Fw: [nama-dallas] Digest Number 258

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Writeup about Sri Jayanti day

Posted by: "Venkatesan Srinivasan" srinivasan_venkatesan8 srinivasan_venkatesan8

Wed Aug 12, 2009 9:19 pm (PDT)

Dear Members,There have been a number of questions about when Sri Vaishnavas celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna, and why there are differences of opinion concerningsuch an important event in different parts of the country. One reader has quizzically wondered as to why there are so many differences in the "Hindu calendar".We should first set aside the notion of a single, unitary "Hindu calendar", the word Hindu being a modern, cultural, notion and a religiously meaningless construction.Each region and religious tradition of India has a separate calendar, often with wildly differing rules. This is because the Vedic tradition is inherently diverse, recognizing that different ways of celebrating are appropriate in different parts of the country. In today's times, with religious values declining and monochromatic trans-culturalism the name of the game, personal and familial religious identities are being forgotten and people often hold on only tothe lowest common denominator. But enough about this.With respect to the specific case of Lord Krishna's birth, Sri M.N.Ramanuja writes:> Regarding SriJayanthi Adiyen has this to say Five thousand years ago, when Srikrishna was born, the day was Simha masam (Avani), Sravana masam, Bahula, Ashtami. and Rohini star. Hence ideally all these conditions have to match to celebrate Srijayanthi.Sri M.N. Ramanuja has succinctly described the problem.

 

Different interpretations of the texts that describe Sri Krishna's birth lead to different conclusions as to when to celebrate it.The factors are:1) solar month2) lunar month3) nakshatra (constellation aligned with the moon)4) tithi (loosely, phase of the moon)5) how to determine these when combined with other factors such as sunrise or moonriseThe smArta tradition generally observes the birth of Sri Krishna on SrAvaNa-krishna-ashTamI, giving importanceonly to the tithi. They also generally follow the lunar calendar for this observance and celebrate it in SrAvaNa (lunar month),without paying attention to the nakshatra or the solar month. (Those who are familiar with the smArta tradition should feel free to correct me. There may be local variations.)Most other religious traditions in the country have followed this practice. Since for all these traditions the tithi is givenimportance, those who follow this reckoning call the day (Sri Krishna) janmAshTamI or gokulAshTamI.The Sri Vaishnava tradition has carefully taken into account all the different shastras including the pAncarAtra agamatexts which provide a wealth of guidance in this matter and calculates the day differently. For us, the nakshatra(rOhiNI) is given primary importance, with ashTamI also taken into consideration (more on this later). The particular conjunction of the ashTamI tithi and rOhiNI is known as 'jayantI', and thisday is described by many of the shastras as being the auspicious birthday of Sri Krishna [texts cited include vishnu-dharmottara-purANa, vishnu-rahasya, and sanatkumAra samhitA]. Since thejunction of ashTamI and rohiNI is what we take into account, we say that Sri Krishna was born on 'SrI jayantI'.Please note that the word 'jayantI' by itself is sufficient to refer to Sri Krishna's birthday. There is no need to say'Krishna Jayanti'. It is only in a secondary sense that we say Sri Narasimha Jayanti, Gandhi Jayanti, Ambedkar Jayanti,etc. These are all out of courtesy. The name 'jayantI' proper refers only to the birth of Sri Krishna. For example, we haveSri Vedanta Desika's well-known opening sloka from Sri Gopala Vimsati:vande bRndAvana-caram, vallavI-jana-vallabham |jayantI sambhavam dhAma vaijayantI-vibhUshaNam ||^^^^^^^Within the Sri Vaishnava tradition itself, there have developed slight differences as to when to observe SrI jayantI. Pagesand pages have been written by some erudite scholars over the years arguing over which is correct.There is also disagreementas to *how* exactly to observe the day. Should one observe upavAsa through the night, ceremonially breaking the fast the next morning, or should one eat immediately after the midnight pUja / ArAdhana? These are complex issues that I barely understand myself and I won't begin discussing them here. I will confine this discussion to the date on which to observeSrI jayantI.Broadly, there are two different opinions within the Sri Vaishnava tradition concerning this matter. One can becalled the 'mannAr' tradition, the other the 'tOzhappar' tradition. (In a nutshell, the difference stems from lunar vs. solar month and whether to take sunrise ormoonrise

