The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c7.29

c7.29

In the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa (i. 5, 2, 7) it is stated that "the Nakshatras are the houses of gods . . . . the Nakshatras of the Devas begin with the Krittikās and end with Vishākhā, whereas the Nakshatras of Yama begin with the Anurādhās and end with the Apa-Bharanīs."† Prof. Max Müller appears to think that the latter group is called the Nakshatras of Yama because Yama presides over the last of them.‡ But the explanation appears to me to be quite unsatisfactory ; for on the same principle the first group should have been called the Nakshatras of Indrāgnī, the presiding deities of Vishâkhâ, the last in that group. I am, therefore, disposed to think that the principle of division in this case is the same as that followed in the case of the Devayâna and the Pitriyâna discussed before. We have the express authority of the Shatapatha Brâhmaṇa stating that the sun was to be considered as moving amongst and protecting the Devas, when he turned to the north, in the three seasons of spring, summer and rains. In other words the hemisphere to the north of the equator was supposed to be consecrated to the Devas and the southern one to the Pitṛis. Now, the sun moved amongst the Devas when he was in the northern hemisphere. The Devas, therefore, must have their abode in that hemisphere, and as the Nakshatras are said to be the houses of the Devas, all the Nakshatras in the northern hemisphere, from the vernal to the autumnal equinox, would naturally be called the Nakshatras of the Devas. Now the southern hemisphere was assigned to the Pitṛis; but I have already quoted a passage from the Rigveda which states that it was the path of the god of death. In Rig. x. 14, 1, Yama is spoken of as the king of Pitṛis, and in verse 7 of the same hymn the deceased is told to go to the pitṛi-loka, where he would meet the god Yama. In the Vâjasaneyi Sanhitâ 19, 45, salutation is made to the world of Pitṛis in the kingdom of Yama. There are many other passages of similar import in the Sanhitâs,[*] and from all these it would be quite clear that the Pitriyâna or Pitṛi-loka was also called the kingdom of Yama. The Nakshatras in the southern hemisphere, therefore, came to be designated as the Nakshatras of Yama in opposition to the Nakshatras of the Devas, thus dividing the whole circle of stars in two equal groups. This also explains why Yama is made to preside over the Apa-Bharaṇîs. It was at the Apa-Bharaṇîs that the zodiac was divided, the Kṛittikâs going over into the Devas' and the Apa-Bharaṇîs turning down into the Yama's portion of the celestial hemisphere.* The Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa further states that the Nakshatras of the Devas move towards the south while the Nakshatras of Yama move towards the north. The words *dakshiṇa* (south) and *uttara* (north) are in the instrumental case, and doubts have been entertained as to their exact meaning. But if we accept the statement in the Shatapatha Brâhmaṇa about the abode of the Devas, no other meaning is posible except that the Nakshatras of the Devas were counted from the vernal to the autumnal equinox, that is, to the point where the south (southern hemisphere) begins, and conversely in case of the Nakshatras of Yama. I may here mention that the movements of both the groups are described in the Brâhmaṇa in the present tense (*pari-yanti*), and that we may, therefore, suppose them to be recorded from actual observation. If this explanation of the division of the Nakshatras into the Nakshatras of gods and those of Yama is correct—and I think it is—it at once fixes the position of the Kṛittikâs at the beginning of the Devayâna or the vernal equinox at the time when these Vedic works were compiled.