The Sanskrit term Varṣāpaṇa can be transliterated into English as Varsapana or Varshapana, using the IAST transliteration scheme (?).

In Buddhism

Mahayana (major branch of Buddhism)

Source: De Gruyter: A Buddhist Ritual Manual on Agriculture

Varṣāpaṇa (वर्षापण) or Varṣāpaṇavidhi (“rain-making ritual manual”) refers to a category of collections of literature in Nepal, one of which includes the Vajratuṇḍasamayakalparāja, an ancient Buddhist ritual manual on agriculture from the 5th-century (or earlier), containing various instructions for the Sangha to provide agriculture-related services to laypeople including rainmaking, weather control and prescriptions for the use of specially empowered pesticides to eliminate crop damage.

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Mahayana (महायान, mahāyāna) is a major branch of Buddhism focusing on the path of a Bodhisattva (spiritual aspirants/ enlightened beings). Extant literature is vast and primarely composed in the Sanskrit language. There are many sūtras of which some of the earliest are the various Prajñāpāramitā sūtras.

Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana or tantric Buddhism)

Source: 84000: Sampuṭodbhava Tantra (Emergence from Sampuṭa)

Varṣāpaṇa (वर्षापण) refers to the “(rite for) producing rain”, according to the Sampuṭodbhavatantra chapter 7.—Accordingly, “[Now I will teach a rite for producing rain (varṣāpaṇa-prayoga)]—He should make an effigy of Ananta according to the oṃ āḥ phuḥ ritual procedure, bathe it in the five ambrosias, and offer to it black flowers. Having smeared it with mugwort juice and inuncted its head with the rut fluid from the temples of an elephant, he should place it inside a double-chambered earthenware vessel, fill the vessel with milk from a black cow, and twine around it a cord spun by a black virgin. He should then dig a pond in an area toward the northwest and place Ananta next to it, by drawing a maṇḍala on its bank as prescribed and placing Ananta in its center. He should draw Hevajra standing astride Ananta, visualizing the former as having eight faces, four feet, sixteen arms, and, in all, twenty-four eyes. Later, the officiating master, in a proud and cruel frame of mind, should recite the following mantra in a secluded place: [...]”.

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Tibetan Buddhism includes schools such as Nyingma, Kadampa, Kagyu and Gelug. Their primary canon of literature is divided in two broad categories: The Kangyur, which consists of Buddha’s words, and the Tengyur, which includes commentaries from various sources. Esotericism and tantra techniques (vajrayāna) are collected indepently.

See also (Relevant definitions)

Partial matches: Varsha, Apana.

Starts with: Varshapanavidhi.

Relevant text

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