History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.831

v6.c82.831

The system of Yogas must be held to be ancient. The Yājñavalkyasmṛti (I. 218) when specifying the times for the performance of śrāddhas includes Vyatīpāta among them. In the Harṣacarita of Bāṇa it is said (Ucchvāsa IV) that Harṣa was born on a day free from the taint of all defects such as Vyatīpāta (vyatīpātādi-sarvadoṣābhisaṅga-rahite’hani) There would generally be 13 vyatīpātas in a year (sometimes 14) and, among the 96 śrāddhas, śrāddhas on these thirteen vyatīpātas are included (vide H. of Dh vol. IV pp. 382–383 and note 861). Besides these 27 Yogas, there are others that occur when there are special conjunctions of weekdays with certain tithis and nakṣatras or when certain planets occupy certain rāśis on certain tithis and nakṣatras. For Kapilāṣaṣṭhīyoga and Ardhodaya, vide above pp 279 and 261. Vyatīpāta itself has two technical senses apart from being 17th out of the 27 Yogas mentioned above viz. (1) When amāvāsyā¹¹¹⁵ occurs on a Sunday and the moon is in the first quarter on any one of the nakṣatras Śravaṇa, Aśvinī, Dhaniṣṭhā, Ārdrā and Āśleṣā that is Vyatīpāta; (2) When on the 12th of the bright half Jupiter and Mars are in the sign Lion, the Sun is in Ram and when that tithi has Hasta nakṣatra on it, it is Vyatīpāta¹¹¹⁶ Yoga. These two are sometimes called Mahāvyatīpāta Gifts made on those conjunctions are very much commended,¹¹¹⁷ 'gifts on amāvāsyā yield one hundred-fold merit, on the suppression of a tithi a thousand-fold, on Viṣuva day ten thousand-fold, but on Vyatīpāta endless (merit). By gifts of cows, land, gold and clothes made on this the donor becomes free from sin and secures godhead, the position of Indra, health, the rulership of men.¹¹¹⁸ The Sūryasiddhānta (XI. 1–2) gives an explanation of Vyatīpāta and Vaidhṛta¹¹¹⁹ (or Vaidhṛti)—when the sun and the moon are on the same side of either solstice and when the sum of their longitudes being a circle they are of equal declination it is styled Vaidhṛti When the moon and the sun are on opposite sides of either solstice and their minutes of declination are the same, it is Vyatīpāta, the sum of their longitudes being a half circle Why the times mentioned should be looked upon as specially inauspicious or unfortunate is not at all clear and no plausible reason has been assigned The 27th Yoga called Vaidhṛti was just like Vyatīpāta in all respects. Bharadvāja says that the merit of gifts made on Vyatīpāta and Vaidhṛti is endless.