The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c7.69

c7.69

But even admitting Bentley's speculation about the meaning of Vishâkhâ, we may fairly question the soundness of the conclusion drawn therefrom. For what ground is there for holding that the two divisions of Vishâkhâ must be mathematically equal in every respect? The word dala in vidala may be so understood; but dala and shâkhâ are not similar in this respect. Bentley's error, therefore, consists not in supposing that the colure may have cut the divisional Vishâkhâs, but in inferring therefrom that it must have bisected it. The whole ecliptic was divided into 27 Nakshatras, and 13½ could only be comprised in each hemisphere. Vishâkhâ, the 14th Nakshatra from the Krittikâs, may have been thus considered, by simply counting the number of the Nakshatras, as lying partly in the region of the Devas and partly in that of the Pitris.¹