The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c7.66

c7.66

Bentley, however, takes his stand on a different ground. He suggests that the word *Vishâkhâ*, like *Vidala*,* may mean "possessed of two branches," and that these two branches may have been caused by the equinoctial colure bisecting the zodiacal portion of the Vishâkhâs. Now the equinoctial colure passing through the beginning of the divisional Krittikâs naturally bisects the zodiacal portion of Vishâkhâ. Bentley, therefore, concludes, without any more proof than this etymological conjecture, that this was the position of the colure when Vishâkhâ received its name. This is no doubt an ingenious hypothesis. But there is not only no evidence in the Vedic works to support such etymological speculation, but it may be easily shown to be inconsistent with the position of the winter solstice in the day of the Taittirîya Sanhitâ.