Chapter XII. Holikā and Grahana (eclipse)

Volume V: Part I pp. 237–250

Chapter XII. Holikā and Grahana (eclipse)

Holikā and Grahaṇa (eclipse)

Holikā. Holi or Holikā is a festival of unmixed gaiety and frolics throughout India, though all parts do not observe it in the same way. One element, viz bonfire, is present almost everywhere except in Bengal. Swinging of Kṛṣṇa image on Phālguna Full Moon is done in Bengal, but it is not observed in several other parts of India. The number of days during which this festival is observed also varies from province to province. Another item which is common to many parts of India is the sprinkling of friends with coloured water from bamboo or metal syringes or with red powder and this merriment is indulged in even now by persons in high placeṣ In the Konkan men dressed as women accompanied by several persons go about with songs (often obscene) and music and dance. The only religious element is the worship of Kṛṣṇa in Bengal and in some provinces where bonfires are made a priest is engaged to perform pūjā before the bonfire, people go round the fire throwing cocoanuts in the burning wood and grass, taking them out half-burnt and distributing the singed kernel among the people present as prasāda. In some parts people produce sounds by beating their mouths with the backs of their handṣ It is not possible nor necessary to set out in this notice all the varying details of this festival throughout the whole of India.

This festival is very ancient. Originally the form of the word was Holikā and from references in the bhāṣya of Śabara on the Pūrvamīmāṁsā-sūtra (I. 3. 15-23)¹ it appears that it was in ancient times a usage very prevalent in the eastern parts of Bhārata. But Jaimini and Śabara appear to hold that Holākā should be observed by all Āryaṣ In the Kathakagṛhya 73 1 there² is the sūtra ‘Rākā Holāke’ which is explained by the commentator Devapāla as follows ‘Holā is a special rite performed for the saubhāgya of women and in that rite Rākā (Full Moon) is the deity’. Other commentators interpret it differently. Among the twenty krīḍas found in the whole of Bhārata and also restricted to certain provinces only and mentioned by Vātsyāyana in his Kāmasūtra³ (I 4 42) is Holākā which is explained by the commentary Jayamaṅgalā as comprising the sprinkling of each other by people on Phālguna Full Moon with coloured water discharged from a horn or the like and throwing perfumed powder Hemādri on kāla (p. 106) quotes a verse from Bṛhadyama⁴ in which Holikā-pūrṇimā is called ‘Huṭāśanī’ (as in modern times). Hemādri further quotes a verse from Liṅgapurāṇa⁵ “the Phālguna Full-moon day is said to be known as ‘Phālguṇikā’, as full of boyish pranks and tending to the prosperity of people” and another verse from Varāhapurāṇa where it is qualified as ‘patāvāsvilāsinī’ (i. e. containing pranks with powder) Hemādri (on vrata, II, 184-190) quotes a long passage from the Bhav. U (chap. 132 1-51) in which Yudhiṣṭhira is represented as asking Kṛṣṇa why in each village and town a festival is held on Phā Full moon, why boys become boisterous in each house and kindle Holākā, what god is worshipped therein, who introduced the festival and what is done therein and why it is called ‘Ādāda.’ Kṛṣṇa tells him a legend about king Raghu whom the citizens approached with the complaint that a certain rākṣasī (ogress) called Dhondhā troubled boys by day and night. The king consulted his pur-ohita who told him that she was a rāksasī, daughter of Mālin, who got from Śiva a boon that she would not be liable to be killed by gods or men nor suffer from arms nor from cold, heat or raiṇ The priest further told the king that Śiva said that she would be in danger from boys going about crazily. The priest added that on Phālguna 15th season of cold vanishes and summer starts, that people may laugh and enjoy themselves, that boys with bits of wood in their hands may go out of houses in great glee, collect a heap of wood and grass, set it on fire with Rākṣoghna mantras, clap their hands, go round the fire thrice, laugh, sing and utter obscene words in the popular language and by that noise and loud peals of laughter on the part of boys and by the homa⁶ the ogress would die. When the king got all this done, the rākṣasī expired and the day came to be called 'Adādā' and Holikā. Then it is further stated that on the next day which is the first tithi of the month of Caitra (on the pūrṇimānta reckoning) people should salute the ashes of the bonfire with the mantra quoted below,⁷ then worship of Kāma should be made on a square in the house yard in the midst of which square a seat should be arranged and in front a jar covered with leaves containing aksatas and 'smeared with white sandalwood paste should be placeḍ The image of Kāma should have sandalwood paste applied to it by a beautiful woman and thereafter the priest should make the performer partake of mango blossoms mixed with sandalwood paste. Then donations should be made to learned brāhmaṇas, bards &c according to one's ability with the words 'May the God of Love be pleased with me'. The purāṇa winds up with the verse 'When the season of frost ends on the 15th of the bright half and the time of spring approaches in the morning, that man who partakes of mango blossoms with sandal-wood paste lives in happinesṣ'

