History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.499

v6.c81.499

The important question is whether the Janmāṣṭamī-vrata and Jayantī-vrata are really only one vrata or whether they are two separate vratas The Kālanirṇaya,³³⁵ after a long discussion in which Mīmāṁsā principles contained in Jai II. 2 23 and IV. 1. 22-24 are relied upon, arrives at the conclusion that the two are separate vratas on the grounds that the two names are different (viz Janmāṣṭamī-vrata and Jayantīvrata), their occasions (*nimitta*) are different (the first depends only on dark Aṣṭamī, while the latter exists only if there is Rohiṇī on 8th of dark half of Śrāvaṇa) and their characteristics are different in that in Janmāṣṭamīvrata śāstra requires only a fast, while in Jayantīvrata the śāstra requires a fast and also gifts and the like. Besides, Janmāṣṭamīvrata is obligatory (*nitya*), since the texts only speak of the incurring of sin if it be not performed, while Jayantīvrata is both *nitya* and *kāmya* in that the śāstras connect it with special rewards in addition to the incurring of sin by its non-observance Further, the two are separately mentioned in the same verses.³³⁶ Hemādri, Madanaratna, the Nirṇayasindhu (p. 126) and several works hold the view that the two are different. But the N. S notes³³⁷ that in its day people observed only Janmāṣṭamī-vrata and not Jayantī-vrata. On the other hand the Jayantīnirṇaya (p. 25) states that people generally celebrate Jayantī only (and not Janmāṣṭamī). This variance is probably due to the fact that the two works (N. S. and J. N.) belong to the north and south of India. The Samayamayūkha³³⁸ and Puruṣārthacintāmaṇi (p. 117) very severely criticize the views of Mādhava set out above from the Kālanirṇaya, one of the principal arguments in these last being that the Mīmāṁsā rules relied upon by Mādhava apply to rites, but Jayantī is the name of a tithi i. e the 8th of dark half when conjoined to Rohiṇī. The Jayantīnirṇaya of Hārīta Veṅkaṭanātha holds that the two are different and that both are nitya as well as kāmya (pp. 4-5 and p. 30). It further points out (p 19) that in Janmāṣṭamīvrata tithi is the principal matter while in Jayantī it is the nakṣatra (Rohiṇī) that is principal.