Chapter VII. Vratas Called Nāgapanchamī, Manasāpūjā, Rakshābandhana, Krishnajanmāshtamī

Volume V: Part I pp. 124–143

Chapter VII. Vratas Called Nāgapanchamī, Manasāpūjā, Rakshābandhana, Krishnajanmāshtamī

In the month of Śrāvaṇa there are several important vratas, one of which is Nāgapañcamī on the 5th of the bright half of Śrāvaṇa. The Nāgapañcamī is observed in different ways in all parts of India. Some hold that, instead of Akṣayyatṛtīyā, Nāgapañcamī is the one half auspicious day out of 3½ most auspicious days in the year. The Bhaviṣyapurāṇa, Brāhma-parva (chapter 32 verses 1–39), expatiates on Nāgapañcamī. Kṛtyakalpataru (on vrata) pp 87–90 and Hemādri (on vrata vol. I pp 557–560) quote several verses from the Bhaviṣya-purāṇa. Briefly, the Bhaviṣya¹ says when men on the 5th bathe with milk the nāgas called Vāsuki, Takṣaka, Kāliya, Maṇi-bhadra, Airāvata, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Karkoṭaka and Dhanañjaya, these give abhaya (freedom from danger) to their familieṣ A legend is told (in Bhaviṣya I. 32) that Kadrū, mother of nāgas, had a bet with her sister Vinatā about the colour of the tail of Indra’s horse called Uccaiḥ-śravaṣ Kadrū asserting that the tail was black though the horse was white and Vinatā saying that the body and tail were white and when the nāgas refused to practise the deceit whereby they were to become the dark hair in the horse’s tail, Kadrū cursed them that fire would burn them (in the sarpa-sattra of Janamejaya). Persons should make golden, silver or clay images of nāgas, should worship them with Karavīra and Jati flowers and incense etc., feed brāhmaṇas with ghee, pāyasa etc. and should bathe nāgas with milk. The result would be that nāgas would bestow on the worshippers safety (from snake-bite). The Bhaviṣyottarapurāṇa (chap 36) contains another methoḍ On Śrāvaṇa 5th (bright half) a person should draw on both sides of his door with cowdung figures of serpents which should be worshipped with curds, dūrvā tendrils, kuśas and sandalwood paste, flowers and presents of food They would have no danger from snakeṣ Vide Hemādri on Kāla p. 621, K V p. 413, K R p. 234 In Saurāṣṭra Nāgapañcamī is observed in Śrāvaṇa dark half.

It appears that in Bengal and south India (but not in Mahārāṣṭra) there is worship of Manasādevī in one's own court-yard on a branch of the snuhī plant on the 5th of Śrāvaṇa dark half. The Rājamārtaṇḍa has four verses, one of which is quoted below. Samayapradīpa and Kṛtyaratnākara refer to the worship of Manasādevī. The Tithitattva² (p. 33) contains the dhyāna of Manasādevī taken from Padmapurāṇa. First, there is a saṅkalpa³ about the worship of Manasādevī in order to get rid of the danger from snake-bite, then one offers gandhā, flowers, incense, lamp and naivedya and then Ananta and other nāgas are offered worship, the principal item being naivedya of milk and ghee. Nimba leaves are placed inside the house and the performer eats them and also makes brāhmaṇas eat them The Brahmavaivartapurāṇa (II) devotes two chapters (45-46) to the birth of Manasādevī, her pūjā and stotra (praise) &c. Dr Sukumar Sen has edited in the B I series Vipradāsa's 'Manasāvijaya'.

In the Deccan on Śrāvaṇa bright half 5th figures of snakes are drawn with red sandalwood paste on wooden boards, or clay images of snakes coloured yellow or black are purchased and worshipped and given milk and snake charmers go about with snakes of all sorts, to which people offer milk and some money is paid to the snake charmers If pañcami is mixed with the 4th and 6th titthis, that mixed with the 6th is to be preferreḍ The Vratakalaviveka⁴ speaks of Manasāvṛata on Jyeṣṭha-śukla 10th with Hasta-nakṣatra or without it and remarks that when this vrata is performed Manasā goddess protects a man from the danger of poisonous snakes

