History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.700

v6.c82.700

The rules about what religious acts should be done or not done in an intercalary month will be dealt with a little later. The Śāntiparva refers to the kṣaya of saṁvatsaras, months, pakṣas and divasas (tithis)¹⁰³³. When there is a kṣayamāsa, the adhikamāsa before it is like all ordinary māsas i. e there is no prohibition of doing religious acts in it, but the adhikamāsa that follows a kṣayamāsa is the one that is declared unsuitable for religious rites. Adhikamāsa and kṣayamāsa may be illustrated by one example for each. Suppose that there was Meṣa saṅkrānti on Caitra amāvāsyā, that from the first tithi following the amāvāsyā to the next amāvāsyā (which is Vaiśākha) there is no saṅkrānti and then Vṛṣabha saṅkrānti occurs on the 1st tithi thereafter; the month that had no saṅkrānti would be *adhika Vaiśākha* and the month on which Vṛṣabha saṅkrānti takes place would be the *śuddha* (proper) *Vaiśākha*. Now as to *kṣaya māsa*; suppose that there is Kanyā saṅkrānti on Bhādrapada amāvāsyā, then there is adhika Āśvina followed by Śuddha Āśvina, on the first tithi of which there is Tulā saṅkrānti, then on Kārtika-śukla 1st there is Vṛścika saṅkrānti, then on Mārgaśīrṣa śukla pratipad there is Dhanus saṅkrānti and in the same month on amāvāsyā there is Makara saṅkrānti. Then that month having two saṅkrāntis (Dhanus and Makara) would be called kṣayamāsa and so there would be one month Pauṣa (constituted by two months, Mārgaśīrṣa and Pauṣa). Then on Māgha amāvāsyā there is Kumbha saṅkrānti, then Phālguna would be *adhika māsa* and there would be Mīna-saṅkrānti on śuddha Phālguna śukla pratipad. Thus in the year in which there is a kṣayamāsa, there are still 13 months and the days of the year amount to some days less than 390.