That Pragapati is the year, and he consists of sixteen digits. The nights indeed are his fifteen digits, the fixed point his sixteenth digit. He is increased and decreased by the nights. Having on the new-moon night entered with the sixteenth part into everything that has life, he is thence born again in the morning. Therefore let no one cut off the life of any living thing on that night, not even of a lizard, in honour (pugartham) of that deity.

In plain words: Prajapati, the lord of creatures, is the year, and he has sixteen parts like the phases of the moon. Fifteen parts are the nights that grow and shrink, and one part stays fixed. On the new-moon night he enters every living thing and is born again in the morning. So on that night no one should kill any living creature, not even a lizard.