History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.149
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.149
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v6.c81.149.1
There are certain virtues that the person undergoing a vrata has to cultivate. The Agnpurāna speaks⁹⁶ of ten virtues that must be cultivated as common to all vratas viz. 'forbearance, truthfulness, compassion, charity, purity (of body and mind), curbing the organs of sense, worship of deities (or images), offerings into fire, contentment, not depriving another of his property. This ten-fold dharma is declared as common to all vratas' Devala prescribes: '*brahmacarya* (celibacy), purity, truthfulness and giving up of flesh-eating—these four are the highest (virtues) in vratas. Brahmacarya is lost by looking at (stranger) women, touching them and engaging in talk with them, but not by sexual intercourse with one's wife during the allowed days after her monthly illness' The Nāradīyapurāṇa remarks⁹⁷ '*brahmacarya* is prescribed for being observed in all vratas and it is declared that generally sacrificial food is eaten'. *Haviṣyānna* is variously defined Manu⁹⁸ says 'the food proper for hermits (such as *nīvāra*), milk, juice of soma plant, flesh that has not become putrid, and akṣāralavaṇa (natural salt)—these are declared to be (fit) sacrificial food by nature'. Though flesh was offered in śrāddhas in the times of the several early smṛtis such as that of Yāj flesh must be excluded from the list of proper foods in the case of vratas owing to the express provisions contained in Devala-smṛti (cited above) and others. Vide H of Dh vol. IV. p. 149 n. 343 for *haviṣya* food.
v6.c81.149.2
The Kṛtyaratnākara⁹⁹ quotes a long passage from the Samayapradīpa on what food should be partaken in vratas viz. 'first come *yavas* (barley), on failure of them *vrīhi* (rice), on failure of this, other food except *māṣa* (black beans), *kodrava*, gram, *masūra* (a kind of pulse), *cīna* and *kapittha*'. There are somewhat conflicting passages in the several Purāṇas about the foods that are acceptable or should be rejected For example, the Agnipurāna¹⁰⁰ (in 175. 12) first states that ksāra, lavana, honey and flesh should be eschewed in vrata, then (in 175 13-14) includes among ksāra all cereals in pods except sesame and *mudga*, and among corn wheat and kodravas and several others are included in ksāra group (i e they are to be eschewed in vrata) and proceeds (175 14-15) 'rice, sastika (corn that ripens in sixty days from the date of sowing), mudga, kalāya (peas), sesame and yava, śyāmāka (millet), nīvāra (wild rice grains), wheat and others are beneficial (i e allowed) in vratas, while one should give up (in vrata) kūsmānda (pumpkin gourd), alābu (bottle gourd), vārtāka (egg plant), pālankī (a kind of vegetable) and pūtikā.
v6.c81.149.3
The Padmapurāna¹⁰¹ provides that one who is observing nakta-vrata must observe sıx things, viz havısya meals, bath, truthfulness, small quantity of food, worship of Agni and sleeping on the ground (not on a cot) The Bhujabala¹⁰² says all should avoid while observing vrata the use of bell metal (vessel), flesh, *masūra*, gram, kodrava, vegetables, honey and the food cooked in another's house Hārīta lays¹⁰³ down what should be avoided on the day of vrata: one should avoid on the fast day talk with one guilty of heavy sins, heterodox sectarians and atheists and speaking what is untrue and obscene. The Sāntiparva says 'one engaged in vrata should not converse with women, śūdras and *patita*'. The Brhadyogī-Yājñavalkyasmrti¹⁰⁴ observes. one The Purāṇas extol, as in the case of pilgrimages, the performance of vratas to the skies Certain vratas like those to be undergone by a Vedic student had ceased to be in vogue and vratas associated with Vedic sacrifices also had become rare in the centuries before the Christian era. In the gṛhya and dharma sūtras and in ancient smṛtis like those of Manu and Yājñavalkya what were called vratas in the Purāṇas did not occupy any very prominent position. During the early centuries of the Christian era Buddhism and Jainism were influential rivals of the ancient sacrificial system.
v6.c81.149.4
In order to wean away common people from those two schisms it is very probable that learned followers of the Vedic system hit upon the glorification of vratas and promised heaven and otherworldly and spiritual rewards to those who performed vratas that were comparatively easy and within reach of all instead of sacrifices and also adopted some of the practices of common folks as vratas, e g kukkuṭī-markaṭī-vrata in Bhaviṣyottara 46. 1-43, Sītalā-vrata (Vratārka folio 111 b-113 b, N. S. p 123). The Brahma-purāṇa¹⁰⁵ says ‘the reward that is secured by the worship of the Sun for a single day cannot be secured by hundreds of Vedic sacrifices or by brāhmaṇas to whom the fees stated in the texts are paid’ The Padmapurāṇa¹⁰⁶ extols Jayantīvrata by saying that in the body of the man who performs it all holy places and deities reside The Garuḍapurāṇa¹⁰⁷ quoted by Hemādri states that the Kāñcanapurīvrata described by it is more purifying than even the Ganges, Kurukṣetra, Kāśī and Puṣkara. The Bhaviṣya-purāṇa (Uttara 7 1) provides that a man crosses easily the deep ocean of hells by means of the boat of vratas, *upavāsas* and *niyamas*.
v6.c81.149.5
In the Mahābhārata¹⁰⁸ (and the Padmapurāṇa VI 53 4-6) it is stated that the Vedic rites and rites prescribed by Manu cannot be performed in Kaliyuga and that therefore it declares to Yudhiṣṭhira something that would be an easy remedy, requiring little wealth and causing little trouble but securing great rewards and that would be the essence of Purāṇas, viz one should not eat on the Ekādaśī of both fortnights; he who does not eat food on Ekādaśī does not go to hell About the Ubhayadvādaśīvrata described in the Bhaviṣyapurāṇa it is said that Prabhāsa,¹⁰⁹ Gayā, Puṣkara, Vārāṇasī, Prayāga or holy places to the east or west thereof, or to the north are not superior or equal to the Kārtika vrata The Anuśāsana-parva¹¹⁰ proclaims that there is no higher *tapas* than *upavāsa* (fasting) or even equal to it and that poor men can secure the rewards of sacrifices by resorting to the upavāsa described Hemādri quotes two verses on Arkavrata from the Bhaviṣyapurāṇa stating that if a man observes for a year *nakta* on the 6th and 7th tithis in each fortnight he obtains the merit secured by those who perform the Vedic sacrifices called *sattras* or who observe the vow of speaking the truth