The Sukssmagama is a hitherto unpublished and important Saivagama dealing with many Saiva rituals as they are performed in temples. It is held to be one of the twenty-eight fundamental scriptures of the Saivasiddhanta. The present volume furnishes a critical edition of the first thirteen chapters, out of a total of about a hundred. The edition is based on the collation of eight paper manuscripts and is prefaced by an introduction (both in English and in Sanskrit) that gives a detailed summary of the edited text. The reader will find here treatment of many rites, such as the punyahavacana (a rite rarely described at length in other scriptures), the preparation of the pancagavya, rites for the worship of Siva in temples, the fire worship, and finally a very detailed description of the grand temple festival.
