The Lunar Year of the Hindus

Having lately met by accident with a wonderfully curious tract of the learned and celebrated Raghunandana, containing a full account of all the rites and ceremonies in the lunar year, I twice perused it with eagerness, and present the society with a correct outline of it, in the form of a Calendar illustrated with short notes: the many passages quoted in it from the Védas, the Puránas, the Sástras of law and astronomy, the Calpa, or sacred ritual, and other works of immemorial antiquity and reputed holiness, would be thought highly interesting by such as take pleasure in researches concerning the Hindus; but a translation of them all would fill a considerable volume, and such only are exhibited as appeared most distinguished for elegance or novelty. The lunar year of three hundred and sixty days is apparently more ancient in India than the solar, and began, as we may infer from a verse in the Mátsya, with the month Aˊswin, so called because the moon was at the full, when that name was imposed, in the first lunar station of the Hindu ecliptick, the origin of which, being diametrically opposite to the bright star Chitrà, may be ascertained in our sphere with exactness; but, although most of the Indian fasts and festivals be regulated by the days of the moon, yet the most solemn and remarkable of them have a manifest reference to the supposed motions of the sun; the Durgótsava and Hólica relating as clearly to the autumnal and vernal equinoxes, as the sleep and rise of Vishnu relate to the solstices: the sancrántis, or days on which the sun enters a new sign, especially those of Tulá and Mésha, are great festivals of the solar year, which anciently began with Pausha near the winter solstice, whence the month Márgasírsha has the name of Aˊgraháyana, or the year is next before. The twelve months, now denominated from as many stations of the moon, seem to have been formerly peculiar to the lunar year; for the old solar months, beginning with Chaitra, have the following very different names in a curious text of the Véda on the order of the six Indian seasons, Madhu, Mádhava, Sucra, Suchi, Nabhas, Nabhasya, Iˊsa, Urja, Sahas, Sahasya, Tapas, Tapasya. It is necessary to premise, that the muc'hya chándra, or primary lunar month ends with the conjunction, and the gauna chándra, or secondary, with the opposition: both modes of reckoning are authorized by the several Puránas; but, although the astronomers of Cási have adopted the gauna month, and place in Bhádra the birth day of their pastoral God, the muc'hya is here preferred, because it is generally used in this province, and especially at the ancient seminary of Bráhmens at Máyápur, now called Navadwípa, because a new island has been formed by the Ganges on the site of the old Academy. The Hindus define a tit'hi, or lunar day, to be the time, in which the moon passes through twelve degrees of her path; and to each pacsha, or half month, they allot fifteen tit'his, though they divide the moon's orb into sixteen phases, named calás, one of which they suppose constant, and compare to the string of a necklace or chaplet, round which are placed moveable gems and flowers: the Mahácalá is the day of the conjunction, called Amá, or Amávásyá, and defined by Gobhila the day of the nearest approach to the sun; on which obsequies are performed to the manes of the Pitrìs, or certain progenitors of the human race, to whom the darker fortnight is peculiarly sacred. Many subtile points are discussed by my author concerning the junction of two or even three lunar days in forming one fast or festival; but such a detail can be useful only to the Bráhmens, who could not guide their flocks, as the Raja of Crishnanagar assures me, without the assistance of Raghunandan. So fond are the Hindus of mythological personifications, that they represent each of the thirty tit'his as a beautiful nymph; and the Gáyatrítantra, of which a Sannyásì made me a present, though he considered it as the holiest book after the Véda, contains flowery descriptions of each nymph, much resembling the delineations of the thirty Ráginis in the treatises on Indian musick.

In what manner the Hindus contrive so far to reconcile the lunar and solar years, as to make them proceed concurrently in their ephemerides, might easily have been shown by exhibiting a version of the Nadíya or Varánes almanack; but their modes of intercalation form no part of my present subject, and would injure the simplicity of my work, without throwing any light on the religion of the Hindus. The following tables have been very diligently compared by myself with two Sanscrit almanacks, with a superficial chapter in the work of Abu'lfazl, and with a list of Indian holidays published at Calcutta; in which there are nine or ten fasts called Jayantis, distinguished chiefly by the titles of the Avatáras, and twelve or thirteen days marked as the beginnings of as many Calpas, or very long periods, an hundred of which constitute Brahmaˊ's age; but having found no authority for those holidays, I have omitted them: some festivals, however, or fasts, which are passed over in silence by Raghunandan, are here printed in Italick letters; because they may be mentioned in other books, and kept holy in other provinces or by particular sects. I cannot refrain from adding, that human sacrifices were anciently made on the Mahanavamí; and it is declared in the Bhawishya Purána, that the head of a slaughtered man gives Durgaˊ a thousand times more satisfaction than that of a buffalo:

