The new moon, when Sun and Moon dwell together — the day that belongs to the ancestors. Offerings of water and sesame made today reach them directly, and their blessing is sought for the family’s welfare. A new moon on a Monday (Somavatī) is especially sacred for married women, who circle the pīpal tree 108 times; on a Saturday (Śanaiścarī) Śani is propitiated with sesame oil; on a Tuesday (Bhaumavatī) debts are said to be cleared by ancestral rites.
📜शास्त्रों की कथा
Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana-parva 87–92; Matsya Purāṇa 14 (Acchodā and the Pitṛs)
The Matsya Purāṇa tells of Acchodā, mind-born daughter of the Pitṛs, who through a moment’s wavering fell from heaven. The Pitṛs, in compassion, told her that the day of her fall would be named Amāvasyā, dear to them above all days, and that whatever is offered to the ancestors on it would be imperishable. Bhīṣma teaches Yudhiṣṭhira that of all tithis the new moon is foremost for the śrāddha.
🔥पूजा और हवन
Tarpaṇa with water and black sesame facing south; feeding of crows, cows and the needy; a lamp of sesame oil under the pīpal at dusk; on Somavatī, circumambulation of the pīpal with thread, and a vow of silence at the bath.
The worship of the serpents — guardians of the waters, of buried treasure and of the household’s lineage — at the height of the monsoon, when snakes leave their flooded burrows. The Nāgas are honoured, not feared: Śeṣa bears the earth, Vāsuki serves as Śiva’s garland, and the day asks their protection for the family.
📜शास्त्रों की कथा
Mahābhārata, Ādi-parva — Āstīka-parva (13–58)
King Parīkṣit died of the bite of the nāga Takṣaka, and his son Janamejaya vowed a sarpa-satra, a sacrifice into whose fire every serpent on earth would be drawn by the force of mantra. Snakes in their thousands fell into the flames, and Takṣaka himself, clinging to Indra’s throne, was being dragged down. Then the young sage Āstīka — son of the ṛṣi Jaratkāru and of Manasā, sister of Vāsuki — came to the sacrifice and so pleased the king with his praise that Janamejaya offered him any boon. Āstīka asked that the sacrifice stop. It ceased on the fifth of bright Śrāvaṇa, and the nāgas promised that whoever remembers Āstīka shall have no fear of serpents.
🪔क्षेत्रीय परम्पराएँ और लोककथाएँ
In Bengal, Assam and Jharkhand the day belongs to Manasā Devī and the ballad of Behulā, who floated downriver with her husband Lakhindar’s body and won his life back. Maharashtra’s Battīs Śirāḷā, Karnataka’s ant-hill worship with milk and turmeric, Kerala’s sarpa-kāvus (serpent groves) and the great Nāga shrines of Mannārśāla and Kukke Subrahmaṇya are thronged. Farmers do not plough or dig today, so that no snake is hurt.
🔥पूजा और हवन
Nine nāgas — Ananta, Vāsuki, Śeṣa, Padmanābha, Kambala, Śaṅkhapāla, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Takṣaka and Kāliya — are drawn with turmeric or sandal on the doorway or a wooden plank and worshipped with milk, dūrvā, lājā (puffed rice), flowers and lamps. Nothing is fried or cut in many homes; sisters pray for their brothers.
ॐमन्त्र और जप 2
ॐ नमः शिवाय ॥
oṃ namaḥ śivāya ||
अर्थ: Salutation to Śiva, the auspicious one.
फल: The five-syllable mantra at the heart of the Yajurveda — purifies the five elements of the body and steadies the mind in Śiva.
अर्थ: We worship the three-eyed Lord, fragrant, the nourisher of all; as a ripe gourd is freed from its stalk, may he free us from death, not from immortality.
फल: The great death-conquering mantra — japa of 108 for health, long life, recovery from illness and fearlessness.
On the Dvādaśī the pavitrāropaṇa — the offering of the sacred thread — to Vāsudeva is taught, with threads of gold, silver, copper, linen, silk and lotus-fibre.
