History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.102
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.102
- Language
- English
v6.c81.102.1
A great deal of discussion is found in the medieval digests on a comprehensive definition of vrata Śabara⁵⁵ on Jai. VI 2. 20 arrives at the conclusion that by vrata is meant a mental activity, which is a resolve in the form "I shall not do this" and gives as an illustration the sentence 'one should not see the rising or setting sun'. Medhātithi on Manu IV. 13 seems to accept this The Agnpurāṇa⁵⁶ provides 'a restrictive rule declared by the śāstras is called vrata, which is also regarded as tapas; restraint of senses and other rules are but special incidents of vrata, vrata is called tapas because it causes hardship to the performer (of the vrata) and it is also called *niyama* since there-in one has to restrain the several organs of sense'. Manu II. 3 declares⁵⁷ 'resolve is the root of desires, of sacrifices, of vratas and the characteristics called yamas—all are known to spring from resolve'. But every *saṅkalpa* entertained by any person whatever is not and cannot be called vrata. It may be noted that the Amarakośa holds⁵⁸ that the words 'niyama' and 'vrata' are synonyms and that the latter consists of fast and the like that produce merit (*puṇya*), while the Āp. Dh S. I 2, 57 remarks that the word *tapas* is applied to the rules of conduct prescribed for a brahmacārin ('niyameṣu tapaḥśabdaḥ'). The Mitākṣarā⁵⁹ on Yāj I. 129 appears to indicate that vrata is a mental resolve to do something or refrain from doing something, both being enjoined as duties.
v6.c81.102.2
It is therefore that Śrīdatta (probably taking his cue from Śabara and the Mit.) in his Samaya-pradīpa defines vrata as 'a definite resolve relating to a certain matter held as obligatory' and proceeds to lay down that it may be positive (being in the form 'I must do it') or negative ('I must not do this'). He further holds that a resolve⁶⁰ made with the addition of a condition not enjoined by śāstras is not a vrata: e. g. if a man were to declare that he would observe a fast if his father would not forbid it and that otherwise he would not, this would not be a vrata and that, since saṅkalpa is the principal matter in a vrata, if a man of weak intellect or an ignorant man observes a fast without saṅkalpa, it would be simply so much physical hardship but no vrata. The Kṛtyaratnākara⁶¹ mentions several definitions of vrata given by its predecessors, one of which by Deveśvara was that 'a vrata is that which is included in the vratakāṇḍa'. This last is a desperate effort at definition and leaves the inquirer hardly wiser than before That saṅkalpa is closely connected with vrata cannot be gainsaid and follows from a verse of Laghu-Viṣṇu⁶² 'the choosing of *ṛtviks* is the starting point of a sacrifice, saṅkalpa that of vrata and of a *japa* of mantras (in honour of a deity)'. Śūlapāṇi defined vrata on almost the same lines as Śrīdatta Lakṣmīdhara in his Kṛtyakalpataru on vrata does not define vrata but begins his treatment of vrata with vratapraśaṁsā.
v6.c81.102.3
Prof K V Rangaswami Aiyangar in his Introduction to the Vratakāṇḍa of the Kṛtyakalpataru remarks (p XXIII) 'Raghunandana in his Vrata-tattva also avoids any attempt to define vrata'. Prof Aiyangar did not notice that Raghunandana discusses the question of the definition of vrata in his Ekādaśītattva (Jiv vol II p 7) and therefore he did not repeat the definition in the Vratatattva Raghunandana mentions⁶³ the definitions of vrata given by Nārāyaṇa and Śrīdatta, does not agree that vrata is a saṅkalpa but holds that vrata means various rites about which a resolve is made and also that vrata is a *niyama* (a restrictive rule) enjoined by the śāstra, characterised by *upavāsa* and the like and not every niyama such as 'ṛtukālābhigāmī syāt' (Yāj I 79, Manu III. 45) The Vrataprakāśa (a part of Vīramitrodaya) defines vrata as 'a special saṅkalpa concerning what is well known to the learned as vrata,' just as mantras are those that are well-known among the learned as mantras⁶⁴ The Dharmasindhu (p 9) defines vrata as a kind of religious rite consisting of *pūjā* and the like.
v6.c81.102.4
Although at the root of every vrata and as an urge for it, there must be a sankalpa it appears to me that Raghunandana and the Dharmasindhu properly represent the popular meaning of vrata A vrata comprehends several items such as snāna (bath), the morning prayer (prātaḥ-sandhyā), *sankalpa*, *homa*, *pūjā* of the deity or deities in whose honour or for securing whose favour the vrata is undertaken, upavāsa, feeding of brāhmaṇas, maidens or married women or the poor and helpless (according to the nature of the vrata), gifts (of cows, money, apparel, sweetmeats &c ) and the observance of certain rules of conduct during the period of the vrata. Some of these matters will be dealt with in detail later on, but a few may be disposed off here. Some writers relying on Śātātapa said that before a vrata was undertaken a Vṛddhi-śrāddha must be performed⁶⁵ The Agnipuraṇa (175 12) states⁶⁶ that one who undertakes a vrata must always take a bath (every day), should subsist on a limited quantity of food, should worship and honour his *guru*, gods and brāhmaṇas and should eschew kṣāra, kṣaudra, lavaṇa, honey and meat. Devala states⁶⁷ 'without partaking of food (the previous night), after bathing and concentrating one's mind, one should, after invoking the Sun and other deities to be present, commence a vrata in the morning'.
v6.c81.102.5
The general tendency of medieval writers to go on adding details to what was originally brief is seen at work here also The Vratakālaviveka says that before sankalpa, there should be remembrance of Nārāyaṇa and namaskāra to him, as laid down by Yogiyājñavalkya. There is difference of opinion about the worship of Gaṇeśa.⁶⁸ The Vratakālaviveka quotes the Padmapurāṇa for the order in which the several deities are to be worshipped and honoured after *saṅkalpa* and refutes the idea that the worship of Gaṇeśa should always precede the worship of other deities. Though the general rule is that⁶⁹ the saṅkalpa of a vrata is to be made in the morning, still there are some passages to the contrary. For example, the Bhaviṣyapurāṇa⁷⁰ (Uttara 11. 6-8) provides that on the evening of Āṣāḍha Full Moon one should declare a resolve as follows 'from tomorrow for one month in Śrāvaṇa, I shall take a bath, observe *brahmacarya*, take one meal only after evening, sleep on the ground, will be compassionate to all living beings'.