The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c8.33.3

c8.33.3

3, we get the initial long vowel, when derivative words are formed from the names of the Nakshatras to express time; we now want the feminine suffix *i*, and though this could have been obtained by Pân. iv. 1. 15, yet, for accentual purposes, it may be considered as provided for by the inclusion of the word *Agrahâyaṇat* in the Gaurâdi list in Pan. iv. 1. 41. We can thus derive the word in the ordinary way, and unless we have strong grounds to maintain that it was really the full-moon night and not the Nakshatra, which commenced the year, we shall not be justified in accepting unusual derivations and explanations of these words. It is true that the word *Agrahāyaṇī* as denoting a Nakshatra is now lost and Amarasinha only gives *Agrahāyaṇī* and not *Agrahāyaṇa* as a synonym for the Nakshatra of Mṛgashiras. But I shall presently show that Amarasinha is not alone in misconceiving the meaning of these old words. The theory that the Mār-gashīrṣhī full-moon was the first night of the year, has been the source of many other errors in later literature; but before examining these it was necessary to show how the theory has distorted the natural meaning and derivation of the very words on which it appears to have been based.