History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.102

v6.c82.102

In the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (II. 1. 3. 2)⁷¹³ the Sun's apparent passage for six months in the north and for six months in the south is referred to, though the word *ayana* is not employed in this passage. The word 'ayana' occurs in the sense of 'motion or path' in the Ṛgveda (āyan-n-āpo ayanam-icchamānāḥ, Ṛg. III. 33. 7) *Uttarāyaṇa* and *Dakṣiṇāyana* in later literature mean no more than the sun's (apparent) motion or path in the northern celestial sphere and in the southern sphere respectively. The Sun's movement in the north for six months and in the south for six months is mentioned in Br. Up VI. 2. 15-16 also. Thibaut (Grundriss p 10 para 6) cites Kauṣītaki Br. 19. 3 as stating that the Sun stands still after it has gone for six months towards the south in order to turn again to the north and then observes that no one has a right to assume, from this statement in the Kauṣītaki⁷¹⁴ Br. that for six months the Sun goes north or south, that the halves of the year are to be understood. What Thibaut is driving at is not clear to me We have in this passage six months passages of the Sun in the north and also in the south. A year has ordinarily only twelve months Therefore it must be assumed that halves of a year are meant. Thibaut does not explain what part of the year these six months in the north and south correspond to. Thibaut is probably swayed by the fact that in the Śatapatha and elsewhere Vasanta, Grīṣma and Varṣā are lumped together as the seasons (ṛtus) for the gods but Uttarāyaṇa does not exactly correspond with these three ṛtus. That may be so, but the rule or maxim is that names are given on the basis of what is principal or eminent (*prādhānyena vyapadeśā bhavanti*). Vasanta and Grīṣma are important parts of Uttarāyaṇa; therefore, by association with these two and for the sake of symmetry *varṣā* is also held to be a *ṛtu* for the gods.