A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s13.12

v1.c8.s13.12

The idea of drawing conclusions on the chronology of the earliest Indian literature with the assistance of *astronomical* data, is no new one. A. Ludwig already undertook an attempt of this nature on the basis of the eclipses of the sun.² The priests of ancient India, who had to determine the times of sacrifice, were, like the pontifices in ancient Rome, at the same time almanac-makers. They had to observe the firmament, in order to regulate and predetermine the times of sacrifice. Hence we find numerous astronomical and calendar data in the Brāhmaṇas and Sūtras. In these, the so-called Nakṣatras or "lunar mansions" play a particularly prominent part. The ancient Indians had observed that the moon requires about 27 days and nights for its siderial orbit and stays in a different constellation every night of the sidereal month. These stars or constellations, which all lie not far distant from the ecliptic, were combined into a kind of zodiac, a succession of 27 Nakṣatras embracing the spheres, and this lunar zodiac was employed for the purpose of estimating the position of the moon at a particular time.³