But in the Bráhma every neramédha, or sacrifice of a man, is expressly forbidden; and in the fifth book of the Bhágawat are the following emphatical words: “Yé twiha vai purusháh purushamédhéna yajanté, yáscha striyó nrĭpasún c'hádanti, tánscha táscha tè pasava iha nihatà, yama sádanè yátayantó, racshógana saunicá iva sudhittiná 'vadáyasrĭc pivanti;” that is, “Whatever men in this world sacrifice human victims, and, whatever women eat the flesh of male cattle, those men and those women shall the animals here slain torment in the mansion of Yama, and, like slaughtering giants, having cleaved their limbs with axes, shall quaff their blood.” It may seem strange, that a human sacrifice by a man should be no greater crime than eating the flesh of a male beast by a woman; but it is held a mortal offence to kill any creature, except for sacrifice, and none but males must ever be sacrificed, nor must women, except after the performance of a sráddha by their husbands, taste the flesh even of victims. Many strange ceremonies at the Durgótsava still subsist among the Hindus both male and female, an account of which might elucidate some very obscure parts of the Mosaick law; but this is not a place for such disquisitions. The ceremony of swinging with iron hooks through the muscles, on the day of the Cherec, was introduced, as I am credibly informed, in modern times, by a superstitious prince, named Vána, who was a Saiva of the most austere sect: but the custom is bitterly censured by learned Hindus, and the day is, therefore, omitted in the following abridgement of the Tit'hi tatwa.

a. By some the first nine nights are allotted to the decoration of Durgaˊ with ceremonies peculiar to each. Bhawishyóttara.

b. When certain days of the moon fall on certain days of the week, they are called acshayás, or unperishable.

c. The evening preparation for her dress.

d. On this day she is commonly awakened, and her festival begins. Déví-purána.

e. She is invited to a bower of leaves from nine plants, of which the Bilva is the chief.

f. The last of the three great days. “The sacrificed beasts must be killed at one blow with a broad sword or a sharp axe.” Cálicápurána.

g. The fourteen days, named Manwantarás, are supposed to be the first of as many very long periods, each of which was the reign of a Menu: they are all placed according to the Bhawishya and Mátsya,

h. The goddess dismissed with reverence, and her image cast into the river, but without Mantras. Baudháyana.

i. On this full moon the fiend Nicumbha led his army against Durgaˊ; and Lacshmi descended, promising wealth to those who were awake: hence the night is passed in playing at ancient chess. Cuveˊra also and Indra are worshipped. Lainga and Bráhma.

a. The days called dagdha, or burnt, are variable, and depend on some inauspicious conjunctions. Vidyá-sirómani.

b. Bathing and libations to Yama, regent of the south or the lower world, and judge of departed Spirits. Lainga.

c. A fast all day, and a great festival at night, in honour of Lacshmi, with illuminations on trees and houses: invocations are made at the same time to Cuveˊra. Rudra-dhera.

“On this night, when the Gods, having been delivered by Ceˊsava, were slumbering on the rocks, that bounded the sea of milk, Lacshmi,’ no longer fearing the Daityas, slept apart on a lotos.” Bráhma.

d. Flowers are also offered on this day to Syaˊmaˊ, or the black, an epithet of Bhavaˊni, who appears in the Calijug as a damsel twelve years old. Váránasí Panjicá.

Torches and flaming brands are kindled and consecrated, to burn the bodies of kinsmen, who may be dead in battle or in a foreign country, and to light them through the shades of death to the mansion of Yama. Bráhma.

