History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.408

v6.c81.408

The ekādaśī on Jyeṣṭha bright half is called *nirjalā* because the vrata consists in not using or drinking water except at the time of bathing or at *ācamana*. It is described by Hemādri (on vrata vol I. pp 1089-1091) who quotes the Mahābhārata for it and by N S pp. 99-100. In the summer month of Jyeṣṭha it must have been a great trial to go without water for a day and therefore it was specially commended. Viṣṇu was supposed to sleep for four months from Āṣāḍha bright ekādaśī at night and to rise from his sleep on Kārtika bright ekādaśī by day and hence these two ekādaśīs are respectively called Śayanī (connected with the *śayana* i. e sleeping of Viṣṇu) and Prabodhinī²⁷⁹ or Prabodhanī (connected with the *prabodha* i e. awakening of Viṣṇu). What the legend of Viṣṇu's sleeping from Āṣāḍha śukla eleven for four months was really meant to illustrate or symbolize it is difficult to say As these four months were the months of the rainy season in many parts of India all movements from one place to another distant place came almost to a stand-still in ancient times; so probably mythology became busy and suggested that Viṣṇu himself gave up all activity It is possible that this legend of four months' sleep may have some connection with the state of things when the ancestors of the Vedic Āryans lived in northern latitudes, when for four months the sun was either not seen or emitted only faint light This legend from whatever cause it may have arisen is worked up in various ways. It was said that Viṣṇu not only slept on his snake couch but he also turned in his sleep from one side to the other (as human beings do) on Bhādrapada śukla eleven And therefore that ekādaśī in Bhādrapada was called Parivartinī This matter was still further elaborated and it was asserted that all the great gods and goddesses went to sleep like Viṣṇu on different dates, as stated in the Rājamārtanda quoted below ²⁸⁰. Then, further differences arose, some works saying Viṣṇu went to sleep on the 11th, some that Viṣṇu slept on 12th, while a third set said that Viṣṇu slept on the 15th of Āṣāḍha bright half The Vanaparva (203 12) declares that Viṣṇu sleeps on the hoods of Śeṣa Kālidāsa in the Meghadūta refers to both the sleeping of Viṣṇu on his snake couch and his rising from it (śāpānto me bhujagaśayanād utthite śārṅgapāṇau) Most scholars hold that Kālidāsa flourished between 350-450 A D In the Gangadhar Stone Inscription of Viśvavarman in the Kṛta year 480 there is a clear reference to the rising from sleep of Viṣṇu in Kārtika (vide Gupta Inscriptions ed by Fleet No 17 at pp 72, 75, 79) Kṛta is held to be the same as Vikrama year by most scholars So the legend about Viṣṇu's śayana on a snake bed and getting up from it may be about 2000 years old, if not more