History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.2147

v6.c81.2147

*Satya-nārāyaṇavrata*—very popular in Bengal and Mahārāṣṭra: described in Bhaviṣya (Pratisargaparva) chap. 24-29; M. M. Hara Prasad Shastri in cat. of mss in the Asiatic Society's Library, Calcutta, vol. V. preface p. LXV says that the worship of Satyanārāyaṇa (ms. No. 3370) has a Mahomedan origin. It was originally (and even now in many places) called 'Satyapīrer pūjā'. It occurs in the Revākhaṇḍa of the Skandapurāṇa (Vaṅgavāsī ed) but does not occur in the Venk. Press edition. Vide also JBORS vol. XVI. at p. 328 where the same scholar says that the Mahomedan custom of offering 'Sirni' to Satyapīr was adopted by Bengal Hindus as worship of Satyanārāyaṇa. This is a vrata very popular among lower middle-class people and women. Vide I. A. vol. 3 pp. 83-85 for stories current in Bengal about this vrata. It is said that Nārada was told about this vrata by Viṣṇu himself. On any day a man worships Satyanārāyaṇa and offers naivedya of 1¼ quantity (such as 1¼ *śer* or *maund*) of plantains, ghee, milk and wheat flour (or rice flour), jaggery or sugar; all these to be mixed up for naivedya; performer should listen to the stories and partake of the prasāda; jāgara with songs, music, dance; then people go to their houses; this yields all desired objects; stories about a brāhmaṇa who performed this vrata every month, of a vendor of wood, of a trader named Sādhu with a ship full of merchandise and costly things and his daughter Kalāvatī. In these stories Satyanārāyaṇa is represented as very jealous and vindictive. The stories are said to have been taken from Skandapurāṇa, Revā-khaṇḍa.