The piece I am sharing today is sweet and witty, with a touch of melancholy. It harks back to a time in the history of Bengal (and some other parts of the Subcontinent), not too long ago, when traditional higher education was imparted in residential academies called chatushpathis (चतुष्पाठी), chauba(/pa)dis (চৌবা(/পা)ড়ী; चौबा(/पा)ड़ी) or tols (টোল; टोल) run by individual Brahmin scholars; the medium of instruction, or at least the language of the texts on which instruction based, was Sanskrit, and the students were young men of select castes, many of whom were already married.
In these institutions (as well as for general socio-religious purposes), a lunar calendar was followed, in which each "day" is called a tithi (तिथि), and all fifteen tithis in a fortnight, starting from the one after a new moon or a full moon, are generally referred to by their ordinal numbers in the sequence. The reckoning begins with pratipad (प्रतिपद्) instead of prathamA (प्रथमा), "first", but continues after that with dvitIyA (द्वितीया), "second", tRtIyA (तृतीया), "third", and so on, all the way up to trayodazI (त्रयोदशी), "thirteenth", caturdazI (चतुर्दशी), "fourteenth", and paJcadazI (पञ्चदशी), "fifteenth"; however, the last nomenclature has fallen out of favor, for the terminal tithi of a fortnight is usually called amAvAsyA (अमावास्या) if it is a new moon and pUrNiman (पूर्णिमन्) if it is a full moon.
The following verse in the Vasantatilaka (वसन्ततिलक) meter speaks from the perspective of the wife of a tol student, and is, rather curiously, addressed to the trayodashi tithi (of either the bright or the dark fortnight). If you find it puzzling, please recall whatever you know about the significance of tithis in academia and try to solve the puzzle on your own, before proceeding to read the notes below.
Devanagari text:
In these institutions (as well as for general socio-religious purposes), a lunar calendar was followed, in which each "day" is called a tithi (तिथि), and all fifteen tithis in a fortnight, starting from the one after a new moon or a full moon, are generally referred to by their ordinal numbers in the sequence. The reckoning begins with pratipad (प्रतिपद्) instead of prathamA (प्रथमा), "first", but continues after that with dvitIyA (द्वितीया), "second", tRtIyA (तृतीया), "third", and so on, all the way up to trayodazI (त्रयोदशी), "thirteenth", caturdazI (चतुर्दशी), "fourteenth", and paJcadazI (पञ्चदशी), "fifteenth"; however, the last nomenclature has fallen out of favor, for the terminal tithi of a fortnight is usually called amAvAsyA (अमावास्या) if it is a new moon and pUrNiman (पूर्णिमन्) if it is a full moon.
The following verse in the Vasantatilaka (वसन्ततिलक) meter speaks from the perspective of the wife of a tol student, and is, rather curiously, addressed to the trayodashi tithi (of either the bright or the dark fortnight). If you find it puzzling, please recall whatever you know about the significance of tithis in academia and try to solve the puzzle on your own, before proceeding to read the notes below.
Devanagari text:
मातस्त्रयोदशि तिथे प्रणमामि तुभ्यं
मत्कान्तसङ्गमविधायिनि सर्वसिद्धे|
मत्कान्तसङ्गमविधायिनि सर्वसिद्धे|
भूयास्त्वमेव दश पञ्च च वासराणि
मा भूत् कदाचिदपि पापतिथिर्द्वितीया||
मा भूत् कदाचिदपि पापतिथिर्द्वितीया||
Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:
mAtastrayodazi tithe praNamAmi tubhyaM
matkAntasaGgamavidhAyini sarvasiddhe|
bhUyAstvameva daza paJca ca vAsarANi
mA bhUt kadAcidapi pApatithirdvitiyA||
– Anonymous
Loose translation: Mother Trayodashi Tithi! I bow down to you! You make it possible for me to (re)unite with my beloved! You possess all supernatural powers (or you are perfect in every way)! May you alone persist throughout all fifteen days (of the fortnight)! May that sinful lunar day Dwitiya never come to be!
Source: Verse 49 of the anthology Shlokamanjari compiled by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and published in 1890.
