India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c13.9

c13.9

According to Tilak, as quoted by Kaye, it was stated by Garga that Kṛittikā was first for purposes of ritual, while for the purpose of the calendar Śravishṭhā was put first, the same as we find in Pāṇini's list. Leaving aside the question of the Kṛittikās standing at the head of the asterisms and the possible basis of this phenomenon in the coincidence of the vernal equinox with Kṛittikās at a certain epoch connected more properly with Vedic chronology, we must consider the implications of the reference to Śravishṭhā as the first of the Nakshatras. The generally accepted theory is that the Nakshatras were 27 or 28 constellations that roughly marked out the ecliptic. The winter solstice was at the first point of the Dhanishṭhā in the period of the Vedāṅga Jyotish when Dhanishṭhā was put first. Later on it travelled to the preceding Nakshatra Śravaṇa, and at the time when this happened the asterism Śravaṇa was reckoned as the first in the calendar.