The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c8.59

c8.59

[^ *]: This explanation implies that the feast to the manes became permanently fixed at this time; and there is nothing improbable in it. For as the Parsis hold similar feasts on corresponding days we must suppose that these feasts became fixed long before the Parsis and the Indians separated. When the vernal equinox receded to the Krittikâs the feasts still continued to be celebrated in the dark half of Bhâdrapada. But though the priests could not alter the days of these feasts, yet in assigning deities to the Nakshatras they recognised the change by making *pitris* preside over Mâgha at the summer solstice.