History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.753

v6.c81.753

In the Indian Historical Quarterly vol. 21 (pp 227-231) Mr. N. G. Banerjee refers to the Durgotsava-paddhati of Udayasimha which begins with the Mahānavamī and a saṅkalpa for victory and ends with the description of horses marching on daśamī to victory and avers that this work indicates that Durgāpūjā was originally a military rite and was later on transformed into a religious festival. He relies upon the description in the Raghuvamśa (IV. 24-25) how the advent of Śarad (autumn) season impelled Raghu to march on an invasion and to perform the *śānti* rite for horses called Aśvanīrājana and also on the Bṛhatsaṁhitā, chap. 44 (Kern's ed.) where occurs an elaborate description of the nīrājana of horses, elephants and fighters on the 8th, 12th, or 15th of the bright half of Āśvina or Kārtika. There are serious objections against accepting this theory. It is not unknown that unconnected celebrations may be joined together on the same tithi or tithis. For example, in many parts of North India the Rāmalīlā festival for ten days is associated with Navarātra days. But Navarātra and Rāmalīlā are independent of each other and in some parts even of North India, only one or the other is popular and celebrated and not both. There is nothing improbable in there being two occasions for nīrājana, one in Durgotsava and another on the occasion of a king's march on an invasion Besides, a work of the 15th century can hardly be relied upon as evidence for explaining the origin of a festival that was in vogue for about a thousand years at least before that work. Moreover, if it was the usage to celebrate the marching on an invasion in Āśvina with nīrājana (lustration), that rite might have been borrowed from that in Durgotsava by analogy instead of the utsava having adopted the military usage. The Kālikā-purāṇa which describes at length Durgotsava also speaks of the nīrājana in Āśvina-śukla on the 8th and the worship of a noble handsome horse for seven days with sandalwood paste, flowers &c and requires the observation of the horse's movements for drawing prognostica-tions (chap 88. 15-75). There is nothing to show that the details of Durgotsava described in the Kālikā and other purāṇas did not exist in the 4th, 5th and 6th centuries A. D. when Kālidāsa and Varāhamihira flourished and mentioned the lustration of horses. The theory of Mr N. G. Banerjee appears to be unwarranted by the evidence so far available and cannot be accepted.