Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)
This ritual text describes a fierce empowerment and offering ceremony dedicated to the fire deity Agni, intended to neutralize individuals characterized by malicious intent or hatred toward the guru. The work functions as a prescriptive manual for a wrathful rite, detailing the specific material components required for the offering—including substances such as poison, blood, and various grains—which are to be mixed in a skull-cup. The text instructs the practitioner to visualize a specific deity form characterized by black coloration, a tortoise-like shape, and expressions of hatred. The ritual culminates in the generation of this deity at the heart and the recitation of a series of mantras designed to destroy specific targets. By following these instructions, the reader commits to a practice of aggressive spiritual intervention, utilizing both material offerings and mental visualization to eliminate perceived enemies through the agency of the deity.
Provenance
About this text
A ritual manual for the worship of the fire god, the Agnidevapūja (Tibetan: me'i lha mchod pa) belongs to the classical Tibetan tradition. The work is attributed to the Indian author Śrīdhara. It was translated into Tibetan by Darpaṇācārya and dge slong shes rab rgyal mtshan, and is preserved in the Tengyur (vol. ཙི) within the collection of Other Skillful Means Tantras. Spanning three pages in this edition, the text enacts a fierce empowerment for the worship of Yamāntaka intended to destroy those who harbor hatred toward the guru or possess malicious minds. The ritual prescribes the mixing of substances—including poison, blood, salt, and various grains—within a skull-cup, alongside the visualization of a black, tortoise-shaped deity with bared fangs and wide eyes. The practitioner is instructed to generate this form at the heart and recite specific mantras to summon and drive away enemies. A scholar or serious reader consults this text today to examine the prescriptive details of wrathful rites, specifically the intersection of material offerings and mental visualization used for aggressive spiritual intervention.
Cite thisAnuvāda, “Offerings to the God Agni” (Toh 2043), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2043
Summary & commentary
Significance
The text is significant as an example of the 'wrathful' side of Indo-Tibetan ritual practice, where destructive means are employed for the protection of the teacher or the dharma. It illustrates the integration of Indian Vedic elements, such as the deity Agni, into a Buddhist tantric framework of empowerment and visualization.
Structure
Passages
Section
Description
1
Introduction and Purpose
States the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan and defines the ritual's goal as the destruction of malicious individuals.
2
Material Offerings and Visualization
Lists the physical ingredients for the offering and describes the physical attributes of the deity to be visualized.
3
Ritual Execution and Mantras
Provides instructions for generating the deity at the heart and lists the specific mantras to be recited.
Themes
Wrathful Ritualism (1-3)
Deity Visualization (2-3)
Ritual Offerings (2)
Mantra Recitation (3)
Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.
In the language of India: Agnidevapūjanāma. In the language of Tibet: Me’i lha mchod pa zhes bya ba (The Offering to the Fire God).
To destroy those with entirely malicious minds, those who harbor hatred toward the guru and so forth, I shall explain the ritual of fierce empowerment for the sake of worshipping Yamāntaka.
Once the hundred thousand [recitations] are fully completed, if auspicious signs are seen—such as seeing the deity or the guru—success will be achieved; otherwise, it will fail.
The time, the hearth, the substances, and the ritual are the four pure factors to be understood for the accomplishment.
When the practitioner has reached the end of the approach retreat, during the time of fierce planetary movements such as Mars, on the fourteenth day of the waning moon and so forth, during the time when fierce spirits roam, when the wind element is flowing, during the latter part of winter or summer at midnight, when the wind flows through the left nostril, and when people are in a state of intense agitation due to battle and the like—this is explained as the pure time for the offering to the fierce Fire God.
Next, the characteristics of the site: a place situated to the north, black in color, where rough wood and thorns grow, and a direction where fierce deities reside. That is the site for the fierce fire. Now, the ritual for the hearth and so forth will be explained.
The hearth pit is triangular, twenty finger-widths [in length], and ten finger-widths in depth. One should draw a vajra and a trident. It is marked with various [symbols] such as the moon and vajra.
The sequence of substances to be explained is: camel dung, lime, black flowers, thorny wood, eight finger-widths [of the substance] mixed with blood, and the three pungent spices.
