History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c41.4
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c41.4
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v3.c41.4.1
The time for upākarma is variously stated in the sūtras. The Āśv. gṛ. III. 5. 2-3 states 'when the herbs appear, when the moon is in conjunction with the constellation of Śravaṇa, in the month of Śrāvaṇa or on the 5th (tithi) of Śrāvaṇa when the moon is in the Hasta nakṣatra.'¹⁹²³ The Pār. gṛ. II. 10 says 'when the herbs appear, when the moon is in conjunction with Śravaṇa on the full moon day in the month of Śrāvaṇa or on the fifth of the month of Śrāvaṇa when the moon is in Hasta.' Gaut. 16. 1 and Vas. Dh. S. 13. 1 require that it should be performed on the full moon day of Śrāvaṇa or Bhādrapada. The Khādira gṛ. (III. 2. 14-15) and Gobhila III. 3. 1 and 13 ordain that Upākarma should be performed on the full moon day of Bhādrapada or under the constellation of Hasta in that month or according to some on the full moon day of Śrāvaṇa. The Baud. gṛ. III. 1. 2 prescribes that Upākarma may be done on the full moon day of Śrāvaṇa or Āṣāḍha. The Hir. gṛ. (II. 18. 2, S. B. E. vol. 30 p. 241) says 'during the fortnight (at the end of which) the full moon of Śrāvaṇa occurs, when the herbs have sprouted forth, the ceremony for the opening of the annual Veda study (should be performed) under the Hasta constellation or on the full moon day'. The Āp. Dh. S. I. 3. 9. 1 speaks only of the full moon day of Śrāvaṇa as the time for the performance of the Upākarma rite. Manu. IV. 95 prescribes the full moon of Śrāvaṇa or Bhādrapada as the time for upākarma. Yāj. I.
v3.c41.4.2
142 provides three times viz. on the full moon day of Śrāvaṇa or on a day (in Śrāvaṇa) when the moon is in conjunction with the Śravaṇa nakṣatra or on the 5th tithi of Śrāvaṇa if the moon is in conjunction with Hasta. The Kūrmapurāṇa (Uttarārdha 14. 60-61) holds that Upākarma should be performed on the full moon day of either Śrāvaṇa, Āṣāḍha or Bhādrapada. In this rather bewildering variety of opinions commentators like the Mit. prescribed that one should follow one's gṛhyasūtra.¹⁹²⁴ This means (as stated by Medhātithi on Manu IV. 95) that the full moon of Bhādrapada being mentioned by Gobhila gṛ. and Khādira gṛ. Chandogas (students of the Sāmaveda) should perform upākarma on that day; but as Āp. Dh. S. speaks only of the full moon of Srāvaṇa, the followers of the Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda should perform upākarma only that day. When there is no rain and so no herbs appear in Śrāvaṇa or when that day is inauspicious owing to an eclipse or the like, Upākarma may be performed on the full moon day of Bhādrapada by those whose gṛhya sūtra allows the option of two months or on the fifth of the bright half of Śrāvaṇa. But if both days of the full moon in the two months are inauspicious, then Upākarma should be performed on the full moon of Śrāvaṇa. As the Baud. gṛ. refers to the full moon of Āṣāḍha, the followers of the Black Yājurveda may perform upākarma on Āṣāḍha full moon, if the full moon of Śrāvaṇa is not available.
v3.c41.4.3
But the students of the Ṛgveda cannot do so, since no sūtra of the Ṛgveda speaks of Āṣāḍha as an optional month. Ṛgvedins have to prefer Śravaṇa nakṣatra (so that they may perform upākarma on the 14th or 15th of the bright half of Śrāvaṇa); the followers of the Yajurveda (Śukla) must perform it on the full moon day of Śrāvaṇa when the moon is in Śravaṇa nakṣatra, but if the moon is not so, then they have to prefer the full moon day. The students of the Taittirīya śākhā also have to follow this last course. The followers of the Sāmaveda should prefer Hasta. Vide Sam. Pr. pp. 497-498, Sm. M. pp. 32-33, Nirṇ. pp. 114-120. Some interpreted Yāj. I. 142 in such a way as to yield four times for upākarma, viz. the full moon of Śrāvaṇa, the day in Śrāvaṇa on which the moon is in conjunction with Śravaṇa nakṣatra (this may sometimes be the 14th tithi of the bright half), or on the 15th of the bright half of Śrāvaṇa or on that day in Śrāvaṇa when the moon is in Hasta. Why so much importance was attached to the month of Śrāvaṇa and to the constellation of Śravaṇa as the season for starting Veda study is obscure. It is possible that that month was originally chosen as owing to showers of rain it is pleasantly cool, there is more leisure and staying inside the house in that month for brāhmaṇas than in other months of the year and then Nature is at its best.
v3.c41.4.4
The month of Śrāvaṇa being fixed upon, the best day therein would be the full moon (Soma in another sense being the king of brāhmaṇas). If any other day in Śrāvaṇa was to be chosen then the day on which the moon was in Hasta would be the best, which would ordinarily be the 5th of the bright half (of Śrāvaṇa). As the Paurṇamāsī of that month was called Śrāvaṇī owing to the moon's conjunction with the Śravaṇa nakṣatra (which conjunction usually takes place on that day) the Śravaṇa nakṣatra came to be associated with the starting of the annual session of Vedic studies. But that the Śravaṇa nakṣatra by itself had no direct connection with upākarma is clear from the fact that several sūtras do not mention it at all. The Gobhila and Khādira gṛ. do not accept the full moon day of Śrāvaṇa (but of Bhādrapada and the Hasta nakṣatra) as the proper time for upākarma.