Frequency of a lunar fortnight of 13 days

[Guest guest]

The piiyuuSadhaaraa commentary on muhuurtacintaamaNi [1:43] , shloka

48 under shubhaasubha prakaraNa, quotes the following shloka regarding the

frequency of a lunar fortnight of 13 days:

 

trayodasha-dine pakSe tadaa saMharate jagat |

api varSa-sahasreNa kaalayogaH prakiirtitaH ||

 

In this shloka the term "varSa-sahasreNa kaalayogaH" means that a lunar

fortnight of 13 days occurs at an interval of 1000 years. Dr Fleet remarks on

this:

 

"This, of course, is an extensive exaggeration. A lunar fortnight of thirteen

solar days appears to occur at least once in twenty-five years".[2:83, fn 7]

 

According to Pt Shankar Balkrishna Dixit, the Phaalguna dark

fortnight of the shaka year 1793 and the JyeSTha bright fortnight of the shaka

year 1800 were of 13 days [3:114], i.e. the interval between two successive

lunar fortnights of 13 days is 7 years.

 

On checking the modern pa~ncaangas between the period shaka 1907

and 1915 (1985-1993 AD), I found that the bhaadrapada dark fortnight of the

shaka year 1912 ( 6-18 Sept 1990) and the aaSaaDha bright fortnight of the

shaka year 1915 (21 June-3 July 1993) were of 13 days. Thus the lowest frequency

of the occurrence of a lunar fortnight of 13 days comes out to be 3 years.

 

The amaanta system has been used for naming the lunar months.

 

A lunar fortnight of 13 days is also called "vishva-ghasra-pakSa" (a

fortnight which devours the whole world). For more details, see [4].

 

REFERENCES:

 

[1] "muhuurtacintaamaNiH" (shriimad raama daivaj~na viracitaH), piiyuuSadhaaraa

Tiikaa sahitam --- Ed: naaraayaNa raama aacaarya 'kaava-tiirtha'; Pub:

satyabhaamaa-baa-ii PaaMDuraMga, nirNaya-saagara press, mumba-ii, 1945 AD.[in

Sanskrit ]

 

[2] J F Fleet: "A lunar fortnight of thirteen solar days", Indian Antiquary,

March 1887, pp 81-84.

 

[3] Pt Shankar Balkrishna Dixit: "Bhaaratiiya jyotiSa-shaastraacaa itihaasa",

3rd edition, Pune, 1989 AD.[ in maraaThii ]

 

[4] Narayan Prasad: "teraha divasoM kaa pakSa (vishva-ghasra-pakSa)", VedavaaNi,

March 1998, pp.11-15 [ in hindii ]

 

**************************

Regards.

 

Narayan Prasad