History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.102.3

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.