अंग्रेज़ी भावार्थ होरा का है — उपलब्ध संस्करण में केवल हिन्दी टीका है।
The eleventh tithi of each fortnight, dearest of all days to Viṣṇu. Eleven stands for the ten senses and the mind; on this day they are turned from food toward the Lord. The Padma Purāṇa gives each of the year’s Ekādaśīs its own name, story and fruit.
📜शास्त्रों की कथा
Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa 38 — the birth of Ekādaśī
In the Kṛta age the asura Mura drove the gods from heaven. Viṣṇu fought him for a thousand divine years and then withdrew to rest in the cave Hemavatī at Badarikāśrama. Mura followed, meaning to slay the sleeping Lord — when from Viṣṇu’s own body sprang a radiant maiden, armed, who met the asura in battle and reduced him to ashes with a sound. Waking, the Lord asked who had done this; she answered that she was born of him, on the eleventh day. Pleased, he named her Ekādaśī and granted her wish: that whoever fasts on her day be freed from wrong and come to his abode.
🌙व्रत
A light single meal on Daśamī; on Ekādaśī a full fast, or fruit and milk, with all grains and beans set aside; a night vigil with the names of Hari; and pāraṇa on Dvādaśī morning after sunrise, within the Dvādaśī, after feeding another.
🔥पूजा और हवन
Viṣṇu is worshipped with tulasī leaves, sandal, flowers, lamp and fruit; the Viṣṇu-sahasranāma, the Gītā and the Ekādaśī-māhātmya of the day are read; lamps are lit before the tulasī at dusk.
ॐमन्त्र और जप 2
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya ||
अर्थ: Salutation to the blessed Lord Vāsudeva.
फल: The dvādaśākṣara — by this mantra the child Dhruva saw the Lord within six months; recited for devotion, protection and liberation.
Bhāgavata Purāṇa 4.8.54 — the twelve-syllable mantra Nārada gives to Dhruva
ॐ नमो नारायणाय ॥
oṃ namo nārāyaṇāya ||
अर्थ: Salutation to Nārāyaṇa, the refuge of all beings.
फल: The eight-syllable mantra — the Upaniṣad says one who recites it attains full life, prosperity and the abode of Viṣṇu.
The thirteenth tithi at twilight — the hour and a half around sunset when Śiva, having drunk the poison of the churned ocean, danced between the horns of Nandī for the joy of the gods. Worship in this window is held to please him swiftly; a Monday (Soma) or Saturday (Śani) Pradoṣa is prized most.
When the hālāhala poison rose from the churned ocean and scorched the worlds, the gods fled to Kailāsa. Śiva, in compassion, gathered the poison in his palm and drank it; Pārvatī pressed his throat, and it stayed there, turning it blue — Nīlakaṇṭha. The Skanda Purāṇa tells that on the thirteenth, at dusk, he danced in gladness while the gods stood round in worship, and relates how a destitute widow’s son and an orphaned prince, taught the Pradoṣa vow by the sage Śāṇḍilya, regained a kingdom by it.
🌙व्रत
A fast from sunrise, broken after the twilight worship; kept on both thirteenths of the month.
🔥पूजा और हवन
In the pradoṣa window: abhiṣeka of the liṅga with milk and water, bilva leaves, lamp and incense; Nandī is worshipped first and the liṅga viewed between his horns; the pradakṣiṇā is done in the half-circle Soma-sūtra manner; the Śiva-pradoṣa-stotra and Rudram are recited.
ॐमन्त्र और जप 2
ॐ नमः शिवाय ॥
oṃ namaḥ śivāya ||
अर्थ: Salutation to Śiva, the auspicious one.
फल: The five-syllable mantra at the heart of the Yajurveda — purifies the five elements of the body and steadies the mind in Śiva.
अर्थ: We worship the three-eyed Lord, fragrant, the nourisher of all; as a ripe gourd is freed from its stalk, may he free us from death, not from immortality.
फल: The great death-conquering mantra — japa of 108 for health, long life, recovery from illness and fearlessness.
