ஸ்ரீ ஜெயந்தி vs கோகுலாஷ்டமி

Hindu festival celebrating the birth of Krishna, an Avatar of the Hindu deity Vishnu. This avatar let us have a darshan of an adorable, lovable child who’s stories would be told to kids for several thousands of years to come! And as an adult, Sri Krishna Perumal gave us the Bhagavad Gita, the treasure of spiritual knowledge.

There seems to be some difference among communities on the day observed as the birth of Sri Krishna.

With respect to the specific case of Lord Krishna's birth, Sri M.N.Ramanuja writes:

Regarding SriJayanthi Adiyen has this to say Five thousand years ago, when Srikrishna was born, the day was

Simha masam (Avani), Sravana masam, Bahula, Ashtami. and Rohini star.

Hence ideally all these conditions have to match to celebrate Srijayanthi.

Sri M.N. Ramanuja has succinctly described the problem.

Different interpretations of the texts that describe Sri Krishna's birth lead to different conclusions as to when to celebrate it.

The factors are:

1) Solar month

2) Lunar month

3) Nakshatra (constellation aligned with the moon)

4) Tithi (loosely, phase of the moon)

5) how to determine these when combined with other factors such as sunrise or moonrise

(In a nutshell, the difference stems from lunar vs. solar month and whether to take sunrise or moonrise into consideration for determining jayantI. this will be explained below.)

அஷ்டமி திதி (Ashtami Thithi)

ரோகினி நக்ஷத்திரம் (Nakshatram)

1. Gokulashtami for Smarthas

2. Sri Jayanthi for Vaishnavas belongs to Vaikanasa & Munithraya

3. Sri Jayanthi for Vaishnavas belongs to Pancharatra

The Smartha tradition generally observes the birth of Sri Krishna on SrAvaNa-krishna-ashTamI, giving importance only to the tithi. They also generally follow the lunar calendar for this observance and celebrate it in SrAvaNa (lunar month), without paying attention to the nakshatra or the solar month.

Most other religious traditions in the country have followed this practice. Since for all these traditions the tithi is given importance, those who follow this reckoning call the day (Sri Krishna) janmAshTamI or gokulAshTamI

Broadly, there are two different opinions within the Sri Vaishnava tradition concerning this matter. One can be called the 'mannAr' tradition, the other the 'tOzhappar' tradition. (In a nutshell, the difference stems from lunar vs. solar month and whether to take sunrise or moonrise into consideration for determining jayantI. this will be explained below.).

2. Vaishnavas belongs to Vaikanasa & Munithraya

There are groups of Vaishnavas people who belongs to Vaikanasa observe the birth celebration on the evening - night time for the thithi and star combination  Rohini nakshatram.

3. Sri Jayanthi for Vaishnavas belongs to Pancharatra

Pancharathra temples observe the combination at day time. 

The mannAr tradition is followed by Sri Parakala Matham and 'munitraya' tradition Sri Vaishnavas such as both Andavan Ashramams and most Vadagalai acharya-purusha families. It is named after one mannAr svAmi of unknown date who is the first extant authority arguing for this calculation.mannAr svAmi is known to have very eminent predecessors who shared his opinion, such as the Upanishad Bhashyakara Ranga Ramanujacharya.

The tOzhappar tradition is followed by Sri Ahobila Matham and Thengalai Sri Vaishnavas. It is named after Sri Vaidika Sarvabhauma Swami, also known as Kidambi Thozhappar, who wrote a detailed text establishing the reasoning behind his tradition. He was a disciple of the founding Jeeyar Swami of Sri Ahobila Matham.

Having briefly laid out the history, here are the differences themselves. The tOzhappar tradition is simpler so I will lay it out first.

tOzhappar SrI jayantI:

1) Only the solar month is taken into account. So it must be in simha (AvaNi) mAsam, which is mid-August to mid-September.

2) The target date in this month is kRshna-ashTamI (8th day of the waning phase of the moon) in conjunction with rOhiNI. However, on that day, not even a tiny bit of saptamI should exist post-sunrise, nor should there be any kRttikA nakshatram.

3) If there is no pure ashTamI-rOhiNI conjunction as described in (2), navamI-rOhiNi is the next preferred conjunction, with once again a pure rOhiNi mandatory.

4) If (3) is not possible, mRgaSIrsha nakshatra combined with navamI or daSamI is the next preferred choice.

5) If this observance of SrI jayantI does not fall on ashTamI, the ashTamI is treated as any other day and requires no special observance.

Mannar SrI jayantI:

1) The ideal date is the conjunction of rOhiNI and kRshNa-ashTamI that lasts from sunrise through the night. (This need not happen in the solar month of AvaNi. Lunar month of SrAvaNa before AvaNi begins is also okay.)

2) If (1) is not possible, if at moonrise it is rOhiNI as well as ashTamI, that date should be taken. Neither the rOhiNi nor the ashTamI need be pure as in the tOzhappar tradition.

3) If (2) is not possible, if there is any conjunction of ashTamI and rOhinI day or night, that calendar day should be taken as SrI jayantI.

There are 12 more cases in the mannAr tradition which get quite complicated. But the primary focus in all is some occurrence of rOhiNI. In no circumstance should navamI without rOhiNI be taken as SrI jayantI. (Some other circumstances such as being on a Wednesday Sri Krishna is said to be born on this day of the week] push the date in one direction or another.)

The key is that in neither mannAr nor tOzhappar is the tithi given preference. This is why only rarely does the Sri Vaishnava date coincide with the smArta date.

This should explain why the mannAr tradition sometimes observes SrI jayantI as much as a month before the tOzhappar tradition. Since the latter exclusively prefers the solar month, their date often falls several weeks later. Further, it also explains why the mannAr observance is often just a day before the tOzhappar date. This is because the mannAr tradition takes into account moonrise whereas the tOzhappar tradition only takes into account sunrise.

Occasionally, mannAr tradition Sri Vaishnavas have to observe two days of fasting in a row -- janmAshTamI as well as SrI jayantI. This is when the ashTamI and

rOhiNI simply do not coincide at all and fall one after another in the solar month of AvaNi. Note that this janmAshTamI is not the same as the smArta calculation of janmAshTamI.

Note: texts consulted:

o 'SrI jayantI nirNaya' by Sri Gopalarya Mahadesika

o 'Ahnika granthaH' of Sri Villivalam Krishnamacharya

(present Sri Azhagiya Singar in pUrvASrama)

Under Pancharathram, temples are constructed away from towns, on hills and on river banks. All who get dheekshai are equal. Andal is worshipped equal to Lakshmi. Azhwars are also installed in temples and worshipped. The same five states of Sriman Narayanan are worshipped in Pancharathram as in Vaikansam. Srirangam, Kanchi, Melakkottai, Tiruvallur etc are pancharathra temples.