The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c7.42

c7.42

Fortunately for us Sâyaṇâchârya is not our only guide in the interpretation of these important passages. It is probably the only passage (the two passages being similar I treat them as one) in the Vedas where the commencement of the annual *satra* is given and from the ritualistic point of view it has formed the subject of a learned discussion amongst the Mimânsakas. Jaimini in his Mimânsa-darshana Chap. vi. Sect. 5 has devoted an Adhikarana (10th) to the interpretation of this passage, and the subject has been thoroughly discussed by Shabara, Kumârila, Pârthasârathi, Khaṇḍadeva and other writers on Mimânsâ. We have thus a continuous tradition about the meaning of this passage current amongst the Indian divines—a tradition based not upon mere authority, but on the logically solid rules of exegetics propounded in the work of Jaimini. I shall first give a literal translation of the passage from the Taittirîya-Saṃhitâ and then discuss its interpretation as bearing on the present question.