Guest guest Posted September 9, 2007 Report Share Posted September 9, 2007 hinducivilization , " Avtar Krishen Kaul " <jyotirved wrote: Respected Dr. R. N. Iyengar, Namaskar! Dr. B. V. Raman has the following information about the birth nakshatra of Bhagwan Krishna on the footnote of pages 2-3 of his " Notable Horoscopes " .... " In Bhagavata, tenth skanda, third chapter, it is said that Krishna was born when the Moon was in the constellation of Prajapathi, i.e. Rohini. By a careful study of the 26th shloka of first chapter, fifth amsa of Vishnupurana, it can be construed that Krishna was born on the night of Krishnashtami (8th day of dark half) in the lunar month of Sravana. Information furnished in Harivamsa (1 part, 52nd chapter) is clear and to the point so far as the lunar day, month and time are concerned. It is said that Krishna was born on the 8th lunar day of the dark half of Sravana, in the constellation of Rohini at midnight. ashtamyam sravanemase krishnapakshe mahatithou rohinyamardharatre cha sudnmsa udayonmukhe From Bhagvata,we can also glean (Skanda 11, chapter VI) that Krishna lived for 125 years... " And as everybody knows, Dr. Raman was a South Indian, from Karnataka, and it was Rohini instead of Abhinjit nakshatra according to him also. .... .... .... .... ... In Northern India we go mostly by Hemadri, Nirnayasindhu, and Dharmasindhu. This is what Nirnayasindhu has said on page 182. (a running English translation): " ..It has been said in Brahmapurana that in Bhadra Krishna-ashtami Devaki's eighth son Krishna was born. This ashtami is of two types. Janmashtami and jayanti. Out of these two, the first is just ashtami alone because as per Skandapurana, a fast has to be observed on Bhadra Krishna ashtami on account of the birth of Krishna. Some other purana says that whether it is during the day time or night time, if Rohini nakshatra is not present even for half an hour on ashtami, the fast has to be observed till moonrise on the day of ashtami.... A fast has to be observed on ashtami and if it is coupled with Rohini nakshatra it is known as jayanti and a fast is to be observed at all costs. The same thing has been said in Agnipurana and also Vishnurahasya that if Bhadra Krishna ashtami is coupled with Rohini nakshatra,it is known as Jayanti...Vishnudharma has said that during ashtami at midnight with Rohini nakshatra also present at moonrise/midnight, a fast has to be observed at any cost....If Rohini nakshatra is present on the first or second ashtami, then janmashtami and jayanti are to be celebrated on one and the same day and not on two days sepaqrately......According to Hemadri, Rohini nakshatra present in ashtami, even if for half an hour, is to be preferred to an ashtami without rohini nakshatra (i.e. if ashtami is present on two days at midnight but Rohini is present on only one day even for half an hour, the ashtami when Rohini nakshatra also is present is to be celebrated as jayanti and also as janmashtami " . Thus in NorthernIndia also Rohini and not Abhijit is the presumed janma nakshatra of Bhagwan Krishna. ........ ..... ...... ..... The Report of Saha Calendar Reform Committee has this to say under " General Rules for religious festivals " page 103: " Janmashtami, madhyaratri vyapini. If midnight is covered on two days, or not on any day, it is to be observed on the 2nd day; special when combined with nakshatra Rohini at midnight....If the combination occurs before midnight and Rohini extends upto midnight, it is to be observed on that day. " Then udner the heading " Criteria of some festivals for South India " the same Report has said on page 106: " Shri Jayanti or Smarta Shri Krishna Jayanti ..Observed on Krishna ashtami of solar Bhadrapada. Dosham or Vedai are not considered here. " Pancharatra Shri Krishna Jayanti: Observed in Rohini nakshatra (Krishna paksha) of solar Bhadrapada. Vedam or Dosham is strictly considered here " . .... .... ........... L. D. Swamikannu Pillai in his " An Indian Ephemeris " Vol-I also has said the same thing as the CRC Report. ..... .... .... In Kashmir a folk song goes " Rohini teshas tu vresh lagnas " ... i.e. born in Rohini nakshatra and Vrisha lagna! Janmashtami festival is known there as " zarmasatam " an " apabramsha " of " Janmasaptami " . The main resons for this " saptami " is that almost alsways it is saptami at the time of sunrise when it is ashtami at midnight! Since the usual tithi is known by the one that is rishing i.e. prevailing at the time of sunrise instead of at the time of midnight, that is why it is known as zarma-satam. Same is the case " Herath-truvah " there i.e. it is known as " Shivarati-Trayodashi " . It is only becasue more often than not, Trayodashi is present at sunrise whereas chaturdashi is prevailing at midnight. But thanks to our Jantriwalas and panchanga-karts etc., they make us celebrate even such important festivals on a day earlier than they should have done actually! .... .... ..... ..... ... I am constrained to close this post on a sad note! Even this year, like every other year, we were compelled to celebrate a festival like janamshtami also, like all the other festivals, later by one month i.e. on September 3/4, 2007, instead of August 5, 2007! For all such confusin, we must thank these Lahiriwallas, Ramanawallas and even Muladharawalas, who call themselves " Vedic sastrologers " or even " Hindu astrologers " . They were quibbling whether janmashtami aught to be celebrated on September 3 (when ashtami was present at midnight) or on September 4 (when it was not present at midnight though it ws presnt for the whole day!)