History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.357.2

v6.c81.357.2

For example, it is said by the Matsya and Bhaviṣya ‘When a man fasts on the 11th and partakes of food on the 12th, whether in the bright or dark half, that is a great vrata in honour of Viṣṇu’ Those passages that contain the word ‘upavāsa’ and those that prescribe rewards (of observing ekādaśī) must be construed as laying down the observance of a vrata and not as merely prohibiting anything Those passages also which condemn eating food on ekādaśī may be construed as merely intended to commend the vrata and not to contain a prohibition, following the Mīmāṁsā²³⁷ maxim ‘condemnation is not indulged in (merely) for the sake of condemnation of that which is condemned, but for the purpose of commending the performance of the opposite of what is censured’ The passages that lay down a vrata are again two-fold, viz those that make the observance of Ekādaśī obligatory (*nitya*)²³⁸ and those that lay down the observance for securing some desired object (*kāmya*) Nārada lays down an obligatory rule ‘men who are devoted to Viṣṇu and who look upon Viṣṇu as their highest goal should always fast on ekādaśī in each *pakṣa* (fortnight)’ A passage laying down a kāmya-vidhi about Ekādaśī is contained in²³⁹ Kātyāyana ‘a person who looks on Viṣṇu as highest goal and who desires to cross the ocean of saṁsāra or to secure prosperity, offspring, heaven, *mokṣa* or whatever else, should not partake of food on ekādaśī in both fortnights’ The result is that ekādaśī is both nitya and kāmya and the maxim of saṁyoga-pṛthaktva cited above (p.