Vrata Niyamas in the Garuḍa Purāṇa
A vrata is a sacred vow, usually kept with fasting, pūjā and self-discipline. Niyamas are the rules that go with it. The Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa sets out a full set of niyamas that apply to all vratas.
These cover daily duties, things and activities to avoid, the ten dharmas common to every vrata, how to take pañcagavya, rules about the lunar calendar, and what to do when a vrata is interrupted by illness or ritual impurity.
What Is a Vrata?
Keeping all the niyamas laid down in the śāstras (sacred texts) is what makes a vrata. This is itself a form of tapas: the disciplined cleansing of body, speech and mind in devotion to Bhagavān Vishṇu. The Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa gives the rules below as applying to all vratas, before it describes the method of each one.
Daily Duties During a Vrata
A person keeping any vrata must:
- Bathe at all three sandhyās (morning, midday and evening)
- Sleep on the ground (bhū-śayana), not on a raised bed
- Stay pure (śauca) throughout
- Perform a daily havana (fire offering)
Things to Avoid
These are clearly forbidden while a vrata is being kept.
Food and drink
- Eating from kāṃsya (bronze or brass) vessels
- Uḍada (black gram or horse gram), pesara (green gram) and similar pulses
- Onion (ulli) and pungent root vegetables
- Food cooked or given by people outside one’s own household
- Honey and sweets (madhusevana)
- Alcohol in any form (madyapāna, which is always a pāpa, vrata or not)
Pleasures of the senses
- Flowers and other personal ornaments (alaṅkāras)
- New clothes
- Fragrant things applied to the body: dhūpa (incense), gandha (sandalwood paste) and lepana (ointments)
- Añjana (kohl or eye make-up)
Conduct
- Drinking water or any liquid more than once a day
- Chewing betel leaf (tāmbūla)
- Sleeping in the daytime
- Marital relations, even with one’s own spouse
- Doing any of these breaks the vrata (vrata-bhaṅga)
Allowed exception: pañcagavya (the five sacred products of the cow) may be taken as a rite of purification.
The Ten Dharmas Common to Every Vrata
Whatever the vrata, these ten qualities form the common dharma of every vrata. They are given in a Sanskrit śloka (verse):
Kshamā satyaṃ dayā dānaṃ śaucam indriya-nigrahaḥ | Deva-pūjā agni-havane saṃtosho’steya eva ca | Sarva-vrateshv ayaṃ dharmaḥ sāmānyo daśadhā smṛtaḥ ||
The ten are:
- Kshamā: forgiveness and calmness
- Satya: truthfulness
- Dayā: compassion for all beings
- Dāna: giving
- Śauca: purity, outer and inner
- Indriya-nigraha: control of the senses
- Devapūjā: pūjā to one’s chosen devatā
- Agni-havana: the daily fire offering
- Santosha: contentment
- Acaurya (Asteya): not stealing
Nakta-Vrata
The nakta-vrata is a special practice in which a person eats only once in twenty-four hours, at night, once the stars can be seen. It is not simply eating after dark: the stars must be visible. The text points this out because some people confuse nakta (eating by starlight) with just eating in the evening.
How to Take Pañcagavya
Pañcagavya (the five sacred products of the cow) is a purifying mixture that may be taken during vratas. The set amounts and the mantras that go with them are:
| Ingredient | Mantra | Measure |
|---|---|---|
| Gomūtra (cow’s urine) | Gāyatrī | 1 pala |
| Gomaya (cow dung) | Gandha-dvārā… | ½ aṅgushṭha (thumb’s measure) |
| Dugdha (cow’s milk) | Āpyāyasva… | 7 palas |
| Dadhi (curd) | Dadhi-krāvṇaḥ… | 3 palas |
| Ghṛta (ghee) | Tejo’si… | 1 pala |
After measuring each part, one pala of water is added. This water is purified by washing kuśa-darbha grass in it with the mantra that begins Devasya tvā…. The mixture is then taken while reciting the mantras for each part.
Calendar Rules
Yugma-tithis (two tithis, or lunar days, falling on one day): some pairs are thought to be very auspicious and multiply the merit of any vrata:
- Tṛtīyā with Caturdaśī; Pañcamī with Shashṭhī; Saptamī with Ashṭamī; Navamī with Ekādaśī; Dvādaśī with Pūrṇimā; Pratipadā with Amāvāsyā
Other pairs are thought to be harmful and can cancel even the merit of past good deeds.
Mala-māsa (the extra month added to the lunar calendar): these important rites must NOT be performed during mala-māsa:
- Agnyādhāna (setting up the sacred fire), pratishṭhā (installing a sacred image), yajña, dāna, vrata, Veda-vrata, vṛshotsarga (releasing a bull), cūḍākaraṇa (first haircut), upanayana (sacred-thread ceremony), vivāha (marriage), rājyābhisheka (royal crowning) and other rites of authority
Units of time: the text defines the cāndra-māsa (lunar month, from new moon to new moon), the divasa (solar day, from sunrise to sunrise), the saura-māsa (solar month) and the nakshatra-māsa (the month counted by the 27 nakshatras). Marriage uses the solar month, and yajñas use the sāvana-māsa (civil month).
When a Vrata Is Interrupted
Menstruation: a woman whose monthly period (rajodarśana) begins after she has started a vrata does not need to stop it. She should have others carry out the outer acts of dāna and pūjā for her, but she keeps up the personal practices of fasting and bathing herself.
Vrata-bhaṅga (a vrata broken through anger, carelessness or greed): the person should fast for three days, shave the head, and then finish the rest of the vrata.
Illness: if the body gives way in the middle of a vrata, a son or another family member may complete it on the devotee’s behalf.
Fainting: if the person faints during the vrata, the vrata is not broken. Once revived with water and care, they may carry on from where they stopped.
Sources
- Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa, Ācāra Khaṇḍa, Chapter 128