Ashṭamī (Tithi)
Ashṭamī, “the eighth”
Grammar: feminine noun; ashṭamī is the eighth tithi of a fortnight.
Meaning: the eighth tithi. It is the tithi of Śrī Kṛshṇa‘s birth, which the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa gives as the day of the Janmāshṭamī, or Jayantī, vrata.
In the scriptures: Nārada asks Nārāyaṇa Maharshi for the Janmāshṭamī vrata, the best of all vratas, and Nārāyaṇa tells him its pūjā, upavāsa and vrata, saying he heard it from Dharma. The Ashṭamī is named in it as follows (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 8).
In the kalaśa. On the day, the one who keeps the vrata establishes a kalaśa, worships the five Lokapāla devatās, and invokes Parameśvara Śrī Kṛshṇa in it. He invokes in the kalaśa, in this order: Devakī and Vasudeva; Yaśodā and Nanda; Rohiṇī Devī; Balarāma; Shashṭhī Devatā; Bhūdevī; Rohiṇī, the nakshatra-devatā; the Ashṭamī tithi, called the “snāna-devatā”; Aśvatthāmā; Bali Cakravarti; Hanumān; Vibhīshaṇa; Kṛpācārya; Paraśurāma; Vedavyāsa; and Mārkaṇḍeya. After that he performs the dhyāna of Śrī Hari.
The time of the vrata. The Ashṭamī joined with the Rohiṇī nakshatra, whose adhidevatā is Brahmā, at whatever midnight it is present, is the chief time for the Jayantī vrata. At that very time Śrī Hari himself was born with his pūrṇāṃśa. Because it gives jaya (victory) and puṇya, it is called Jayantī. Long ago Brahmā said that the knowers of the Veda declare this the chief time, without dispute and with the assent of all the wise. An Ashṭamī joined with the Saptamī must be given up, even if it is joined with Rohiṇī; the Jayantī vrata must not be kept on it. Devakīnandana was born in a Rohiṇī untouched by Kṛttikā.
The pāraṇa. One who knows must not take the pāraṇa during the Ashṭamī tithi or the Rohiṇī nakshatra. If he does, both his former puṇya and the fruit gained by the fast are lost. The tithi spoils eight parts of the puṇya and the nakshatra four parts; so with effort he takes the pāraṇa after both the Ashṭamī and the Rohiṇī have ended. If the tithi and the nakshatra end at midnight, the wise one takes the pāraṇa on the third day.
Special days and the fruit. If the Jayantī is obtained with Budhavāra (Wednesday) or Somavāra (Monday), one who keeps the vrata on that day does not dwell again in a mother’s womb. The rarest day is when the Ashṭamī is present a little at sunrise and the Navamī for the rest of the day, falling on a Wednesday or a Monday together with Rohiṇī; it may come once in a hundred years, or not at all. One who keeps the vrata with niyama on such a day lifts a crore of his forebears and descendants out of naraka. One who keeps the vrata and the jāgaraṇa on a pure Janmāshṭamī is freed from the pāpas of a hundred births; one who keeps only the upavāsa is freed from the pāpas of childhood, boyhood, youth and old age and of seven births, and gains the fruit of an aśvamedha yajña. The Kṛshṇāshṭamī that falls in the dark half of Bhādrapada gives a crore times more fruit than bathing and pūjā of the devas on the days when the manvantaras and yugas begin; and on this tithi, one who gives jaladāna to the pitṛ-devatās, pouring sesame and water on darbha with their gotras and names, gains the fruit of the Gayā śrāddha for a hundred years.
Related terms: Tithi · Jayantī · Janmāshṭamī · Rohiṇī · Saptamī · Pāraṇa
Sources
- Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 8