History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.94.3

v6.c82.94.3

8) draws a distinction between a ṛtuyājī and cāturmāsya-yājī, the former being one who offers sacrifice thinking 'now Vasanta has started, rainy season has started, śarad has started while the Cāturmāsya-yājī is one who offers sacrifice in view of the 13th month'.711a How and when the month was inserted in the Ṛgveda times or the times of the Tai S is not clear What is clear is that one whole month was added Therefore, Thibaut overstates the case when he asserts emphatically (Grundriss p 7) that all Vedic texts agree that the year was exclusively of 360 days. A year in which one month was added (i e of 390 days) was also well-known to the Ṛgvedic Indians. Therefore, in order to explain the facts we have here probably to postulate two calendars, one a purely sacrificial (or religious) of 360 days (12 months of 30 days) probably inherited by the Vedic Indians from their ancestors about whom we know next to nothing, and another calendar where a month was added in order to bring the year in line with visible astronomical data. It is known that the ancient Egyptians⁷¹² had an official calendar of 360 days (12 months of 30 days each) plus five days added at end i. e of 365 days only and no intercalary day was inserted in a year.