History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.313

v6.c82.313

by Mysore University, 1923–1926, in three parts); Muhūrta-dīpaka by Nāgadeva (a short work in 9 folios, ms. in Bhau Daji collection); the Muhūrta-mārtaṇḍa, composed in śake 1493, Māgha (1572 A. D.), by Nārāyaṇa, son of Ananta, of Tāpara village to the north of the temple of Śiva which is to the north of Devagiri, with his own commentary called Mārtaṇḍavallabhā (published by Nirn. Press, 1925); Muhūrtamālā by Raghunātha (ms in Bhau Daji collection); Muhūrta-muktāvalī (incomplete ms. with only 45 verses in the same collection). Out of these, three works alone are now available in print viz. Muhūrta-darśana, Muhūrta-cintāmaṇi and Muhūrta-mārtaṇḍa. The rest are mss. (in Bombay Asiatic Society's Library). In this section on muhūrtas reliance has been placed mainly on the three printed works along with the Jyotiṣaratnamālā of Śrīpati (about 1039 A. D.), the Rājamārtaṇḍa of Bhoja (ms in B. O. R. I., Poona) and the other works on Kāla. Among the works described as especially dealing with muhūrtas, the most elaborate are the Muhūrta-cintāmaṇi (containing about 480 verses with a very exhaustive commentary) and the Muhūrtadarśana (with about 600 verses) and also a very elaborate commentary. It would not be possible to deal with all matters contained in these works. The Muhūrtamārtaṇḍa (containing 161 verses) follows a middle course. 'According to it the subjects dealt with in it are briefly as follows:—what positions and aspects of the planets, what *yogas*, what *tithis*, nakṣatras, months and conditions of the family and of the mind should be avoided in the case of śubha (auspicious) actions; the proper times for saṃskāras, such as *garbhādhāna*, *puṃsavana*, *jātakarma*, piercing the infant's ear, *caula*, *upanayana*, the end of the period of Vedic study; topics connected with marriage (this takes up 55 verses i. e. a little over one-third of the entire work); times for kindling sacred domestic fire (*gṛhyāgni*); times for construction of a house and for first entrance into it; the proper times for starting on a journey or marching against an enemy king; auspicious and inauspicious śakunas (omens or prognostications), times for king's coronation, for wearing of rich clothes and ornaments and for agricultural operations, for sale and purchase of animals (such as cattle, horses), for bath with sesame and myrobalan, for finding lost articles, for constructing wells and tanks. times when Vedic study should be stopped (*anadhyāya*) for long or temporarily; the results of a lizard or chameleon falling on one's body; what planet is inauspicious or auspicious in which sign from the sign of one's birth; the *puṇyakāla* of Saṅkrāntis. It may be mentioned that many of the provisions about auspicious aspects of planets, about upanayana and marriage, construction of and first entrance into a house, śakunas about the fall of lizards and chameleons were observed in the author's boyhood and are still observed by many, though there is gradually an increasing looseness of observance in these matters.