Jaiminīya (Talavakāra) Brāhmaṇa 2-8.410

2-8.410

- annaṃ vai vratam
madhyato vā annamaśitaṃ dhinotīti
tadu vā āhurardhaṃ vā ete'nnādyasyāvarundhate ye madhyatassaṃvatsarasya viṣuvati
mahāvratamupayanti
saṃvatsaraḥ kṛtsnamannādyaṃ pacati
tadupariṣṭātsaṃvatsarasyopetyaṃ kṛtsnasyaivānnādyasyāvaruddhyā iti
atha ha smāha nagarī jānaśruteya ugro vā eṣa madhyamaśīvā yanmahāvratam
yadvā ugro madhyamaśīvā bhavati sarvānvai so'nyānvyavakīryāthaikaśśete
tadupariṣṭādeva saṃvatsarasyopetyaṃ kṛtsnasyaivānnādyasyāvaruddhyā iti
tatpañcaviṃśaṃ bhavati
caturviṃśatyardhamāso vai saṃvatsaraḥ
annādyaṃ pañcaviṃśyannādyamevaitatpañcaviṃśyopadhīyate
sa yathā pūrṇodhnīmupasadya duhītaivamevaitatpañcaviṃśyānnādyaṃ duhre

Food indeed is the vrata. / Food, when eaten in the middle, invigorates. / On this point they also say: "Only half of the food do they obtain who undertake the Mahāvrata in the middle of the year, at the Viṣuvant. / The year ripens all food. / Therefore it should be undertaken at the end of the year, to obtain all food." / Now, Nagarī Jānaśruteya used to say: "Fierce indeed is he who lies in the middle, namely the Mahāvrata. / When a fierce one lies in the middle, he scatters all the others and then lies alone. / Therefore it should be undertaken only at the end of the year, to obtain all food." / It is twenty-five-fold. / The year indeed consists of twenty-four half-months. / Food is the twenty-fifth; it is food as the twenty-fifth that is placed on it. / Just as one would approach a cow with a full udder and milk her, even so they milk food with the twenty-fifth.