The bond of protection. A consecrated thread (rakṣā) is tied on the wrist — by the priest on the patron, by the sister on the brother — and with it a vow of mutual care. On the same full moon the twice-born renew the sacred thread and begin the year’s Vedic study (Upākarma, Āvaṇi Aviṭṭam), and the coast offers coconuts to the sea (Nāraḷī Pūrṇimā).
📜शास्त्रों की कथा
Bhaviṣya Purāṇa, Uttara-parva 137
Kṛṣṇa told Yudhiṣṭhira of an ancient war: for twelve years the gods fought the asuras and Indra, worn out, was ready to yield. His queen Śacī said, “Today is the full moon of Śrāvaṇa; I shall make you invincible.” With the blessing of Bṛhaspati she prepared a protective amulet, consecrated it with mantras and tied it on Indra’s right wrist. He returned to the field and won back the three worlds. “Such is the power of the rakṣā,” said Kṛṣṇa — “it gives victory, happiness, sons, health and wealth; let it be tied every year.”
🪔क्षेत्रीय परम्पराएँ और लोककथाएँ
The Bhāgavata’s Bali story gives the mantra its first line: Lakṣmī is said to have tied a thread on King Bali and asked, as a sister’s gift, for the return of Viṣṇu who was guarding his door. Draupadī bound Kṛṣṇa’s bleeding finger with a strip of her sari, and he repaid it thread for thread in the Kuru court. In Rajasthan lumbā rākhīs are tied on the sister-in-law’s bangle; in Nepal it is Janai Pūrṇimā; in Odisha and Bengal it is Jhūlan Pūrṇimā and Balarāma’s birthday.
🔥पूजा और हवन
The rākhī is placed on a plate with lamp, rice, kumkum and sweets and offered first to the family deity. The sister applies tilaka, ties the thread on the right wrist reciting the rakṣā verse, waves the ārati and sweetens the brother’s mouth; he gives a gift and his word. For Upākarma: ṛṣi-tarpaṇa, the new yajñopavīta, a homa, and the next morning 1,008 Gāyatrī japa.
ॐमन्त्र और जप 2
येन बद्धो बली राजा दानवेन्द्रो महाबलः ।
तेन त्वामभिबध्नामि रक्षे मा चल मा चल ॥
oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ | tat savitur vareṇyaṃ bhargo devasya dhīmahi | dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt ||
अर्थ: We meditate on the adorable radiance of the divine Savitṛ; may he awaken our understanding.
फल: The mother of the Vedic mantras — recited at sunrise, noon and sunset for clarity of mind, inner light and the blessing of the Sun.
Ṛgveda 3.62.10 (Viśvāmitra)
📖शास्त्रीय सन्दर्भ 2
Bhaviṣya Purāṇa, Uttara-parva 137
Bhāgavata Purāṇa 8.22–23
पूर्णिमा
✦महत्त्व
The full moon — the day of fullness, when the mind’s own planet is complete. It is the customary day for the Satyanārāyaṇa vrata, for charity, for honouring the guru and for a bath in sacred waters; each month’s full moon carries its own festival.
Nārada, grieved by the sufferings of people in the Kali age, asked Viṣṇu for a simple remedy, and the Lord taught him the worship of Satya-Nārāyaṇa — Truth itself as God. The kathā’s five chapters tell of a poor brāhmaṇa of Kāśī, a woodcutter, the merchant Sādhu and his daughter Kalāvatī, and King Tuṅgadhvaja: each prospered by keeping the vow and honouring its prasāda, and each stumbled on forgetting a promise made to the Lord — for truthfulness is the vow’s real offering.
🔥पूजा और हवन
In the evening: a kalaśa and an image or picture of Viṣṇu under a canopy of plantain stems; offerings of tulasī, fruit and the prasāda of roasted wheat flour, sugar, ghee, milk and banana (sapāda-bhakṣya); the five-chapter kathā is read aloud and the prasāda shared with all. Arghya is offered to the risen moon.
