Chapter 56.30 - Description of Mauñjībandhana and Upanayana

[Full title: Natural Astrology (30) Mauñjībandhana (Tying the mauñjī belt) and Upanayana (Commencing studies)]

348. Mauñjībandhana (lit. ‘tying the belt made of mauñjī grass)^[1] is recommended on the eighth year after conception for brahmins, on the eleventh year for kṣatriyas and on the twelfth year for vaiśyas.

349. Upanayana could be performed even, at the fifth year, since the boy endowed with the sacred thread done could become well versed in the Vedas and Śāstras and be endowed with prosperity.

350. To the boy, even a week Venus or Jupiter would be beneficent. Upanayana should be performed only at the years, ordained therefore and not at oṃer times.

351. (Upanayana should be performed) when Jupiter, Venus and the lord of the (relevant) Veda are visible. The lords of the (four) Vedas are, in order: (Ṛgveda) Jupiter; (Yajurveda), Venus; (Sāmaveda:) Mars and (Atharvaveda:) Mercury.

352. The appropriate seasons for the Upanayana of the three classes of twice-borns are, Autumn (Śarat), Hot season (Grīṣma) and Spring (Vasanta), taken in the reverse order. In general, the time ordained for them are the five months begin-ing with Māgha (Tapas).

353. (One who wears the sacred thread) in the months of Māgha and Phālguna will become well versed in the hereditory practices of his family; if in the month of Caitra he would become a knower of ordained duties, wealthy and an expert in the Vedas and Vedāṅgas.^[2]

354. One who wears the sacred thread in the month of Vaiśākha would become wealthy, an expert in the Vedas, Śāstras and the sciences, and physically strong; if in the month of Jyeṣṭhā, he would be a knower of ordained rules.

355. For Upanayana, the most auspicious days are: In the bright fortnight, the 13th, 10th, 7th, 11th, 6th and the 12th, the other days are of middling benefit. In the dark fortnight, the 2nd, 3rd and 5th days are of middling effect and the rest are extremely bad.

356-57. The asterisms favourable for upanayana are: Hasta, Citrā and Svātī (arka-traya), Revatī, Puṣya (Ijya), Ārdrā (Rudra), Punarvasu (Aditi), Uttaraphālgunī, Uttarāṣāḍha and Uttarabhādrapada, Śravaṇa Dhaniṣṭhā, Śatabhiṣak (Viṣṇutraya), Aśvinī, Anurādhā (Mitra) and Rohiṇī (Abjayoni).

358-59a. The tenth asterism from the birth-asterism is called Karma, the sixteenth Saṅghāta, the eighteenth Sāmudāya, the twenty-third Vināśana, and the twenty-fifth Mānasa. No auspicious rite should be performed in these asterisms.

359b-60a. The week-days pertaining to Ācārya, Saumya and Kāvya, (viz., Thursday, Friday and Wednesday) are auspicious, the days pertaining to the Moon and the Sun are middling and the remaining two are detestable for commencing religious studentship (vrata).

360b-61a. Divide daytime into three. During the first part one should perform acts relating to the gods, during the second part, acts relating to men, and during the third part acts relating to the manes. (Upanayana, which comes under the first category, should therefore be performed only in the first part of the day.)

361b-62a. If Jupiter, Venus or the lord of one’s Veda, or their divisions are in debilitation (nīca), or are situated in enemy asterisms or divisions the student will lose his family status and his character.

362b-363a, Again, Jupiter, Venus or the lord of one’s Veda^[3] occupies an inimical house or its division, the student will be the perpetrator of great sins.

363b-64. If, however, Jupiter, Venus or the lord of one’s Veda or their divisions are in exultation (ucca) or occupy their own houses or their rāśigaṇas, or the quadrant (kendra) or trine (trikoṇa), the boy will be extremely wealthy and well versed in the Vedas and the Vedāṅgas.

365. If Jupiter, Venus or the lord of one’s Veda is in high exaltation and the eighth house is clear, the boy will be well versed in the Vedas and Śāstras.

366. If Jupiter, Venus or the lord of one’s Vedas or their divisions are in friendly houses or in their divisions or are in exaltation he will be endowed with knowledge and wealth.

367. It is rare that in the case of boy all the three, viz., the week-day of the lord of one’s Veda, the strength of the lord of one’s Veda and the rising sign of the lord of one’s Veda occur simultaneously.

368. Thus, when the Moon is in the division of the lord of the Veda, the student would become learned, but if in the division of an evil sign or in a division of his own sign, he would be poor and constantly distressed.

369. When the asterisms Śravaṇa or Punarvasu (Aditi) (prevail and the Moon is in a division of Cancer, the student would be endowed with the knowledge of the Vedas and the sciences and with wealth and foodgrains.

370-72. All the signs are commendable (if the time for the studentship ceremony is fixed) in an auspicious lagna, in an auspicious division thereof, when the eighth house is clear, the lagna, which is not in the eighth house is occupied or aspected by beneficent planets or by the five planets Jupiter, Sun, Moon, etc., when they are friendly and strong or by four auspicious planets fully endowed with strength of position etc. or aspected by them, and devoid of the twenty-one great blemishes (possible in a day)^[4].

373. However, only the auspicious divisions of the ninefold division (navāṃśa) of the said signs are to be selected. But the division of Cancer should never be selected even if it is aspected by a beneficent planet.

374. The divisions of Vṛṣabha and Mithuna, and Libra and Virgo are also auspicious. Studentship ceremony is to be performed only in a navāṃśa selected in the above manner.