These rites bear a striking resemblance to those of Ceres and Proserpine.

a. Mahaˊdeˊva was beaten on this day at a game of chance by Paˊrvatiˊ: hence games of chance are allowed in the morning; and the winner expects a fortunate year. Bráhma.

b. A nightly festival, with illuminations and offerings of flowers, in honour of the ancient king Beli. Vámena.

c, Yama, child of the Sun, was entertained on this lunar day by the river-goddess Yamunaˊ, his younger sister: hence the day is sacred to them both; and sisters give entertainments to their brothers, who make presents in return. Lainga. Mahábhárata.

d. Cows are on this day to be fed, caressed, and attended in their pastures; and the Hindus are to walk round them with ceremony, keeping them always to the right hand. Bhíma parácrama.

e. “To eat nothing but dry rice on this day of the moon for nine successive years will secure the favour of Durgaˊ”. Cálicá purána.

f. The first day of the Trétá Yuga. Vaishnava. Bráhma.

g. Vishnu rises on this day, and in some years on the fourteenth, from his slumber of four months. He is waked by this incantation: “The clouds are dispersed; the full moon will appear in perfect brightness; and I come, in hope of acquiring purity, to offer the fresh flowers of the season: awake from thy long slumber, awake, O Lord of all worlds!” Váráha. Mátsya.

The Lord of all worlds neither slumbers nor sleeps.

A strict fast is observed on the eleventh; and even the Baca, a water bird, abstains, it is said, from his usual food. Vidyá sirómani.

h. Gifts to Bráhmens are indispensably necessary on this day. Rámáyana.

a. Bathing in the Gangá, and other appointed ceremonies, on this day will be equally rewarded with a gift of a thousand cows to the Bráhmens. Vyása.

a. Sacred to Scanda, or Caˊrticeˊya, God of Arms. Bhawishya.

b. In honour of the Sun. Navánnam signifies new grain, oblations of which are made on any of the days, to which the word is annexed.

c. Gauriˊ to be worshipped at night, and cakes of rice to be eaten in the form of large pebbles. Bhawishya.

a. Cakes of rice are offered on this day, which is also called Aindrì from Indra, to the Manes of ancestors. Góbhila.

a. On this day, called also Prájápatyá from Prajápati, or the Lord of Creatures, the flesh of male kids or wild deer is offered to the Manes. Góbhila.

‘On the eighth lunar day Icshwaˊcu spoke thus to his son Vicucshi: “Go, robust youth, and having slain a male deer, bring his flesh for the funeral oblation.” Herivanśa.

b. Bathing at the first appearance of Aruna, or the dawn. Yama.

a. The worship of Gauriˊ, surnamed Varadá, or granting boons. Bhawishyóttara.

b. On this lunar day Saraswatiˋ, here called Sriˋ, the goddess of arts and eloquence, is worshipped with offerings of perfumes, flowers, and dressed rice: even the implements of writing and books are treated with respect and not used on this holiday. Samvatsara pradípa. A Meditation on Saraswati.

‘May the goddess of speech enable us to attain all possible felicity; she, who wears on her locks a young moon, who shines with exquisite lustre, whose body bends with the weight of her full breasts, who sits reclined on a white lotos, and from the crimson lotos of her hands pours radiance on the instruments of writing, and on the books produced by her favour!’ Sáradá tilaca.

c. A fast in honour of the Sun, as a form of Vishnu. Váráha purána

It is called also Mácarì from the constellation of Macara, into which the Sun enters on the first of the solar Mágha. Critya calpa taru,

This day has also the names of Rat'hyá and Rat'ha septamì, because it was the beginning of a Manwantará, when a new Sun ascended his car. Nárasiṅha. Mátsya.

d. A libation of holy water is offered by all the four classes to the Manes of the valiant and pious Bhiˊshma, Son of Gangaˋ. Bhawishyóttara.

e. Ceremonies with tila, or sesamum, in honour of Bhiˊma. Vishnu dherma.

f. Tila offered in six different modes. Mátsya.

g. The first day of the Caliyuga. Bráhma.

a. Green vegetables are offered on this day to the Manes of ancestors: it is called also Vaiswédévicì from the Vaiswédéváh, or certain paternal progenitors. Góbhila.

b. A rigorous fast, with extraordinary ceremonies in honour of the Sivalinga or Phallus. Iˊsána samhitá.

a. Bathing in the Gangá for the remission of mortal sins. Pádma.

b. Hólicà, or P'halgútsava, vulgarly Húlì, the great festival on the approach of the vernal equinox.

