________________
UPOSATHA
NAND KISHORE PRASAD
There is nothing incredible in the fact that there were some customs which were commonly prevailing in Indian religious life, and uposatha was one of such customs. Here follows a study of the same in the light of the three main faiths of India, the Brahmanism, Buddhism and Jainism.
(a) Brahmanical :
The earliest reference to 'upavasatha', the Sanskrit original of the Pali 'uposatha1 and Prakrit 'posaha', is made in the Satapatha Brahmaṇa which prescribes the sacrificial rites called Darśa and Puranamāsa on the occasion. The term upavasatha stands for a fast-day, specially the day preceding a Soma sacrifice, and also for the period of preparation for the Soma sacrifice. Again the Kātyāyana-Śrautasūtra appears to subscribe to the same view when it asserts that the upavasatha implies to live close to (the deities) which is possible only by performing certain sacrifices accompanied by upavasa (fast) twice a month, i. e., on the last days of the dark-half (amavasya) and the bright-half (paurṇamāsa) of a month. The fasting is to be observed by the sacrificer on the instruction of the priests, and as such it is the duty of the householder. Hiranyakesin, while dwelling upon the significance of the upavasatha, opines that the upavasatha means 'to avoid the company of impious and to seek the company of virtuous'.
This much we read about the ceremony of upavasatha in the Brahmanical sources. The Jaina as well as the Bdddhist sources, on the other hand, contain elaborate rules as regards the different facets of the ceremony which will follow in the coming pages.
(b) Buddhist :
According to an early tradition, the institution of the uposatha is ascribed to the request made by Bimbisara, the king of Magadha, to the Buddha. The king himself, according to the same tradition, owed
1. Op. cit, II, 1. 4; I. 1.
2. SED, Sub voce "upavasatha'.
3. Op. cit, IV. 15. 35; Cf DC II. p. 109.
4. upavrittastu papebhyo yastu vaso gunaiḥ saha upavasaḥ sa vijñeyah--as quoted in EBJ, p. 134.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
