Shloka 69
सूर्यरथ-कालचक्र-आयनविभागः, संध्योपासनम्, देवयान-पितृयानम्, विष्णुपद-गङ्गावतरणम्
त्रिंशन्मुहूर्तं कथितम् अहोरात्रं तु यन् मया तानि पञ्चदश ब्रह्मन् पक्ष इत्य् अभिधीयते
triṃśanmuhūrtaṃ kathitam ahorātraṃ tu yan mayā tāni pañcadaśa brahman pakṣa ity abhidhīyate
I have declared that a full day and night consist of thirty muhūrtas. Of these, O Brahmin, fifteen are designated as a pakṣa (half-month).
Sage Parāśara (teaching Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Topic: Standard temporal units: defining ahorātra in muhūrtas and relating it to the pakṣa
Teaching: Cosmological
Quality: authoritative
Concept: Time is articulated through precise measures—an ahorātra of thirty muhūrtas—supporting larger calendrical structure such as the pakṣa.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Structure daily practice by fixed intervals (study, japa, rest), using measured time as an aid to steadiness and self-regulation.
Vishishtadvaita: Ordered temporality serves dharma and worship; disciplined time mirrors living within the Lord’s regulated cosmos.
FAQs
They are foundational units in the Purāṇic calendar, used to scale up from daily time (muhūrta, ahorātra) to lunar time (pakṣa), enabling later calculations of months, yugas, and cosmic cycles.
He defines a day-night as thirty muhūrtas and then identifies fifteen (half of that measure in the verse’s framing) as the named unit ‘pakṣa,’ continuing a stepwise exposition of time-measures.
Even when the verse is technical, it supports the Purāṇic view that cosmic order (kāla and its measures) operates under the supreme governance of Vishnu, who is presented as the ground of universal regulation.