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Chithirail Chithirai nAl - sri Venkatakrishnan Santhanagopalan's querry

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m.n.ramanuja • February 18, 2001 


Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

                              ASAsE ShatpadAmOdavahAm  guruparamparAm
                              SrinArAyaNa pAdAbja madhudhArAm ivAparAm.
Dear Bhaktas,

             The doubt raised in an earlier posting,  regarding chithirai star not falling on Poornima of Chithirai month can be cleared with the following explanation. Firstly  we have to distinguish between the lunar and solar calendars. Lunar Chaitra masam is not the same as Solar or Tamil Chithirai masam.The latter corresponds to the solar Mesha masam. It is only in the lunar Chaitra masam that the Chitra star coincides with full moon day most of the times(or  one day before or later). Owing to the differences in the lengths of the lunar and solar  (i.e., tamil) years, there is bound to be randomness in the occurrences of lunar events with respect to the solar events. 
For example, in one year, Chitra Pournami may occur in Panguni or Meena masam and in the next year, it may occur in Chithirai or Mesha masam. Similarly, Vaishakha pournami with vishakha star may occur in Chithirai masam or Vaihaashi(Vrishabha) masam.in different years. If Vaishakha pournami occurs in Mesha masam,  then Vishakha star will be by the fullmoon day and the chitra star will be relegated to dwadashi or trayodashi as pointed out by Sri Venkatakrishnan Santhanagopalan.  
      The important point to be noted is that the birthdays (tirunakshatrams) of Azhwar AchAryas and all, in general, are celebrated or observed on their stars falling in their respective solar month. 
For example,
MEShE ( chitthirai masam) Chitta samudbhootam --Madhurakavi and Anandalwar(AnandaNbillai)
Vrishabhe (Vaihashi masam) tu vishAkhAyAm --- Nammalwar (and I think Sri PBA swamy) 
Vrischike(karthihai Masam) krittika jAtam -----  Tirumangai Azhwar, Nambillai ( Lokacharyar) 
and so on. 
In the third example, if the poornima of lunar Kartheeka month occurs in the tamil or solar month of Karthihai, then Krittika star will be closest to the fullmoon day. On the other hand if the poornima of lunar MArgashira month occurs during the tamil Karthihai month,  then krittika star will be on trayodasi or chaturdasi.
  Similarly, the criterion for Sri VedantaDesikar tirunakshatram is SravaNa star occuring in Kanya (Perattasi ) masam and not in the lunar BhAdrapada masam, though occasionally in some years, the lunar BhAdrapada masam Sravana star and Kanya (Perattasi) masam Sravana star do coincide. Otherwise it falls on Vijayadasami day in some years. And if Kanya masam happens to contain two sravana stars in the same tamil month, then the tirunakshtram is celebrated on the day of the second Sravana star.  

Please excuse me if I have grown too didactic for your patience. I hope anyone  will correct me if I am wrong. 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasadasan

M.N.Ramanuja


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