[Advaita-l] AtharvaNa tumburu sUkta prayogaM

[Satish Arigela]

{{{> Anyway the viShNudharmottara purANa clearly describes the worship of
> chaturbhagini-s along with tumburu. And there is nothing unsAttvic mentioned
> about their worship in the viShNudharmottara purANa. Since we have a purANic
> reference to the system which is not particularly unsAttvic, once again 
AchArya
> clubbing the chaturbhagini system as completely tAmasika seems to be personal
> choice and need not be true always.}}}

My AchArya informed me of the following procedure among the atharva veda 
brAhmaNa-s: See below.

As we can see that tumburu and chaturbhagini worship has sanction both in purANa 
and atharvaNa shruti, the condemnation of the chaturbhagini-s worship as 
tAmasika in bh. gItA bhAShya by shankarAchArya is completely baseless and stems 
from a poorly informed view:

I will also add the following: In the vINAshikA tantra, one(i think it is 
aparAjitA) of the bhagini-s is to be meditated as singing the gAyatrI, the four 
veda-s and the upaniShad-s. So the worship of chaturbhagini has sanction in the 
shruti and the tAntrika worship of the chaturbhagini-s retains this connection 
with shruti as we have the descriotion from the vINAshikha tantra above. So we 
have the support of shruti, purANa and tantra for the bhagini worship.
------------------------------------------------

In the AtharvaNa tradition after having learned the mantra-s of the nIlarudra 
sUkta one learns the tumburu sUkta. The sUkta of tumburu (AV-P 20.61.8-9; 
62.1-6) goes thus:
na tatra bhavo hanti na sharva iShum asyati |
yatra tvaM deva tumburo parvateShu virohati ||
kR^iShyAm anyo virohati girer anyo.adhipakShasi |
trAtArau shashvatAM imAv A gantAM shigru-tumburU ||
yAvat parNaM yAvat phalaM yAvanto .adhyaR^ikSharAH
tAvantaH shuShmAs tumburos tad u te viShadUShaNaM ||
rudro jalAShabheShaja imAM rogam ashIsamaH |
ye avAjijvalan iti ||
asthAd dyaur asthAt pR^ithivy asthAd vishvam idaM jagat |
vR^iShabhasyeva kanikradato R^iShayaM shamayAmi te ||
saM mA si~nchantu marutas saM vAto rohiNIr uta |
saM mAyam agnis si~nchatu prajayA cha dhanena cha ||
dIrgham AyuSh kR^iNomi te naktaM harI mR^igayate |
divA suparNA rohitau bhavAya cha sharvAya chobhAbhyAm akaraM namaH ||
vishalyasya vidradhasya vAtIkArasya vAlade |
bhavAya cha sharvAya chobhAbhyAm akaraM namaH ||
During prayoga one first recites the vAmadeva mantra from the pa~nchabrahma 
series. Then he installs the fire on the sthaNDila as per the tradition of the 
atharvan-s. There after reciting the tumburu sUkta make oblations of drumstick 
and tumburu saMidh-s dipped in ghee.
Then he makes the four bhaginI yAja-s of ghee with AV-P 20.21.6:
udojiShThAM sahasyAM jayantIm aparAjitAm |
lakShmIr yAH puNyAH kalyANIs tA asyai savitaH suva ||
Then he stands under the tumburu tree and offers tarpaNA-s to tumburu with the 
above sUkta and the bhaginI-s with the above mantra (x 4). He may then prepare 
the secret tumburu drugs.
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:-)  The whole question came to me because I have known more than one smArta and 

atleast one shrIvaiShNava(yes!trust me!) brAhmaNa-s who worship tumburu along 
with the bhagini-s. So all this is not coming just from the book. I have known 
real people(all of them brAhmaNa-s) who practice this today and there is solid 
evidence of brAhmaNa-s practicing the same tumburu worship in ancient times. So 
as can you see I did not base all this on a few sentences from a couple of 
texts, but there is some field work involved and evidence spanning some 
centuries.