History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.837

v6.c81.837

On the 2nd of the bright half of Kārtika occurs a very fine festival called Bhrātrdvitīyā or Yamadvitīyā. The Bhavisya states: ⁵³³ 'on the 2nd tithi of Kārtika bright half Yama was treated by Yamunā to a dinner in her house; therefore this tithi became declared in the world as Yamadvitīyā; wise men should not take mid-day meal in their own houses but they should take food from the hands of the sister through affection, as doing so increases one's welfare or prosperity. Gifts should be made to sisters; all sisters should be honoured with golden ornaments, clothes, reception and meals; but if there be no sister, one should honour a woman whom he regards as sister (uncle's or aunt's daughter or a friend's sister).' The digests add further details. One should⁵³⁴ do worship to Yama and Yamunā and to Citragupta, and brothers and sisters should offer *arghya* (water in token of respectful reception) to Yama. The procedure is briefly this. In the morning the sister should invite the brother, make him take at mid-day a bath with scented water and unguents rubbed on his body; she along with the brother should worship Yama and Yamunā with arghya and offer handfuls of flowers. The arghya mantra is⁵³⁵ 'Come, come, O Yama, son of the Sun; you that carry in your hand a noose; accept this worship offered on Bhrātṛdvitīyā and also arghya; salutation to you!' Then two more mantras may be addressed.⁵³⁶ 'O Dharmarāja, salutation to you, the elder brother of Yamunā; O son of the Sun, protect me along with your servants; salutation to you. Salutation to you, O Yamunā, sister of Yama and honoured by people, always confer on me favours, O daughter of the Sun, salutation to you!' After this she serves food to her brother with the verse 'Brother! I was born after you; partake of this pure food for pleasing Yama, particularly Yamunā'. If the sister be older than the brother she should say 'I was born before you'. Then after the brother finishes his meal she should deck him with sandalwood paste and then herself partake of the food. Some works like the Vratarāja (pp. 78-91) present a far more elaborate procedure, which is passed over here but two matters provided for by it may be mentioned. The first is that a person before going to his sister's house should mutter ten names of Yama (quoted in note⁵³⁷). The second is that the sister is to worship images of Yama and of eight mythological personages (Mārkaṇḍeya, Bali and others) supposed to be immortal for the increase of her brother's life.⁵³⁸ In modern times hardly any religious ceremony is performed except that residents of places near or on the banks of the Yamunā river (Jumna) bathe in the Jumna and there is a *mela* on the river on this day. The only thing generally done is the brother's visiting his sister, dining at her house, light being waved before him and his making some presents to the sister.