How and when serpent worship arose in India is a difficult problem The Ṛgveda contains no reference to snake worship On the contrary the Vedic god Indra is said to be the killer of ahi (a serpent) in Ṛg. II. 30. 1, II. 19. 3 and the slaughter of ahi is frequently mentioned as in Ṛg. I. 165. 6, III. 47 4. That ahi meant a serpent with a hood is clear from Ṛg. VI. 75 14 (ahiriva bhogaih paryeti bāhum). In Br. Up IV. 4. 7 and Praśna IV. 5 there are references to the cast-off slough of serpents (mentioned as ‘pādodara’ whose feet are inside its body) and in Ṛg IX. 86 44 (ahir na jūrnāmati sarpatī tvacam) also. But in many passages of the Ṛgveda (such as I 32 11) ahi appears to have a metaphorical sense and refers to a demon like Vṛtra that prevented waters from flowing dowṇ In the Tai S IV. 2. 8. 3. and Vāj S. (XIII. 6–8) there are three verses that contain salutations to serpentṣ In the Atharvaveda (VIII. 14. 13–15) there is a reference to serpents some of which like Takṣaka and Dhṛtarāṣṭra are named The Kāṭhaka S V. 6 enumerates the pitṛs, sarpaś, gandharvas, waters and herbs as pañcajana, and the Ait Br. XIII. 7 asserts that gods, men, gandharvas, apsarases, snakes and pitṛs were pañcajana. This cannot be the meaning of ‘pañcajanaḥ’ in Ṛg. X. 53 4. The above passages show that sarpas had come to be a clan like gandharvas in late vedic times

In the Āśv. gr II, 1 1–15, the Pāraskara-gṛhya II 14 and other gṛhya sūtras a rite called ‘sarpabali’ (offering to serpents) was performed on the Full Moon day of Śrāvaṇa Vide H. of Dh. vol II. pp 821–823 for a description The nāgas figure frequently in the Mahābhārata Vide Ādi. chap. 35 enumerating the names of many nāgas beginning with Śeṣa and chap 123. 71, Udyoga 103 9–16 (naming numerous nāgas) Arjuna while engaged in his twelve years’ vow of brahmacarya came to The country of the Nāgas (probably a tribe that had nāga as their emblem) and took as his wife Ulūpī, a Nāga princess who was smitten by love. Babhruvāhana, son of Citrāṅgadā, fought with Arjuna who had come to Manipura for protecting the Aśvamedha horse, was killed by Babhruvāhana and restored to life with the help of a Sañjīvana jewel (Āśvamedhikaparva chap. 79–81). Serpents came to be associated with both Viṣṇu and Śiva. Viṣṇu is said to sleep on the hoods of Śeṣa-nāga (Vanaparva 203. 12 and 272. 38–39) and Śiva wears serpents on his body like yajñopavīta (Anuśāsana 14. 55)⁵. In the Bhagavadgītā X. 28–29 Lord Kṛṣṇa identifies himself with Vāsuki among serpents and Ananta among nāgaṣ What difference is made between ‘sarpa’ and ‘nāga’ is not clear. Probably ‘sarpa’ means all creeping things, while nāga means ‘the cobra’. The Purāṇas are full of stories about nāgaṣ Vide J. Ph. Vogel’s painstaking work (Indian Serpent Lore, 1926) based on the Mahābhārata, the Purāṇas and the Rājataraṅgiṇī. It appears that serpent worship arose gradually from the fear of serpents that must have taken a heavy toll of life, particularly at the beginning of the rainy seasoṇ Even in these days about 10000 people die of snake-bite every year in India, while persons killed by all wild animals are hardly 3000. Why the tithi was changed from Full Moon (for Sarpabali in the gṛhya sūtras) to the 5th of the bright half is not clear. It may be due to the slight change in the time of the onset of rains owing to the precession of the equinoxeṣ Vide Fergusson’s ‘Tree and Serpent worship’ pp. 1–75 and Plate XV which reproduces the sculptures on the eastern gateway of Sañchi, where occurs the figure of five-headed Nāga. Stone images of serpents under sacred trees like _pippala_ are common in the Draviḍa country and a few temples dedicated to nāgas exist such as the one at Battis Shirālen in Satara District and at Bhom-parāṇḍen in Hyderabaḍ

On the Full Moon of Śrāvana there is in the afternoon a ceremony called Rakṣābandhana (tying the protective amulet). It is described by Hemādri on vrata, vol. II. pp. 190–195, N. S. p 121, P.O. 284–285, Vratārka (folio 335a–336a). One should at sunrise on Full Moon of Śrāvana and after offering tarpana to gods, sages and pitṛs, get prepared a protective packet (or amulet) containing whole rice grains and mustard and deco- rated with gold (thread) and strung together with variously coloured threads and have such an amulet tied In the case of a king, a jar should be placed on a square raised in the palace and the king should occupy his seat together with his ministers, he should be surrounded by courtesans and music and benedictory words should go forth; gods, brāhmaṇas and arms should be first honoured, then the royal⁶ priest should tie the amulet to the accompaniment of the mantra. 'I tie on you that whereby Bali, the very powerful king of demons, was bound; O protective (amulet), don't slip off, don't slip off' All including śūdras and other human beings should get the amulet tied after honouring priests according to ability When this is done, a man lives on happily for a year. Hemādri quotes Bhaviṣyottara for the story that Indrāṇī tied on the right hand of Indra a protective amulet whereby he was enabled to vanquish the asuras This tying should not be done when paurṇimā is mixed up with either 14th or the following pratipad It may, in order to avoid these two, be done even at night