Instead of the gay and saturnalia-like practices prevalent in many parts of India about Holikā, Bengal celebrates it by the Dolayātrā. Śūlapāṇi composed thereon a short work called Dolayātrā-viveka⁸ The festival should be carried on for five or three dayṣ Before the Full moon of Phālguna, on the 14th at the beginning of night an utsava in honour of Agni is to be celebrated to the east of the mandapa. Then an image of Govinda is to be made, it is established in a structure with 16 pillars on a vedikā (raised platform) and it is to be bathed with pañcāmṛta and various items of worship are to be offered and seven times the swing on which the image is placed has to be rocked to and fro. Fire kindled on the first day is to be preserved till the days of the festival enḍ At the end the swing is to be rocked 21 timeṣ It is narrated that king Indradyumna started this swing festival in Vṛndāvana. By means of this utsava a man becomes free from all sinṣ Then Śūlapāṇi discusses at some length the exact tithi, prahara and naksatra on which the Dolayātrā is to be performeḍ Briefly, the conclusion is that Dolayātrā must be performed when the Full Moon tithi is running, whether there is Uttara-phalguni-naksatra or not⁹.

The Kālatattvavivecana very succinctly puts down the characteristics of Holīkotsava as set forth in the Bhavisyoṭṭara¹⁰. The Nirṇayasindhu (227), Smṛti-kaustubha (516-519), Puruṣ-ārtha-cintāmaṇi (308-319) and other late medieval works discourse on this festival, but for reasons of space their discussions are not set out here.

As Holākā is mentioned by Jaimini and the Kathakagṛhya, it follows that it prevailed at least some centuries before Christ. The Kāmasūtra and Bhaviṣyottara connect it with spring and it was performed at the end of the year (on pūrṇimānta reckoning). Therefore, the bonfire represents the expiry of the season of frost and cold and heralds the warmth and love-making of spring. The ribald songs, dance and music are further accretions due to the joy felt on the advent of spring. The sprinkling of coloured water and powder is an additional item in the celebration of the delights of spring. In some provinces this sprinkling is done on the very day of the Holikā, while in the Deccan it is indulged in on the 5th day (popularly called Ranga-pañcamī) after Holikā bonfire. Though the Holikā festival is composite in several parts of India and is celebrated on more days than one, in origin it is no more than a spring festival. In some parts mud is ¹¹ thrown by people at each other on the day after bonfire. That is probably an extension of the idea of applying ashes of the bon- fire to one's forehead and the body on the day after it. The usage in some parts of creating noise by striking the back of one's hand against one's mouth accompanied by an obscene reference to sex is a further perversion due to welcoming the advent of spring which is traditionally the season of love-mak- ing. Mr. Gupte in ‘Hindu holidays and ceremonies’ tries hard to show that the Holikā festival was ‘imported from Egypt or Greece’ (p. 92). This theory is very fantastic and does not deserve to be taken seriously. He had not read, it appears, the ancient works mentioned above and is not himself sure whether the origin is to be found in Egypt or in Greece.

