Changes

== Planetary Transits and Eclipses ==

== Planetary Transits and Eclipses ==

A donor is bestowed with inexhaustible rewards when he offers gifts on <ref name=":1">Kane, Pandurang. Vaman. (1941) ''History of Dharmasastra, Volume Two, Part 2.'' Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute</ref><ref name=":0">Agarwal, Sanjay. (2010) ''Daan and Other Giving Traditions in India.'' New Delhi: AccountAid, India</ref>

A donor is bestowed with inexhaustible rewards when he offers gifts on <ref name=":1">Kane, Pandurang. Vaman. (1941) ''History of Dharmasastra, Volume Two, Part 2.'' Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute</ref><ref name=":0">Agarwal, Sanjay. (2010) ''Daan and Other Giving Traditions in India.'' New Delhi: AccountAid, India</ref><blockquote>अयने विषुवे चैव षडशीतिमुखेषु च। चन्द्रसूर्योपरागे च दत्तमक्षयमुच्यते॥ (Maha. Vana. 200.125)</blockquote>

* first day of Ayana (passage of sun to the north or south । )

* first day of Ayana (अयनम् । passage of sun to the north or south)

* on equinox days (vishuvat ।)

* on equinox days (विषुवत् । vishuvat)

* during an eclipse of sun or moon (surya or chandra grahanam।)

* during an eclipse of sun or moon (चन्द्रसूर्यो ग्रहणम् । surya or chandra grahanam।)

* beginning of Shadashiti (sankranti ।) marked by sun's entrance into the zodiac signs of Gemini, VIrgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces according to Laghu Shatatapa text.<ref name=":1" />

* beginning of Shadashiti (षडशीति) marked by sun's entrance into the zodiac signs of Gemini, VIrgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces according to Laghu Shatatapa text.<ref name=":1" />

* all twelve sankrantis are auspicious for offering dana, the most prominent being Makara sankranti which is the festival for dana itself.

* all twelve sankrantis () are auspicious for offering dana, the most prominent being Makara sankranti which is the festival for dana itself.

These injunctions are explained in Vanaparva of Mahabharata.  

A gift made on Amavasya imparts rewards by a hundred times more than that obtained by making a dana on an ordinary day, a thousand times when made on the suppression of a tithi, a hundred thousand times when made on on the equinoxal day, and a gift brings endless rewards when made on Vyatipata (an inauspicious day).<ref name=":1" /> (See Chaturvarga Chintamani Page 69 reference <ref name=":22">Pt. Bharatachandra Siromani (1873) ''[https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.424417/2015.424417.chaturvarga-chintamani#page/n99/mode/2up Chaturvarga Chintamani by Hemadri, Vol 1, Dana kanda.]'' Calcutta: The Asiatic Society of Bengal</ref> for samskrit sloka). <blockquote>शतमिन्दुक्षये दानं सहस्रन्तु दिनक्षये । विषुवे शतसहस्रं व्यतीपातेत्वन्तकम् ॥ </blockquote>

=== Amavasya and Pournima ===

=== Tithis ===

A gift made on Amavasya imparts rewards by a hundred times more than that obtained by making a dana on an ordinary day.  

When three tithis occur on the same day, it is called as Dinakshaya () as the middle one is suppressed in the Panchanga (Tithi, Vara, Nakshatra, Yoga and Karanam) of that day.  Dana made on Purnima () Dvadashi () tithis yield inexhaustible rewards and are highly commended when associated with bath, japa, homa, annadana, and fasting.  

=== Day and Night ===

=== Day and Night ===

The preferred time to make a dana is during the day, however on particular occasions it may be made at night.

The preferred time to make a dana is during the day, however on particular occasions it may be made at night.