The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c7.3.1

c7.3.1

WE HAVE seen that the ancient Aryas originally commenced their year, which was luni-solar and siderial, with the vernal equinox, and that when the beginning was changed to the winter solstice both the reckonings were kept up, the one for sacrificial and the other for civil purposes. Let us now examine if there is any reliable evidence to show that the Vedic priests made any corrections in the calendar when by the precession of the equinoxes the cycle of seasons gradually fell back. All our present calendars are prepared on the supposition that the vernal equinox still coincides with the end of Revatī and our enumeration of the Nakshatras begins with Ashvinī, though the equinox has now receded about 18° from Revatī. It has been shown by Prof. Whitney (Sūrya Siddhānta, viii., 9 note, p. 211) that the above position of the vernal equinox may be assumed to be true at about 490 A. D Taking this as the probable date of the introduction of the present system, we have now to see if we can trace back the position of the vernal equinox amongst the fixed circle of stars. The question, so far, as one antecedent stage is concerned, has been thoroughly discussed by Colebrooke, Bentley, Max Müller, Weber, Whitney, Biot, and other scholars: and I shall therefore only summarise what they have said, noting the points where I differ from them.