This ceremony of tying an amulet on the right wrist is still in vogue and priests go about tying these amulets and receive some fee for doing so Mukerji (p 81) is unduly harsh on the poor brāhmaṇas when he says that it is a day of blackmail by the priests Women in Gujarat and some other places tie silken amulets round the wrists of their brothers and give and receive presents

On the Full Moon day of Śrāvaṇa it is usual on the sea coast of western India (particularly in Konkan and Malabar) not only for Hindus, but also for Moslems and Parsis of the merchant class to go to the sea and offer flowers and a cocoanut to the sea. The sea becomes less rough and the violence of the monsoon winds abates after the Full Moon of Śrāvaṇa and the cocoanut is offered to the sea god (Varuṇa) in order that he may make sea voyage for vessels of merchandise safe

In Śrāvaṇa on the 8th of the dark half is celebrated the Kṛṣṇajanmāṣṭamī or Janmāṣṭamī vrata and festival, which is probably the most important vrata and utsava celebrated throughout the whole of India In some Purāṇa passages it is declared that Janmāṣṭami is celebrated on the 8th of the dark half of Bhādrapada. The explanation is that in those passages the months are Pūrṇimānta and the dark half is in these months the first pakṣa.⁷ The Padma (III 13), Matsya 56, Agni 183 contain numerous verses on the greatness (māhātmya) of Kṛṣṇajanmāṣṭami.

It would not be out of place to say a few words about Kṛṣṇa and about the antiquity of Kṛṣṇa worship. There is a reference in the Chāndogya-upaniṣad (III. 17. 6) to Kṛṣṇa Devakīputra receiving instruction from Ghora Āṅgirasa. There was a Vedic poet named Kṛṣṇa who calls upon the Aśvins to listen to his invocation in Ṛg. VIII. 85. 3 and the Anukramaṇī assigns Ṛg. VIII. 86–87 to Kṛṣṇa Āṅgirasa. Jain tradition regards Kṛṣṇa as contemporaneous with Nemi, the 22nd Tīrthankara, and from the account of the 63 great men of Jain pre-history about one third are shown as associated with Kṛṣṇa. The life of Kṛṣṇa as gathered from the Mahābhārata is a composite one. In some passages he is depicted as a Yādava prince, the staunchest friend of the Pāṇḍavas⁸ (and particularly of Arjuna), as a great warrior, statesman and philosopher. In other passages he is identified with the Supreme Lord of the worlds and as Viṣṇu Himself (Śānti 47. 28, Droṇa 146. 67–68, Karṇa 87. 74, Vanaparva 49. 20, Bhīṣma 21. 13–15). There are most sublime praises of Kṛṣṇa put in the mouths of Yudhiṣṭhira (Droṇa 149. 16–33), Draupadī (Vanaparva 263. 8–16) and Bhīṣma when about to die (Anuśāsana 167. 37–45). We have further information about him from the Harivaṁśa, the Viṣṇupurāṇa, Vāyu (98. 100–102), the Bhāgavata and Brahmavaivarta that deal with Kṛṣṇa’s romantic career among cowherds, which is wanting in the Mahābhārata. It appears from Pāṇini (IV. 3 98)⁹ that there were people in his day described as Vāsudevaka and Arjunaka, that were devoted to Vāsudeva and Arjuna. Patañjali in his Mahābhāṣya mentions several persons and incidents connected with Kṛṣṇa. On Vārtika 6 to Pāṇ. III. 1. 26 the Mahābhāṣya gives two examples ‘Kaṁsam ghātayati’ (meaning ‘he tells the story of the slaughter of Kaṁsa’) and ‘Balim bhandhayati’ (meaning ‘he narrates the story of the imprisonment of Bali’). In Vārtika 2 to Pāṇ. III. 1.138 the word ‘Govinda’ is derived (from go+vinda). On Vārtika 2 to Pāṇ III 2 111 Patañjali gives the example ‘Jaghāna Kaṁsam kila Vāsudevaḥ’ (Vāsudeva, they say, killed Kaṁsa) and implies that the incident occurred long ago which the speaker could not have seen but was popularly known¹⁰. This is a quarter of an Upendravajrā or Upajāti verse. Patañjali names Satyabhāmā with its shortened form Bhāmā (Kielhorn, vol. I. p 111), the words ‘Vāsudevavargyaḥ’ and ‘Akrūravargyaḥ’ occur (on Vārtika 11 on Pāṇ. IV.2 104) On Pāṇ. IV.1 114 (ṛṣyandhaka-vṛṣṇi-kurubhyaś-ca) under vārtika 7 Patañjali mentions Ugrasena as a scion of the Andhakas and Vāsudeva and Bāladewa of the Vṛṣṇiṣ Patañjali quotes half of an Anuṣṭubh verse ‘Sāṅkarṣaṇa-dvitīyāsya balam Kṛṣṇasya vardhatām’ (Kielhorn eḍ vol. I p 426). Patañjali is regarded by most modern scholars as having flourished in the 2nd century B. C. (about 150 B. C) Therefore it follows that some poetic work or works that referred to incidents of Kṛṣṇa’s career (such as Kaṁsavadha) had been composed some centuries before the Christian era. Vide I A. vol. III pp 14–16 for allusions to Kṛṣṇa in the Mahābhāṣya and I A vol. XIV pp 326 ff, for verse quotations in the Mahābhāṣya collected by Kielhorṇ In the Ādiparva (chap 1. 256)¹¹ and in Sabhā 33. 10–11 Kṛṣṇa is identified with Vāsudeva and is said to be the Highest Brahma and the source of the universe. The Ghosundi inscription of 2nd or 1st century B. C. mentions the hall of worship of Sankarṣa and Vāsudeva (E I 16 pp. 25-27, E. I. 22 p. 198, I. A. vol. 61 p. 203) addressed as ‘Bhagavat’ and ‘sarveśvara’. Nanaghat cave inscriptions of about 200 B. C. mention both (A. S. W. I. vol. V pp. 60-74). The Besnagar column (Garuda-dhvaja) Vaiṣṇava inscription ¹² where the Bhāgavata Heliodorus, son of Diya, hailing from Takṣaśīlā and Yavanna ambassador of king Antalkiṭa (Antalkidas) to king Bhāgabhadra mentions Vāsudeva as ‘devadeva’. The preceding items of evidence indicate that the worship of Vāsudeva was prevalent in northern and central India from at least 500 B. C. if not earlier. Vide R. G. Bhandarkar’s ‘Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism &c.’ pp. 1–45 for the various phases of the Kṛṣṇa cult and its antiquity.

