Brahma-Muhurta

[Guest guest]

> Shyamasundara P. once wrote: In order to convert Vedic time into Western

> time we will take reference from another Vedic text, the Taittiriya

> Brahmana, third canto, chapter ten (quoted in Bharatiya Jyotisha Sastra -

> The History of Indian Astronomy published by the Indian Government, vol. 1,

> p. 42). In that section it is explained that the day and night are each

> divided into 15 muhurtas. When day and night are of equal length, a muhurta

> is equal to 48 minutes, and thus one danda equals 24 minutes.

>

>> If we consider like this each Muhurta in the day comes to around 52

>> minutes for Aug 1 in Mumbai for eg instead of 48 minutes. But what happens

>> to each muhurta in the night from sunset to sunrise, does that decrease in

>> duration?

>

> Yes, it varies according to the length of day/night.

 

Now I am confused. Syamasundara just said that the muhurtas should be

absolute, not relative, but now Jan is saying, and quoting him also, that

the muhurtas are relative.

 

I was always taught that a muhurta was precisely 48 minutes. Why the

discrepancy in Mumbai?

 

Ys., Rama Kesava dasa

[Guest guest]

> > > As far as calculating muhurtas is concerned, please note that it is

> > > not always 48 minutes -- more precisely it is 1/15th of the time

> > > between sunset and sunrise, so it varies every day. If you want to

> > > have the exact time, you should consider this.

> >

> > Thank you for this additional info Adipurusa Prabhu. It is quite

> > important. What is the reference for this statement? Can Jaya Tirtha

> > Charan Prabhu confirm that this is true?

>

> Shyamasundara P. once wrote: In order to convert Vedic time into Western

> time we will take reference from another Vedic text, the Taittiriya

> Brahmana, third canto, chapter ten (quoted in Bharatiya Jyotisha Sastra -

> The History of Indian Astronomy published by the Indian Government, vol.

> 1, p. 42). In that section it is explained that the day and night are each

> divided into 15 muhurtas. When day and night are of equal length, a

> muhurta is equal to 48 minutes, and thus one danda equals 24 minutes.

>

> > If we consider like this each Muhurta in the day comes to around 52

> > minutes for Aug 1 in Mumbai for eg instead of 48 minutes. But what

> > happens to each muhurta in the night from sunset to sunrise, does that

> > decrease in duration?

>

> Yes, it varies according to the length of day/night.

>

>

> Hope this helps

>

> ys bh. Jan

 

 

Could you please send that exact quote to me privately. There must be some

misunderstanding somewhere. In India we used to always joke that IST (Indian

Standard Time) actually meant Indian Stretchable Time but this would be

taking it too far.

 

There are two schools of thought. One wants to make a Muhurta a relative

quauntity equal to 1/15 of a day or night in which case a daylight muhurta

will be different from a night time muhurta and different from day to day

and night to night.

 

The other wants to use a fixed length of time for a Muhurta based on the

fixed length of a Nadika = 24 minutes and 1 Muhurta = 2 Nadika.

 

I am in the later school when it comes to time keeping and calendars.

 

As I said before using a relative span of time based on dividing the length

of day or night is an actual practice but with very specialized application

not for universal application. For example the Upagraha known as Mandi is

found by dividing the day into 8 parts and assigning each part to one of the

7 planets. What ever degree is rising at the beginning of the 8th part will

belong to Mandi. The order of rulership will change according to the day of

the week so that Mandi will rise at different times and change his position

in the cart radically. At night the rule is similar with some variation. (I

am just giving this example from memory so do not take it as definitive it

is only for giving an example of a principle.)