History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.324

v6.c81.324

The procedure of Rāmanavamīvrata as set out in H. V I. pp 941-946 N. S pp 83-86, T T. pp 59-62, K. T. V. pp, 96-98, Vratarāja pp 319-329, Vratārka (folios 172-182), may be briefly described as follows.—The devotee should take a bath on the 8th tithi in the bright half of Caitra, perform his *sandhyā* prayer and should invite a brāhmaṇa learned in the Veda and śāstras and devoted to Rāma worship and knowing the procedure of Rāma mantras, should honour him and make a request 'I shall make a gift of the image of Rāma'. Then he should give oil to the brāhmaṇa for anointing his body, make him bathe, make him wear white garments and flowers, should offer him a dinner containing *sāttvika* food and should himself partake of the same food and constantly think of Rāma On that day he and the *ācārya* honoured by him should go without food at night, should listen to the stories of Rāma the whole day and should himself sleep and make the ācārya sleep on the ground (not on a cot) The next morning he should get up, bathe, perform his *sandhyā*, should construct a brilliant maṇḍapa with four doors and decked with arches, banners and flowers The eastern door should be decked with conch, wheel and (an image of) Garuda, bow and arrows, the western one with mace, sword and armlets and the north with lotuses, *svastika* signs and blue stones and prepare a raised altar four cubits (in the maṇḍapa) and should provide holy songs, music and dance therein. He should have benedictions from brāhmaṇas Then he should make a saṅkalpa 'On the Rāmanavamī I shall observe a fast for the whole day and being intent on worshipping Rāma shall make a golden image of Rāma and shall donate it for pleasing Rāma' and then say 'may Rāma remove my numerous heavy sins'. The image of Rāma should be placed on a pedestal, have two hands and Jānakī should be seated on the left thigh of (Rāma) image, which should be bathed with *pañcāmṛta*,²¹⁸ then *mūlamantra*²¹⁹ should be recited and the usual *nyāsas* should be made. The festival or pūjā is performed in the noon. Then at night he should keep awake and listen to the divine stories about Rāma and be surrounded by devotees of Rāma, should sing hymns about Rāma. Then the next morning he should bathe, perform sandhyā, should worship the image of Rāma with sixteen upacāras employing the 16 verses of Ṛg. X. 90 and with Paurāṇika verses, also perform the worship of the several limbs of the image (Śrī-Rāmabhadrāya namaḥ pādau pūjayāmi and so on), offer homa on the altar or in a *kuṇḍa* with the *mūlamantra* and then in the ordinary fire offer 108 oblations of clarified butter or *pāyasa* (rice cooked in milk with sugar), then he should honour the ācārya with gifts of ear-rings, finger rings, flowers, clothes &c. and should recite the following mantra 'O Rāma! I shall today donate this golden image of yours decked with ornaments and clothes for securing your favour; may Rāma favour me'. He should give dakṣiṇā (fee) to the ācārya and to other brāhmaṇas gold, cow, a pair of clothes, corn, according to his ability and then have dinner along with the brāhmaṇas. By doing so he becomes free from even mortal sins like brāhmaṇa-murder. There is no need to say more The man who performs this vrata has *mukti* in his hand (as it were) and he acquires the same merit that one secures by the dāna called Tulāpuruṣa²²⁰ in Kurukṣetra on a solar eclipse Hemādri is comparatively brief, but the Tithitattva (pp 61-62), Nirṇayasindhu (p 85), Vratārka add further details from Agastyasaṃhitā They say that images of Bharata and Śatrughna (by the side of Rāma image) and of Lakṣmaṇa with a bow in his hand and of Daśaratha (to the right) and of Kausalyā should also be made and worshipped with appropriate Paurāṇika mantras (the one for Kausalyā is quoted in the note)²²¹ The Rāmārcanacandrikā adds further details about the worship of ten and five *āvaraṇas* to which even the Nirṇayasindhu refers by name alone.