Notes: According to Vidyasagar's Bengali commentary, all students and teachers in the tol system were required to practice anadhyAya (अनध्याय), i.e. abstinence from studying Vedic and / or Sanskrit texts, for four consecutive days from the trayodashi (त्रयोदशी) of every fortnight until the pratipad (प्रतिपद्) of the next; thus, they had a four-day fortnight-end instead of the weekend that we are used to. Some students, whose permanent residence was far enough from the school so that a daily commute would not be feasible and close enough so that a one-way journey could be completed within a day, would take this opportunity to return home and spend quality time with family and friends. And this break was also the cherished window of opportunity in which the these young men and their wives got their fortnightly taste of marital bliss!
In scriptural literature, a day on which any of the tithis – ashtami (अष्टमी), "eighth", chaturdashi, purniman, or amavasya – or a sankranti (संक्रान्ति), "transmigration of the Sun from one zodiac sign to the next", occurs is called a parvan (पर्वन्), and is associated with a long list of dos and don'ts. Studying was one the activities forbidden on these days, at least on the eighth, fourteenth, and fifteenth tithis of every fortnight (e.g. see Manu Samhita Chapter 4 Verses 101-121 for a detailed description of the conditions for anadhyAya). Vidyasagar surmises that students did not bother (or were unable) to travel back and forth on an ashtami since it did not have another contiguous "free" day, and that is why there is no mention of this tithi in the verse under consideration; although he does not cover sankrantis at all in his commentary, a similar argument can be applied, in general, to these special days too. I have found references to some students staying back at the tol and being engaged in recreational constrained versification by their teachers on anadhyAya days, and it is not unlikely that the above snippet was composed on one such occasion. Finally, although trayodashi and pratipad do not seem to be part of the scripturally stipulated no-study fortnight-end, students were presumably given these days off for travel or to compensate for time spent at the educational institution on ashtamis (and sankrantis).
I would like to conclude with the following observation. If our pining lady just wanted to enjoy her husband's company with no interruption, she could have directed her prayers to any tithi within the fortnight-end; but she chose trayodashi exclusively. This is perhaps because she wants to relive, over and over again, the few hours of delectable anticipation and the joyous moment of her husband's return after a long spell of separation that only this tithi can offer!
Source: Verse 49 of the anthology Shlokamanjari compiled by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and published in 1890.
Notes: According to Vidyasagar's Bengali commentary, all students and teachers in the tol system were required to practice anadhyAya (अनध्याय), i.e. abstinence from studying Vedic and / or Sanskrit texts, for four consecutive days from the trayodashi (त्रयोदशी) of every fortnight until the pratipad (प्रतिपद्) of the next; thus, they had a four-day fortnight-end instead of the weekend that we are used to. Some students, whose permanent residence was far enough from the school so that a daily commute would not be feasible and close enough so that a one-way journey could be completed within a day, would take this opportunity to return home and spend quality time with family and friends. And this break was also the cherished window of opportunity in which the these young men and their wives got their fortnightly taste of marital bliss!
In scriptural literature, a day on which any of the tithis – ashtami (अष्टमी), "eighth", chaturdashi, purniman, or amavasya – or a sankranti (संक्रान्ति), "transmigration of the Sun from one zodiac sign to the next", occurs is called a parvan (पर्वन्), and is associated with a long list of dos and don'ts. Studying was one the activities forbidden on these days, at least on the eighth, fourteenth, and fifteenth tithis of every fortnight (e.g. see Manu Samhita Chapter 4 Verses 101-121 for a detailed description of the conditions for anadhyAya). Vidyasagar surmises that students did not bother (or were unable) to travel back and forth on an ashtami since it did not have another contiguous "free" day, and that is why there is no mention of this tithi in the verse under consideration; although he does not cover sankrantis at all in his commentary, a similar argument can be applied, in general, to these special days too. I have found references to some students staying back at the tol and being engaged in recreational constrained versification by their teachers on anadhyAya days, and it is not unlikely that the above snippet was composed on one such occasion. Finally, although trayodashi and pratipad do not seem to be part of the scripturally stipulated no-study fortnight-end, students were presumably given these days off for travel or to compensate for time spent at the educational institution on ashtamis (and sankrantis).
I would like to conclude with the following observation. If our pining lady just wanted to enjoy her husband's company with no interruption, she could have directed her prayers to any tithi within the fortnight-end; but she chose trayodashi exclusively. This is perhaps because she wants to relive, over and over again, the few hours of delectable anticipation and the joyous moment of her husband's return after a long spell of separation that only this tithi can offer!
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