It is rather surprising that the passages quoted in the medieval works on Kṛṣṇajanmāṣṭamī are mostly borrowed from the Bhāviṣya, Bhāviṣyottara, Skanda, Viṣṇudharmottara, Nāradīya and Brahmavaivarta purāṇas, but hardly ever from the Bhāgavata-purāṇa which is the Veda of the Vaiṣṇavas of later medieval and modern timeṣ The description of Kṛṣṇa’s birth in the Bhāgavata is vague and commonplace. All that ¹³ is said there is that the time when Kṛṣṇa was born was endowed with all good characteristics and was very charming, that the quarters looked very clear and the sky was lit up by bright stars, that the wind that blew was very pleasing to the skin and laden with fine fragrance and that when Janārdana was born of Devakī it was midnight and darkness had enveloped everything.

In the Bhāviṣyottara (44. 1–69) Kṛṣṇa himself is represented as narrating to Yudhiṣṭhira the incidents of Janmāṣṭamī-vrata: ‘I was born of Vāsudeva and Devakī on the 8th of Bhādrapada dark half at midnight when the Sun was in Lion (Leo), when the Moon was in the sign of the Bull (Taurus) and there was Rohiṇī nakṣatra' (verses 74–75), when on the 8th of the dark half of Śrāvaṇa there is Rohiṇī-nakṣatra, the tithi is called Jayantī, if a man observes a fast on that tithi, that destroys his sins committed in childhood, youth, old age and many previous lives' The result is that if there be no Rohiṇī nakṣatra on Śrāvaṇa dark half 8th, it is simply Janmāṣṭamī, but when Rohiṇī is joined to dark 8th of Śrāvaṇa it is Jayantī. The Rājamārtaṇḍa has two verses on thiṣ¹¹

