Rest Days; A Sociological Study 77 



In ancient India, the critical epochs determined by the lunar 

 phases were marked by still other forms of abstinence. In the 

 earliest \"edic period a custom existed of observing two sacred 

 periods in every month, new moon and full moon, with sacrifices 

 to the gods.'^ The simpler forms of the rite were gradually ex- 

 tended into an elaborate ritual. Every Brahmanical householder 

 was required to perform two half-monthly sacrifices for a period 

 of thirty years after he had set up a home of his own. Accord- 

 ing to some authorities these sacrifices were obligatory for the 

 rest of his life. The ceremony usually occupied the greater part 

 of two consecutive days. Whilst the first day was to be chiefly 

 occupied with preparatory rites and the taking of the vow of 

 abstinence by the sacrificer and his wife, the second day was 

 reserved for the main performance of the ceremony.'- The 

 restrictions included abstention from various kinds of food and 

 other carnal pleasures, and the observance of silence throughout 

 the ceremonial. A difference of opinion exists as to the exact 

 days appointed for these rites, though, clearly, they were asso- 

 ciated with new and full moon. Some native authorities decided 

 in favor of the last two days of each half of the lunar month; 

 but the generality of ritualistic writers considered the first day 

 of the half-month— that is, the first and sixteenth days of the 

 month — to be the proper time for the second or sacrificial rite. 

 Since it was permitted to compress the two-days' rites of the full- 

 moon sacrifice into one single day, the conjecture is plausible that 

 originally only one day was assigned to the two observances of 

 abstinence and sacrifice.'^ 



Durga, a form of Parvati, seems to have had an ancient connection with 

 the moon. 



"Martin Haug, The Aifareya Brahmanam of the Rigveda, Bombay, 

 1863, ii. 5; H. Zimmer, Altindisches Lcbcn, Berlin, 1879, 364 sq.; A. Hille- 

 brandt, Die altindische Neu- und Vollinondsopfer, Jena, 1880. The new- 

 moon day was called darsa, the day of the full moon, purnamasa. 



'"The first day was called upavasatlia, a fasting or fast-day (cf. San- 

 skrit, upa, an adverbial adjunct, signifying to refrain from, abstain, hence, 

 to fast). The second day's ceremony was known as the darsapurnamasa 

 sacrifice. 



"Julius Eggeling, TJie SatapatJia-Brahniana, i. i, i, i sqq. (Sacred 



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