History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c42.24

v3.c42.24

The Kauśika sūtra (140) describes the procedure of a festival in honour of Indra for kings. It is begun on the eighth day in the bright half of Bhādrapada or Āśvina in which a banner is raised on Śravaṇa nakṣatra. Yāj. I. 147 declares a holiday for one day on the day on which the banner in honour of Indra is raised and when it is taken down. Aparārka (p. 190) quotes Garga to the effect that the banner is raised by the king on the 12th of the bright half of Bhādrapada when the moon is in conjunction either with Uttarāṣāḍhā, Śravaṇa or Dhaniṣṭhā and adds that it is taken down on the Bharaṇī nakṣatra after the full moon day of Bhādrapada. The Kṛtyaratnākara (pp. 292-93) adds that during the days of the festival worship is offered to figures of Indra and his wife Śacī and son Jayanta made from pieces of sugarcane stalks and that it is not raised on Saturday or Tuesday or in periods of impurity due to birth or mourning or in portents like an earth-quake. From Ādiparva 63. 1-29 it appears¹⁹⁵³ that the festival (called Indramaha ) was started by Uparicara Vasu. It is stated therein that when that king was prevailed upon by Indra to desist from being a hermit in a forest and to rule over the country called Cedi, Indra gave him a bamboo staff as an affectionate gift and in honour of Indra the king planted it in the earth and since that time when the year ended a bamboo staff was raised by kings ( and also other humbler persons ) and next day it was decked with baskets full of fragrant substances and ornaments, and garlands were suspended from it. It is possible that the raising of a bamboo staff on the first day of Caitra every year in the Deccan and other places is reminiscent of this ancient festival in honour of Indra. The Bṛhatsaṁhitā (chap. 43) describes the origin of the Indramaha festival and devotes over sixty verses to the elucidation of the method of celebrating it. Viṣṇu gave to Indra a flag-staff to frighten asuras ; in verse 8 it refers to Uparicara Vasu as the originator of the Indra festival, states on what auspicious conjunctions a carpenter and an astrologer should go to a forest and gives directions as to the tree to be selected ( Arjuna tree being the best ) ; then the tree is to be felled the next day and brought to the capital by the king on the eighth of the bright half of Bhādrapada with a retinue of citizens, ministers and brāhmaṇas ; the city should be decorated with fine *patākas* ( flags ) and *toraṇas* ( festival arches ) ; on the 11th there was to be a vigil, the trunk of the tree should be pared and chiselled and it should be placed on a *yantra* ( a mechanical contrivance to raise it up ), homa is to be offered ; then it is to be raised up erect on the 12th of the bright half of Bhādrapada when the moon is in Śravaṇa nakṣatra or even without that being so; five or seven wooden figures ( called śakrakumārīs ) are also to be placed near it (to enhance the charm of the staff ) and two smaller staffs (one ¾ and the other ½ of the length of the principal staff) are also to be raised called Nanda and Upananda ; another staff also is to be raised as Indra's mother ; the staff was to be decked with several ornaments, baskets were to be hung round the staff, each one above the other and smaller in size, on the 4th day (from 12th tithi ) verses in praise are to be recited and on the 5th day (from the 12th i. e. on 1st of the dark half ) the staff is to be bidden farewell to.