History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.269

v6.c81.269

Vedic (and Smṛti) injunctions are of two kinds, (1) those that urge a person to do a thing such as 'one should fast on Ekādaśī in both pakṣas', (2) those that dissuade a person from doing something as in 'one should not eat food on Ekādaśī'. Tithis are thus an *aṅga* of the two kinds of injunctions. According to Garga,¹⁷⁹ tithi, nakṣatra and vāra (week day) are a means of *puṇya* (merit) and *pāpa* (demerit, sin) by being subsidiary to the principal rite prescribed, but they are not able to produce the above result independently¹⁸⁰