Kings and people sport on this day in honour of Góvinda, who is carried in a dólà, or palanquin. Bráhma. Scánda.

a. Bathing in silence. Vyása. Scánda.

a. Sacred to Caˊrticeˊya, the God of War. Dêví-purâna.

b. Men and women of all classes ought to bathe in some holy stream, and, if possible, in the Brahmaputra: they should also drink water with buds of the Asóca floating on it. See p. 254. Scánda.

c. The birthday of Raˊma Chandra. Ceremonies are to be performed with the mystical stone Sálagráma and leaves of Tulasí. Agastya.

d. A festival in honour of Caˊma deˊva, God of Love. Bhawishya.

e. The same continued with musick and bathing. Saurágama. Dévala. The Hymn to Caˊma.

1. Hail, God of the flowery bow; hail, warriour with a fish on thy banner; hail, powerful divinity, who causest the firmness of the sage to forsake him, and subduest the guardian deities of eight regions!

2. O Candarpa, thou Son of Maˊdhava! O Maˊra, thou foe of Sambhara! Glory be given to thee, who lovest the goddess Reti; to thee, by whom all worlds are subdued; to thee, who springest from the heart!

3. Glory be to Madana, to Caˊma; to Him, who is formed as the God of Gods; to Him, by whom Brahmaˊ, Vishnu, Siva, Indra, are filled with emotions of rapture!

4. May all my mental cares be removed, all my corporal sufferings terminate! May the object of my soul be attained, and my felicity continue for ever! Bhawishya-purána.

a. So called from Váruna, or the lunar constellation Satabhishà: when it falls on Saturday, it is named Mahávárunì. Bathing by day and at night in the Gangà. Scánda.

b. Sacred, I believe, to the planet Mangala. “A branch of Snuhì (Euphorbia) in a whitened vessel, placed with a red flag on the housetop, on the fourteenth of the dark half of Chaitra, drives away sin and disease. Rája mártanda.

a. Gifts on this day of water and grain, especially of barley, with oblations to Crishna of perfumes, and other religious rites, produce fruit without end in the next world. Scánda. Bráhma. Bháwishya.

b. The first day of the Satya yuga. Bráhma. Vaishnava.

“Water and oil of tila, offered on the Yugádyás to the Pitrĭs, or progenitors of mankind, are equal to obsequies continued for a thousand years.” Vishnu-purána.

This was also the day, on which the river Gangá flowed from the foot of Vishnu down upon Himálaya, where she was received on the head of Siva, and led afterwards to the ocean by king Bhágírat'ha: hence adoration is now paid to Gangá, Himálaya, Sancara, and his mountain Cailasa; nor must Bhágírat'ha be neglected. Bráhma.

c. Libations to the Manes. Raghunandan. Note on p. 275. Dólayátra. b.

Compare this holiday and the superstition on the fourth of Bhádra with the two Egyptian festivals mentioned by Plutarch; one called the entrance of Osiris into the Moon, and the other, his confinement or inclosure in an Ark,

The people usually claim four other days for their sports, and sprinkle one another with a red powder in imitation of vernal flowers: it is commonly made with the mucilaginous root of a fragrant plant, coloured with Bakkam, or Sappan-wood, a little alum being added to extract and fix the redness.

a. A fast, with ceremonies by women, at the roots of the Indian fig-tree, to preserve them from widowhood. Parásara. Rájamártanda. Critya chintámeni.

a. On this day of the moon the Hindu women imitate Rembhaˊ, the seaborn goddess of beauty, who bathed on the same day with particular ceremonies. Bhawishyóttara.

b. Women walk in the forests with a fan in one hand, and eat certain vegetables in hope of beautiful children. Rája mártanda.

See the account given by Pliny of the Druidical misletoe, or viscum, which was to be gathered, when the moon was six days old, as a preservative from sterility.

c. The word means ten-removing, or removing ten sins, an epithet of Gangá, who effaces ten sins, how heinous soever, committed in ten previous births by such as bathe in her waters. Brahma-vaiverta. A Couplet by Sanc'ha.