375-76. If evil planets occupy the 3rd, 6th and 11th (āya) houses, beneficent planets are not to be found in the 6th, 8th and 12th houses, and if the Moon does not occupy the 6th, 8th or the 12th house from the lagna, the boy who takes the vow of studentship will be pennyless and always consumptive even if the Moon is in exaltation in its own house.

377. If the Sun is exalted in the quadrants, the student’s parents will die. A lagna which does not have any of the above five faults is productive of auspicious results in upanayana.

378. The studentship ceremony should not be performed other than in spring, nor in the galagraha days, the days of nonstudy,^[5] the 6th nor in (the karaṇa called) Viṣṭi.^[6]

379. The eight galagraha (lit. ‘gripping the throat’) days. viz., the four days from the 13th, the three days from the 7th and the 4th (of the dark fortnight) are declared to be inauspicious.

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

For this a triple cord is plaited out of the mauñjī or darbha grass and is ceremonially used in three loops round the waist of the boy who is invested with the sacred thread (yajñopavīta) and initiated into Vedic study (upanayana).

[2]:

The Vedāṅgas are auxiliary texts which instruct in the correct recitation and right understanding of the Vedas and prescribe the exact performance and punctual observation of Vedic ritual. Each Veda has its own auxiliary texts which fall into six categories (ṣaḍvedāṅgas dealing respectively with: ( 1) Śikṣā (Phonetics), (2) Vyākaraṇa (Grammar), (3) Nirukta (Etymology), (4) Chandas (Metrics), (5) Jyotiṣa (Astronomy) and (6) Kalpa (Ritual), divided into three—Gṛhya ‘household ritual’, Śrauta, sacrificial ritual’ and Śulba ‘construction of altars’.

[3]:

The lords of the Vedas are: Ṛgveda.: Jupiter, Yajurveda: Venus; Sāmaveda: Mars, and Atharvaveda. Mercury: See above, verse 351.

[4]:

These blemishes are listed in the following verse:

उल्कोर्वीचलनोपरागगुलिकाः षष्थाष्टमान्त्येन्द्वसद्द्र्ष्टारूढविमुक्तराशिसितदृक्सायाह्नसन्ध्यादयः ।
गण्डान्तोष्णविषं स्थिरं च करणं रिक्ताष्टमीविष्टयो लातैकार्गलवैधृताहिशिरसः सर्वत्र वर्ज्या अमी ॥

ulkorvīcalanoparāgagulikāḥ ṣaṣthāṣṭamāntyendvasaddrṣṭārūḍhavimuktarāśisitadṛksāyāhnasandhyādayaḥ |
gaṇḍāntoṣṇaviṣaṃ sthiraṃ ca karaṇaṃ riktāṣṭamīviṣṭayo lātaikārgalavaidhṛtāhiśirasaḥ sarvatra varjyā amī ||

ulko-rvīcalan-oparāga-gulikāḥ ṣaṣthā-ṣṭam-āntyendv-asad-drṣṭārūḍhavimuktarāśi-sitadṛk-sāyāhnasandhyādayaḥ |
gaṇḍānt-oṣṇa-viṣaṃ sthiraṃ ca karaṇaṃ riktā-ṣṭamī-viṣṭayo lātaikārgala-vaidhṛtāhiśirasaḥ sarvatra varjyā amī ||

Muhūrtapadavī of Māthūr Nampūtiri (Ed. Panchangam Press, Kunnamakulam (Kerala), 1955), Verse 1.

The days on which these ‘blemishes of day’ (nityadoṣa) occur should be rejected in fixing the date for any auspicious rite and if they cannot be avoided, due expiation prescribed for obviating the evil effect cf each of these blemishes has to be duly performed before commencing the auspicious rite.

These ‘blemishes of the day’ are: The four blemishes on account of portentuous natural phenomena (utpāta), being: (1) Ulkā (meteor), (2) Urvīcalana (earthquake), (3) Uparāga (eclipse), (4) Gulika; the five blemishes due to the positions of the planets, being (5) Moon in the 6th house, (6) in the 8th house and (7) in the 12th house, (8) Asad-dṛṣṭārūḍhavi-mukta-rāśi (the house which has been aspected, occupied or left by the evil planets viz.. Sun, Mars, Saturn and Rāhu, (9) Aspecting by Venus (Sitadṛk); one blemish due to the time of the day, being (10) Sāyāhnasandhyā (dusk); three blemishes due to asterisms, being (11) Gaṇḍānta, (12) Uṣṇa (Uṣṇaśikhā), (13) Viṣa; four blemishes of lunar days (tithi), being (14) Sthirakaraṇa, (15) Riktā, (16) Aṣṭamī and (17) Viṣṭi (Viṣṭikaraṇa); and four blemishes due to the positions of the Sun and the Moon, being (18) Lāta, (19) Ekārgala, and (20) Vaidhṛta, and (21) Ahiśiras.

[5]:

The anadlyāya or non-study days are: 1st, 8th, 14th and 15th days of the dark and bright fortnights; 2nd day of Jyeṣṭhā, 10th of Āṣāḍha, 4th and 12th of Māgha, all in the bright fortnight; and the days of saṅkrānti, when the Sun transits from one sign to another.

[6]:

Viṣṭi is one of the half-tithi durations of astrological importance into which the lunar month is divided, on which see above, ch. 54, verses 126-27 and the notes thereon.