā
- tasmāt
- (tasmāt) therefore
- ādau
- first
- pravakṣyāmi
- I shall tell
- śṛṇu
- hear
- tāṁ
- it
- dēva
- by the gods
- vanditē
- O revered one
Meaning
The kuśaṇḍikā is the preparation and consecration of the sacred fire, which precedes every homa and so every auspicious rite (śubha-karma). The name is traced to kuśa, the sacred grass; it is the rite by which the fire is made fit for all the different kinds of offering. Śiva sets it out first (verses 14-70) because each sacrament below refers back to it ("having done the rite up to the end of the dhārā-homa").
Commentary
Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated
"Tām": that kuśaṇḍikā.