The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c10.3

c10.3

IN the last chapter I have quoted an observation of Plutarch that the Greeks gave their own name to the constellation of Orion, and have there discussed some Vedic legends which corroborate Plutarch's remarks and indicate that the vernal equinox was in Orion at that time. In the present chapter I mean to examine other legends which go to shew that the constellation of Orion was known and figured before the Greeks, the Parsis, and the Indians separated from their common home, and that the legends or the traditions so preserved, and perhaps the name of the constellation, can be naturally and easily explained only on the supposition that the vernal equinox was then near the asterism of Mrigashiras.