The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c7.3.4

c7.3.4

I shall, therefore, assume that references to the Nakshatras in the old Vedic works, especially in cases where the motions of other bodies are referred to them, are to the fixe asterisms and not to the zodiacal portions. I may also state here that as a change in the position of the vernal equinox necessarily causes a similar change in the position of the winter solstice, both the beginnings of the year, previously referred to, would require to be simultaneously altered. Whenever, therefore, we find a change in the position of the vernal equinox recorded in the early works, we must look for the evidence of a corresponding alteration in the position of the winter solstice, and the corroborative evidence so supplied will naturally add to the strength of our conclusions. This will, I hope, sufficiently explain the procedure I mean to follow in the investigation of the problem before us. I shall now proceed to examine the passages which place the vernal equinox in the Krittikâs, beginning with the latest writer on the subject.