Description of the Moon (soma-varṇana) - Verse 17
Linga Purana (GRETIL / Wisdomlib) · 1 · Verse 56.17
Sanskrit Original
यावत्तु क्षीयते तस्य भागः पञ्चदशस्तु सः। अमावास्यां ततस्तस्या अन्तरा पूर्यते पुनः।।
yāvattu kṣīyate tasya bhāgaḥ pañcadaśastu saḥ| amāvāsyāṃ tatastasyā antarā pūryate punaḥ||
Sūta said:: When the fifteenth part remains as the last digit, the groups of Pitṛs occupy this in the afternoon. For the duration of two kalās (units of time) they drink up the remaining digit—the nectar of svadhā that has oozed out of the rays on the Amāvāsyā day. After drinking the nectar they attain full satiety for the whole of month and then go away. By the time the remaining digit of the moon drunk by the Pitṛs gets dissolved, a fifteenth part is replenished. The increase and the decrease of the moon in the beginning of each fortnight is on the sixteenth day.[2] The increase in the moon is thus due to the sun.