Editing Varaha (section)

===Saviour of the ancestors===
[[File:Brooklyn Museum - Varaha Rescuing the Earth page from an illustrated Dasavatara series.jpg|thumb|Varaha rescuing the earth, c. 1720-50|left]]

In an instance in the ''Mahabharata'' after raising the earth, Vishnu as Varaha, shakes his tusk and three balls of mud fall in the South, which he declares as the three ''[[Pinda (riceball)|pinda]]''s (riceballs) to be given to the [[Pitrs]] (ancestors). Varaha's association with the three ''pinda''s is reiterated in later texts like the epic's appendix ''Harivamsa'', the ''Vishnudharmottara Purana'' and the ''Brahma Purana''.{{sfn|Brockington|1998|p=281}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m12/m12c045.htm|title=The Mahabharata, Book 12: Santi Parva: Section CCCXLVI|website=www.sacred-texts.com|access-date=2019-11-27}}</ref> This tale constitutes the mythology of ''Pitr-yajna'' or [[Śrāddha|Shraddha]], sacrifice to the ancestors.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.172560|title=The Mahabharata|last=Rai Promatha Nath Mullick Bahadur|first=Bharat Bani Bhusan|date=1934|pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.172560/page/n57/mode/2up 51]}}</ref>

The ''Brahma Purana'' narrates about Varaha's deliverance of the Pitrs (manes). Once, the Pitrs lust for Urja (also known as Svadha and Koka), the daughter of the moon-god [[Chandra]]. Cursed by Chandra, the Pitrs fall as humans on the [[Himalaya]]n mountains from their elevated positions, while Koka transforms into a river in the mountains. The demons attack the Pitrs, who hides under a slab in the Koka river. Eulogized by the Pitrs, Varaha uplifted the drowning Pitrs from the river by his tusks. Then, he performs the rites of Shraddha by performing [[Tarpana|libations]] and ''pinda''s to the Pitrs with the Earth acting as Chaya - his consort in the rituals. Varaha liberated the Pitrs from the curse and blessed Koka to be reborn as Svadha (the food or oblations offered to Pitrs) and become the wife of the Pitrs. Further, Narakasura (also called Bhauma) was born to the earth due to her contact with Varaha. Also, Varaha's temple was established at [[Baraha Kshetra|Kokamukha]], where Varaha freed the Pitrs.{{sfn|Brahma Purana|1955|pp=575-84}}