Page:Sewell Dikshit The Indian Calendar (1896) proc.djvu/33

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THE HINDU CALENDAR.
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rare, to state the date of these actions as "Friday pûrṇimâ;" and sometimes for religious purposes the date would be expressed as "chaturdaśî yukta pûrṇimâ" (the 14th joined with the pûrṇimâ). Where, however, successive regular dating is kept up, as, for instance, in daily transactions and accounts, a civil day can only bear the name of the tithi current at its sunrise.

Some religious ceremonies are ordered to be performed on stated tithis and at fixed times of the day. For example, the worship of the god Gaṇeśa is directed to take place on the Bhâdrapada śukla chaturthî during the third part (madhyâhna) of the five parts of the day. A śrâddha, a ceremony in honour of the pitṛis (manes), must be performed during the 4th (aparâhṇa) of these five periods. Take the case of a Brâhmaṇa, whose father is dead, and who has to perform a śrâddha on every amâvâsyâ. In the month covered by our extract above the amâvâsyâ is current at sunrise on Saturday. It expired at 11 gh. 40 p. after sunrise on Saturday, or at about 10.40 a.m. Now the aparâhṇa period of that Saturday began, of course, later than that hour, and so the amâvâsyâ of this Bhadrapada was current during the aparâhṇa, not of Saturday, but of the previous day, Friday. The śrâddha ordered to be performed on the amâvâsyâ must be performed, not on Saturday, but on Friday in this case. Again, suppose a member of the family to have died on this same Friday before the end of the tithi kṛishṇa chaturdaśî, and another on the same day but after the end of the tithi. A śrâddha must be performed in the family every year, according to invariable Hindu custom, on the tithi on which each person died. Therefore in the present instance the śrâddha of the first man must be performed every year on the day on which Bhâdrapada kṛishṇa chaturdaśî is current, during the aparâhṇa; while that of the second must take place on the day on which the amâvâsyâ of that month is current during the aparâhṇa, and this may be separated by a whole day from the first. Lengthy treatises have been written on this subject, laying down what should be done under all such circumstances.[1]

At the time of the performance of religious ceremonies the current tithi, vâra, and all other particulars have to be pronounced; and consequently the tithi, nakshatra, etc., so declared may differ from the tithi, etc., current at sunrise. There is a vrata (observance, vow) called Saṅkashtanâśana-chaturthî, by which a man binds himself to observe a fast on every kṛishṇa chaturthî up to moonrise, which takes place about 9 p.m. on that tithi, but is allowed to break the fast afterwards. And this has of course to be done on the day on which the chaturthî is current at moonrise. From the above extract the evening of the 18th September, Tuesday, is the day of this chaturthî, for though the 3rd tithi, tṛitîyâ, of the kṛishṇa paksha was current at sunrise on Tuesday it expired at 9 gh. 35 pa. after sunrise, or about 9.50 a.m. If we suppose that this man made a grant of land at the time of breaking his fast on this occasion, we should find him dating his grant "kṛishṇa chaturthî, Tuesday," though for civil purposes the date is kṛishṇa tṛitîyâ, Tuesday.

The general rule may be given briefly that for all practical and civil purposes, as well as for some ordinary religious purposes, the tithi is connected with that week-day or solar day at whose sunrise it is current, while for other religious purposes, and sometimes, though rarely, even for practical purposes also, the tithi which is current at any particular moment of a solar day or week-day is connected with that day.

32. Adhika and kshaya tithis. Twelve lunar months are equal to about 354 solar days (see Art. 24 above), but there are 360 tithis during that time and it is thus evident that six tithis must somehow be expunged in civil (solar) reckoning. Ordinarily a tithi begins on one day and

  1. The Nirṇayasindhu is one of these authorative works, and is in general use at the present time in most parts of India.