History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.234
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.234
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v6.c81.234.1
The word *tithi* by itself does not occur in the Ṛgveda and the other Vedic Saṁhitās But the idea must have been there even in the Ṛgveda Amāvāsyā is explained in later works as being of two kinds, viz. Sinīvālī (day on which amāvāsyā is mixed with the 14th tithi) and Kuhū (when amāvāsyā is mixed with the first tithi of the next fortnight) Similarly, Paurṇamāsī is of two kinds, Anumati (mixed with the 14th tithi) and Rākā (mixed with the Pratipad of the next pakṣa) In the Ṛgveda Sinīvālī is¹⁵⁴ raised to the position of a divinity, is described as the sister of the gods, offerings are made to her and she is implored to bestow progeny on the worshippers The Bṛ. Up VI. 4 21 implores Sinīvālī and the Aśvins to implant an embryo in the wife. Rākā also¹⁵⁵ is similarly treated in the Ṛgveda (II. 32. 4-5 = Atharva VII. 48. 1-2). Ṛg X 59. 6 and X 167. 3 treat Anumati as a deity, prayers are offered to her to enable the worshippers to see the Sun going up and to bestow happiness and she is spoken of in the same breath with Soma, Varuṇa and Bṛhaspati. The Vāj. S. prays¹⁵⁶ ‘May Anumati approve to-day of our sacrifice’. It should be noted that the Nirukta (XI. 29) holds¹⁵⁷ a discussion on Anumati and Rākā, viz. the Nairuktas (etymologists) say that Anumati and Rākā are goddesses (wives of gods), while the Yājñikas hold that they are two kinds of Paurṇamāsī; it is known (in Śruti) that the first Paurṇamāsī is Anumati and the later is Rākā.
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Similarly, the Nirukta holds a discussion on Sinīvālī and Kuhū (XI. 31) The Atharvaveda (VI. 11. 3) mentions Prajāpati, Anumati and Sinīvālī together. The word Kuhū occurs in the Atharvaveda and is applied to a deity that is invoked to come to the sacrifice and to bestow on the worshipper wealth and a heroic son. In the Tai S I. 8 8. 1 and Śat. Br. IX. 5. 1. 38 mention is made of these four, viz of Anumati, Rākā, Sinīvālī and Kuhū, as recipients of *caru* (oblation of boiled rice) How these names were coined in the distant past is an insoluble riddle Anumati can be derived from root *man*, but why the tithi of the Full Moon mixed with the 14th tithi was so called is more than anyone can say. Kuhū may be plausibly derived from *kuha* ‘where’ (as in Ṛg. I 24 10, X 40 2) as the day when the moon is invisible and when primitive people asked in wonder the question ‘where does the moon go’. But Rākā and. Sinīvālī defy attempts at any plausible etymology. Eminent philologists, instead of admitting ignorance, are not wanting, who following the traditions of the very ancient etymologist Yāska (who says in Nirukta II 1 '*na tveva na nirbrūyāt*), suggest that the word Sinīvālī is made up by combining the Babylonian-Akkadian word '*sin*' (meaning moon) with Dravidian '*vel*' (white light)¹⁵⁸ 'Amāvāsyā' (New Moon) is addressed as a deity by itself in Atharva¹⁵⁹ VII.
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79 (84) 1-4, the first of which calls upon Amāvāsyā to come to the sacrifice and bestow wealth and a valiant son and the second of which hints at the derivation of the word from '*amā*' (meaning 'together' or 'home') and '*vas*' (to dwell) The Śat. Br¹⁶⁰ remarks "this king Soma i e the moon is the food of the gods; when he (the moon) is not seen on this night either in the east or in the west, he comes to this world (i. e. the earth) and enters the waters and the herbs here, he is the wealth of the gods and their food; when he dwells on this night together (with waters and herbs) it (that night) therefore is called 'Amāvāsyā'. The Ait. Br. (40 5) states that on amāvāsyā the moon enters the sun. The Āp Dh S also echoes this idea that on the Amāvāsyā night the Sun and the Moon dwell together (are near each other) So amāvāsyā is so called either because the moon was supposed to dwell together with waters and herbs on the earth that night or because the Moon dwells in the Sun on that night Darśa has the same sense as amāvāsyā and means 'the day on which the moon is seen by the sun alone (and by no one else)' Vide H of Dh vol II p 1009 and note 2274 Names are sometimes given by contraries e. g a fool is called a wise man or a brave person may be called 'timid'.
