The Arctic Home in the Vedas c16.36

c16.36

3000–1400 B. C.—The Kṛittikâ Period, when the vernal equinox was in the Pleiades. The Taittirîya Saṁhitâ and the Brâhmaṇas, which begin the series of nakṣhatras with the Kṛittikâs, are evidently the productions of this period. The compilation of the hymns into Saṁhitâs also appears to be a work of the early part of this period. The traditions about the original Arctic home had grown dim by this time and very often misunderstood, making the Vedic hymns more and more unintelligible. The sacrificial system and the numerous details thereof found in the Brâhmaṇas seem to have been developed during this time. It was at the end of his Period that the Vedâṅga-jyotiṣha was originally composed, or at any rate the position of the equinoxes mentioned therein observed and ascertained.