Grahana (eclipse, solar and lunar). Great importance was attached from very ancient times to eclipseṣ An extensive literature has accumulated on this subject. Vide among others Hemādri on Kāla 379–394, Kalaviveka 521–543, Kṛtyaratnākara 625–631, Kalanirnaya 346–358, Varṣakriyākaumudī 90–117, Tithitattva 150–162, Kṛtyatattva 432–434, Nirnayasindhu 61–76, SmK 69–80, Dharmasindhu 32–35, Gadādharapaddhati (Kālasāra) 588–599. A total eclipse of the Sun is referred to even in the Ṛgveda V 40.5, 6, 8 ‘O Sun! when Svarbhānu, the son of an asura, struck you with darknesṣ O Indra! when you struck down the wiles of Svarbhānu that existed below the heaven, Atri secured the Sun which had been concealed by darkness that deviated from the usual rule (or law) by means of the highest (or 4th) prayer’ &c.¹³ It is stated in the Śaṅkhayana Brāhmaṇa (243) that the Atriṣ performed the Saptadaśa-stoma three days before Viṣuvat and thereby smote the demon Svarbhānu that had pierced the sun with darkness i. e. the solar eclipse (in Ṛg. V. 40 5 ff.) took place three days before the autumnal Viṣuvat (equinox).

It appears from the Bṛhat-saṃhitā that the real cause of eclipses was known to Indian astronomers several centuries before Varāhamihira (1st half of 6th century A. D.) who remarks¹⁴ ‘In a lunar eclipse the moon enters into the shadow of the earth and in a solar eclipse the moon enters the Sun (i. e. comes between the sun and the earth), that this cause of eclipses was found by (former) ācāryas who had a divine insight, that Rāhu is not the cause (of eclipses), this is the true state that the śāstra (of astronomy) declares (or this is the real intent of śāstra)'. In spite of this correct theory of eclipses, common people and even learned men (not astronomers) then believed and do believe up to the present day that Rāhu is the cause of eclipses and regard an eclipse as a special occasion for bath, gifts, japa, śrāddha and the like. Varāhamihira makes an effort¹⁵ to square Śruti, Smṛti, popular belief and real astronomical doctrine by the remark that there was an Asura on whom a boon was conferred by Brahmā 'You will be gratified by a por tion of the gifts and offerings made on an eclipse', that Asura remains present to receive his portion and that therefore it is metaphorically (poetically) said that he is Rāhu. Rationalism and popular traditions and superstition cannot go together. Some difference was made between an eclipse of the Sun and that of the mooṇ Vyāsa says:¹⁶ an eclipse hundred thousand times (more meritorious than an ordinary day) and an eclipse of the Sun ten times more so than the preceding and if the waters of the Ganges are near (for a bath) is one crore of times (more meritorious) and a sun's eclipse is ten times more so than the preceding'.

The first duty of a person on seeing an eclipse is to bathe. It is said 'on¹⁷ seeing Rāhu (i e. eclipse) men of all varṇas become impure They should first bathe and then do their usual duties and should give up food already cooked (before the eclipse). Peculiar sanctity was deemed to attach to the time of grahana. If a man¹⁸ does not take a bath at the time of eclipse, at the passage (of the sun) from one rāśi to another, there is no doubt that he would suffer from leprosy for seven future lives and sorrow would be his lot' He should take a bath in cold water and in as holy a place as possible. The holiest bath is the one in the Ganges or Godāvarī or at Prayāga, then in any one¹⁹ of the big rivers such as the six rivers connected with Himavat mountain and the six south of the Vindhya mentioned in the Brahmapurāṇa, then in any other water, since at the time of eclipse all water becomes holy like Ganges water. A bath with hot water was allowed only to children, old men and persons that were ill. One had²⁰ to take a bath when the eclipse began, to perform homa, worship of gods and śrāddha while the eclipse was in progress, to make gifts when the eclipse was about to end, and to take a bath again when the sun or moon became free from eclipse. Even a person who is impure owing to a birth or death has to take a bath on an eclipse but he is not to make a gift or to perform śrāddha (according to Gauda Madanaratna and the Nirnayasindhu refute this view and hold that in an eclipse even one who is in aśauca can take a bath, perform śrāddha and purascaraṇa²¹. In the purāṇas and medieval digests some distinction as regards merit or holiness was made between eclipses in certain months and baths in certain rivers or holy places The Kālanirṇaya (p 350) especially commends the Godāvarī for a bath in a lunar eclipse and one in the Narmadā for a solar eclipse. The Kṛtyakalpataru (Naiyata- kāla ), Hemādri on Kāla and the Kālaviveka quote ²² a long passage from the Devīpurāṇa, some verses of which may be rendered here 'an eclipse in Kārtika is the highest (in merit) at the confluence of the Ganga and Yamunā, in Mārgasirṣa on Devikā, in Pausa Narmadā is holy, in Māgha Sannihitā is holy' &c. On the occasion of the partial eclipse of the sun on 20th June 1955 about four hundred thousand people took a bath at Kurukṣetra and Saṇyahet (Sannihita of ancient times)