Poison, blood, mustard seeds, salt, the stains of the enemy, and so forth, along with butter, sesame, rice, barley, wheat, and peas, should be mixed in a skull-cup with dūrvā grass and kuśa grass. The form should be black, shaped like a tortoise, with bared fangs of hatred and a frowning brow; the face is black and the eyes are wide open. Summon the enemy, separate them, and drive them away. Sprinkle the cleansing water with kuśa grass while reciting the syllable HŪṂ.
OṂ VAJRA SATVA A.
Spread the kuśa grass and kindle the fire using the fire of a butcher or a cremation pyre.
OṂ AGNE JVALA JVALA RAṂ.
In the center of the fire, from the syllable RAṂ, arises the Fire God, mounted on a black goat, with a wrathful form, holding a rosary, a water-pot, and a staff, surrounded by black sages. Then, summon and invite him:
OṂ ĀḤ HŪṂ. OṂ EHYEHI MAHĀBHŪTA DEVA ṚṢI DVĪJA JAḤ HŪṂ BAṂ HOḤ. OṂ AGNE KRODHA DEVA JA PHAṬ. OṂ VAJRA NIRITI KHAṂ PHAṬ. OṂ VAJRA ARGHAṂ PHAṬ. OṂ VAJRA PUṢPE PHAṬ. OṂ VAJRA DHŪPE PHAṬ. OṂ VAJRA ĀLOKE PHAṬ. OṂ VAJRA NAIVIDYE PHAṬ. OṂ VAJRA ŚABDAI PHAṬ. This is the offering.
JĪ A KURU KURU. PUṢPA. DHŪPA. DĪPA. GANDHA. NAIVIDYE. ŚABDA. Adorned with OṂ at the beginning and SVĀHĀ at the end, this is the purification.
Place the two lips in the shape of YA and RA, and apply them to the mouth of the Fire God. Inserting [the ladle] between the knees, offer [the oblation] three or seven times from the right.
AGNE SARVA PĀPAṂ DAHANA VAJRAYA VAJRA PUṢAYA SARVA PĀPAṂ BHAVATE APRATIHATAYA HAVIKAYA MAHĀBALA VAJRA GHASMARI BODHIVṚKṢAYA. Adorned with OṂ at the beginning and SVĀHĀ at the end.
OṂ AGNE DEVA ṚṢI MAHĀTEJA GÑOD BYED MĀRAYA PHAṬ.
Then, having generated the form of the deity at the heart exactly as it is, make offerings in the same way. OṂ YAMĀNTAKA AMUKA TĀRAYA PHAṬ. OṂ HRĪḤ ṢṬRĪḤ VIKṚTĀNANA HŪṂ HŪṂ PHAṬ PHAṬ. AMUKA MĀRAYA PHAṬ. OṂ VAJRA BETĀLĪ AMUKA MĀRAYA PHAṬ. JINA JIK. RATNA DHṚK. ĀROLIK. PRAJÑĀ DHṚK. MOHARATI. DVEṢARATI. RĀGARATI. VAJRARATI. MUṄGADHṚK. DAṄḌADHṚK. PADMA DHṚK. KHAḌGADHṚK. AMUKA MĀRAYA PHAṬ. These are the specific [mantras]. Then, having offered and praised, dissolve [the deities]. Furthermore, offer the remainder to the Ṛṣis: "O Son of the Supreme Lord Brahmā, endowed with splendor, god of fire who bestows the activity of fire, your body majestic within the blaze, adorned with ornaments—homage to you! Grant the desired aims and exert yourself for them." Having requested forbearance, they should depart. Request the accomplishments and rectify any omissions or additions. Killing, paralyzing, and so forth, are accomplished through the appropriate applications. Thus, by making offerings to the glorious Yamāntaka, may the firewood of the afflictions of the three realms be entirely consumed, and may one abide in the state of the vajra fire, blazing with the light of the five wisdoms that dispel the darkness of beings. This concludes "The Fire Ritual for the Burning [of Offerings] of the Glorious Red Yamāntaka," composed by the accomplished Śrīdhara. It was translated and edited in Mangyul by the Indian abbot Dharpaṇācārya and the monk Sherab Gyaltsen.
Translation status: Not among 84000's published translations, and not in progress there. Translations published elsewhere have not been searched for, so one may exist. (source: 84000 catalogue + registry; checked 2026-11-10).
Set in Newsreader and EB Garamond; Tibetan in Noto Serif Tibetan; Chinese in Noto Serif SC.