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Amāvāsyā may have been called darśa because the moon is not seen that day (but would be visible the next day) Another tithi that is famous in the Vedic Literature is Aṣṭakā¹⁶¹ (8th tithi after the full moon in any month, but particularly in Māgha) on which offerings were made to the pitṛs (departed ancestors) Even in very remote times people could have easily marked the four main phases of the moon, viz Full Moon, half moon (8th day thereafter when half of the moon's orb shines), Moon's total absence and 8th day thereafter; and after noting these phases it must not have been very difficult to make close calculations about the periods intervening between the Full moon and the half moon, the New moon and half moon. As a matter of fact the Tai. Br¹⁶² expressly says that the moon is worn away on the 15th and becomes full on the 15th i e. before the Tai. Br. it was well-known that there were 30 lunar days (tithis) in a lunar month. It is stated in the Śat Br¹⁶³ 'the joints of Prajāpati, while he was engaged in creating beings, became loose (or collapsed); the saṁvatsara is indeed Prajāpati and the joints of it (of saṁvatsara) are the two junctions of day and night, Paurṇamāsī, Amāvāsyā and the beginnings (first days) of the seasons'. The words Paurṇamāsī and Amāvāsyā occur very frequently in the Atharvaveda, the Tai.
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S and other Vedic texts, though the two words do not occur in the Ṛgveda The Atharvaveda says¹⁶⁴ that Paurṇamāsī was the first among days and nights and was worthy of sacrifice The Ait. Br.¹⁶⁵ has an interesting passage: "they (wise men) say that when a sacrificer dwells near his sacrificial fire, that is due to his thought that the gods will partake of his offerings, since they do not eat the offering of a sacrificer who does not abide by certain observances'. The opinion of the sage Paiṅgi is that the sacrificer should stay near his sacrificial fires (or fast) on the previous Paurṇamāsī (i e. Paurṇamāsī mixed with 14th), while the opinion of Kauṣītaki is that he should do so on the later one (i e the Paurṇamāsī mixed with pratipad). The previous Paurṇamāsī is called Anumati, the later one is called Rākā, while the previous Amāvāsyā is called Sinīvālī and the later one is called Kuhū That is the tithi (on which a religious rite should be performed), it is the one, being associated with which the sun sets and the sun rises." This passage shows that differences of opinion had arisen long before the time of the Ait Br as to on what day a particular rite associated with a certain fixed tithi was to be performed when the tithi was spread over two days. There are references in Tai S. and the Brāhmaṇa literature which show that in those ancient days the duration of tithis and therefore the actual position of the moon could not sometimes be very accurately determined beforehand.
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A man about to perform an iṣṭi on New Moon (*darśeṣṭi*) does certain acts that are done on the day previous to amāvāsyā such as using the sour curds from last night's milking for coagulating the sacrificial food (i. e milk), separating the calves from the cows in the afternoon with a *palāśa* twig; and taking some husked rice, he thinks, owing to cloudy weather or through miscalculation, that the moon would not be seen in the sky the next morning, does not actually set apart a few handfuls of husked rice (meant as *nirvāpa* for the gods) or sets them apart, then the next day the moon is seen in the sky (i e the next day is really 14th tithi instead of amāvāsyā) It is then prescribed that he has to perform an expiatory rite called Abhyuditeṣṭi Vide Tai S. II 5. 5. 1-2 and Śat Br. XI 1. 4 1-2 quoted¹⁶⁶ below.