The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c6.6.2

c6.6.2

Haug, in his introduction to the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa, has observed that "the satras, which lasted for one year, were nothing but an imitation of the sun's yearly course. They were divided into two distinct parts, each consisting of six months of 30 days each. In the midst of both was the *Viṣhûvân*, *i. e.*, the equator or the central day, cutting the whole *satra* into two halves.'* This clearly shows that the ancient *Ṛiṣhis* prepared their calendar mainly for sacrificial purposes, and the performance of various sacrifices facilitated, in its turn, the keeping up of the calendar. Offerings were made every morning and evening, on every new and full moon, and at the commencement of every season and *ayana*.† When this course of sacrifices was thus completed, it was naturally found that the year also had run its course, and the sacrifice and the year, therefore, seem to have early become synonymous terms. There are many passages in the *Brâhmaṇas* and *Saṃhitâs*, where *Saṃvatsara* and *Yajña* are declared to be convertible terms,‡ and no other theory has yet been suggested on which this may be accounted for. I am therefore inclined to believe that the Vedic *Ṛiṣhis* kept up their calendar by performing the corresponding round of sacrifices on the sacred fire that constantly burnt in their houses, like the fire of the Parsi priest in modern times.