The important question is whether the Janmāṣṭamī-vrata and Jayantī-vrata are really only one vrata or whether they are two separate vratas The Kālanirṇaya,¹⁵ after a long discussion in which Mīmāṁsā principles contained in Jai. II. 2.23 and IV. 1. 22–24 are relied upon, arrives at the conclusion that the two are separate vratas on the grounds that the two names are different (viz Janmāṣṭamī-vrata and Jayantīvrata), their occasions (nimitta) are different (the first depends only on dark Aṣṭamī, while the latter exists only if there is Rohiṇī on 8th of dark half of Śrāvaṇa) and their characteristics are different in that in Janmāṣṭamīvrata śāstra requires only a fast, while in Jayantīvrata the śāstra requires a fast and also gifts and the Janmāṣṭamīvrata is obligatory (nitya), since the texts only speak of the incurring of sin if it be not performed, while Jayantīvrata is both nitya and kāmya in that the śāstras connect it with special rewards in addition to the incurring of sin by its non-observance Further, the two are separately mentioned in the same verseṣ¹⁶ Hemādri, Madanaratna, the Nīrṇayasindhu (p. 126) and several works hold the view that the two are different. But the N. S notes¹⁷ that in its day people observed only Janmāṣṭamī-vrata and not Jayantī-vrata. On the other hand the Jayantinirṇaya (p. 25) states that people generally celebrate Jayantī only (and not Janmāṣṭamī). This variance is probably due to the fact that the two works (N. S. and J. N.) belong to the north and south of India. The Samaya- mayūkha¹⁸ and Puruṣārthacintāmaṇi (p. 117) very severely criticize the views of Mādhava set out above from the Kāla- nirṇaya, one of the principal arguments in these last being that the Mīmāṁsā rules relied upon by Mādhava apply to rites, but Jayantī is the name of a tithi i. e the 8th of dark half when conjoined to Rohiṇī. The Jayantinirṇaya of Hārīta Veṅkaṭa- nātha holds that the two are different and that both are nitya as well as kāmya (pp. 4-5 and p. 30). It further points out (p 19) that in Janmāṣṭamīvrata tithi is the principal matter while in Jayantī it is the nakṣatra (Rohiṇī) that is principal.

Two discordant notes are struck by the Varāha-purāṇa and by the Harivaṁśa The former says¹⁹ that Kṛṣṇa was born on 12th of Āṣāḍha bright half. According to the Harivaṁśa q by Hemādri and Jīmūtavāhana, the nakṣatra was Abhijit when Kṛṣṇa was born and the muhūrta was vijaya²⁰. It is quite possible that these two represent some older traditions about the date of the birth of Kṛṣṇa

Another important point very much canvassed in the medieval digests is about the exact tithi and time when the Janmāṣṭamīvrata is to be celebrated The K.N (pp 215-224), Kṛtyatattva pp 438-444, Tithitattva pp. 47-51, Samaya- mayūkha p. 50-51, N. S pp. 128-130 and several other digests state certain conclusions about this

It is clear from almost all Purāṇas and other works on Janmāṣṭamī that the principal time for the celebration of the birth of Kṛṣṇa is the midnight ²¹ of the 8th of Śrāvaṇa dark half (Bhādrapada dark, if the month is Pūrṇimānta). This tithi is of two kinds viz (1) without Rohiṇī nakṣatra and (2) with Rohiṇī nakṣatra. In each of these two, the Kālanirṇaya of Mādhava (pp 218-224), the Nirṇayasindhu (pp 128-130), the Dharmasindhu (pp 64-67) and other digests set out several possible alternative combinations The Niraṇyāmṛta (pp 56-58) mentions as many as 18 kinds, eight of the śuddhā tithi, 8 of the viddhā tithi and two more, one being the one where Rohiṇī- nakṣatra is there at midnight and the other being Navamī joined to Rohiṇī and having either Wednesday or Monday. A discussion of these would be somewhat complicated and hardly otherwise than of academical interest to modern readerṣ There- fore, all these alternatives are not set out here. Instead, the brief conclusions put forth by the Tithitattva are given ²² by way of sample. These are: If Jayantī (Aṣṭamī with Rohiṇī) exists only a single day, the fast must be observed on that very day; if it spreads over two days, then the fast is on the later of the two; if there is no Jayantī, then the fast is to be observed on Aṣṭamī joined with Rohiṇī, if two days have Aṣṭamī joined to Rohiṇī, then fast is on the later of the two; if there is no Rohiṇī nakṣatra then fast is to be observed on the Aṣṭamī that exists at midnight or if aṣṭamī exists on two days at midnight or if it be not existent at midnight then on the later day. If Jayanti fast occurs on Wednesday or Monday there are far greater results and such a fast is superior to crores of other vratas and the man who observes a fast on Jayanti conjoined to Wednesday or Monday would not be born agaiṇ²³

The main items in Janmāṣṭamīvrata are fast, worship of Kṛṣṇa, jāgara (keeping awake at night, listening to and repeat- ing hymns of praise and stories about Kṛṣṇa's exploits), pāraṇā.

The medieval digests such as Tithitattva (pp. 42-47), the Samayamayūkha (pp. 52-57), Kālatattvavivecana (pp. 52-56), Vratarāja (pp 274-277), Dharmasindhu (pp 68-69) contain a lengthy procedure of Janmāṣṭamīvrata based principally on Bhaviṣyottara chap. 55. A brief summary from the first two works (which agree in the main in most respects) is set out below.

