The present work of Kriyadhikara of Bhrgu is the fourth of the Samhitas of the Vaikhanasa Agama to be published by the Oriental Institute. With this the Institute would have published the four Samhitas of the four Vaikhanasa Rsis - Marici, Atri, Kasyapa and Bhrgu. Of these that by the last named appears to be the most comprehensive and so the most important. Although the general contents of all the Samhitas are on the whole identical, still there are minor details some of which will find a place in one while others in the others. A comprehensive conspectus of the contents of the four Samhitas so far published by the Institute will be included in the proposed Introduction to Vaikhanasa Literature in English. This introduction has been promised in my Introduction to the Jnanakanda of Kasyapa which was published in 1948 but owing to preoccupations I have not been able to redeem my promise upto now. God willing, I hope to present it to the public in the near future. I consider Bhrugu as the most important of Vaikhanasa authors because while the others contented themselves with writing an elaborate account of the Kriya portion of the Agama, leaving the Carya to be learnt from the Vaikhanasa Kalpa Sutra, our author not only treated of the Kriya portion but wrote an elaborate account of Carya also in the so called Manusmrti. This fact is borne out by the many points of contact between this Smrti and the Vaikhanasa literature. More about this in my introduction to the Vaikhanasa literature but I am referring to the point here to show the importance of the present Samhita. viii Now that four of the important Samhitas have been published by the Institute, it will hereafter take up the publication of important commentaries and Manuals relating to the School. I am indebted to Mr. R. Parthasarathi Bhattachar, the editor of this work, for the trouble he has taken in settling the text of the Samhita and in securing a number of manuscripts from his friends for the purpose. An account of the material used in preparing the edition is given by him in his Sanskrit Introduction. P.V. RAMANUJASWAMI, Director Tirupati Date : 25-2-1953 ix x xi xii xiii 80 xiv 1-155-1 xv 1118 xvi xvii xviii xix xx 101551 xxi xxii xxiii xxiv xxv xxvi xxvii xxviii xxix xxx xxxi xxxii xxxiii xxxiv xxxv (Executive Officer) B.A., M.A., xxxvi xxxvii xxxviii xxxix xl xli xlii xliii xliv xlv xlvi xlvii xlviii xlix l li lii liii liv lv श्रीः श्री श्रीनिवासपरब्रह्मणे नमः श्रीमते श्रीविखनसमहागुरवे नमः श्रीवैखानसे भगवच्छास्त्रे भृगुप्रोक्तासु संहितासु क्रियाधिकारः