History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.275.3

v6.c81.275.3

If a tithi can be had on two days and at the required time or if it does not exist on both days at the time required or it extends only up to a part of the time for which it is required, then the decision is arrived at, as a general rule, by what is called 'yugmavākya' to be cited below.¹⁹⁰ Suppose, for example, that a vrata is to be performed at noon on a certain tithi, then that tithi may exist at noon on two days or suppose that the tithi begins one or two ghaṭikās after noon and ends on the next day one or two ghaṭikās before noon, then the decision as to which tithi (whether *pūrva-viddhā* or *para-viddhā*) is proper for the act would have to be decided as a general rule by the *Yugmavākya*. The *Yugmavākya* may be translated as follows. 'The pairs (or combinations) of the following tithis lead to great reward, viz. of the 2nd and 3rd tithis, of the 4th and 5th, of the 6th and 7th, of the 8th and 9th, of the 11th and 12th, of the 14th with pūrṇimā (Full moon tithi) and of Amāvāsyā with the 1st: the reverse (i. e. combinations or pairs of other tithis) results in great loss, such combinations destroy all former (accumulated) merit.' In these verses there are seven pairs and they are mutually applicable. The question may be asked. on what tithi a vrata prescribed for the 2nd tithi should be performed if the 2nd is combined with the first on one day (that is, it is *pūrvaviddhā*) and is also combined with the 3rd on the next day (i. e. it is *paraviddhā*)?