This year too, like many times in the past, Krishna Jayanthi is celebrated on three days.
Painting by Ravi varma.
The reason for this is that the rules and rationale in fixing the birthday of
are differently followed by various schools of thought.
Some stick to the thithi while others to the birth star.
In this post let me look into some rationale from astrology point of view.
Thithi is not considered for birth days,
as thithi is connected with austerities or ritualistic practices to be done.
A thithi denotes the distance traveled by the moon.
At particular distances, it has been found to be beneficial for certain practices
to get maximum benefit.
In this way only, Amavasya is being reserved exclusively for pithru tarpaN.
Akshaya thritheeya
(http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2008/05/akshaya-thritheeya-for-buying-gold.html)
is found to give maximum results for dana, japa or meditation.
Another occasion is Ekadasi vratha.
Yet another occasion is Gokulashtami.
Fasting done on Ashtami in the dark phase of the moon in the month of Shravana
will help one a realize all desires.
That is why Gokulashtami is celebrated
on the thithi in which
Since thithis will benefit ritualistic practices done with expectation of a fruit or benefit,
But birth day is not connected to thithis.
Birth day is that day when the moon passes through the star in the zodiac sign
that it did at the time of the birth of the person.
As such, the star in the month in which the person is born is the birth star
and the day on which this happens is the birth day.
and the day of this star in the month of Shravana is considered as the birthday of
Here again a dilemma comes –
whether to celebrate the birthday on the day
when Rohini is there for most part.
Here astrology gives a clarification.
According to astrological texts,
Savanamana calculation is to be used for the purpose of festivals.
This Savanamana takes into account sun-rise timing.
According to this system,
to identify a day with a particular star,
that star must be still traversed by the moon at sun rise.
The star may have started on the previous day – but after sun rise.
That star may have been present for most part of the day in the previous day.
But since that star was not present at sun rise of the previous day,
the previous day can not be identified with that star.
When the star is still present at the time of sun rise the next day,
as though sanctified by sun’s rays,
only the next day is said to be the day of the star.
This is referred to as ‘piccham’ – ‘the remaining part’,
and if the star remains the next day also to see the sun rise,
then the celebrations connected with the star must be done on the next day only.
That is how the Krishna Jayanthi has come to be celebrated
on the 3 rd day, to day this year –
with Rohini remaining today
and Rohini seeing sun-rise only today.
The star may have been present for a few hours today, compared to yesterday.
But yesterday, the star at sun rise was Krittika and not Rohini.
So yesterday can not be considered as day of Rohini.
Yesterday was the day of Krittika.
But those taking up Kaarthigai - vratham
would start at the time of start of Krittika,
and end it at the end of the Krittika.
That is why you will find almanacs mentioning that
krittikai vratha started day- before yesterday
when moon entered the asterism of krittika.
But in the case of Rohini, it is not Rohini vratha.
It is Krishna's birth day.
That is why it is celebrated on the day of Rohini, sanctified by sun-rise.
That is the rationale.
If we start considering the star depending on its duration in a day,
we may encounter practical problems in computing time based on star.
There are times when a star will see 3 sunrises –
This is called ‘Thri-dinasprik’.
There are times when a star may not see sunrise at all.
The star may rise (moon’s entry into it) after sunrise and
set before the next sun rise.
This is called ‘Avama’ or ‘Avamakam ‘.
One can notice these words in the almanac.
Thri-dinasprik and Avama are avoided for auspicious purposes.
In the case of birthdays, the day when the star is present at sunrise,
it is considered as the birth day.
In celebrating Krishna Jayanthi,
the different days are chosen with respective reasons.
Fasting is an important aspect of
Those expecting material benefits must fast on Janmashtami
and break their fast (pAraNai) at the end of the Ashtami thithi.
They celebrate
Those who are free from material desires, should fast
on the Birthday (birth star) of
do regular pooja followed by
pooja to
They must Meditate on
Balarama, Vasudeva, Devaki, Nada gopa and Yashoda
till moon rise.
Once the moon appears in the horizon,
arghya of tender coconut water must be offered to moon.
Moon is prayed as the Milk of the ocean and
Moon with Rohini is offered the arghya.
Then they must continue
devotional services to
by offering food and fruits of the season.
Sleep is forbidden
and the fast is broken only on the next morning,
by taking food along with other devotees of Vishnu.
This kind of celebration is said to
remove all sins and fulfills all desires.
In this case, the moon may not be in the asterism of Rohini
at moonrise.
But it was, when
The same condition can not happen every year.
But the same rationale is used in celebration of
This is explained in the astrological text “Kalaprakasika”
A separate chapter is devoted on Shree jayanthi and how to celebrate it.
(can be read in this link)
The fear of Ashtami – Navami
Generally Ashtami and Navami are the days meant for meditation.
On these two days, the moon is at right angles to the earth
in such a way that the combined effect of both the sun and the moon
on earth and our mind is nil.
