Events: Pradosh Vrat

तत्त्द् गतिवशन्नित्यं यथा दृक्-तुल्यतां ग्रहाः।
प्रयान्ति तत्प्रवक्ष्यामि स्फ़ुटिकरणमादरात्॥
सुर्य सिद्धान्त ॥

यस्मिन् पक्षे यत्र काले येन दृग्गणितैक्यम्।
दृश्यते तेन पक्षेण कुर्यात्तिथ्यादिनिर्णयम्॥
वशिष्ठ॥

यात्राविवाहोत्सवजातकादौ खेटैः स्फुटैरेवफलस्फुटत्वम्।
स्यात्प्रोच्यते तेन नभश्चराणां स्फुटक्रिया दृग्गणितैक्यकृद्या॥
भास्कराचार्य॥

तिथिर्विष्णुस्तथा वारो नक्षत्रं विष्णुरेव च।
योगश्च करणं चैव सर्वं विष्णु मयं जगत्॥

Monday, March 3, 2008

When to observe Pradosh vrata?

Panchangam Source: http://www.mypanchang.com/

Pradosha vrata is usaully a fast observed when trayodashi tithi (both shukla and krishna trayodashi) is visible after sunset. This is related to fast not based on doing abhishekam when abhishekam is done in the evening in temples or at home. Temples do abhishekam in evening on pradosha day and common misconception is tithi needs to be visible when abhishekam is done. Well, the reality is it's connected to when to observe fast not when to do abhishekam. Remember after sunset bhojana (eating food), nindra (sleeping), maithuna (having sex), adhyayana (study) is prohibited during pradosha.

Abhishekam and Pradosha:

Pradosha vrat says to perform shivapuja in the afternoon. Now most temples perform shivapuja, and abhishekam on the day of pradosha in the evening. Pradosha day is decided for fasting. Now sunsets in india around 6:00 PM. This is average sunset. Now if you live outside India for example Australia or North America, Sun will rise at 4:00 AM and sun will set at 8:30 PM - 9:00 PM in summer. Most temples will do abhishekam during 7:00 PM. Now at that time trayodashi may not be prevailing. But we don't have sunset either. Actual time for pradosha as per Nirnaysindhu, and Dharmasindhu for the nakta vrata is 3 muhurtha after sunset. We don't have a sunset at 7:00 PM in summer. Hence, Actual pradosham puja can start 48 minutes (one muhurtha) before sunset, but depending on the puja it can start earlier. At that time visibility of trayodashi is not important. What is important is trayodashi must prevail after sunset for 3 muhurtha == 3 * 48 minutes. The detailed calculation is outlined below. This is no different than doing sankshatha chaturdashi abhishekam in the evening when actual chaturthi will appear doing moonrise time and during abhishekam time tritiya is visible.

Pradosha dates appear in panchanga is for fasting not when to do abhishekam. Usually abhishekam can be done 48 minutes before sunset till 144 minutes after sunset.

Just we want to do abhishekam when trayodashi prevails during 6 PM to 7 PM and even sunset has not occured we can't change pradosha date for fasting. (Applicable to countries in northen and southern latitudes where sunrise and sunset do not occur around average 6:00 PM ).

Original Sanskrit Verses from dharmasindhu:

Pradosha is basicaly 6 ghatikas after sunset (According to dharmsindhu). Trayodashi tithi should be prevailing during that time. That is from sunset to sunset+144 minutes ( where each ghatika is 24 minutes, 24 * 6 = 144 minutes). Take the one which prevails during the pradosha kala as explained above, in case if it prevails on both days or not than please use following rules to judge when to observe pradosha vrata (FAST) and do abhishekam:

If it prevails on both days, take the one where it prevails more.
If it prevails on both days in equal amount then take the second one.
If it doesn't prevail on both days but not during pradosha kala on previous or second day then take the one which prevails during the sunrise.

Panchanga give end time of the tithi. So check when dwadashi ends, right after that trayodashi starts till where it says Trayodashi and it's end time. For example:
March 4
Sunrise:06:40
Sunset:17:59
Moonrise:04:59
Magha
Krishna Paksha
T:Dvadashi 15:27:26
N:U.shada 06:49:04
Y:Parigha 29:00:16+
K:Taitila 15:27:26
K:Garaja 27:19:30+
SN: Kumbha
MN: Makara
RK:15:09-16:34
YM:09:29-10:55
GK:12:19-13:45
AJ:12:16-13:05
DM:09:04-09:53,23:28-24:17
V: 10:54- 12:32
AK: 20:40- 22:18
March 5 Sunrise:06:38
Sunset:18:00
Moonrise:05:30
Magha
Krishna Paksha
T:Trayodashi 15:01:06
N:Shravana 07:14:40
Y:Shiva 27:11:22+
K:Vanija 15:01:06
K:Vishti 26:32:41+
SN: Kumbha
MN: Kumbha 19:13
RK:12:19-13:45
YM:08:03-09:29
GK:10:54-12:20
DM:12:14-13:03
V: 11:13- 12:48
AK: 20:43- 22:18

(Panchang data source: www.mypanchang.com)
Here on March 4th Dwadashi completes at "T:Dvadashi 15:27:26" (Look above in March 4th section). Right after that Trayodashi starts which is visible (prevailing) during the sunset of 4th and 144 minutes after sunset. Which is not the case on 5th. Where it prevails only till 15:01:06 PM (Look above in March 5th section) after that chaturdashi starts. Which means Trayodashi tithi prevails during sunrise of March 5th but not during the pradosha kala of March 5th. Hence pradosha kala is on March 4th.
Hope this helps.
To find out today's star or looking for a panchangam? visithttp://www.mypanchang.com/ and click on panchanga and select the city you want.