Details

Subjects:

Tree worship.
India.
Ficus religiosa -- Religious aspects -- Hinduism.
Tree worship -- India.
Vratas.
Hinduism -- Rituals -- Texts.
Hinduism -- Rituals.
Rites and ceremonies -- India.
Rites and ceremonies.
Hindu law.
Dharma.

Form/Genre:

Texts.
Manuals (instructional materials)
Treatises.
Manuscripts, Sanskrit.
Manuscripts.

Language:

In Sanskrit (Devanāgarī)

Summary:

Manual with associated rules and laws (dharma) for performing rites, ceremonies, and observances (vratas). First part (Part 1, f. 2-3) is drawn from the Bhaviṣyottarapurāṇa and is an observance (vrata) to be performed during the "extra month" (adhimāsa) referred to as Malamāsa (impure month), an intercalary month often associated with misfortune and considered inauspicious. Performing these rites and observances is thought to alleviate such negative associations. The second part of the manuscript (Part 2, f. 1-4) is for constructing banks of earth around a peepal or aśvattha tree (Ficus religiosa) as part of a larger set of rites. Both works and the manuscript itself was likely part of a larger compendium of rites.

Contents:

Malamāsavrata (Part 1, f. 2-3)
Aśvatthapūjana (Part 2, f. 1-4).

Notes:

Title from colophon (f. 4v).
Written in 9-10 lines per leaf.
6 leaves foliated 2-3, 1-4, upper left and lower right verso.
Colophon: iti aśvatthapūjanaṃ samāptaṃ // (f. 4v).
Mistakes blacked out; some corrections and additions in margins; vertical margins marked with double black line.

Cited in:

Listed in H.I. Poleman, Census of Indic Manuscripts in the United States and Canada (New Haven, Conn.: American Oriental Society, 1938), Poleman 3346 (UP 1438).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Coll. 390, Item 1438.

Contains:

Puranas. Bhaviṣyottarapurāṇa. Selections.
Malamāsavrata.

OCLC:

910900162