! But they had no compunction to find out as to whether they were really celebrating it in Shrvana (Bhadra in Northern India) Krishna ashtami or some other month! Really penny wise and pound foolish! With regards, A K Kaul hinducivilization , " aareni " <aareni@> wrote: > > > What was the star under which Sri Krishna was born? To the realized few > and the large number of Sampradaayavaadins the question would appear > silly and meaningless. Yes, someone who is vishva-vyaapii and > sarvaantaryaami there can be no birth and hence no death. But for common > devotees like some of us who celebrate Janmaashtami aka Gokulaastami aka > Krishna-jayanti aka Srijayanti, the question does not sound all that > artificial. All over India a few days back the festival was celebrated. > In this connection there was a series of postings in another Sri > Vaishnava (read Iyengar) group. One person asked the comments of members > on the statement of Peri-aazhwar (also known as VishNuchitta; one among > the canonical saints of SrivaishNavism) that Krishna was born under the > ¡§tenth star from Hasta¡¨ (Tamil: attattin pattaam naaL). In > another place Azhwar refers to Krishna as ¡¥TiruvoNattaan¡¨ (born > under ShravaNam). Well, there are traditional interpretations on this to > match the star somehow with RohiNi. I presented another possibility for > this, but the complete post was censored for reasons not known to me. > Hence I am posting my points here. Since I did not store my reply I > don¡¦t have the exact wordings. But the gist is given below: > > -- > > ¡§It appears Azhwar was following the tradition of Harivamsha, > (Vishnuparva: II book of HV Ch 4 v14-16) where it says > > abhijinnaama nakshatram jayantiinaama sharvarii| > > muhuurto vijayonaama yatra jaato janaardanah|| > > > > The star mentioned clearly is Abhijit, which Vedic tradition also > recognizes as being between U.Ashadha and ShravaNA in ancient times. > This was indeed the tenth from Hasta and hence Azhwar was following this > tradition said tenth from Hasta. However during his period (8-10th cent > AD) Abhijit had vanished from the list and hence the tenth became > Shravana automatically. We do not find the star stated in > VishnupuraNam. It just says as revealed by VishNu, > > praavrt-kaale ca nabhasi krishnaastamyaam aham nis¡¦i | > > utpatsyaami navamyaantu prasuutim tvam avaapsyasi || (5th book, 1.78) > > In the early rainy season, in the month of Nabhas, on the eighth night > of the dark-half, during the ninth (?) I will be born. Bhaagavatam has > the following: > > yarhyeva ajanaa-janma nakshatram s¡¦aantarksha graha-taarakam (10th > book 3.1) > > The phrase ajana-janma-naksatram is interpreted by the commentator > Sridhara-acharya as Rohinii (Aldebaran). He interprets: ¡§ajanaat > naaraayaNaat - janma yasya, prajaapapateh, tasya rkshƒwam, > RohiNiinakshatram.¡¨. For many other celestial happening during the > time of our Lord please see my published article: ¡§Celestial > observations associated with Krishna-lore,¡¨ Ind. J. Hist. of > Science, (2006),41.1,pp1-13. > ttp://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/maha/krishnalore/ > <http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/maha/krishnalore/> ¡¨ > > ----------- > > Members may comment on my above thoughts if they like. We are of course > following the interpretation of Sridharasvamin, at least from > Vijayanagar times. There is a Kannada inscription at Harihar according > to which on Monday, 15th August 1530 AD Krishna ashtami was celebreated > during Jayanti puNyakaala. The star turns out to be RohiNi!! > > It is important to find out how northerners celebrated (if at all they > did) in more ancient times. Are there any inscriptions referring to > Krishna¡¦s birth in any other part of India? Sampradaayavaadins, > historians, epigraphists, archaeologists, please enlighten me. > > My two paise worth of personal opinion is: the Bhagavata, not > withstanding its later interpolations, also points to Abhijit only. > Periazhwar belonged to the period before Islamic plundering. Then > Krishna¡¦s birth was celebrated on ShravaNa (default tenth from > Hastam) star which is VishNu¡¦s star as per VaishNava-Vedic tradition > also. I am yet to verify Sridharasvamin¡¦s date to check my > hypothesis. > > You may wonder what Islamic invasion has to do with the above purported > change. That has to do a lot with Sri Rangam temple and its festivals > including Vaikuntha ekadashi (the Tamil Raapattu and Pahalpattu= the > Night-ten & the Day-ten and winter solstice) . That will be at someother > time. > > Regards > > RN Iyengar > --- End forwarded message --- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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