The 'Moonlight of the Assembly' — Sabhākaumudī — is a work that refuses to choose between astronomy and law. Its author, Vāmorinārāyaṇa, announces in the opening verses that he has drawn from the ocean of jyotiṣa and from dharmaśāstra alike, and the text that follows is a single science of time.
Composed on the Narmadā's bank
The colophon-style opening gives the work its setting.
Having bowed to Mihira (the Sun), from the ocean of Jyotiṣa, having taken the essence, and from Dharmaśāstra, Sāmakaumudī is composed for one's own satisfaction by Vāmorinārāyaṇa, knower of law. In the Śaka year 1260, the year called Mānava, on the southern bank of the Narmadā, this work is composed.
A date, a place, and a double allegiance: the stars and the law together.
The time that shapes action
The body of the work is calendrical — the sixty-year cycle of names, the six seasons, and the tithis that make an act auspicious or not.
The all-conquering, all-sustaining, opposing, transformed, harsh one; Nandana and Vijaya, and Jayamanmatha and Durmukha; Hemalambi and Vilambi — these are the sixty years. From the moon's passage through two signs, the seasons: śiśira (late winter), vasanta (spring), grīṣma (summer), varṣā (rains), śarad (autumn), and hemanta (early winter).
The year is not neutral — each of its sixty names carries a character, and the timing of ritual turns on them.
When to act
The text's practical heart is the classification of tithis — which lunar days favor which undertakings.
Homage to Lord Gaṇeśa. Homage to Goddess Sarasvatī.
|| 7 || Pingala, Kalayukta, Siddharthi, Rudra and Durmati; Dundubhi, Dhirodgari, Raktakshi, the angry one, Kshaya. || 8 || Brahma and the others, twenty beginning with these, the second is called Vishnu, the third is proclaimed as Rudra, remembered as corresponding to their own names.
|| 8 || Brahma and the others, twenty beginning with these, the second is called Vishnu, the third is proclaimed as Rudra, remembered as corresponding to their own names. || 9 || These sixty names of the years have been declared by the foremost sages previously, arising from the middle zodiacal sign-traversal of Brihaspati, to be employed in order by the people.
|| 9 || These sixty names of the years have been declared by the foremost sages previously, arising from the middle zodiacal sign-traversal of Brihaspati, to be employed in order by the people. || 10 || In the three seasons beginning with Shishira, O sage, they call it the northern course [of the sun].
||1|| When there is contact between the tithis without the sight [of the moon], O lord of the wise... || On the thirteenth and third [tithis], one who is virtuous, with good people... || By giving, by the act of giving, on the day... [?] full, thus all tithis occur in order || Inferior, middling, and excellent results, with small, medium, and great merit, become best, middling, and inferior || The one day and three tithis of it should be known as the decrease || At night, three or three in the night, during the day it is called khanda ||3|| Having obtained the sunrise, whatever tithi exists at that time || That is khanda, and if diminished, it is called khanda ||4|| Whatever tithi the sun reaches at sunrise || That tithi should be known as complete for acts of giving and study ||5|| Here, by the word 'sunrise,' that which extends for three muhurtas is to be taken. The sunrise of three muhurtas which...
On the day of a vow, śrāddha [is prohibited], O Mādhava. || 6 || Then on the sixth [lunar day], journey also [is prohibited], and the sale of wood [is a] bad act. The sale of [anything] is a bad act, [and] throat [diseases result]. On the sixth [day], the following are to be done: war, application [of weapons], crafts, and Vāstu [rituals?]. Kṛṣṇa [says]: || 6 || Shaving, the sacred thread ceremony, marriage, initiation, and house-entry [are prohibited].
|| 6 || Then on the sixth [lunar day], journey also [is prohibited], and the sale of wood [is a] bad act. The sale of [anything] is a bad act, [and] throat [diseases result]. On the sixth [day], the following are to be done: war, application [of weapons], crafts, and Vāstu [rituals?]. Kṛṣṇa [says]: || 6 || Shaving, the sacred thread ceremony, marriage, initiation, and house-entry [are prohibited]. One should avoid consecration and installation on the ninth [day].
North of the Vindhya, the month begins with the dark fortnight for all actions. The bright fortnight is declared auspicious always, except for śrāddha. The fourteenth and the fourth in the bright fortnight give good results. In the dark fortnight, the full moon marks the limit; beyond it, the waning moon is excluded from auspicious action.
It is a whole ethics of timing — a science that tells you not only what to do, but when. The Sabhākaumudī is that rare thing: a book that made astronomy and law serve one another, so that the sky and the calendar could together order a life.