The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c7.45

c7.45

Here in the beginning we are told that the Ekâṣhṭakâ is the day to commence the *Satra*, which lasts for one year. But the word Ekâṣhṭakâ is used to denote the eighth day of the latter (dark) half of the four months of Hemanta and Shishira seasons,† and sometimes it means the eighth day of the dark half of each of the twelve months of the year.* The statement in the following sentences that this Ekāṣṭakā is liable to the objection of occurring in the cold or the last season does, however, at once narrow the field of our choice. It must be further borne in mind that the Ekāṣṭakā, here spoken of, is the wife of the year, and is contrasted with the Phalguni and Chitrā full-moons; while tradition in the time of Jaimini and Āpastamba interpreted it to mean the 8th day of the dark half of Māgha. All writers on Mimānsā therefore take this Ekāṣṭakā to mean the 8th day of the dark half of Māgha. As the Ekāṣṭakā is the wife of the yeart and as the god of the year is said to reside with her on that night, those that commence their sacrifice on that Ekāṣṭakā may practically be supposed to commence it at the beginning of the year which resides there. In other words the Ekāṣṭakā is thus a constructive beginning of the year, and therefore the yearly sacrifice may be commenced on that day. But the passage now proceeds to point out the objections to the commencing of the sacrifice on the Ekāṣṭakā day. The 8th day of Māgha falls during the distressed period of the year, that is, according to Shabara and other commentators the period when people are distressed by cold.* The word in the text is *ârta* which literally means ‘distressed,’ but Sâyaṇa takes it to denote the end or destruction of the year, implying thereby that the old year is then brought to an end and that the consecration for the yearly *satra*, which must be made before the beginning of the new year, or, in other words, not after the previous year is ended or destroyed, cannot be made at this time. Though Shabara and Sâyaṇa thus give different interpretations of *ârta*, practically both agree in holding that in those days the old year ended before the eighth day of the dark half of Mâgha; for Shabara distinctly states that the word “reversed” used further on means “reversed on account of the change of *ayana*.”† Sacrificing during the distressed period of the year is thus the first objection to commencing the *satra* on the Ekâṣṭakâ day. The second objection is that it is the last season, that is, though you may be said to sacrifice to the constructive *beginning* of the year, yet as far as the seasons are concerned you sacrifice in the *last* of them. The word for season, *ṛitu*, has been used in the text in the dual number and it might be urged that it denotes two seasons. A reference to the Taittirîya Sanhitâ iv. 4-11, 1. will, however, show that the word *ṛitu* is there used in dual, probably because each season comprises two months, ‡ just as “scissors” is used in plural in English.