The general rule is that one should not take a bath, make a gift or perform a śrāddha at night. Āpastamba ²³ says 'let him avoid a bath at night'. Manu says 'one should not perform a śrāddha at night, she (night) is declared to be a rākṣasī (a demon ) and also at both twilights and when the sun has just risen'. But eclipses were an exception as regards bath, gift and śrāddha. Yājñavalkya enumerates²⁴ eclipses among the proper times for śrāddha It is stated by Śātātapa²⁵ that gifts, baths, tapas and śrāddha at the time of eclipses yield inexhaustible (rewards or merit); the night is a rākṣasī elsewhere (at times other than those of eclipses); therefore one should avoid it (in other matters). A passage is quoted from the Mahābhārata²⁶ 'on ayana and Viśuva days and on the occasion of the eclipses of the sun and the moon, one should make a gift of land together with dakṣiṇā to a deserving brāhmaṇa'. Yājñavalkya succin- ctly observes 'not by learning alone nor by tapas alone (does one become a deserving person); that is declared a deserving person (pātra) in whom these two (vidyā and tapas) and actions (appropriate to these) are found '. Numerous inscrip- tions published so far bear witness to the fact that over the whole of India ancient and medieval kings and well-to-do people carried out to the letter this recommendation of making gifts of land on eclipseṣ Some inscriptions are mentioned here by way of illustratioṇ Vide for gifts on solar eclipses the following · I A. VI, pp.72–75 (in śaka 534 expired) the grant of a village to a brāhmaṇa of Tagara by the great king Satyāśraya Pulikeśī II Bhādrāpada amāvāsyā; E. I Vol III, pp. 1–7 the Pattadakal pillar inscrip- tion of Western Cālukya Kīrtivarman II recording a grant of fields on a total eclipse of the sun in Śrāvaṇa (Fleet calculates that it was 25th June 754 A. D), E. I. Vol. III pp 103–110 Paithan Plates of Rāṣṭrakūṭa Govindarāja (III) recording the grant of a village after the king bathed in the Godāvarī on a total solar eclipse in Vaiśākha of śaka year 716 (4th May 794 A. D.); E. I. VII, pp 202–208 Sirur inscription of the time of Rāṣṭrakūṭa Amoghavarsa I on a solar eclipse in Jyestha, of śaka year 788 (expired) on a Sunday (16th June 866 A. D.); E. I. IX. pp 98–102 grant of a village by Western Cālukya king Vikramāditya I on a solar eclipse in Śrāvaṇa in his 6th regnal year (Monday, 13th July 660 A. D. acc. to Kielhorn), E I. Vol. XIV. pp. 156–163 the Naihati grant of the Bengal king Ballālasena of a village as a dakṣiṇā on the gift of a golden horse on the occasion of a solar eclipse by the king's mother. As to lunar eclipses vide J B B R A S. vol. 20 pp. 131 ff Nausari plate of the Gujarat Rāṣṭrakūṭa king Karka I in śake 738 Māgha pūrṇimā, E. I vol. I p. 338 Pātna Inscription of the time of Yadava Singhaņa in sake 1128 (rather 1129), 9th August (1209 A. D ) Śravanapūrṇimā for endowing a college (matha) to teach Bhāskarācārya's astronomical works; I A vol 8 p. 96 grant of a village to 31 brāhmaṇas on Full Moon day of Mahāmāgha (Somagrahane) in the first half of 7th century A. D by Pulikeśī, E. I vol XIX p 41, E I vol XX p 725 (of Vikrama 1108), O I I IV. No 13, 25, 31 for grants on solar eclipses and No 21 on lunar eclipse Even now poor people create a pandemonium in towns and cities clamouring for clothes and cash.