On the day of the fast in the morning the devotee should invoke the presence of the Sun, Moon, Yama, Time, the two twilights, the (five) elements, Day and Night, Wind, the lord of the quarters, the earth, the sky, the denizens of aerial regions and godṣ²⁴ He should hold in his hand a copper vessel filled with water, some fruits, flowers and whole rice-grains, refer to the month &c. and make a saṅkalpa ‘I shall perform the Kṛṣṇāṣṭamī-vrata, for securing a certain reward or for the removal of my sins'. He then repeats four mantras addressed to Vāsudeva, one of which is quoted below.²⁵ After repeating the mantras he should dis- charge the water in the vessel. He should construct a delivery hall for Devaki having auspicious jars full of water and mango leaves, garlands of flowers, fragrant with burnt aguru and decked with auspicious things and Sasthi-devī. Round about the room or the walls (of the room) he should paint gods and gandharvas with folded hands, Vasudeva with a drawn sword, Devaki, Nanda, Yaśodā, gopis, Kaṁsa's guards, the river Yamunā and the snake Kāliya therein and other incidents of Gokula as far as he coulḍ He should place in the delivery hall a bed surrounded by screens He should take a bath with sesame in the noon in the water of a river or the like and at midnight make the saṅkalpa, 'I shall perform the worship of Kṛṣṇa with his attendants', he should make an image of Kṛṣṇa of gold or silver &c., touch the cheeks of the image and vitalize the image (prāṇa-pratiṣṭhā) with mantras He should contem- plate upon Devaki (with a mantra) and on Śrīkṛṣṇa lying as an infant on the bed and offer worship to Lakṣmī, to Vasudeva and Devaki, Nanda and Yaśodā, Baladeva and Caṇḍikā with appropriate mantras for bath, for incense, naivedya &c.; he then briefly performs symbolically the ceremonies of Jātakarman, cutting the navel chord, Sasthīpūjā and nāmākaraṇa. Then at time of moonrise (at or a little after midnight) he should offer arghya on an altar or to (image of) the moon with Rohiṇī with water from a conch mixed with flowers, kuśas and sandalwood paste with a mantra, should bow to the moon and prostrate³⁴⁶ himself with several verses containing the different names of Vāsudeva and at the end address prayers to hiṃ Then he should keep awake the whole night in listening to the hymns of praise to Kṛṣṇa, to the stories in the Purāṇas and in songs, music and danceṣ Next day after performing all usual acts in the morning and again offering worship to the image of God Kṛṣṇa, he should feed brāhmaṇas and donate to them gold, cow, clothes with the words 'May Kṛṣṇa be pleased with me'. He should then repeat the mantra³⁴⁷ 'salutation to him who is Brahma, who is Vāsudeva of blessed birth and beneficent to cows and brāhmaṇas and whom Devaki gave birth from Vasudeva for the protection of Vedas spread over the earth Let there be peace! Let there be bliss! He should then take out the image of Kṛṣṇa, donate it to a brāhmaṇa and bring the vrata to a close after performing pārāṇā.

The procedure in the Dharmasindhu (pp. 68–69) is more elaborate than the above, though no essential difference existṣ It makes use of Vedic mantras (from Ṛg. X. 90. 1–16) along with Paurāṇika mantras, while in the Samaya-mayūkha and Tithi-tattva no Vedic mantra is expressly mentioneḍ As regards jāgara the Dharmasindhu provides that the stories²⁶ about Kṛṣṇa may be made striking by reciting poems composed in regional languages, that Vedic hymns may have at their end Paurāṇika stories recited, that visual representations (such as dances) may be resorted to, that this is a procedure meant for the three higher varṇas, but in the case of śūdras it is not proper to follow the same procedure; they should omit Vedic hymns but may engage in music and Paurāṇika recitationṣ

One question often raised in some of the medieval digests on Dharmaśāstra is: what is the principal matter in Janmāṣṭami-vrata. Some held that both fast (upavāsa) and worship (pūjā) are principal and they rely on a Bhaviṣyapurāṇa²⁷ passage 'when at midnight on the 8th of the dark half there is Rohiṇī, worship of Kṛṣṇa destroys sins committed in three lives; a man observing a fast then and performing worship of Hari does not sink'. The Samayamayūkha, after an elaborate discussion in which Mīmāṁsā doctrines such as those in Jai. I. 4. 1–3 are employed, arrives at the conclusion that the fast is only an auxiliary (aṅga), while worship (pūjā) is the principal thing. On the other hand the Tithitattva²⁸ relying on the verse of the Bhavisya opening the description of the vrata ‘On that day one should accept the restrictions of upavāsa’ and also Mīmāṁsā doctrines holds that upavāsa is the principal matter and pūjā is an aṅga (auxiliary matter). The Jayantinirṇaya contained in the Dāśanirṇayī of Hārita Veṅkaṭanātha discusses at length the two (pp. 3 ff). This subject need not be pursued much further.

