Page 50 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

THE ~ITTIK~S 37

field of our choice. It must be further borne in mind that the
EkA!h~k&, here spoken of, is the wife of the year and is contrasted
with the Ph&lgunt and Chitra full-moons; while tra<1ition in the
time of Jaimini and Apastamba interpreted it to mean the 8th
day of the dark half of Magha. All writers on Mimlnsa therefore
take this EkA-~h~A to mean the 8th day of the dark half of M figha.
As the EkA~h*kA is the wife of the year• and as the god of the
year is ·said to reside with her on that night, those that commence
their sacrifice on the Ek4~h~U may practically be supposed to
commence it at the beginn4tg of the year which resides there. In
other words the EkA~htakA is thus a constructive beginning of the
year and therefore the yearly sacrifice may be commenced on that
day. But the passage now proceeds to point out the objections to
the commencing of the sacrifice on the Eka~h~aka day. The 8th
day of MAgha falls during the distressed period of the year, that is
according to Shabara and other commentators the period when
people are distressed by cold.t The word in the text is arta which
literally means 'distressed, • but Siyatla takes it to denote the end
or destruction of the year, implying thereby that the old year is
then brought to an end and that the consecration for the yearly
satra, which must be made-before the beginning of the new year.
or, in other words, not after the previous year is ended or destroy-
ed, cannot be made at this time. Though Shabara and Saya~a thus
give different interpretations of arta, practically both agree in
holding that in those days the old year ended before the eighth
day of the dark half of Mlgha; for Shabara distinctly states that the
word ' reversed' used further on means ' rever ed on account

used in its secondary sense and quotes Apastamba Gri]lya Stitra (viii.
21, 10) thus :- ~f ~~ ti'M;mm ~l"fti!Cfif Q~f~ ~~ ~ 1 ffi'if.nr-
m~ 1 Thus both Jaimini and.Apastamba considered Ekathtaka to
mean the 8th day of the dark half of MSgha.

*· Sbabar on Jaimi~i vi. 5, 35, quotes Atharva Veda lll. 10, 12;
and Slya1,1a in his Comm. on Taitt. SaJ!I. vii. 4· 8, cites, .-\th;~rva Veda
iii. 10, 12 and Taitt. SaJ!I. iY. 3, II, 3· But.these te:tts simply state that
th~ Eki4htak.a is the wife of: the year, without defining the EU,h~akl.

t amrr ~~~ ~~ 6 amf: 'filC!S:, ~~"' llR!T ~iffra I Shabara on
Jaimi~i vi. s, 3i· S!ya1,1a ~~ ~ 1