The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c8.41.1

c8.41.1

And not only literary scholars, but astronomers appear to have done the same. In old astronomical works the year commenced with the winter solstice and the first month of the year meant the first month of the Uttarâyana which commenced with this solstice. If then the Mârgashîrshî full moon was said to be the first night of the year, an astronomer would naturally understand such statement to mean that the winter solstice fell on the full-moon day of Mârgashîrsha. Now if we suppose that the Mârgashîrshî full-moon was thus the night of the winter solstice, it would mean that the full moon on that day happened to be near the asterism of Mrigashiras. With the sun at the winter solstice, the moon, to be full, must be near the summer solstice; and therefore the summer solstice must have then coincided with the asterism of Mrigashiras. The vernal equinox is 90° behind the summer solstice; and if Mrigashiras coincided with the latter, the vernal equinox would then be 90° behind the asterism of Mrigashiras. This is the only logical and mathematical conclusion possible if we accept the theory that the full-moon night in Mârgashîrsha was the first night of the year at the winter solstice. And what does it mean? It means a clear mathematical absurdity to us, though older astronomers, not realizing its full effect, invented an explanation to account for it. The Sûrya Siddhânta (viii. 2. 9) gives 63° as the polar longitude of Mrigashiras, counting from Revati.