[Advaita-l] shivaraatri dates this year

[Anand Hudli]

>>>>
Today we follow the 24 hours cycle. Was the ghaDiya of 60 minutes used even
by us or us it a recent introduction in to our system?
Also was the exact duration of the one minute (60 seconds ) unit common to
both our ancient almanacs and modern chronometry? That sounds like too much
to be a coincidence? Am I missing something here...
>>>

Raghav Kumarji,

The sUryasiddhAnta in the first chapter defines time units. The time taken
to pronounce 10 long syllables (dashagurvakSharoccAra) is called 1 prANa
(respiration). This is about 4 seconds. Six such prANas make a vinADI
(ShaDbhiH prANair vinADI syAt).
This is about 24 seconds. A vinADI is also called a vighaTI. 60 vinADIs
make a nADI or ghaTikA or ghaTI. So a ghaTikA would be 24 seconds * 60 = 24
minutes. 60 ghaTis make an ahorAtra, i.e. a 24 hour day. This is also
called a sidereal day (nAkShatra-ahorAtra).

The 60 seconds = 1 minute construct is obviously not ancient Indian, but I
would have to search the history of calendrical systems to see the
connection between the two systems of units.

Anand



On Thu, Feb 1, 2018 at 10:26 PM, Anand Hudli <anandhudli at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Correction:
>
> "The nishItha kAla is obtained by dividing the duration of the night
> (i.e. from sunset to sunset the next day) into 15 parts and taking the
> eighth such part."
> should read- "The nishItha kAla is obtained by dividing the duration of
> the night (i.e. from sunset to *sunrise* the next day) into 15 parts and
> taking the eighth such part."
>
> Anand
>
>
> On Thu, Feb 1, 2018 at 10:18 PM, Anand Hudli <anandhudli at hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> >The kanchi mutt is following the कालमाधवीयं and sriCngeri mutt is
>> following धर्मसिन्धु...
>>
>> >Former is celebrating on 14th and the later on 13th !!
>>
>> Dear Shri Sriramji,
>>
>> I looked at both the (Kannada) Sringeri and (Telugu version) Kanchi Matha
>> Panchangas. First of all, the tithi ending times are telling us that
>> Sringeri uses (the ancient) Surya Siddhanta method of determining tithi
>> ending times, while Kanchi uses dRg-gaNita. The starting and ending time
>> for Chaturdashi tithi are 1) 10:15 PM on Feb 13 and 12:11 AM on Feb 15 as
>> per Surya siddhAnta and 2) 10:34 PM on Feb 13 and 12:46 AM on Feb 15 as per
>> dRg-gaNita. Now, the rule for mahAshivarAtri states that Chaturdashi should
>> prevail during the nishItha kAla of the day when we observe it. The
>> nishItha kAla is obtained by dividing the duration of the night (i.e. from
>> sunset to sunset the next day) into 15 parts and taking the eighth such
>> part. The sunset times at Sringeri and Kanchi differ too, since Sringeri
>> sunset is at 6:33 PM and Kanchi sunset is at 6:16 PM. Taking the duration
>> of the night as approximately 12 hours (this is sufficient for this
>> instance, although the actual duration of night is slightly more than 12
>> hours), each 1/15 part of the night is 48 minutes, which is, by the way,
>> the duration of a muhUrta. The eighth such part (nishItha kAla) starts 5
>> hours 36 minutes after sunset. In Sringeri, this would be 12:09 AM on Feb
>> 14 and in Kanchi it would be 11:52 PM on Feb 13. On the next day, the start
>> of nishItha kAla is about the same in the two places. The ending time for
>> the nishItha kAla would be 12:57 AM on Feb 14 in Sringeri and 12:40 AM on
>> Feb 14 in Kanchi. The interesting point to note is that the vyApti of
>> Chaturdashi is kArtsnyena (complete, as dharmasindhu puts it) in Sringeri
>> on Feb 13-14 night and ekadeshena (partially) on Feb 14-15 night as per
>> Sringeri's method, ie. sUrya siddhAnta. When this happens, the rule for
>> shivarAtri states that the first night, i.e. Feb 13-14, should be selected
>> for observing shivarAtri (paredyuH nishItha-ekadesha-vyAptau pUrvedyuH
>> saMpUrNatadvyAptau pUrvaiva). Hence Feb 13-14 is the shivarAtri date for
>> Sringeri. The same would have been the case for Kanchi, had it not been for
>> the dRg-gaNita method which makes the ending time of Chaturdashi 12:46 AM,
>> beyond the ending of nishItha kAla at 12:40 AM. As an interesting twist,
>> there is not ekadesha-vyApti but saMpUrNa-vyApti even on the second night,
>> i.e. Feb 14-15 *and* saMpUrNa-vyApti on the first night , i.e. Feb 13-14 in
>> Kanchi! When this happens, another rule applies which says the majority of
>> the dharmashAstra-kAras recommend the second night, i.e. Feb 14-15 in this
>> case, while Hemadri and those who follow Hemadri recommend the first night.
>> It appears that Kanchi has taken the majority opinion, which includes
>> weighty granthas such as nirNyaya-sindhu, kAlamAdhava, and puruShArtha
>> chintamaNi. Hence, Feb 14-15 is the shivarAtri date for Kanchi.
>>
>> Anand
>>
>>
>