Any thought force emanating from us can be free of celestial disturbance.
That is why these two days are reserved for spiritual thoughts.
Since no other time in a paksha (fortnight) is so free of Luni-solar pulls,
our elders thought it fit to forget the mundane activities and
concentrate on God’s thoughts on these two days.
But this was forgotten in course of time
and unfortunately these two days have become dreaded days now-a-days.
Medicinal astrology also recommends Ashtami for starting
any new treatment of medicines or surgeries.
The combined effect of the sun and the moon on the fluids in our body
will be minimal at this time.
Kalaprakasika also states the asterisms at
Brahma Samhita is quoted in which Pitamaha
(Pitamaha is generally considered as the Sun God or Brahma)
tells Narada the birth time asterisms of
This is almost to similar to Rama’s horoscope
with 5 planets in exaltation and two planets in own houses.
A very rare occurrence indeed.
Horoscope of
But this is different from what BV Raman has presented.
(discussed in my post)
http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2008/05/birth-date-of-krishna-astrologically.html
BV Raman arrived at the horoscope based on texts like
Srimad Bhagavatham and Harivanmdsam.
It is intriguing that he missed
Kalaprakasika (a well known book of astrology) information.
I am presenting the horoscope given by BV Raman here.
It is wished that someone with know-how in tracking the times
based on planetary positions, take note of the horoscopes given here
and help us know the dates accordingly
ands also to arrive at the accurate horoscope.
Horoscope of
Krishna Jayanthi is also called as Janma Ashtami day, Gokula Ashtami and Sri Jayanthi.The birthday of Krishna, who was born to King Vasudeva and Devaki Devi is celebrated as a festival on the eighth day of the dark fortnight in the month of Sravana, which corresponds to the English month of August-September. Therefore Gokuashtami means Gokul - Krishna and Ashtami - eight.
ReplyDeleteLord Krishna Photo, God Krishna Picture, Krishna Wallpaper
Thanks for the link. Beautiful pics!
ReplyDeleteWith respect to observance of festivals because of certain star or certain celestial occurrence happening after sunrise, I have a doubt about the current Aadi maasam. My mother says Aadi pandigai is on 17th because Sun is entering kataka after sunset (for her). She lives in Chennai. For me in US in the Western timezone, Sun is entering Kataka at 08:34 AM (after sunrise). From my little understanding, I feel, I can celebrate Aadi pandigai today. Could you clear my doubts please?
ReplyDeleteYes Ms Vasundhara. For those in the U.S Adi maasam begins on 16th.
ReplyDeleteThe sunrise at your place determines the 'Pandigai'. Though the day in your place did not begin with sun already having entered Kataka, it is entering early in the day. The number of days of the solar months are fixed. If you skip 16th - on the rationale that kataka sangramana was not there at sunrise, then you would be losing nearly a full day (day in this reckoning is counted form sunrise to sunrise) and that would give rise to a problem of how to adjust the day.
This problem sometimes arises in Mesha sangramaan (Tamil New year) also. When the sun is there for most part of the day on the day of sangramana, we count that day as the first day. Hope this clarifies.
Thank you very much Jayasree Mami -
ReplyDeleteI did celebrate the Aadi pandigai on 16th itself here in US, thanks to your prompt response.
I have another doubt regarding days of the week based on Horas. I read somewhere that Ravivaara (or Gnaayiru) is named so because the lord of the hora at sunrise is Sun. So, for Saturday the lord of the hora at sunrise is Saturn. (pardon me if I am wrong over there). If that is the case, between Assam and Mumbai, there is at least 2 hrs of difference. Each hour the lord of the hora changes. Which means, actually, Sunday at Assam may not be Sunday at Mumbai. Is that deduction right or are there any wrong assumptions here?
What you said about hora is correct Ms Vasundhara.The name of the day is derived / known from the hora at sunrise at a place. The sun rise at Assam and Mumbai are not the same. So the hora begins at different times in different places depending on the sun rise.
ReplyDeleteThe hora proceeds in a sequence like - sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and again Sun and continues in the same sequence. This can be easily remembered as the line up of planetary lords of alternate days counted backwards.
This keeps repeated for 24 hours a day and when the 25th hour comes the lord of that hora is the same as the lord of the week day. Or in other words, the naming of the weekday was done based on the lord of the 25th hour which is the first hour that starts at sunrise. On sunday the hora at sunrise is sun. On monday, it happens to be moon and so on for other days. This is how we have the names of week days after planetary lords.
The cut off time is sunrise. So the exact sunrise time of a place must be taken into consideration to know the horas in that place. Apply this to Mumbai and Assam. Though IST is the same at these places, we have to see the exact sun rise at these places. Hora must be counted from that local sunrise time only.
Per this when sun hora rises in Assam, the day has not yet begun at Mumbai.It is 2 hours behind in Mumbai and must be running the 23rd hora of saturday, namely Jupiter. The day and the hora of the day rises only at sunrise.
Hope this clarifies.