Durva Ashtami 1922

From the Bhavishya Purana

Durva is the soft green grass, with long creeping runners, that is offered in worship. Durva Ashtami is the day on which this grass itself is honoured.

Lord Krishna told King Yudhishthira about this day. "Whoever keeps the holy vow of Durva Ashtami with faith on the eighth day of the bright half of Bhadrapada," he said, "will never see the family line fail, even for seven generations. The family will grow and be happy, as it was before."

Yudhishthira asked, "Lord of the world, where did this Durva grass come from? Why does it live so long, and why is it so pure? Please tell me."

Krishna answered with a story from the churning of the Ocean of Milk. Long ago, when the gods and demons churned that ocean to get the nectar of immortality, Lord Vishnu held up the great mountain Mandara, which was the churning rod, with his arms and his thighs. The mountain spun so fast that some of the hairs on Vishnu's body were rubbed loose. The waves of the ocean carried those hairs and threw them up onto the shore. From them grew the lovely Durva grass, fresh and green. So Durva was born from the body hair of Vishnu.

When the nectar had been churned out, the gods, demons, gandharvas, yakshas and vidyadharas set the pot of nectar down upon that grass. Drops of nectar trickled from the pot onto the Durva. The moment they touched it, the grass became ageless and deathless.

So Durva became holy and worthy of worship. The gods themselves worshipped it on the Ashtami with fruits, flowers, curd, unbroken rice, incense and lamps. Krishna gave the prayer they used: "O Durva, you were born of the nectar, and the gods and demons bow to you. Give us good fortune and children, and help us in all we do. Just as you spread over the earth with your many runners and shoots, so give me children and descendants, O ageless and deathless one."

After the gods, their wives, their daughters in law and their sisters worshipped Durva. So did the goddesses Vak, Gauri and Shri. On earth, the great women Vedavati, Damayanti and Sita worshipped it, and so did the heavenly dancers Ghritachi, Rambha, Menaka, Urvashi and others. Durva, the Purana says, is worshipped above all by women, and it gives them happiness and good fortune.

Krishna then gave his blessing. The women who keep this ancient vow, famous as Durva Ashtami, which brings children, live long on earth with happiness, good fortune, sons and grandsons. Afterwards they go to heaven, where the gods welcome them, and they live there in joy with their husbands and families until the end of the age.

The chapter closes with a picture of the season. When the sky is covered with rain clouds and the forest is green, a woman who worships Durva on that bright Ashtami grows and flourishes with her children and friends, just as the Durva grass spreads and grows.