A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s13.19

v1.c8.s13.19

As has been said, the assertions of Jacobi and Tilak met with violent opposition. The most serious objection to the argument about the *Pleiades* was that the Indians of the most ancient times were concerned only with the position of the Nakṣatras in relation to the moon and not to the sun, and that there is not a single trace of any observation of the equinoxes to be found in the most ancient times. The passage¹ in which we read that the Pleiades “do not swerve from the East” should probably not be interpreted as meaning that they rose “due east” (which would have been the case in the third millenary B. C., and would point to a knowledge of the vernal equinox): the correct interpretation is more likely that they remain visible in the eastern region for a considerable time—during several hours—every night, which was the case about 1100 B. C.² Coming to the argument of the *New Year* in various millenaries, it is most difficult to decide these questions, primarily because in our texts the year sometimes begins with spring, sometimes with winter, and sometimes with the rainy season, and moreover the number of seasons varies between three, five and six.³ The argument of the *Pole Star*, too, provoked serious objections. We cannot deny the possibility of one of the lesser stars in the Little Bear having been visible (about 1250 B. C. and even later still) as the Pole Star in the clear Indian firmament.¹ At any rate it is not permissible to draw any conclusion from the non-mention of this custom in the Ṛgveda: for by no means all of the marriage-customs are mentioned in the marriage hymn in the Ṛgveda, and there is no reason why this particular custom should have been singled out for mention in preference to another.