The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c8.22

c8.22

We have seen in the last chapter that the evidence for placing the vernal equinox in the Kṛittikâs consisted of (1) the lists of the Nakshatras all beginning with the Kṛittikâs, (2) the winter solstice then falling in the month of Mâgha, (3) the Nakshatra at the summer solstice being presided over by the pitṛis, and (4) the possibility of considering, as Bentley suggested, the portion of the Nakshatra at the autumnal equinox as divided by the equinoctial colure. In short, if the year was supposed to have begun in the month of Mâgha, the position of the four cardinal points of the ecliptic as referred to the Nakshatras, was consistent with, and so indirectly established the truth of, such a supposition. Let us see if we can produce similar evidence for establishing the hypothesis (for it is no better at present) that the year in the old Vedic days began, as stated in the Brâhmaṇas, with the Phâlgunî full-moon, and that the winter solstice occurred on that day. On a rough calculation the vernal equinox, must recede two divisional Nakshatras to make the seasons fall back by one month. If the winter solstice, therefore, occurred in the month of Phâlguna, one month in advance of Mâgha, in the old Vedic days, the vernal equinox must then have been in Mrigashiras or *two* Nakshatras in advance of the Krittikâs. Taking the data given in the Vedânga Jyotisha as his basis, the late Krishna Shâstri Godbole has thus calculated* the position of the four cardinal points of the ecliptic, when the winter solstice, as stated in the Brâhmanas, occurred on the full-moon day in the month of Phâlguna :—