ॐमन्त्र और जप 2
ॐ नमो नारायणाय ॥
oṃ namo nārāyaṇāya ||
अर्थ: Salutation to Nārāyaṇa, the refuge of all beings.
फल: The eight-syllable mantra — the Upaniṣad says one who recites it attains full life, prosperity and the abode of Viṣṇu.
Nārāyaṇa Upaniṣad (Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda)
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya ||
अर्थ: Salutation to the blessed Lord Vāsudeva.
फल: The dvādaśākṣara — by this mantra the child Dhruva saw the Lord within six months; recited for devotion, protection and liberation.
Bhāgavata Purāṇa 4.8.54 — the twelve-syllable mantra Nārada gives to Dhruva
The fourth of the dark fortnight, Gaṇeśa’s monthly vow: saṅkaṣṭa-hara, “the remover of hardships”. The fast is kept until the moon rises. When it falls on a Tuesday it is Aṅgārakī, the most prized of all.
📜शास्त्रों की कथा
Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Upāsanā-khaṇḍa; Mudgala Purāṇa
The Gaṇeśa Purāṇa tells that Aṅgāraka (Mars), son of the Earth and the sage Bharadvāja, worshipped Gaṇeśa with long austerity; the Lord appeared to him on a dark fourth that fell on a Tuesday and granted that the day bear his name, and that whoever keeps the vow on it have every obstacle removed. Each month’s Caturthī has its own form of Gaṇeśa and its own story, told at moonrise.
🌙व्रत
A day-long fast, fruit and roots permitted; at moonrise Gaṇeśa is worshipped, arghya is given to the Moon, the kathā is heard and the fast is broken.
🔥पूजा और हवन
Twenty-one dūrvā blades, red flowers, modaka or sesame laḍḍū; the Saṅkaṣṭa-nāśana Gaṇeśa-stotra from the Nārada Purāṇa and the Atharvaśīrṣa are recited.
ॐमन्त्र और जप 1
ॐ गं गणपतये नमः ॥
oṃ gaṃ gaṇapataye namaḥ ||
अर्थ: Salutation to Gaṇapati, lord of the hosts.
फल: Recited before every beginning — removes obstacles and grants success, learning and a steady intellect.
The midnight birth of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the eighth avatāra, on the eighth tithi of the dark half under the star Rohiṇī — the Lord who comes “whenever dharma declines”. The fast is kept until midnight; the night is spent in song.
📜शास्त्रों की कथा
Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.1–3
Kaṃsa, king of Mathurā, was driving the wedding chariot of his cousin Devakī when a voice from the sky declared that her eighth child would slay him. He imprisoned Devakī and Vasudeva and killed six of their newborns; the seventh, Balarāma, was carried to Rohiṇī’s womb. When the eighth was due, the quarters grew clear, rivers ran calm and the fires of the sages burned bright; at midnight, as Rohiṇī rose, Viṣṇu appeared before his parents four-armed, bearing conch, disc, mace and lotus, and then became an ordinary infant. The chains fell, the guards slept, the prison doors swung open; Vasudeva carried the child in a basket through the storm, Śeṣa spreading his hoods above as an umbrella and the Yamunā parting to make a path. In Gokula he laid the child beside the sleeping Yaśodā and brought back her newborn daughter — Yogamāyā, who slipped from Kaṃsa’s hands into the sky and announced that his slayer was already born.
🪔क्षेत्रीय परम्पराएँ और लोककथाएँ
Mathurā and Vṛndāvana celebrate with rāsa-līlā plays and jhūlans (swings). In Maharashtra the Dahī Haṇḍī has human pyramids reaching for a pot of curd hung high, as the butter-thief once did. Tamil homes draw tiny footprints in rice flour from doorstep to shrine and offer sīḍai and murukku; in Udupi, Dvārakā, Guruvāyūr and Manipur the night is kept with great splendour. The next day is Nandotsava, Nanda’s joy at the birth.
🌙व्रत
The vrata is a full-day fast (fruit and milk for those who need it), a night vigil with kīrtana, and pāraṇa the next day after the tithi and star have passed. The Bhaviṣya Purāṇa praises it as a vow whose merit equals many Ekādaśīs.
