Darshapurnamasa
दर्शपूर्णमास
Occasional rites tied to a calendrical occasion (new moon, full moon, season-change) — required when the occasion arises, not at will.
Category
Naimittika (occasional, calendar-bound)
Duration
1 (new moon) + 1 (full moon), twice each lunar month
Priests required
4 ritviks
Purpose
The paired new-moon (darsha) and full-moon (purnamasa) rite, considered the archetype (prakriti) for almost every other ishti yajna in the Shrauta corpus. It maintains the lunar cycle of offerings binding the householder to the rhythm of the moon and to the devas who govern fortnightly time.
Deities invoked
- • Agni
- • Soma
- • Indra
- • Agni-Soma jointly
Mantra source
Krishna Yajurveda Taittiriya Samhita 1.6, Shatapatha Brahmana 1.1–6, Apastamba Shrauta Sutra 1–4
Material offerings
- • Rice cake (purodasha) baked on potsherds
- • Ghee
- • Milk
- • Curds
- • Barley grains
- • Soma juice (on certain variants)
Items listed are those prescribed in the Shrauta texts. This page does not provide procedural instruction.
Modern status
Rare in living tradition
Continues in a small number of agnihotri shrauta households in Kerala, Karnataka, and Maharashtra, and is the central rite performed at periodic gatherings of the Nambudiri and Athirathri lineages.
Historical significance
The Brahmana literature treats the darshapurnamasa as the model yajna from which all other shrauta ishtis are derived in structure; mastery of it was a prerequisite for any further Vedic priestly training.