Chithirail Chithirai nAl - sri Venkatakrishnan Santhanagopalan's querry

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Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

ASAsE ShatpadAmOdavahAm guruparamparAm

SrinArAyaNa pAdAbja madhudhArAm ivAparAm.

Dear Bhaktas,

 

The doubt raised in an earlier posting, regarding chithirai star

not falling on Poornima of Chithirai month can be cleared with the following

explanation. Firstly we have to distinguish between the lunar and solar

calendars. Lunar Chaitra masam is not the same as Solar or Tamil Chithirai

masam.The latter corresponds to the solar Mesha masam. It is only in the lunar

Chaitra masam that the Chitra star coincides with full moon day most of the

times(or one day before or later). Owing to the differences in the lengths of

the lunar and solar (i.e., tamil) years, there is bound to be randomness in the

occurrences of lunar events with respect to the solar events.

For example, in one year, Chitra Pournami may occur in Panguni or Meena masam

and in the next year, it may occur in Chithirai or Mesha masam. Similarly,

Vaishakha pournami with vishakha star may occur in Chithirai masam or

Vaihaashi(Vrishabha) masam.in different years. If Vaishakha pournami occurs in

Mesha masam, then Vishakha star will be by the fullmoon day and the chitra star

will be relegated to dwadashi or trayodashi as pointed out by Sri

Venkatakrishnan Santhanagopalan.

The important point to be noted is that the birthdays (tirunakshatrams) of

Azhwar AchAryas and all, in general, are celebrated or observed on their stars

falling in their respective solar month.

For example,

MEShE ( chitthirai masam) Chitta samudbhootam --Madhurakavi and

Anandalwar(AnandaNbillai)

Vrishabhe (Vaihashi masam) tu vishAkhAyAm --- Nammalwar (and I think Sri PBA

swamy)

Vrischike(karthihai Masam) krittika jAtam ----- Tirumangai Azhwar, Nambillai (

Lokacharyar)

and so on.

In the third example, if the poornima of lunar Kartheeka month occurs in the

tamil or solar month of Karthihai, then Krittika star will be closest to the

fullmoon day. On the other hand if the poornima of lunar MArgashira month occurs

during the tamil Karthihai month, then krittika star will be on trayodasi or

chaturdasi.

Similarly, the criterion for Sri VedantaDesikar tirunakshatram is SravaNa star

occuring in Kanya (Perattasi ) masam and not in the lunar BhAdrapada masam,

though occasionally in some years, the lunar BhAdrapada masam Sravana star and

Kanya (Perattasi) masam Sravana star do coincide. Otherwise it falls on

Vijayadasami day in some years. And if Kanya masam happens to contain two

sravana stars in the same tamil month, then the tirunakshtram is celebrated on

the day of the second Sravana star.

 

Please excuse me if I have grown too didactic for your patience. I hope anyone

will correct me if I am wrong.

 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasadasan

 

M.N.Ramanuja