Dana Kala Nirnaya (दानकालनिर्णयः)
Scriptures have laid down several rules regarding the proper times for offering Dana (दानकालनिर्णयः). Apart from the daily offering of dana, (nityadana । नित्यदानम्) donations made at specific times of the year and festival days are said to be highly meritorious.
Planetary Transits and Eclipses
A donor is bestowed with inexhaustible rewards when he offers gifts on [1][2]
अयने विषुवे चैव षडशीतिमुखेषु च। चन्द्रसूर्योपरागे च दत्तमक्षयमुच्यते॥ (Maha. Vana. 200.125)
- first day of Ayana (अयनम् । passage of sun to the north or south)
- on equinox days (विषुवत् । vishuvat)
- during an eclipse of sun or moon (चन्द्रसूर्यो ग्रहणम् । surya or chandra grahanam।)
- beginning of Shadashiti (षडशीति) marked by sun's entrance into the zodiac signs of Gemini, VIrgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces according to Laghu Shatatapa text.[1]
- all twelve sankrantis () are auspicious for offering dana, the most prominent being Makara sankranti which is the festival for dana itself.
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).[1] (See Chaturvarga Chintamani Page 69 reference [3] for samskrit sloka).
शतमिन्दुक्षये दानं सहस्रन्तु दिनक्षये । विषुवे शतसहस्रं व्यतीपातेत्वन्तकम् ॥
Tithis
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
The preferred time to make a dana is during the day, however on particular occasions it may be made at night.
Time
Shatatapa smriti states that 16 ghatikas before and after the moment when the sun enters a new zodiac sign is a holy time for offering danas.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Kane, Pandurang. Vaman. (1941) History of Dharmasastra, Volume Two, Part 2. Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
- ↑ Agarwal, Sanjay. (2010) Daan and Other Giving Traditions in India. New Delhi: AccountAid, India
- ↑ Pt. Bharatachandra Siromani (1873) Chaturvarga Chintamani by Hemadri, Vol 1, Dana kanda. Calcutta: The Asiatic Society of Bengal