The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c12.24

c12.24

The third of the Krittika-period commences with the vernal equinox in the asterism of the Krittikâs and extends up to the period recorded in the Vedânga Jyotisha, that is, from 2500 B. C to 1400 B. C. It was the period of the Taittirîya Sanhitâ and several of the Brâhmaṇas. The hymns of the Rigveda had already become antique and unintelligible by this time and the Brahmavâdins indulged in speculations, often too free, about the real meaning of these hymns and legends, attributing the use of the foamy weapon used by Indra to a compact between him and Namuchi. It was at this time that the Sanhitâs were probably compiled into systematic books and attempts made to ascertain the meanings of the oldest hymns and formulæ. It was also during this period that the Indians appear to have come in contact with the Chinese, and the latter borrowed the Hindu Nakshatra system. I do not mean to say that Hindus might not have improved their system by the mutual interchange of ideas as they did when they came to know of Greek astronomy. But the system was decidedly of Hindu origin and of purely Hindu origin being handed down from the remotest or the pre-Orion period in the Vedic literature. M. Biot was unable to assign any reason why the Chinese should have taken a leap from the shoulder to the belt of Orion to choose their fourth *sieu*. But with the older Hindu traditions the question admits of an easy explanation, as the belt was therein the real Mrigashiras or rather the top of Mriga's head.