History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.837

v6.c82.837

The fifth item in a pañcāṅga is Karaṇa. Half of a tithi is Karaṇa and thus there are two Karaṇas in a tithi and 60 Karaṇas in a lunar month. Karaṇas are of two kinds, viz. *cara* (moving) and *sthira* (immoveable). The seven *cara* karaṇas with their presiding deities according to Bṛhatsaṁhitā, chap 99. 1-2 are: 1. Bava-Indra; 2. Bālava-Brahmā; 3 Kaulava-Mitra, 4. Taitila-Aryaman, 5. Gara (or Garaja)-Earth; 6 Vaṇija-Śrī, 7. Viṣṭi-Yama. The four *sthira* karaṇas with their deities are: 1 Śakuni-Kali; 2. Catuṣpada-Vṛṣa; 3. Nāga-snake; 4. Kiṁstughna-Vāyu Some works transpose the two, Catuṣpada and Nāga This division of a tithi into two halves resembles the division of a *rāśi* into two *horās* (Bṛhajjātaka I 9) It is likely that one was suggested by the other The difficulty is to decide which was the earlier. I believe it likely that the division of tithis into two karaṇas is the earlier of the two. The sthira karaṇas occur only once in a month i e. on the latter half of 14th tithi of dark half occurs Śakuni: Catuspada and Nāga occupy the two halves of amāvāsyā and Kimstughna occurs on the first half of Pratipad i. e if the 30 tithis of an amānta month are divided into 60 halves, Śakuni, Catuspada and Nāga occupy the 58th, 59th and 60th parts and Kimstughna occupies the first half of the pratipad of the next month. Bava occupies the second half of śukla pratipad and the others follow one after another and as they are only seven they are repeated eight times in a month from the 2nd half of pratipad to the first half of the 14th tithi of a dark half, which would be 57th of the sixty halves of the tithis of the month and would be occupied by Visti In the pañcāngas, two karanas should properly be shown under each tithi, but in pañcāngas only that Karana is shown against a tithi whose ending moment is 30 ghatikās or less from sunrise. The ending times of Karanas which are assigned to the 2nd halves of tithis coincide with those of the tithis themselves and therefore there is no need for their calculation. The ending times of the first halves of tithis which correspond to certain Karanas are got in the manner described by Pillai in his 'Indian Ephemeris', vol. I. part I p 37, paragraphs 106-107