The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c11.3.3

c11.3.3

It shows that an eclipse of the sun was then first observed with any pretensions to accuracy by the sage Atri.∗ It is thus that I understand the last verse in the hymn which, after describing the eclipse, says, "Atri alone knew him (the sun) none else could." This observation of the solar eclipse is noticed in the Sānkhyāyana (24. 3) and also in the Tāṇḍya Brāhmaṇa (iv. 5. 2; 6. 14), in the former of which it is said to have occurred three days previous to the *Vishūvan* (the autumnal equinox). The observation thus appears to have attracted considerable attention in those days. It seems to have been a total eclipse of the sun, and the stars became visible during the time, for I so interpret the expression, *bhuvanāni adīdhayuh* in verse 5. In verse 6 we are told that "Atri knew (the eclipsed sun) by turîya brahma," and Sâyaṇa interprets the last two words to mean "the fourth verse or mantra." But the verse wherein these words occur is itself the sixth, and Sâyaṇa has to explain that by "fourth" is to be understood the "fourth, if we count from the sixth. i. e., the tenth verse!" The explanation may be good from the ritualistic point of view, but it appears to me to be quite unsatisfactory otherwise. I would rather interpret turîyeṇa brahmaṇâ to mean "by means of turîya." Turîya is mentioned in modern astronomical works as a name for an instrument called quadrant (Siddhânta Shiromaṇi x.