As regards śrāddha, it is often difficult to perform it at the time of an eclipse for two reasons Most eclipses are partial and the time is short Besides, there is a prohibition to eat food during an eclipse A prājāpatya expiation is prescribed for partaking of food during an eclipse ²⁷ It is therefore provided in some smṛtis and digests that the śrāddha performed should be the āmaśrāddha or hemaśrāddha ²⁸ Though the person performing śrāddha in an eclipse is deemed to reap great merit, the person partaking of śrāddha dinner is liable to undergo an expiation and is generally looked down upoṇ The mitākṣarā on Yaj I 217–218 quotes the first quarter of a verse ‘one should not eat during a solar or lunar eclipse’ ²⁹ Therefore a good brāhmaṇa cannot be easily secured and the performance of śrāddha with details is well-nigh impossible, even though Śatātapa and others state that it is obligatory ‘on seeing Rāhu (i. e an eclipse) one should perform a śrāddha even at the cost of all his wealth; one who does not perform śrāddha then sinks like a cow in mud’ The order of the several acts on an eclipse is first bath in Ganges or other water, prāṇa- yāma, tarpana, japa of Gāyatrī, homa in fire with sesame with the vyāhṛtis and the mantras for the planets as in Yaj. I 300-301, then āmaśrāddha, gifts of gold, food, cows and land

In these days most people except very sophisticated ones still take a bath on eclipses and make some not proceed further in the matter of eclipseṣ An eclipse is the best time for japa and for dīkṣā (initiation) and perfection in the mantras peculiar to various deities: 'one³⁰ should engage in japa and the like while an eclipse of the sun or moon is in progress; one should not bathe nor eat food during that time, but when the sun and the moon are free from eclipse one should bathe and partake of food one may engage in the japa of the Gāyatrī mantra (Rg. III, 62.10) and it is laid down that if one does not engage in japa on an eclipse one becomes sinful For dīkṣā as to mantras seven days from eclipse are allowed Solar eclipse is the best time for dīkṣā.

