Amāvāsyā Kāla-Nirṇaya

Amāvāsyā is the new-moon day, when the moon cannot be seen. It is an important day for honouring the pitṛs (ancestors). Kāla-nirṇaya means “deciding the right time”. The Amāvāsyā Kāla-Nirṇaya is a detailed teaching in Chapter 140 of the Matsya Mahā Purāṇa about the sky, the moon and the right timing of rites. It is told through the story of King Purūravas (also called Aila), who rises to svarga every month on amāvāsyā to visit his pitṛs.

The chapter explains four special names for new-moon and full-moon days (Sinīvālī, Kuhū, Rākā and Anumati). It describes the fifteen kalās (phases or parts) of Candra, the moon, and his sixteenth kalā that never dies. It explains why amāvāsyā is the moment when the pitṛs are most fully fed. It also describes the five-year yuga and the deity of each year, how Sūrya (the sun) feeds Candra through the sushumnā ray, and three kinds of pitṛs: the Barhishads, the Kāvyas and the Agnishvāttas.

Purūravas’s Monthly Visit to Svarga

The chapter opens with the ṛshis asking Sūta about amāvāsyā. Sūta tells them that Purūravas, son of Ilā, rises to svarga every month on amāvāsyā. He has ancestors of the Sūrya Vaṃśa (the solar line) through his mother Ilā, who was first the solar king Ila. He also has ancestors of the Candra Vaṃśa (the lunar line) through his father Budha and his grandfather Candra. On amāvāsyā, Sūrya and Candra meet in the same aṃśa (degree of the sky). On that day Purūravas visits svarga, and through the amṛta (nectar of immortality) that he receives from Candra at that moment, he gives tṛpti (satisfaction and nourishment) to his pitṛs.

Purūravas waits for the exact moment called Kuhū. This is a tiny span of two lavas when no sliver of the moon can be seen at all. It is the best time to gain the strongest lunar amṛta for the pitṛs.

The Four Names of the Moon’s Turning Days

The days when the moon turns, at new moon and full moon, are called parva-tithis. The Matsya Mahā Purāṇa defines four of them exactly.

Sinīvālī: an amāvāsyā on which a very faint sliver of the moon can still be seen. “Sini” means Candra, and “vālī” means “connected with”, so it is a tithi on which Candra is still a little present. This is a slightly earlier amāvāsyā.

Kuhū: an amāvāsyā on which the moon is completely unseen, when not even a hair-thin sliver is visible. The name comes from the call “kuhū” of the cuckoo, meaning just that short moment. The kuhū moment is the exact span of two lavas where amāvāsyā meets the start of śukla pratipadā (the first day of the bright fortnight), when the moon is totally gone. This is the ideal time for śrāddha (rites for the ancestors) and pitṛ-tarpaṇa (water offerings to the ancestors).

Rākā: the pūrṇimā (full moon) when Candra and Sūrya are directly opposite each other in the sky (six signs apart) and Candra is at his fullest. It is named for this fullness and brightness. This pūrṇimā is also called Anumati when it falls in the afternoon part of the day, before the night becomes fully full-moon.

Anumati: the pūrṇimā on whose night the devas and pitṛs give their anumodana (approval). So there are two kinds of full moon: Rākā is Candra at the peak of fullness during the night, and Anumati is Candra just reaching fullness as afternoon turns to evening.

The time of all four is set at two lavas, the short time it takes a cuckoo to call “kuhū”. They are not long periods but exact moments of change where one tithi meets the next.

The Fifteen Kalās of Candra and the Sushumnā Ray

During the śukla paksha (bright fortnight), Candra grows by one kalā each day until at pūrṇimā he has fifteen kalās and is whole. During the kṛshṇa paksha (dark fortnight), the pitṛs drink his amṛta, one kalā at a time, until he is empty. But Candra always keeps a sixteenth kalā. It is the undying kalā that never grows or shrinks and is not touched by the pitṛs’ drinking.

When the pitṛs have emptied Candra of his fifteen kalās, Sūrya fills him again through his sushumnā ray, one of the sun’s thousand rays, which is linked with nourishment and life. This ray fills Candra’s disc day by day through the śukla paksha and restores the fifteen kalās. This is why Sūrya is said to be the vīrya (seed-strength) of Candra: Candra’s monthly fullness is kept up by Sūrya’s light.

For this reason the pitṛs are called Saumyas, those who are satisfied by Soma (Candra). Because they are fed by Candra, Candra is also called their āpyāyitṛ, the one who keeps them nourished.

The Five-Year Yuga

The chapter divides time into a five-year yuga (the pañca-saṃvatsara yuga) and gives each year its deity:

The whole five-year yuga is Prajāpati in his cosmic form. A verse of the Vedāṅga Jyotisha (the Vedic science of time and the heavens) is quoted in support: “pañca-saṃvatsaramayugādhyakshaṃ Prajāpatim”. The founders of the highest class of pitṛs (the prapitāmaha-śreṇī, the great-grandfather class) are said to be born from Prajāpati in this five-year-yuga form.

Three Kinds of Pitṛs

The text names three kinds of pitṛs in the story of Purūravas:

1. Barhishads: pitṛs honoured by the dānavas (beings who are not devas). In life they were great householders who performed havir-yajñas (offerings of food into the fire), and they became amūrta (bodiless) pitṛ-devatās.
2. Kāvyas: the shared name for the four mūrta (embodied) classes of pitṛ-devatās, one for each varṇa: the Sukālins, Havishmantas, Ājyapas and Somapas. They receive the śrāddha offerings of the four varṇas and pass on satisfaction to the matching human ancestors.
3. Agnishvāttas: pitṛs who are amūrta devatās honoured by the devas. In life they were great householders who performed yajñas all their lives. In the fuller list of seven classes given earlier in the Purāṇa, they are also called Vairājas.

Here the text works to bring this list of three into agreement with the list of seven classes given in Chapters 13–15 of the same Purāṇa.

The Year as a Bamboo Stalk

One of the most vivid pictures in the chapter compares the saṃvatsara (year) to a stalk of bamboo or sugarcane.

A bamboo stalk has joints (granthis) with sections (parvas) between them. In the same way, the year has the parva-tithis (the turning days: pūrṇimā, amāvāsyā and the change to pratipadā) as its joints, and the fortnights as its sections. The two-lava length of each parva-tithi is like the hard knot at a bamboo joint: a short, concentrated moment of great importance.

Doing sacred acts such as śrāddha, yajña and agnyādhāna (setting up the sacred fires) at these moments is as exact and as powerful as striking a bamboo right at its joint.

Sources

• Matsya Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 140