Krishna Janmashtami

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

S. V. Subrahmanian <svs_shankara at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

>I was under the impression that for people who are alive naxatra is used
>for determining the date of celebration.  But for departed people, tithi is
>used.  [Ofcourse one could argue if Krishna really departed...].  For eg.,

For living people, *birthdays* are counted according to the nakshatra, the
star that was on the ascendant at the time of birth. The tithi (phase of
the moon) is used for reckoning *death anniversaries*. For the gods and
incarnations, *birthdays* are reckoned according to tithi - thus ashTamI
for Krishna, navamI for Rama, caturthI for Ganesha and so on.

Normally, nobody observes the birthdays of dead people, except for
exceptionally remembered giants, like Sankaracharya. In that case, the
birthday is also counted according to the tithi - thus, Sukla pancamI in
the month of Vaishakha is Sankara Jayanti. This is because they are
considered equivalent to the gods.

This is the procedure followed by most people in India, but as always,
there are exceptions. There are some groups who hold that birthdays for the
gods and incarnations should also be observed according to the birth-star,
and that the phase of the moon should be associated only with counting
death anniversaries. Thus, they would observe the Rohini star for Krishna's
birthday, the Hasta star for Ganesha etc.

>[I also saw some confusion this year with regards to Hanuman Jayanti too.]

There are different traditions in the north and the south regarding Hanuman
Jayanti. It all depends on the local calendar that people use.

Vidyasankar

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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