06 Cāturmāsya

CHAPTER VI

CĀTURMĀSYA

On Āṣāḍha-śukla ekādaśī or dvādaśī or paurṇimā1 or on the day when the Sun enters the Zodiacal sign Cancer, cāturmāsya vrata is to be observed. Whenever it may be begun it is to be finished on Kārtika-śukla 12. The performer should observe a fast that day, worship Viṣṇu (image) and pray as follows: (Garuḍapurāṇa I. 121. 2–3) ‘O God! I have undertaken this vrata in your presence; may it succeed without obstacles if you become favourable to me; after I undertake this vrata if I die when it is half-finished, may it become completely fulfilled through your favour’! The vrata may be begun even when Jupiter or Venus has become invisible and the like. The performer has to give up some edible during the four months, viz. vegetables in Srāvaṇa, curds in Bhādrapada, milk in Āśvina and pulses in Kārtika. According to some authorities, he has to give up some or all vegetables for all the four months. The performer is asked to give up many other things also such as sleeping on a cot, meat, honey &c. When the vrata is finished, he invites brāhmaṇas, announces to them what restrictions he had undertaken, feeds them, gives them dakṣiṇā, and recites the prayer ‘O Lord! this vrata was undertaken by me in order to please you; O Janārdana! may it become complete through your favour, whatever defect there may be!’ This vrata is even now observed, particularly by women. The Kr̥tyatattva (p. 435), Vratārka, Vrataprakāśa (folio 105a) and other medieval digests quote long passages from the Matsya, Bhaviṣyottara (1. 6-9) and other purāṇas about the results of giving up certain things in the Cāturmāsyavrata. A few passages are set out for sample: ‘a man secures a sweet voice by giving up jaggery, has charming limbs by giving up oil, by giving up ghee he secures beauty, by giving up fruits he becomes intelligent and has many sons, by giving up vegetables and leaves he secures well-cooked dishes, by giving up curds and milk he goes to the world of cows ‘2.

In the Vedic period there were sacrifices called Cāturmāsyas (seasonal sacrifices) that were performed on the Full Moon days of Phālguna (or Caitra), of Āṣāḍha and Kārtika and were respectively called Vaiśvadeva, Varuṇapraghāsa and Sākamedha (the fourth called Śunāsiriya need not detain us). Vide H. of Dh, vol. II. pp. 1091–1106. It was expressly stated by Āpastamba Śrauta VIII. 4. 13 that Vaiśvadeva (parvan of Cāturmāsya) was to be offered in vasanta and Varuṇapraghāsa in the rainy season. It may be noted that the sacrificer in these seasonal sacrifices had to keep certain observances such as sleeping on the ground,3 avoiding meat, honey, salt, sexual intercourse and bodily decorations, which closely resemble the restrictions laid on the person observing Ekādaśīvrata. The Yājñavalkya-smr̥ti 4 (I. 125) makes it obligatory on a person of means to offer a Soma sacrifice every year, a paśubandha in each ayana, the Āgrayaṇeṣṭi (performed when new crops are ready) and the cāturmāsyas. The cāturmāsyas meant here are the Vedic ones mentioned above and not the Paurāṇika vratas of cāturmāsya.

The Yājñavalkya-smr̥ti employs the word vrata in the sense of prāyaścitta in III. 251, 252, 254, 266, 269, 282, 298, 300, in the sense of ‘brahmacarya’ in III, 15, and in the sense of the food to be subsisted upon in III, 289, but hardly ever in the sense of a rite to be observed on a tithi or week day or nakṣatra as in the purāṇas. This at least indicates that the vratas mentioned in the purāṇas had not attained prominence in the time of the Yājñavalkya-smr̥ti, which, in spite of its containing over 1000 verses, hardly ever refers to any vrata in the sense of the purāṇas.

  1. चातुर्मासिकवतग्रहणे कालचतुष्टयम्। आषाढी पौर्णमासी शुक्ला एकादशी द्वादशी कर्कटसंक्रान्तिश्च । का. वि. p. 332, हे. (on व्रत) II. p. 806, तिथितत्त्व p. 111 (quoting वराह); गरुड I 121 1 mentions एकादशी and आषाढी पौर्णमासी for चातुर्मास्यव्रत. ↩︎

  2. चतुरो वार्षिकान मासान्देवस्योत्थापनावधि । मधुस्वरो भवेन्नित्यं नरो गुडविवर्जनात्। तैलस्य वर्जनादेव सुन्दराङ्गः प्रजायते। कटुतैलपरित्यागात् शत्रुनाशमवाप्नुयात्। ताम्बूल वर्जनाद्भोगी रक्तकण्ठः प्रजायते। घृतत्यागात्सुलावण्यं सर्वं स्निग्धं वपुर्भवेत् । फलत्यागाच्च मतिमान बहुपुत्रः प्रजायते । शाकपत्राशनत्यागात् पक्वान्नादो नरो भवेत् । … दधिदुग्धपरित्यागान्दोलोकं लभते नरः। व्रतप्रकाश folio 105a quoting भविष्योत्तर; कुत्यतत्त्व p. 435 quotes almost the same verses from मत्स्य, नि.सि. p. 106 quotes similar verses from हेमाद्रि. ↩︎

  3. पौर्णमासेनेष्ट्वा चातुर्मास्यव्रतान्युपेयात्। केशान्निवर्तयीत। शश्रूणि वापयीत। अधः शयीत । मधुमांसलवणस्त्र्यवलेखनानि वर्जयेत्। आश्च. श्री. स. II. 16. 22-27: तस्म पर्वस्वन्तरालव्रतानि। न मांसमश्नाति। न स्त्रियमुपैति । ऋत्वे वा जायाम्। नोपर्यास्ते। जुगुप्सेतानृतात् । प्राङ् शेते। आश्च. श्रौ. सू. VIII. 4. 4-10. ↩︎

  4. प्रतिसंवत्सरं सोमः पशुः प्रत्ययनं तथा। कर्तव्याग्रयणेष्टिश्च चातुर्मास्यानि चैव हि। याज्ञ. I. 125. ↩︎