History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.220

v6.c81.220

Apart from the Vedic Literature, sūtras, epics, Purāṇas and Rājamārtanda, I mainly rely in this section on vratas on the following works (those that I consulted in ms form being expressly indicated and the works being arranged in chronological order as far as possible): Kṛtyakalpataru (portion on vratas) of Lakṣmīdhara; Kālaviveka of Jīmūtavāhana; Hemādri's Caturvargacintāmaṇi (on vrata); Samayapradīpa of Śrīdatta (ms); Kṛtyaratnākara of Caṇḍeśvara; Kālādarsa of Ādityasūri (ms), Kālanirṇaya or Kāla-mādhava and Kālanirṇayakārikā; Tithiviveka, Vratakālaviveka and Durgotsavaviveka of Śūlapāni; Nirnayāmṛta of Allādanātha; Varṣakriyākaumudī of Govindānanda; Kālasāra of Gadādhara; the Tithitattva, Ekādaśītattva, Janmāṣṭamītattva, Durgārcanapaddhati, Kṛtyatattva and Vratatattva of Raghunandana, Vrataprakāśa (part of Vīramitrodaya) of Mitramiśra (ms. from Anūpa Sanskrit Library) and Samayaprakāśa (part of Vīramitrodaya), Samayamayūkha or Kālamayūkha of Nīlakantha; Vratārka of Śaṅkarabhaṭṭa (ms); Tithyarka of Divākara; Daśanirnaya¹⁴⁴ of Hārīta Veṅkaṭanātha; Vratodyāpana-kaumudī of Śaṅkarabhaṭṭa Ghāre; Vratarāja of Viśvanātha; Puruṣārthacintāmaṇi of Viṣṇubhaṭṭa; Ahalyā-kāmadhenu (ms in Scindia Oriental Institute, 1767-1771 A.D ), Dharmasindhu of Kāśīnātha. Of these the most important for vratas are Kṛtyakalpataru (from which even Hemādri, and Kṛtyaratnākara borrow many passages), Hemādri on vrata, Kālanirnaya of Mādhava, Kṛtyaratnākara, Varṣakriyākaumudī, the works of Raghunandana and the Nirnaya-sindhu. Works like Vratārka and Vratarāja, though exhaustive, borrow verbatim long passages from Hemādri and others The treatment of vratas in several of the above-mentioned works is often uneven; for example, the Varṣakriyākaumudī disposes of the observances of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd tithis in two pages (28-30), while it devotes twenty-two pages to Ekādaśī (pp 42-64).