History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.976

v6.c81.976

The general rule is that one should not take a bath, make a gift or perform a śrāddha at night. Āpastamba⁶³¹ says 'let him avoid a bath at night'. Manu says 'one should not perform a śrāddha at night, she (night) is declared to be a rākṣasī (a demon) and also at both twilights and when the sun has just risen'. But eclipses were an exception as regards bath, gift and śrāddha. Yājñavalkya enumerates⁶³² eclipses among the proper times for śrāddha It is stated by Śātātapa⁶³³ that gifts, baths, *tapas* and śrāddha at the time of eclipses yield inexhaustible (rewards or merit); the night is a rākṣasī elsewhere (at times other than those of eclipses); therefore one should avoid it (in other matters). A passage is quoted from the Mahābhārata⁶³⁴ 'on *ayana* and *Viṣuva* days and on the occasion of the eclipses of the sun and the moon, one should make a gift of land together with dakṣiṇā to a deserving brāhmaṇa'. Yājñavalkya succinctly observes 'not by learning alone nor by tapas alone (does one become a deserving person); that is declared a deserving person (*pātra*) in whom these two (*vidyā* and *tapas*) and actions (appropriate to these) are found'. Numerous inscriptions published so far bear witness to the fact that over the whole of India ancient and medieval kings and well-to-do people carried out to the letter this recommendation of making gifts of land on eclipses. Some inscriptions are mentioned here by way of illustration Vide for gifts on solar eclipses the following: I.A. VI. pp. 72-75 (in śake 534 expired) the grant of a village to a brāhmaṇa of Tagara by the great king Satyāśraya Pulikeśī II on Bhādrapada amāvāsyā; E. I. Vol III. pp. 1-7 the Pattadakal pillar inscription of Western Cālukya Kīrtivarman II recording a grant of fields on a total eclipse of the sun in Śrāvaṇa (Fleet calculates that it was 25th June 754 A. D), E. I. Vol. III. pp 103-110 Paithan Plates of Rāṣtrakūta Govindarāja (III) recording the grant of a village after the king bathed in the Godāvarī on a total solar eclipse in Vaiśākha of śaka year 716 (4th May 794 A. D.); E. I. VII. pp 202-208 Sirur inscription of the time of Rāṣtrakūta Amoghavarṣa I on a solar eclipse in Jyeṣṭha, of śaka year 788 (expired) on a Sunday (16th June 866 A. D.); E. I. IX. pp 98-102 grant of a village by Western Cālukya king Vikramāditya I on a solar eclipse in Śrāvaṇa in his 6th regnal year (Monday, 13th July 660 A. D. acc. to Kielhorn), E I. Vol. XIV. pp. 156-163 the Naihati grant of the Bengal king Ballālasena of a village as a dakṣiṇā on the gift of a golden horse on the occasion of a solar eclipse by the king's mother. As to lunar eclipses vide J B B R A. S vol. 20 pp. 131 ff Nausārī plate of the Gujarat Rāstrakūta king Karka I in śake 738 Māgha pūrṇimā, E. I vol. I p. 338 Pātnā Inscription of the time of Yādava Siṅghaṇa in sake 1128 (rather 1129), 9th August (1209 A. D ) Śrāvaṇapūrṇimā for endowing a college (matha) to teach Bhāskarācārya's astronomical works; I. A vol 8 p. 96 grant of a village to 31 brāhmaṇas on Full Moon day of Mahāmāgha (Somagrahaṇe) in the first half of 7th century A. D by Pulikeśi, E. I vol XIX p 41, E. I vol. XX p 725 (of Vikrama 1108), C I I IV. No 13, 25, 31 for grants on solar eclipses and No 21 on lunar eclipse Even now poor people create a pandemonium in towns and cities clamouring for clothes and cash.