History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c26.341

v2.c26.341

Medieval digests introduce many detailed rules derived from astrology which it is not possible to set out here. A few only will be indicated. The Udvāhatattva (p. 124) quotes Rājamārtaṇḍa¹¹⁹⁹ and Bhuja-balabhīma to the effect that all months are auspicious for marriage except Caitra and Pauṣa and that when a girl is very much grown-up one should not wait for auspicious seasons, but she should be given away on any day when the moon and the zodiacal sign rising at the moment of marriage are favourable, and that one should go into questions of auspicious *ayana*, month, day &c. up to only the tenth year of girls. The Saṁskāraratnamālā (p. 460) says that as there is conflict among the dicta of sūtra and smṛti writers about months one should follow the usage of one's country. One should not celebrate the marriage of the eldest son with the eldest daugter of a man in the month of Jyeṣṭha (or on Jyeṣṭhā nakṣatra) nor should one celebrate a marriage in the month of birth or on the day of birth or nakṣatra of birth (of the eldest son or daughter). Wednesday, Monday, Friday and Thursday are the best days of the week, but the Madanapārijāta says that any day is good if the marriage is celebrated at night.¹²⁰⁰ In marriage the moon must be in a strong position for girls. One should avoid Jupiter being the 4th, 8th or 12th from one's rāśi (zodiacal sign in which the moon was at the time of birth). The Nirṇayasindhu quotes a verse that when the girl has reached puberty, then one should not wait till Jupiter is favourable, but marriage should be performed even when Jupiter is 8th from the zodiacal sign of birth, propitiatory rites however being performed for Jupiter.¹²⁰¹ Upanayana and marriage cannot be performed when Jupiter is in the zodiacal sign called Leo (Siṁha), but this applies only to the tract between the river Godāvarī and the Ganges.¹²⁰² From the nakṣatra and zodiacal sign at the time of birth (in the case of both the girl and the bridegroom) certain astrological calculations were made in eight ways¹²⁰³ called kūṭas. They were Varṇa, Vaśya, Nakṣatra, Yoni, Graha (planets governing the twelve rāśis), Gaṇa, Rāśi, and Nāḍī, each later one of which was more powerful than each preceding one and marks (guṇa) from 1 to 8 were respectively assigned to each of these if the conditions laid down were satisfied. Two of these viz. gaṇa and nāḍī are attached great importance even now among brāhmaṇas and other classes also and so they may be illustrated here, though very briefly. The 27 nakṣatras are arranged in three groups of nine each, each group being assigned to Deva-gaṇa, Manuṣyagaṇa and Rākṣasagaṇa as follows: