History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.217

v6.c81.217

There is an immense literature on vratas. There is no topic of Dharmaśāstra except probably that of tīrthayātrā and of śrāddha on which the Purāṇas wax so eloquent as on vrata. Some of the Purāṇas contain thousands of verses on vrata For example, the Brāhmaparva of the Bhaviṣyapurāṇa (in chapters 16-216) contains over 7500 verses and the Uttarakhaṇḍa of the same Purāṇa over five thousand verses on vratas; the Matsyapurāṇa (chapters 54-92 and 95-101) has about 1230 verses on vrata (most of which occur in the Padmapurāṇa V chap. 20 ff), the Varāhapurāṇa (chap 39-65) spends about 700 verses and the Viṣṇudharmottara about 1600 verses on vratas. On a modest calculation the Purāṇas contain about twenty-five thousand verses at least on vratas. It is difficult to draw a strict line between vratas and utsavas, what are called utsavas have also an element of religious rites and conversely many vratas have some element of being a festival. In this work I have included several observances which some people may regard as purely utsavas and not vratas at all.