🔥पूजा और हवन
At midnight the infant Kṛṣṇa (Laḍḍū Gopāla) is bathed in pañcāmṛta — milk, curd, ghee, honey and sugar — dressed in new clothes, placed in a decorated cradle and rocked. Butter, miśrī, pañjīrī, tulasī and fifty-six dishes (chappan bhoga) are offered; the tenth canto of the Bhāgavata and the Gītā are read.
The eleventh tithi of each fortnight, dearest of all days to Viṣṇu. Eleven stands for the ten senses and the mind; on this day they are turned from food toward the Lord. The Padma Purāṇa gives each of the year’s Ekādaśīs its own name, story and fruit.
📜शास्त्रों की कथा
Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa 38 — the birth of Ekādaśī
In the Kṛta age the asura Mura drove the gods from heaven. Viṣṇu fought him for a thousand divine years and then withdrew to rest in the cave Hemavatī at Badarikāśrama. Mura followed, meaning to slay the sleeping Lord — when from Viṣṇu’s own body sprang a radiant maiden, armed, who met the asura in battle and reduced him to ashes with a sound. Waking, the Lord asked who had done this; she answered that she was born of him, on the eleventh day. Pleased, he named her Ekādaśī and granted her wish: that whoever fasts on her day be freed from wrong and come to his abode.
🌙व्रत
A light single meal on Daśamī; on Ekādaśī a full fast, or fruit and milk, with all grains and beans set aside; a night vigil with the names of Hari; and pāraṇa on Dvādaśī morning after sunrise, within the Dvādaśī, after feeding another.
🔥पूजा और हवन
Viṣṇu is worshipped with tulasī leaves, sandal, flowers, lamp and fruit; the Viṣṇu-sahasranāma, the Gītā and the Ekādaśī-māhātmya of the day are read; lamps are lit before the tulasī at dusk.
ॐमन्त्र और जप 2
ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
oṃ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya ||
अर्थ: Salutation to the blessed Lord Vāsudeva.
फल: The dvādaśākṣara — by this mantra the child Dhruva saw the Lord within six months; recited for devotion, protection and liberation.
Bhāgavata Purāṇa 4.8.54 — the twelve-syllable mantra Nārada gives to Dhruva
ॐ नमो नारायणाय ॥
oṃ namo nārāyaṇāya ||
अर्थ: Salutation to Nārāyaṇa, the refuge of all beings.
फल: The eight-syllable mantra — the Upaniṣad says one who recites it attains full life, prosperity and the abode of Viṣṇu.
The thirteenth tithi at twilight — the hour and a half around sunset when Śiva, having drunk the poison of the churned ocean, danced between the horns of Nandī for the joy of the gods. Worship in this window is held to please him swiftly; a Monday (Soma) or Saturday (Śani) Pradoṣa is prized most.
When the hālāhala poison rose from the churned ocean and scorched the worlds, the gods fled to Kailāsa. Śiva, in compassion, gathered the poison in his palm and drank it; Pārvatī pressed his throat, and it stayed there, turning it blue — Nīlakaṇṭha. The Skanda Purāṇa tells that on the thirteenth, at dusk, he danced in gladness while the gods stood round in worship, and relates how a destitute widow’s son and an orphaned prince, taught the Pradoṣa vow by the sage Śāṇḍilya, regained a kingdom by it.
🌙व्रत
A fast from sunrise, broken after the twilight worship; kept on both thirteenths of the month.
🔥पूजा और हवन
In the pradoṣa window: abhiṣeka of the liṅga with milk and water, bilva leaves, lamp and incense; Nandī is worshipped first and the liṅga viewed between his horns; the pradakṣiṇā is done in the half-circle Soma-sūtra manner; the Śiva-pradoṣa-stotra and Rudram are recited.
ॐमन्त्र और जप 2
ॐ नमः शिवाय ॥
oṃ namaḥ śivāya ||
अर्थ: Salutation to Śiva, the auspicious one.
