[INDOLOGY] Sunrise in the West & twelve dandas

[Harry Spier]

>
>
>
> > > Prof. Barbara Grabowska of the South Asian Studies Deptt (University of
> > > Warsaw) asks me to ask you about the meaning of the phrase "*twelve
> > > dandas*".
> > >
> > > The phrase appears in the Rupram Cakravarti's Dharmamangal (XVII c.).
> The
> > > text says that if the sunrise will take place in the west, the God
> Dharma
> > > will start to be revered and receive sacrifices on this Earth. The
> hero of
> > > the Mangal prays for the sunrise to take place in the west at the
> twelfth
> > > danda. And people, thinking that the night is over, started their home
> > > chores.
>

What confuses me about this quote is the phrase "And people, thinking the
night is over, started their home chores".

Doesn't the medieval  solar day go from sunrise to sunrise not from
midnight to midnight ( or is the Bengali calendaric system  different) so
the 12th daNDa would be from 4 hours 24 minutes after sunrise to 4 hours 48
minutes after sunrise. I.e.very  late morning not early morning.

Harry Spier


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