The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c7.9

c7.9

solstices or that given by the writer.* It is clear, therefore, that in the days of Varāhamihira, there existed works which placed the winter solstice in the beginning of (divisional) Dhanishthâ and the summer solstice in the middle of Ashleshâ. This statement of Varāhamihira is fully corroborated by quotations from Garga† and Parâshara which we meet with in the works of the later commentators; and it appears that the system of commencing the year with the month of Mâgha, which corresponds with the above position of the solstices, was once actually in vogue. Amarasinha states that the seasons comprise two months each, beginning with Mâgha, and three such seasons make an ayana.‡ The same arrangement of seasons is also mentioned in the medical works of Shushruta and Vâgbhata.§ The account of the death of Bhishma, related in the Mahâbhârata Anushâshana-parva 167, further shows that the old warrior, who possessed the superhuman power of choosing his time of death, was waiting on his death-bed for the return of the sun towards the north from the winter