India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c8.s14.50

c8.s14.50

ORDER OF NAKSHATRAS—The Vedic list of *nakshatras* begins with *Kṛittikā*. According to Hopkins: 'As late as Yājñavalkya's law-book, I.267, the Pleiades hold this position as opposed to the still later scheme (since c. 490 A.D.) beginning with *Aśvinī* to indicate the vernal equinox' (*J.A.O.S.*, XXIV, p. 34). Patañjali's illustration *Kṛittikā-Rohiṇyaḥ* to show the order of precedence in the asterisms as required by a *vārttika* on II.2.34 points to the fact that up to his time the *Kṛittikās* headed the list.