Significance of Kaarthigai & Vishnu Deepam

[Guest guest]

Significance of the

month of Kaarthigai

 

The solar month of Kaarthigai is

going to be over in a few hours.

As a kind of farewell,

let us see some facets of this

month in cosmological terms.

 

Kaarthigai comes with lighting

lamps.

Lighting lamps during twilight

hours on all days of

the solar month of

Kaarthigai is an age-old practice.

The special occasion is the full moon day in Kaarthigai

when all houses and temples will be

decorated with oil lamps after sunset.

 

According to the astrological text,

Kalaprakasika,

kaarthgai deepam is celebrated on

the Full moon day of the solar month of kaarthgai.

The Full moon is the fundamental

signifactor.

The star krittika may

or may not be present.

But the deepam must be lighted on

the Full moon.

If the full moon continues in the

next evening, the deepam must be lit then.

Even if there is a lunar eclipse,

the deepam must be lit.

This festival ensures prosperity

and good rains to the country.

 

The lighting time must coincide

with exact sun set or just before sunset or at twilight.

The twilight is defined as the time

when sun will be within 18 degrees below the horizon.

It takes 4 minutes to cross a

degree.

That means twilight stretches for 1

hour and 12 minutes after sunset.

It is within this time the

Kaarthigai deepam is lit.

The details of how this festival is

to be celebrated

is given in this link from

Kalaprakasika.

 

http://books.google.co.in/books?id=e_8MaBfTncgC & pg=PP7 & lpg=PP7 & dq=kalaprakasika+translation & source=web & ots=7096Yp5mnG & sig=_pN0EIEn38u-y2pjz277r4gtheM & hl=en & sa=X & oi=book_result & resnum=2 & ct=result#PPA240,M1

 

 

Why the month

Kaarthigai?

 

Lighting lamps is an everyday

practice as a part of worship.

But why this month of Kaarthigai

has been specifically chosen is a question.

If we look into the details

connected with this month,

we will know the cosmological and

historical significance of this month.

 

This month lies opposite to Vaikasi when the summer is at its peak

in the northern hemisphere.

Kaarthigai is the time of peak summer in the southern

hemisphere.

 

What we call as Agni nakshathra days

in the North

is experienced in the south during

this month.

http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2008/05/some-thoughts-on-agni-nakshathra.html

 

The agni nakshathra days are too

hot for conducting mundane affairs.

But this Kaarthigai month is cold –

devoid of solar strength.

So generate heat at that time.

A gentle but a steady and pleasant

heating is done during this month.

 

Kaarthigai is the month when the lunar strength is also at his lowest.

It is the month when the moon

reaches its debility.

The moon with the sun in this month

(in the constellation of Scorpio)

is a low-spirited time for the

lunar power.

 

 

Kaarthigai deepam

as Vishnu Deepam.

 

Kaarthigai deepam is known as the Vishnu deepam and

it is an important occasion at Vaishnavite houses and

temples.

It is because the Full moon of

Kaarthigai denotes Vishnu paadam!

If the Vishnu-paadam

in the North signifying Vishu corresponds to

the Vernal equinox,

the Vishnu

deepam corresponds to the Autumnal equinox in the South (hemisphere).

Autumnal equinoctial point is Lord Thrivikrama's sthithi (where he stood)

and also the third foot on Bali pressing him down to the

underworld.

 

This can be understood from the

explanation found in Surya siddhantha.

Surya Siddhantha explains the

sojourn of the sun

through the two ayanas as Vamana avathara.

The sign of Capricorn (Makar) at

the start of Uttarayana denotes

the first step of Lord Thrivikrama

–him measuring the bhoo-loka.

 

The second step is the loftiest one

pointing to Heavens at Vernal equinox (vishuvat).

The third step must be brought down

to his sthithi,

but placed on Bali pressing him

down to underworld

which is the plane below the southern

equinoctial location.

In vedic parlance North / uttar is

about the plane above our plane of existence.

South / Dakshin means the plane below our plane of

existence.

The directions as such are

understood in this way only.

 

The first step at Uttarayana.

The second step at Vishuvat –

Vernal equinox.

The third step at Autumnal equinox!

With that the asura (Mahabali) is

vanquished.

 

This is remembered as 'Sokka –p-paanai' or

bonfire

lit on the Kaarthigai deepam day in

the Vishnu temples.

 

 

Vishnu Deepam as a

Tamil festival!

 

There is a clue that Kaarthigai deepam was an important

cosmological event

in earlier time periods when Tamils

were living in the south of the equator.

 

The third foot of Lord Thrivikrama

must have been the first event

in the year of people of the

southern hemisphere.

From ancient astrological texts, we

come to know that

there was a time when the year

started not on Chaithra

but on Kaarthigai -

not on the day after Amavasya

(Shukla paksha) as we compute now,

but on the day after Pournami

(Krishna paksha).

This is a matter of debate among

scholars in astrology

who are in a fix as to how to

reconcile these recorded events.

But if we look at life as it could

have existed in the Southern hemisphere,

we can relate this to the reversal

of events.

What is Vishuvat (Vernal equinox)

in the Northern hemisphere

is Vikrama paadam in the Southern

hemisphere (Autumnal equinox).

 

A supportive evidence is found in the rules of the now defunct Vikrama Era.

