History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.118.3

v6.c82.118.3

X.55.3 there is a reference to twenty-seven naksatras.⁷²⁵ Apart from that the Ṛgveda mentions the naksatras Tiṣya (as above) and Aghā and Arjunī⁷²⁶ (in Ṛg. X. 85. 13) which two latter correspond to Maghā and Phalgunīs according to the Atharvaveda. It is possible to hold either that Aghā and Maghā were names for the same naksatra in Ṛgvedic times or that Aghā was changed to Maghā by the time of the Tai S. and the Atharvaveda hymns. If the latter alternative be accepted the change in the names of the two naksatras (Aghā and Arjunī) could not have taken place in a short time, but would require at least a hundred years between the time of Ṛg. X.85 on the one hand and Tai. S. and Atharva 19. 7 on the other. This would strongly militate against Max Muller's assignment of two hundred years to the Saṁhitās which are purely hypothetical and the minimum dates (vide Intro p XV to the 4th volume of his 4 volume ed of the Ṛgveda) Apart from Aghā and Arjunī which it is agreed are two of the 27 naksatras, it is probable that the Ṛgveda refers to Mṛgaśīras, Punarvasu, Satabhisak and one or two more by name. The Naksatras are 27 or 28 (adding Abhijit after Uttarā- ṣāḍhā and before Śravaṇa in ancient authorities ) In the Vedic literature, Vedāṅgajyotiṣa and even in Yājñavalkya-smṛti they are enumerated from Kṛttikā to Apabharaṇī (or Bharaṇī) while in works from the 3rd or 4th century A. D. and in modern times they are enumerated from Aśvinī to Revatī.