History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.497

v6.c81.497

In the Bhaviṣyottara (44. 1-69) Kṛṣṇa himself is represented as narrating to Yudhiṣṭhira the incidents of Janmāṣṭamī-vrata: 'I was born of Vasudeva and Devakī on the 8th of Bhādrapada dark half at midnight when the Sun was in Lion (Leo), when the Moon was in the sign of the Bull (Taurus) and there was Rohiṇī nakṣatra' (verses 74-75), when on the 8th of the dark half of Śrāvaṇa there is Rohiṇī-nakṣatra, the tithi is called Jayantī, if a man observes a fast on that tithi, that destroys his sins committed in childhood, youth, old age and many previous lives' The result is that if there be no Rohiṇī nakṣatra on Śrāvaṇa dark half 8th, it is simply Janmāṣṭamī, but when Rohiṇī is joined to dark 8th of Śrāvaṇa it is Jayantī. The Rājamārtāṇḍa has two verses on this.³³⁴