The year in Vikrama era started from the day after

 

the Full moon of Kaarthika (lunar month)

 

-indicating that this calendar in fact was originally

followed in the South

 

rather than in the Northern parts.

 

 

To explain this better,

 

we know that among the various calendars that are (were) in

use,

 

Vikrama calendar and Salivahana

calendar were the most popular ones.

 

 

There is no authentic proof for why and how these two

calendars were formed.

 

Most historians following the history written by the

invading Britishers think

 

that Vikrama Era was initiated by King Vikramadhithya and

 

it was later replaced by Salivahanas.

 

 

 

But the unique difference between these two calendars

 

indicates that the origins may lie elsewhere.

 

It is that the Vikrama calendar

follows the Southern pattern –

 

the new year starts with the month of Kaarthika

 

whereas the salivahana calendar

starts with Chaithra –

 

following the Northern pattern.

 

The North – south I mention here is about the hemispheres.

 

 

 

The Vikrama calendar is the calendar of the Southern hemisphere

 

 

starting from the dark phase – from the day after the Full

moon in Kaarthika.

 

The salivahana calendar is the calendar of the Northern

hemisphere

 

starting from the day after the New moon in Chaithra.

 

Naturally Salivahana seemed to be realistic to the people

about 2000 years ago

 

living in the north of the equator,

 

as they thought it fit to replace the calendar of the south

 

and started the Salivahana Era.

 

 

This is how the transition could have come.

 

The Vikrama calendar which started on 56 BC

 

(coinciding with zero ayanamsa at Aries)

 

must have been an

adaptation of a previously used Southern Calendar

 

which was based on Vikrama's third step from Vernal to Autumnal

 

(just the opposite in the south) equinox!

 

 

 

Such a calendar would obviously begin in the Krishna Paksha

–

 

because South is about darkness.

 

South is about starting the year some time in Libra or

Sagittarius.

 

 

 

This is how the Kaarthigai deepam could have come to be

associated with Tamils

 

who were originally located in Kumari kandam (Lemuria)

 

ruled by the Pandyans who moved to the present Tamilnadu

 

after seeing two

deluges in the last 10,000 years.

 

The latest one was part of Yuga-pralaya

 

when the Kaliyuga began with the global inundations

 

in which Dwaraka too was sub-merged.

 

The Tamils, though they started to follow the calendar of

the North,

 

however did not give up the old memory of Vikrama's third

step

 

which they celebrated long long ago.

 

 

Finally why the name

Kaarthigai

when then Kaarthigai star is not

there in that constellation?

 

It is because the naming of the

months was done based on the star

in which Full moon happens in that month.

All the lunar months have been

named in that way.

The solar months were names based

on the Rasi (constellation)

such as Mesha maasam, Vrishanbha

maasam etc.

The Tamils used the solar way only.

 

This can be substantiated from the

astrological texts and Naadi readings

wherein solar names and their

equivalents only were used.

But lunar naming is connected with

vrathas or spiritual uses.

It seems that in course of time the lunar names had been

adopted

which could have undergone

variations such as aani, aadi etc.

In this connection, let us see the

use of different ways of computing time.

 

There had been in vogue solar time, (saura mana)

Lunar time (chandra mana)

Civil time (savanna mana)

and star

time (nakshathra mana).

All these are used in day to day

life.

 

Solar time is about the duration

covered by one rotation of the earth on its axis.

Lunar time is about the duration

between one New moon to another New moon.

Savanna time is about the duration

from one sunrise to another sunrise.

Star time is about the rotation of

the earth with reference to a fixed star.

It is time taken to come back to

the same star in the course of rotation of the earth.

 

The solar time is used in the case

of events.

That is why we say the year starts

when the sun is in zero degree Aries,

For, that is the basis for

computing events for the year.

The yearly prediction depends on

Sun's sojourn

from its beginning point which was

zero degree Aries when this Kalpa started.

 

The Lunar time is used for spiritual and religious purposes.

That is why the injunction on

Thithi (Full moon for deepam festival)

 

The savanna mana is for festivals and mundane activities.

For example, Deepavali is indeed at

the break of dawn on the New moon day.

But any auspicious festival

requires one to take oil bath.

Since New moon after dawn is a

thithi for pithru kaaryam,

oil bath can not be taken after

sunrise on New moon.

That is why the injunction on oil

bath before sunrise on Deepavali.

 

The nakshathra mana is purely for keeping

track of time with reference to space.

This has relevance in locating

lagna and planets at any given time.

This has vast application in astrology.

 

As for the current topic,

the solar month is the signifactor

of the event in cosmos and earthen hemisphere.

The Lunar connection is for worship

purpose.

The combination of these two is

earmarked for a grand worship

by lighting oil-wick lamps when

Full moon appears in the Solar month of Kaarthigai.

 

Here a clarification on the difference

between

lighting lamps on Deepavali (as it

is done in most of India barring Tamilnadu)

and lighting lamps on Kaarthigai

pournami.

The obvious difference is that Deepavali coincides with

New / no moon day

whereas Kaarthigai deepam coincides

with Full moon day.

But the intricate difference is

that, lighting lamps on Deepavali

is to celebrate a historical event

of the death of Narakasura

while that of the Kaarthigai is a

kind of worship on a cosmically important day.

 

(to be continued)