[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India)](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930) › v3.c41.4.3 # History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c41.4.3 History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c41.4.3 - **Language:** English ### [v3.c41.4.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.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. - [Previous: v3.c41.4.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v3.c41.4.2) - [Next: v3.c41.4.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v3.c41.4.4) - [Up: v3.c41.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v3.c41.4) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v3.c41.4.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.kane-1930.v3.c41.4.3) · Pramāṇa