It has already been stated above that every vrata requires a pāraṇa as the last item, that pāraṇa takes place the day after the day of the fast and that it is generally performed in the morning. There are certain special rules about the pāraṇa of Janmāṣṭamī fast and Jayantī fast. A few dicta of the purāṇas may be first noteḍ The Brahmavaivarta²⁹ states ‘one should never perform pāraṇa while aṣṭamī tithi is running or Rohiṇī nakṣatra is still there on the Astamī; (if one does so) one destroys what he has done previously and the fruits acquired by the fast. A tithi destroys eight-fold, while a nakṣatra does so fourfold; therefore one should perform the pāraṇa (of Janmāṣṭamī) at the end of the tithi and nakṣatra’. The Nāradapurāṇa³⁰ remarks ‘when a fast has to be observed on the conjunction of a tithi and nakṣatra, pāraṇa should not be done until at least one of the two has ended; when a vrata falls on a conjunction (of tithi and nakṣatra), pāraṇa should be done only when one of the two is’ separated (i. e. ends)’. The Vahni-purāṇa provides ‘pāraṇa is commended at the end of the nakṣatra or at the end of the tithi’. Both the Tithitattva and the Kṛtyatattva³¹ arrive on interpret- ing these and other verses at the following conclusionṣ ‘Pāraṇa is to be observed on the day after the fast, but after the end of the tithi (aṣṭamī) and the nakṣatra (Rohiṇī), but when one of the two ends before mahānīśā and the other during mahānīśā should be observed at the end of one of the two; when both exist during the period one should perform pāraṇa in the morning at the end of the festival'. At the end of the pāraṇa the performer repeats the mantra 'salutations to Govinda, who is Being, who is the ruler of (all) beings, who is the lord of (all) beings and who is the source of all beings'.³² The above statement shows that in certain cases the pāraṇa of Janmāṣṭamīvrata may be at night,³³ particularly for vaisnavas who perform the vrata as a duty and not for any rewarḍ

There is a difference of meaning between udyāpana and pāraṇa. Some vratas like Ekadaśī and Janmāṣṭamī are performed throughout a man's life; in such cases there is only pāraṇa after the fast on every occasion that a fast is observeḍ If a man undertakes a vrata only once and finishes it, then the concluding rites of the vrata are called udyāpana.

Besides the items mentioned above, it is the practice, particularly of boys and common people in Mahārāṣṭra, to hang up pots full of curds and buttermilk on the day after the birth of Kṛṣṇa is celebrated, to play underneath the pot, sing songs and then pierce the pot and get drenched by curds and buttermilk running out from the holes made. This is probably due to the legends associated with Kṛṣṇa's boyhood among cowherdṣ The Bhāgavata³⁴ expressly says that the cowherds sprinkled each other on Kṛṣṇa's birth with curds, milk, ghee, and smeared each other with these. This is called 'Gopālakalā' in Mahārāṣṭra. But this is not observed in other parts of India such as Saurastra. Surprisingly enough the Kṛṣṇajanmāṣṭamī festival does not, like the Rāmanavamī festival, figure in the Kṛtyakalpataru on vrata. One cannot account for this omissioṇ But in the Naiyatakāla section³⁵ of the same work, a brief procedure of Kṛṣṇajanmāṣṭami (which is word for word the same in the Kṛtyaratnākara) different from the one specified above from the Tithitattva and other works, is set out. It is as follows: On the 8th of the dark half of Bhādrapada was born in Kaliyuga in the 28th (kalpa?), Kṛṣṇa, son of Devaki, for removing the burden (of the earth) and the reduction of kṣatriyaṣ He (his image) should therefore be worshipped on that day, as also (of) Devaki and Yaśodā with sandalwood paste, flowers, incense, various fruits and foods and dishes prepared from barley and wheat together with cow's milk. At night the devotee should keep awake with songs and danceṣ Then on the 9th about the time of aruṇodaya (4 ghatikās before sunrise) women dressed in red clothes and decked with garlands of flowers should carry the images of these (Kṛṣṇa, Devaki and Yaśodā) to a holy river bank or to a charming and unfrequented lake, wherein they should themselves take their bath and also bathe the images; then returning home they should eat a meal with jaggery, honey, ghee and black pepper.