into consideration for determining jayantI.this will be explained below.)The mannAr tradition is followed by Sri Parakala Matham and 'munitraya' tradition Sri Vaishnavas such as both Andavan Ashramams and most Vadagalai acharya-purusha families. It is named after one mannAr svAmi of unknown date who is the first extant authority arguing for this calculation.mannAr svAmi is known to have very eminent predecessors who shared his opinion, such as the Upanishad Bhashyakara Ranga Ramanujacharya.The tOzhappar tradition is followed by Sri Ahobila Matham and Thengalai Sri Vaishnavas (knowledgable members of the Thengalai tradition please correct me if I am wrong). It is named after Sri Vaidika Sarvabhauma Swami, also known as Kidambi Thozhappar, who wrote a detailed text establishing the reasoning behind histradition. He was a disciple of the founding Jeeyar Swami of Sri Ahobila Matham.Having briefly laid out the history, here are the differences themselves. The tOzhappar tradition is simpler so I will lay it out first.tOzhappar SrI jayantI:1) Only the solar month is taken into account. So it must be in simha (AvaNi) mAsam, which is mid-August to mid-September.2) The target date in this month is kRshna-ashTamI (8th day of the waning phase of the moon) in conjunction with rOhiNI. However, on that day, not even a tiny bit of saptamI should exist post-sunrise, nor should therebe any kRttikA nakshatram.3) If there is no pure ashTamI-rOhiNI conjunction as described in (2), navamI-rOhiNi is the next preferred conjunction, with once again a pure rOhiNi mandatory.4) If (3) is not possible, mRgaSIrsha nakshatra combined with navamI or daSamI is the next preferred choice.5) If this observance of SrI jayantI does not fall on ashTamI, the ashTamI is treated as any other day and requires no special observance.mannAr SrI jayantI:1) The ideal date is the conjunction of rOhiNI and kRshNa-ashTamI that lasts from sunrise through the night. (This need not happen in the solar month of AvaNi. Lunar month of SrAvaNa before AvaNi beginsis also okay.)2) If (1) is not possible, if at moonrise it isrOhiNI as well as ashTamI, that date should be taken. Neither the rOhiNi nor the ashTamI need be pure as in the tOzhappar tradition.3) If (2) is not possible, if there is any conjunction of ashTamI and rOhinI day or night, that calendar day should be taken as SrI jayantI.There are 12 more cases in the mannAr tradition which get quite complicated. But the primary focus in all is some occurrence of rOhiNI. In no circumstance should navamI without rOhiNI be taken as SrI jayantI.(Some other circumstances such as being on a Wednesday Sri Krishna is said to be born on this day of the week] push the date in one direction or another.)The key is that in neither mannAr nor tOzhappar is the tithi given preference. This is why only rarely does the Sri Vaishnava date coincide with the smArta date.This should explain why the mannAr traditionsometimes observes SrI jayantI as much as a month before the tOzhappar tradition. Since the latter exclusively prefers the solar month, their date often falls several weeks later. Further, it also explains why the mannAr observance is often just a day before the tOzhappar date. This is because the mannAr tradition takes into account moonrise whereas the tOzhappar traditiononly takes into account sunrise.Occasionally, mannAr tradition Sri Vaishnavas have to observe two days of fasting in a row -- janmAshTamI as well as SrI jayantI. This is when the ashTamI andrOhiNI simply do not coincide at all and fall one after another in the solar month of AvaNi. Note that this janmAshTamI is not the same as the smArta calculation of janmAshTamI.I hope this matter has been clarified a little bit. Note: texts consulted:o 'SrI jayantI nirNaya' by Sri Gopalarya Mahadesikao 'Ahnika granthaH' of Sri Villivalam Krishnamacharya(present Sri Azhagiya Singar in pUrvASrama)With regards,Mani