“On the tenth of Jyaisht'ha, in the bright half of the month, on the day of Mangala, son of the Earth, when the moon was in Hasta, this daughter of Jahnu burst from the rocks, and flowed over the land inhabited by mortals: on this lunar day, therefore, she washes off ten sins, (thus have the venerable sages declared) and gives an hundred times more felicity, than could be attained by a myriad of Aswamédhas, or sacrifices of a horse.”

d. A fast so strict, that even water must not be tasted.

e. A festival, I suppose, with the flowers of the Champaca.

a. The Earth in her courses till the thirteenth. Jyótish.

a. The image of Crishna, in the character of Jagannát'ha, or Lord of the Universe, is borne by day in a car, together with those of Balaraˊma and Subhadraˋ: when the moon rises, the feast begins, but must end, as as soon as it sets. Scánda.

b. The night of the Gods beginning with the summer solstice, Vishnu reposes four months on the serpent Seˊsha. Bhágavata. Mátsya. Váráha.

a. In honour of Dévì, the goddess of nature, surnamed Manasá, who, while Vishnu and all the Gods were sleeping, sat in the shape of a serpent on a branch of Snuhì, to preserve mankind from the venom of snakes. Garuda. Dévípurána.

a. Sacred to the demigods in the form of Serpents, who are enumerated in the Pedma, and Garuda, puránas. Doors of houses are smeared with cow-dung and Nimba-leaves, as a preservative from poisonous reptiles. Bhawishya. Retnácara.

Both in the Pádma and Gáruda we find the serpent Caˊliya, whom Crishna slew in his childhood, among the deities worshipped on this day; as the Pythian snake, according to Clemens, was adored with Apollo at Delphi.

a. The birthday of Crishna, son of Mahaˊmaˊyaˋ in the form of Deˊvaciˋ. Vaśisht'ha. Bhawishyóttara.

b. A strict fast from midnight. In the book, entitled Dwaita nirnaya, it is said that the Jayanti yóga happens, whenever the moon is in Róhinì on the eighth of any dark fortnight; but Varaˊha Mihira confines it to the time, when the Sun is in Siṅha. This fast, during which Chandra and Roˊhiniˋ are worshipped, is also called Róhiní vrata. Bráhmánda.

c. The first day of the Dwápara Yuga. Bráhma.

a. Crishna, falsely accused in his childhood of having stolen a gem from Praseˊna, who had been killed by a lion, hid himself in the moon; to see which on the two fourth days of Bhádra is inauspicious. Bráhma. Bhójadéva.

b. A ceremony, called Cuccutí vratam, performed by women in honour of Siva and Durgaˊ. Bhawishya.

c. “The family of him, who performs holy rites on this lunar day, shall flourish and increase like the grass dúrvà.” It is the rayed Agrostis. Bhawishyóttara.

d. Vishnu sleeping turns on his side. Mátsya. Bhawishya.

e. Princes erect poles adorned with flowers, by way of standards, in honour of Indra: the ceremonies are minutely described in the Cálicá purána.

f. Sacred to Vishnu with the title of Ananta, or Infinite. Bhawishyóttara.

a. Three days before the sun enters the constellation of Canyá, let the people, who dwell in Gaura, offer a dish of flowers to Agastya. Brahma-vaiverta.

Having poured water into a sea-shell, let the votary fill it with white flowers and unground rice: then, turning to the south, let him offer it with this incantation: ‘Hail, Cumbhayoˊni, born in the sight of Miˊtra and Varuna, bright as the blossom of the grass cása; thou, who sprangest from Agni and Maˊruta.’ Cása is the Spontaneous Saccharum. Nárasinha.

This is properly a festival of the solar year, in honour of the sage Agastya, supposed, after his death, to preside over the star Canopus.

b. Some begin on this day, and continue till the ninth of the new moon, the great festival, called Durgótsava, in honour of Durgaˊ, the goddess of nature; who is now awakened with sports and musick, as she was waked in the beginning by Brahmaˊ during the night of the Gods. Cálicá purána. Note on p. 265. Utt'hánaicádasí. g.

In one almanack I see on this day Tulasí-viváha, or the Marriage of Tulasiˋ, but have no other authority for mentioning such a festival. Tulasiˋ was a Nymph beloved by Criˊshna, but transformed by him into the Parnása, or black Ocymum, which commonly bears her name. General Note.

If the festivals of the old Greeks, Romans, Persians, Egyptians, and Goths, could be arranged with exactness in the same form with these Indian tables, there would be found, I am persuaded, a striking resemblance among them; and an attentive comparison of them all might throw great light on the religion, and, perhaps, on the history, of the primitive world.