Before closing this account of Janmāṣṭamī reference must be made to a paper read in 1867 before the Berlin Akademie der Wissenschaften by the renowned German scholar, Prof. A. Weber. The subject of the paper was 'An investigation into the origin of the festival of Kṛṣṇajanmāṣṭamī' and the paper was divided into four parts; the first dealt with the sources (an English translation of it by E. Rehatsek was published in Indian Antiquary vol. VI. pp. 161–180 and pp. 281–301), the 2nd dealt with ritual, the 3rd part was the most important and was concerned with a novel theory, viz. the ritual of Kṛṣṇāṣṭamī festival was something transferred from outside of India, that the description in the ritual of Kṛṣṇa's image as suckling at the mother's (Devakī's) breast was the keystone of the theory of this ritual as of foreign origin and that it was suggested by pictorial representations of the Madonna with a suckling child (Christ). &c. An English translation of this part appeared in Indian Antiquary, vol. III. pp. 21–25 and pp. 47–52. This paper, though it is a monument of learning and patient industry (for that period when very few Sanskrit books had been printed), gave rise to severe criticism owing to its fantastic and perverse conclusion about Kṛṣṇajanmāṣṭamī ritual being borrowed from Christian representations of Christ and his mother Mary. In I. A. vol. III. p. 300 Growse attacked it very severely. In spite of all criticisms the tenacious German scholar stuck to his guns and launched an attack against his critics, particularly against Dr. Rajendralal Mitra, in I. A. vol IX. pp. 226–229. As hardly any Sanskrit scholar in these days would espouse the theory put forward by Weber, I do not think that I should waste much time over a refutation thereof. Most European scholars, nurtured on the vaunted intellectual eminence of the ancient Greeks and on the intolerant attitude of christianity towards other faiths, when they became acquainted with things Indian and studied Sanskrit, were obsessed (though not very obviously expressed) by two notions, viz. much in India that resembled what prevailed in the West must have been borrowed from the West and further, that Indians, who had allowed themselves to be invaded by outsiders and governed by foreigners for centuries, must not have been good at anything. These two notions gave rise to many untenable theories such as the following: the Rāmāyaṇa was borrowed from Homer's Iliad, the art of writing was un-known to Pāṇini, the Brāhmī script was based on Phoenician or Aramaic script, that the Gītā was based on the Bible, that the very ancient Indian nakṣatra system was borrowed either from the Chinese, the Babylonians or Arabṣ Most of such theories were the result of little knowledge and the non-recognition of certain common sense rules and have now been consigned to the limbo of deserved oblivioṇ The common sense rule is that when a thing or a state of things has existed for centuries in a certain country or among a certain people, the burden of proving that it was borrowed by that country or people from outside is very heavy on those who assert such borrowing; mere similarities can never be held to amount to any evidence of borrowing at all; scholars should be very chary of confidently asserting borrowing and should put forward their conclusions very cautiously. It would not be irrelevant to point out the main circum-stances on which Weber, often a champion of lost causes, relied for his theory. The first is that in the ritual of Kṛṣṇāṣṭamī contained in some digests (that said that they borrowed the passage from Bhaviṣyottara) the image of Kṛṣṇa was to be shown ³⁶ as suckling at the breast of Devakī, that this is a unique direction, that in the Rāmanavamī festival which is similar to Janmāṣṭamī the image of Rāma is not required to be suckling at the breast of Kausalyā, that this detail was copied from the representation of the Madonna Lactans. Weber relied ( vide I. A. vol. III p. 51 ) on one De Bossi who said that pictures of infant Christ at the breast existed in 2nd century A. D. Weber brushed aside the testimony of other scholars that the Madonna with the child was a subject little known to the early christian centuries and the opinion of other scholars that the representations of the Madonna Lactans are extremely rare in Byzantine and Russian art ( I A. vol III p 48 ) and almost always of very late date. Weber makes a mountain of a molehill. The image of Rāma is also described as lying on the lap of the mother Kausalyā.³⁷ Further, all purāṇas do not provide that the image of Kṛṣṇa was to be suckling at the Purāṇas, shows that the image was to be on the lap of the mother Devakī.³⁸ Was the Hindu imagination so poor that when they could describe the image of Rāma or Kṛṣṇa as lying on the mother's lap they could not also imagine that it could be shown as suckling at the breast and had to run to the West to copy that detail from representations of the Madonna and the child thousands of miles away?

The 2nd point made much of by Weber was that Nārada is represented as having brought from Śveta-dvīpa (white land) the doctrine of salvation by faith. Weber holds that Śvetadvīpa was Alexandria, while Lassen holds that it was Parthia. If we read the description of Śvetadvīpa in the Śāntiparva ( chapters 336-339 and in such Purāṇas³⁹ as Vāmana (chap. 25.16 and 60. 56) and Kūrma (I. 49) it would be clear that Śvetadvipa was an imaginary or mythical place where everything was white, where Viṣṇu and the gods dwelt and that it had no earthly existence at least in the minds of the authors who wrote the above workṣ

The third important point according to Weber was that certain incidents in Krsna's life such as Kāliya-mardana are similar to those in Christianity. Weber himself says that victory over Kāliya is a travesty of the christian tradition of the serpent. It appears to me that there is nothing common between the two except the word serpent.