फल: The five-syllable mantra at the heart of the Yajurveda — purifies the five elements of the body and steadies the mind in Śiva.
अर्थ: We worship the three-eyed Lord, fragrant, the nourisher of all; as a ripe gourd is freed from its stalk, may he free us from death, not from immortality.
फल: The great death-conquering mantra — japa of 108 for health, long life, recovery from illness and fearlessness.
Ṛgveda 7.59.12 (Vasiṣṭha); Śukla Yajurveda 3.60
📖शास्त्रीय सन्दर्भ 2
Skanda Purāṇa, Brahmottara-khaṇḍa 6–7
Bhāgavata Purāṇa 8.7
मासिक शिवरात्रि
✦महत्त्व
The monthly night of Śiva, the fourteenth of the dark half, when the waning moon — the mind — is almost still. Those who keep all twelve through the year complete the vow on Mahā Śivarātri.
🔥पूजा और हवन
Evening or midnight worship of the liṅga with water, milk and bilva; a fast through the day; japa of the pañcākṣarī.
ॐमन्त्र और जप 1
ॐ नमः शिवाय ॥
oṃ namaḥ śivāya ||
अर्थ: Salutation to Śiva, the auspicious one.
फल: The five-syllable mantra at the heart of the Yajurveda — purifies the five elements of the body and steadies the mind in Śiva.
The new moon, when Sun and Moon dwell together — the day that belongs to the ancestors. Offerings of water and sesame made today reach them directly, and their blessing is sought for the family’s welfare. A new moon on a Monday (Somavatī) is especially sacred for married women, who circle the pīpal tree 108 times; on a Saturday (Śanaiścarī) Śani is propitiated with sesame oil; on a Tuesday (Bhaumavatī) debts are said to be cleared by ancestral rites.
📜शास्त्रों की कथा
Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana-parva 87–92; Matsya Purāṇa 14 (Acchodā and the Pitṛs)
The Matsya Purāṇa tells of Acchodā, mind-born daughter of the Pitṛs, who through a moment’s wavering fell from heaven. The Pitṛs, in compassion, told her that the day of her fall would be named Amāvasyā, dear to them above all days, and that whatever is offered to the ancestors on it would be imperishable. Bhīṣma teaches Yudhiṣṭhira that of all tithis the new moon is foremost for the śrāddha.
🔥पूजा और हवन
Tarpaṇa with water and black sesame facing south; feeding of crows, cows and the needy; a lamp of sesame oil under the pīpal at dusk; on Somavatī, circumambulation of the pīpal with thread, and a vow of silence at the bath.
चौबीस एकादशियों का वर्ष — बाहरी वलय शुक्ल, भीतरी कृष्ण; केन्द्र में अधिक मास की दो
पद्म पुराण, उत्तर-खण्ड, अध्याय ३८–६३ में प्रत्येक एकादशी की महिमा वैसे ही कही गई है जैसे श्रीकृष्ण ने युधिष्ठिर को सुनाई। कार्ड अमान्त मास देते हैं; पुराण उत्तर भारत की पूर्णिमान्त गणना में बोलता है, जिसमें कृष्ण पक्ष अगले मास के नाम से लिखा जाता है — दिन वही है। प्रत्येक कार्ड ग्रन्थालय में अपने अध्याय पर खुलता है।
On the Dvādaśī the pavitrāropaṇa — the offering of the sacred thread — to Vāsudeva is taught, with threads of gold, silver, copper, linen, silk and lotus-fibre.
अंग्रेज़ी भावार्थ होरा का है — उपलब्ध संस्करण में केवल हिन्दी टीका है।
अध्याय में: राजा महीजित् और ऋषि लोमश; द्वादशी को पवित्रारोपण
देवता निर्जिताः सर्वाः स्वर्गभ्रष्टाः कृताः प्रभो ।
अत्युग्रेण हि दैत्येन मुरनाम्ना महौजसा ।
इंद्रस्य वचनं श्रुत्वा विष्णुर्वचनमब्रवीत् ॥ 65 ॥
All the gods have been defeated and cast out of heaven, O Lord, by the exceedingly fierce and mighty daitya named Mura. Hearing Indra’s words, Viṣṇu spoke.
