Saṅkrānti

Saṅkrānti · sam-krānti, “passing over”

Karaṇa has other meanings too: see all meanings of Karaṇa.

Grammar: feminine noun, from sam (together, fully) and the root kram (to step, to go): “a passing over, a going across”.

Meaning: the entry of Sūrya (the Sun) from one rāśi into the next; a holy time for dāna, snāna, vratas and pūjā. The saṅkrānti into Makara is Makara-saṅkrānti.

In the scriptures: the Agni Purāṇa names the saṅkrāntis in its rules of dāna, its vratas and its rites of śānti.

The saṅkrāntis and dāna. In the rules of dāna, Agnideva teaches that dāna made at an eclipse, at the Sūrya saṅkrānti and on tithis such as dvādaśī is pūrta and gives the fruit of svarga. Dāna should be made at the Sun’s entry into the uttarāyaṇa and the dakshiṇāyana, at the holy vishuva (equinox), at vyatīpāta, at a lost tithi, at the beginning of a yuga, at a saṅkrānti, on caturdaśī, ashṭamī, pūrṇimā and dvādaśī, and at the other times the chapter names (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 209).

Dāna is best at twelve saṅkrāntis:

• the four saṅkrāntis of the two ayanas and the two vishuvas;
• the four well known as shaḍaśīti-mukha: the Sun’s saṅkrāntis into Kanyā, Mithuna and Dhanus are so called, and they give eighty-six times the fruit;
• the four called Vishṇupada.

The puṇya-kāla, the holy time of each saṅkrānti, is this: at the uttarāyaṇa and dakshiṇāyana saṅkrāntis, the ghaṭikās before and after are holy; at the Karka (Karkaṭa) saṅkrānti, twenty ghaṭikās and twenty are best for acts of puṇya; at the Tulā and Mesha saṅkrāntis, ten ghaṭikās before and ten after; at a shaḍaśīti-mukha saṅkrānti, sixty ghaṭikās after it; and at the Vishṇupada saṅkrāntis, sixteen ghaṭikās before and after. In the saṅkalpa of dāna, the giver names the time, “at a solar eclipse, or a lunar eclipse, or a saṅkrānti” (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 209).

The saṅkrānti vratas. Among the various vratas, Agnideva gives the saṅkrānti vratas. One who keeps jāgaraṇa (a night vigil) on a saṅkrānti gains svarga. When a saṅkrānti falls on an amāvāsyā, one who worships Śiva and Sūrya gains svarga. On Makara-saṅkrānti one bathes at dawn and worships Keśava, and one who gives thirty-two palas of gold at the udyāpana (the completion of the vrata) is freed from all pāpas. At the vishuvat and the other yogas, one who bathes Śrī Mahāvishṇu with dūrvā grass mixed with ghee gains everything (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 199). Among the various dānas, one who bathes the deity with one prastha of ghee on a saṅkrānti and on the other holy days gains everything (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 211).

Makara-saṅkrānti in the śāntis. Śālihotra tells Suśruta that in the naimittika (occasional) Aśva-śānti, the horses are worshipped at Makara-saṅkrānti and the other saṅkrāntis, and Vishṇu, Lakshmī, Brahmā, Śiva, Candra, Sūrya, Revanta and Uccaiḥśravas are worshipped with lotuses (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 290). In the naimittika Gaja-śānti, at Makara and the other saṅkrāntis, the elephants are worshipped outside the town in the north-east; Vishṇu and Lakshmī are worshipped in the middle of a lotus drawn on a sthaṇḍila (prepared ground), and Brahmā, Sūrya, Pṛthivī, Skanda, Ananta, Ākāśa, Śiva and Candra on its eight petals (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 291). In the Gavāyurveda, the teaching on the care of cows, on Makara-saṅkrānti and the other parvas Śrī Mahāvishṇu with Lakshmī is worshipped in the middle of a lotus on a sthaṇḍila, the devatās on its filaments in the directions, and outside the lotus, with rice cooked with dal, Brahmā, Sūrya, Bahurūpa, Bali, Ākāśa, Viśvarūpa, Ṛddhi, Siddhi, Śānti, Rohiṇī and the other cows of the directions, Candra and Śiva (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 292).

The vishuva and the east. In the drawing of the maṇḍalas, Īśvara tells Skanda that the east is found with a śaṅku (gnomon) at the time of the vishuva, or by the midpoint of Citrā and Svātī, or else by a cord (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 320).

Related terms: Rāśi · Uttarāyaṇa · Dakshiṇāyana · Vishuva · Puṇya-kāla · Dāna · Makara

Sources

• Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 199, 209, 211, 290–292, 320