The Punyakāla (the holy period) in the case of eclipses lasts only as long as the eclipse is visible to the eye. Jābali says³¹ 'In the case of saṅkrānti the puṇyakāla is 16 kalās on both sides thereof, but in the case of a lunar or solar eclipse it lasts only so long as the eclipse is visible'. This leads on to a question that is very much discussed in the several mediæval works and on which there is great divergence of viewṣ Much emphasis is laid on the words 'yāvad-darśana-go-carah' and 'rāhudarśane' occurring in several verses (quoted in the notes, 633, 639 &c.) The Kṛtyakalpataru (Naiyatakāla) argues that in those passages 'darśana' (being visible) is declared to be the cause or occasion of the several acts (snāna, dāna &c.) to be performed in an eclipse, that an eclipse is an occasion only when it is known that it has occurred, and that knowledge must be derived from the eye and that therefore when the sun or moon is screened from view by clouds one need not enter upon a bath and the like prescribed in the case of an eclipse¹ Hemādri on Hela quotes this view and criticizes it in several wayṣ Manu IV. 37 that prescribes that one should never see the sun when it is rising or setting or when it is eclipsed or is reflected in water or when it is in mid-sky. If actual seeing were necessary, that is an impossible condition as Manu has prohibited it and the result would be that one need not bathe when an eclipse is really oṇ He further says that śiṣṭas do observe bath &c even if they do not actually see the eclipse. Therefore, he proposes that puṇyakāla exists so long as the eclipse is deduced to last from the śāstra (of astronomy). The Kṛtyaratnākara² (pp. 625–26) discusses the question, remarks that snāna and the other prescribed actions should be performed during that period in which the eclipse can be seeṇ It was argued by some that an eclipse by itself (and not seeing it) is the occasion on which bath, gift &c. must be observed; to this the Kālāviveka³ gave the reply that, if mere existence of an eclipse were an occasion for bath, then the unacceptable conclusion would be that even if the moon were to be eclipsed (in some other country) according to astronomical calculations a person in a different country would have to undergo a bath by day for a lunar eclipse in a distant lanḍ The Smṛtikaustubha and Samayaprakāśa⁴ therefore lay down that what is meant by ‘darśana-gocarah’ is that when one knows from the astronomical science that the eclipse is capable of being seen with the eye in a particular country one should at the respective times perform bath and the like (even though one may not actually see it). The Samvatsara-pradīpa is quite explicit ‘that is said to be an eclipse which can be observed by the eye; one should perform religious acts on such an eclipse, but not on mere calculatioṇ

If a solar eclipse occurs on a Sunday and a lunar one on Monday, such a conjunction was called Cūḍāmaṇi and it was laid down that a Cūḍāmaṇi eclipse yields one crore of times as much merit as an eclipse on other week days³⁶

Some held that on the day previous to an eclipse one should observe a fast; but Hemādri provided that fast was to be observed on the day of the eclipse³⁷ A householder however who had a son living was not to observe a fast as laid down in a text.³⁸

About partaking of food before, during and after an eclipse elaborate rules were laid down from comparatively early timeṣ The Viṣṇudharmasūtra³⁹ provides: 'one must not eat during an eclipse of the moon or sun; he should eat, after having previously taken a bath, when the eclipse is at an end; if the sun or moon have set before the eclipse was over he must bathe and on the next day he may eat again after having seen the sun rise'. This is elaborated in two verses quoted in several works: 'One should not take food before a solar eclipse and also in the evening of the day of a lunar eclipse; and one should not eat when the eclipse is in progress; but when the sun or moon is free from eclipse one may, after a bath, partake of food; when the moon is free from eclipse one may take food (even at night thereafter) provided it is not mahāniśā, when the sun or moon sets before being free from eclipse, one should see them rising the next day, bathe and then partake of food'. It was further prescribed that not only was one not to eat during an eclipse, but in the case of a lunar eclipse one was not to eat for three praharas (9 hours or 22½ ghaṭikās) before the eclipse started and for four praharas before a solar eclipse starts, but this does not apply to children, old men and women ⁴⁰ This period of three or four praharas before an eclipse was called ‘vedha’. The Kṛtyatattva (p. 434) collects together in one place all the above propositions about taking fooḍ Although these rules are not generally observed in these days by people in cities and by educated people, in the author’s boyhood they were strictly observed by almost all adults educated or illiterate. Certain astrological results were deemed to follow from eclipseṣ One or two are cited here for illustratioṇ The Viṣṇudharmottara ⁴¹ states that if in one and the same month there is first an eclipse of the moon and then of the sun, that occurrence would tend to create disputes between brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas, but if the opposite was the case, then there would be prosperity. The same purāṇa says that persons born on the nakṣatra on which there is an eclipse of the sun or moon suffer troubles unless they perform śānti rites (to avert the evil results). Hemādri (on Kāla pp. 392-93) quotes several verses from Garga about the prognostications derived from eclipses of the sun and moon when they are in certain nakṣatraṣ Atri provides ⁴² 'When the moon and the sun are eclipsed in the nakṣatra of a man’s birth, that forebodes disease, long journeys, death and great danger from the king (of the country)’.