अंग्रेज़ी भावार्थ होरा का है — उपलब्ध संस्करण में केवल हिन्दी टीका है।
अध्याय में: चन्द्रावती का दैत्य मुर, जो देवताओं को स्वर्ग से निकालता है — स्वयं एकादशी की उत्पत्ति का अध्याय
… for so many thousand years he is honoured in heaven. Bathing with sesame, rubbing the body with sesame, offering sesame into the fire, sesame in water —
अंग्रेज़ी भावार्थ होरा का है — उपलब्ध संस्करण में केवल हिन्दी टीका है।
Nārada asked the lotus-seated Brahmā: “The one in the dark fortnight of Phālguna, Vijayā by name — tell me her merit, O best of the twice-born, by your grace.”
अंग्रेज़ी भावार्थ होरा का है — उपलब्ध संस्करण में केवल हिन्दी टीका है।
अमा वा यदि वा पूर्णा संपूर्णा जायते तदा ।
भूत्वा वै नाडिकाषष्ठिर्जायते प्रतिपद्दिने ।
अश्वमेधायुतैस्तुल्या सा भवेत्पक्षवर्द्धिनी ॥ 2 ॥
When the Amāvāsyā or the Pūrṇimā runs complete — a full sixty nāḍikās — and continues into the Pratipad day, that is Pakṣavardhinī, equal to ten thousand horse-sacrifices.
अंग्रेज़ी भावार्थ होरा का है — उपलब्ध संस्करण में केवल हिन्दी टीका है।
3
जया और विजया — नक्षत्र से नामित
पुनर्वसु में शुक्ल एकादशी — जया; श्रवण में शुक्ल द्वादशी — विजया। अध्याय इसी प्रकार जयन्ती और पापनाशिनी बताता है।
On the Dvādaśī the pavitrāropaṇa — the offering of the sacred thread — to Vāsudeva is taught, with threads of gold, silver, copper, linen, silk and lotus-fibre.
अंग्रेज़ी भावार्थ होरा का है — उपलब्ध संस्करण में केवल हिन्दी टीका है।
पाठ दिन से क्या माँगता है
सब अध्याय मिलकर वही थोड़ी-सी बातें माँगते हैं: एकादशी का उपवास (निर्जला पर निर्जल); अध्याय में दिए नाम से विष्णु-पूजन — दामोदर, हृषीकेश, पद्मनाभ; दिन के अनुरूप अर्पण — सफला पर फल, षट्तिला पर तिल, कामिका पर तुलसी; भजन-स्तोत्र के साथ रात्रि-जागरण; और द्वादशी को पारण से पहले पुनः पूजन। दिन का जप द्वादशाक्षरी — ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय — और विष्णु-सहस्रनाम है।
🌘ग्रहण
वराहमिहिर दोनों बातें साथ रखते हैं। पहले कथा: अमृत चखने वाला कटा हुआ सिर, जो ग्रह बना। फिर विज्ञान: चन्द्रमा पृथ्वी की छाया में प्रवेश करता है, और सूर्य-ग्रहण में चन्द्रमा सूर्य को ढकता है — “राहु कारण नहीं है”। और फिर यह कि अनुष्ठान क्यों चलता है: ब्रह्मा के वर से ग्रहण-काल की आहुति में राहु का भाग है।
वास्तव में, अपने ग्रहण में चन्द्रमा पृथ्वी की छाया में प्रवेश करता है; सूर्य-ग्रहण में चन्द्रमा सूर्य को ढकता है। इसलिए ग्रहण चन्द्रमा के लिए पिछले भाग से, और सूर्य के लिए अगले भाग से नहीं, आरम्भ होता है।
इस प्रकार दिव्य-दृष्टि वाले आचार्यों ने ग्रहण का वास्तविक कारण कहा है; और कहा गया है कि राहु इसका वास्तविक भौतिक कारण नहीं है, यही शास्त्र का वास्तविक तात्पर्य है।