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JULY, 1897.)
FESTAL DAYS OF THE HINDU LUNAR CALENDAR.
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FESTAL DAYS OF THE HINDU LUNAR CALENDAR.
BY PROFESSOR F. KIELHORN, C.I.E.; GÖTTINGEN. Some years ago I compiled, chiefly from the Dharma-sindhu and a number of Native calendars, a list of the principal festivals and religious observances connected with the tithis of the Hindu lunar months, of the names and epithets of certain tithis, and generally of such items of information concerning individual tithis as seemed likely to be of use in the verification of Hindu dates. This brief list was not intended for publication. If, nevertheless, I now yield to the request of a friend to publish it, I do so, because something of the kind appears really to be wanted, and in the hope that I may induce others to correct, and improve on, what I can offer myself.
What I should especially like to see treated by a competent Native scholar, is the question, how the tithis, for the purpose of the particular festivals or rites connected with them, are joined with the civil days. For my own use I have indeed translated most of the rules on this subject, given in the Dharma-sindhu ;3 bat some of these precepts are so intricate that I should be afraid of giving an authoritative version of them or of applying them in practice. In my list, therefore, I have only inserted, in square brackets, some very general hints. Thus, by the word púrva-ridlhá I have indicated that certain tithis, so far as regards the rites mentioned along with them, are liable to be joined with the days on which they commence. And more frequently I have given the time of the day or night during which a rite must be performed or a festival celebrated, statements from which it may sometimes be possible to ascertain with which day a tithi should be connected, because the particular time of the day or night, mentioned in the list, must generally be included in the tithi. But I know only too
For a similar list seo Sir W. Jones's article on the lunar year of the Hindus, in the Asiatick Researches, Vol. III. P. 257 ff.
? In the case of rites, prescribod for a certain tithi, there can be no doubt as to the day on which the rite should be performed, when the tithi happens to last from sunrise to sunrise; and the same is moatly the case, when the tithi lasts from sunrise to sunset. But tithis often coinmence after sunrise of one day, and ond before anset of the following day, and the question therefore apines whether, for the purpose of particular rites, they should be joinod with the days on which they commence, or with the days on which they end.
The general rules on the tithis, given in the Dharma-sindhu, have been translated by the Rev. A. Bourquin, in the Jour. Bo. As. Soc. Vol. XV.
A tithi ia parva-viddhd (in the sense in which this term is used hero), when it commences more than 4 ghafikis before sunset of one day and onds before sunset of the following day, and when auch is the case, it must be joined with the day on which it commences. Thus, when the first tithi of the bright half of Karttika commences 20 ghafikis after scorise (or 7 gh, before suneet) of Monday and ends 16 gh. after sunrise of Tuesday, the Bali-pija, prescribed for the first tithi of the bright half of Karttika, must be performed on the Monday (although in civil life that day is Aivina-vadi 15). When, on the other hand, the first tithi of the bright half of Karttika commences 41 gh. after sunrise of Monday, and ends 48 gh, after suurise of Tuesday, the same rite must be performed on the Tuesday (in civil life Kirttika-sudi 1).
The day, from sunrise to sunset, is divided into the forenoon and afternoon. Bat it is also divided into five equal parts, each of about 6 ghatikis, called pratahkila (the early forenoon), saugava (the forenoon part), madhydhna (midday), aparihna (the afternoon part), and sydhna (the late afternoon part). The four ghatikis before sunrise are called arunidaya (the rise of the dawn), the six ghatikus after sunset pradisha (evening), and the two ghatikus in the middle of the night nistha (midnight).
This may be shown by an example. The time which I have given for the Gandia-chaturthi of Chaitra.suklapaksha is midday (hatikda 13-18 after mean sunrise). If, then, the 4th tithi of the bright half of Chaitra commencer 43 gh, after sunrise of Sunday and ends 44 gh. after sunrise of Monday, the Ganesa-chaturthi must be joined with the Monday (Chaitra-sudi 4); but if the 4th tithi commences 5 gh, after sunrise of Sunday and ends 7 gh. after suprise of Monday, the Ganéja-chaturthi must be joined with the Sunday, and in calendars this Sunday will be described as Gaisfia-chaturthi, although in civil life it is Chaitra-sudi 3. - Now it is cloar that sometimes the 4th tithi of the bright half of Chaitra may occupy the whole or part of the midday portion of tro days (As would be the case, if it were to commence 13 gh. after sunrise of Sanday and to end 17 gh, after suarise of Monday), and that for such and similar cases we want special rules to guide us. In the present instance the specinl rule for all Ganesa-chaturthis is this, that, when the fourth tithi occupies, entirely or partly, the midday part of two days, or does not occupy the midday part of either day, it must be joined with the day on which it commonces (in the prenent case, with the Sunday). If there were similar conflict in the case of a Marvadi of a bright fortnight, for which the prescribed time in the forenoon, we should have to decide in favour of the day on which the tithi ends, provided the tithi were to occupy more than 6gh. after sunrise of that day ; bat if the tithi happened to occupy less than o gh. of the second day, we should have to join the Mand ldi with the first day. - There are many such special rules, which form an essential part of the Hindu calendar.
