176                           ALBERUNTS INDIA.

and on this day, whilst the moon stood iu the station
Rohini. The two conditions, viz. the moon's standing
in Rohini and that the day is the eighth of the black
half, can happen only once in so and so many years, for
various reasons, e.g. the intercalation of the year, and
because the civil years do not keep pace with lunar time,
either getting in advance of it or falling behind.

The same book says: "When the moon stands in
Punarvasu, the seventh of her stations, on the eleventh
day of the white half of the month, this is a fast-day,
called Atj (? Attdtctjct). If a man does works of piety
on this day, he will be enabled to obtain whatever he
wishes, as has been the case with Sagara, Kctkutstha,
and Dandahamdr (?), who obtained royalty because they
had done so.

The sixth day of Caitra is a fast-day holy to the sun.

In the month Ashadha, when the moon stands in
Anuradha, the seventeenth of her signs, there is a fast-
day holy to Vasudeva called Devctsini (?), i.e. Deva is
sleeping, because it is the beginning of the four months
during which Vasudeva slept. Others add this condi¬
tion, that the day must be the eleventh of the month.

It is evident that such a day does not occur in every
year. The followers of Vasudeva abstain on this day
from meat, fish, sweetmeats, and cohabitation with the
women, and take food only once a day. They make
the earth their bed without any covering, and do not
use a bedstead raised above the earth.

People say that these four months are the night of
the angels, to which must be added a month at the
beginning as evening twilight, and a month at the end
as morning dawn. However, the sun stands then near
0° of Cancer, which is noon in the day of the ctngels, and
I do not see in what way this moon is connected with
the two Saihdhis.

The day of full moon in the month Sravana is a fast-
day holy to Somanatha.