Caturthī
Caturthī · caturthī, “the fourth”
Grammar: feminine noun, from caturtha (fourth): “the fourth”.
Meaning: the fourth tithi (lunar day) of the bright or the dark fortnight.
In the scriptures: the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa names caturthī for one rule: in Bhādrapada, in both pakshas, the moon of caturthī must not be seen.
The teaching to Nanda. In his teaching to Nanda on sights that bring pāpa, Śrī Kṛshṇa says that the waning moon must not be seen, and that in the month of Bhādrapada, in both the śukla and the kṛshṇa pakshas, the moon of caturthī must be avoided. The moon’s carrying away of Tārā is his kalaṅka (stain), and even looking with desire is a fault. If a man sees that moon by chance, he should drink water purified by mantra, and at once he is pure and without stain. The mantra is the Syamantaka mantra: “The lion killed Prasena. Jāmbavān killed the lion. O tender child, do not weep; this Syamantaka is yours” (Śrī Kṛshṇa Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 78).
Nanda then asks why the moon must not be seen on caturthī in the śukla and kṛshṇa pakshas of Bhādrapada, and Śrī Kṛshṇa begins the ancient account (Śrī Kṛshṇa Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 79).
The account of the Syamantaka jewel. Nārāyaṇa tells Nārada that on the śukla caturthī of Bhādrapada Candra carried off Tārā, and let her go in the kṛshṇa paksha, and that Guru (Bṛhaspati) took her back. Tārā, pregnant and ashamed, had pronounced a śāpa on Candra: “By my śāpa you are kalaṅkita. Any embodied being who looks at you sees pāpa; so he becomes a pāpī and kalaṅkī.” Candra performed tapas at the Nārāyaṇa sarovara and was freed from his pāpa. Bhagavān Purushottama, the treasury of kṛpā, then said to him: “Be fully free. The place of the śāpa shall be only in the śukla and kṛshṇa pakshas of the month of Bhādrapada. Whoever looks with desire at the moon risen on the caturthī gets that pāpa and becomes kalaṅkī.” Hari raised his hand and warned that in both pakshas of Bhādrapada the moon risen on caturthī must never be seen. Having seen it himself, Śrī Hari kept his own word and bore a kalaṅka, and then freed himself from it, to make this known to the people (Śrī Kṛshṇa Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 122).
Whoever hears the verse spoken by the nurse to the child, remembers it and drinks water is freed from the nashṭa-candra dosha when he has seen the moon unknowingly, by chance. But those who see it on purpose, the vain and those who revile the Veda, become kalaṅkita (Śrī Kṛshṇa Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 122).
Source: Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapters 78, 79, 122
Related terms: Tithi · Bhādrapada · Kalaṅka · Syamantaka
Sources
- Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapters 78–79, 122