History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.515

v6.c81.515

On the day of the fast in the morning the devotee should invoke the presence of the Sun, Moon, Yama, Time, the two twilights, the (five) elements, Day and Night, Wind, the lord of the quarters, the earth, the sky, the denizens of aerial regions and gods.³⁴⁴ He should hold in his hand a copper vessel filled with water, some fruits, flowers and whole rice-grains, refer to the month &c. and make a saṅkalpa ‘I shall perform the Kṛṣṇāṣṭamī-vrata, for securing a certain reward or for the removal of my sins’. He then repeats four mantras addressed to Vāsudeva, one of which is quoted below.³⁴⁵ After repeating the mantras he should discharge the water in the vessel. He should construct a delivery hall for Devakī having auspicious jars full of water and mango leaves, garlands of flowers, fragrant with burnt *aguru* and decked with auspicious things and Sasthi-devī. Round about the room or the walls (of the room) he should paint gods and gandharvas with folded hands, Vasudeva with a drawn sword, Devakī, Nanda, Yaśodā, gopīs, Kaṁsa's guards, the river Yamunā and the snake Kāliya therein and other incidents of Gokula as far as he could. He should place in the delivery hall a bed surrounded by screens He should take a bath with sesame in the noon in the water of a river or the like and at midnight make the saṅkalpa, 'I shall perform the worship of Kṛṣṇa with his attendants', he should make an image of Kṛṣṇa of gold or silver &c., touch the cheeks of the image and vitalize the image (prāṇa-pratiṣṭhā) with mantras He should contemplate upon Devakī (with a mantra) and on Śrīkṛṣṇa lying as an infant on the bed and offer worship to Lakṣmī, to Vasudeva and Devakī, Nanda and Yaśodā, Baladeva and Caṇḍikā with appropriate mantras for bath, for incense, naivedya &c.; he then briefly performs symbolically the ceremonies of Jātakarma, cutting the navel chord, Sasthīpūjā and nāmakaraṇa. Then at time of moonrise (at or a little after midnight) he should offer *arghya* on an altar or to (image of) the moon with Rohiṇī with water from a conch mixed with flowers, kuśas and sandalwood paste with a mantra, should bow to the moon and prostrate³⁴⁶ himself with several verses containing the different names of Vāsudeva and at the end address prayers to him. Then he should keep awake the whole night in listening to the hymns of praise to Kṛṣṇa, to the stories in the Purāṇas and in songs, music and dances. Next day after performing all usual acts to be performed in the morning and again offering worship to the image of God Kṛṣṇa, he should feed brāhmaṇas and donate to them gold, cow, clothes with the words 'May Kṛṣṇa be pleased with me'. He should then repeat the mantra³⁴⁷ 'salutation to him who is Brahma, who is Vāsudeva of blessed birth and beneficent to cows and brāhmaṇas and whom Devakī gave birth from Vasudeva for the protection of Vedas spread over the earth. Let there be peace! Let there be bliss! He should then take out the image of Kṛṣṇa, donate it to a brāhmaṇa and bring the vrata to a close after performing pāraṇā.