Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s20: N

Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s20

Language: English

N

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Nakula, ‘ichneumon,’ is mentioned in the Atharvaveda¹ as being able to cut a snake in two and then join it up again. Its knowledge² of a remedy against snake poison is also mentioned. The animal figures in the list of sacrificial victims at the Aśvamedha, or ‘horse sacrifice,’ in the Yajurveda Saṃhitās.³

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¹ vi. 139, 5.

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² Av. viii. 7, 23.

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³ Taittirīya Saṃhitā, v. 5, 12, 1; 21, 1; Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā, xxiv. 26. 2; Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, iii. 14, 7. In the Taittirīya Saṃhitā, vii. 3, 18, 1; Rgveda Prātiśākhya, xvii. 9, nakula denotes a colour—no doubt that of the ichneumon.

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Nakta, ‘night,’ is found frequently in the Rigveda,¹ and sometimes later,² usually in the adverbial form naktaṃ, ‘by night.’

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¹ i. 13, 7; 73, 7; 96, 5; vii. 2, 6; x. 70, 6; adverbially, i. 24, 10; 90, 7; v. 76, 3; vii. 15, 15; 104, 17; viii. 96, 1.

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² Chāndogya Upaniṣad, viii. 4, 2; adverbially, Av. vi. 128, 4; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, ii. 1, 4, 2; xiii. 1, 5, 5, etc.

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Nakṣatra is a word of obscure origin and derivation. The Indian interpreters already show a great divergence of opinion as to its primary meaning. The Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa¹ resolves it into na-kṣatra (‘no power’), explaining it by a legend. The Nirukta² refers it to the root nakṣ, ‘obtain,’ following the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa.³ Aufrecht⁴ and Weber⁵ derived it from nakta-tra, ‘guardian of night,’ and more recently⁶ the derivation from nak-kṣatra, ‘having rule over night,’ seems to be gaining acceptance. The generic meaning of the word therefore seems to be ‘star.’

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¹ ii. 1, 2, 18. 19. Cf. a citation in Nirukta, iii. 20.

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² Loc. cit., and cf. St. Petersburg Dictionary, s.v.

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³ i. 5, 2, 5.

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⁴ Kuhn's Zeitschrift, 8, 71, 72. So Eggeling, Sacred Books of the East, 12, 288, n. 2.

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⁵ Naxatra, 2, 268.

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⁶ Macdonell, Vedic Grammar, p. 74, line 8.

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The Nakṣatras as Stars in the Rigveda and Later.—The sense of ‘star’ appears to be adequate for all or nearly all the passages in which Nakṣatra occurs in the Rigveda.⁷ The same sense occurs in the later Saṃhitās also: the sun and the Nakṣatras are mentioned together,⁸ or the sun, the moon, and the Nakṣatras,⁹ or the moon and the Nakṣatras,¹⁰ or the Nakṣatras alone;¹¹ but there is no necessity to attribute to the word the sense of ‘lunar mansion’ in these passages.

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⁷ See i. 50, 2; vii. 86, 1; x. 68, 11; iii, 7; used of the sun itself, vi. 67, 6 (as masculine); vii. 81, 2; x. 88, 13. The sun is allied with them, iii. 54, 19. Nakṣatra-śavas, ‘equalling the multitude of the stars,’ is used as an epithet in x. 21, 10. Even in x. 85, 2, where Soma, on the lap of the Nakṣatras, is mentioned, ‘stars’ would do; but, as this hymn refers to two of the later Nakṣatras, ‘lunar mansions’ may well be meant.

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⁸ Av. vi. 10, 3; Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, xxiii. 43; Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa, x. 1, 1; Taittirīya Āraṇyaka, iv. 10, 12.

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⁹ Av. vi. 128, 3; xv. 6, 2; Taittirīya Saṃhitā, i. 8, 13, 3; Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, xxii. 29, etc.

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¹⁰ Av. v. 24, 10; vi. 86, 2; Taittirīya Saṃhitā, iii. 4, 5, 1; Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, xxxv. 15; xxxvii. 12; Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, xxx. 21; xxxix. 2, etc.

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¹¹ Taittirīya Saṃhitā, i. 2, 2, 2; ii 6, 2, 6, etc; Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, xxx. 21 etc.; Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, Aśvamedha, v. 5, and very often elsewhere.

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On the other hand, the names of at least three of the Nakṣatras in the later sense occur in the Rigveda. Tiṣya,¹² however, does not seem to be mentioned as a lunar mansion. With Aghās (plur.) and Arjunī (dual)¹³ the case is different: it seems probable that they are the later lunar mansions called Maghās (plur.) and Phalguni (dual). The names appear to have been deliberately changed in the Rigveda, and it must be remembered that the hymn in which they occur, the wedding hymn of Sūryā, has no claim to great age.¹⁴ Ludwig¹⁵ and Zimmer¹⁶ have seen other references to the Nakṣatras as 27 in the Rigveda,¹⁷ but these seem most improbable. Nor do the adjectives revatī (‘rich’) and punarvasū (‘bringing wealth again’) in another hymn¹⁸ appear to refer to the Nakṣatras.

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¹² Rv. v. 59, 13; x. 64, 8; Weber, 2, 290.

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¹³ x. 85, 13; Weber, 364-367, and see references under Aghā and Arjunī.

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¹⁴ Cf. Arnold, Vedic Metre, 322.

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¹⁵ Translation of the Rigveda, 3, 184 et seq.

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¹⁶ Altindisches Leben, 354. Cf. Tilak, Orion, 158.

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¹⁷ i. 162, 18 (the 34 ribs of the horse = moon, sun, 5 planets, 27 Nakṣatras); x. 55, 3 (34 lights).

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¹⁸ x. 19, 1.

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The Nakṣatras as Lunar Mansions.—In several passages of the later Saṃhitās the connexion of the moon and the Nakṣatras is conceived of as a marriage union. Thus in the Kāṭhaka¹⁹ and Taittirīya Saṃhitās²⁰ it is expressly stated that Soma was wedded to the mansions, but dwelt only with Rohiṇī; the others being angry, he had ultimately to undertake to live with them all equally. Weber²¹ hence deduced that the Nakṣatras were regarded as of equal extent, but this is to press the texts unduly, except in the sense of approximate equality. The number of the mansions is not stated as 27 in the story told in the two Saṃhitās: the Taittirīya has 33, and the Kāṭhaka no

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¹⁹ xi. 3 (Indische Studien, 3, 467).

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²⁰ ii. 3, 5, 1-3. Cf. also iii. 4, 7, 1; Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, xviii. 14; Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, xviii. 40; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, ix. 4, 1, 9; Ṣaḍviṃśa Brāhmaṇa, iii. 12. The dwelling of the moon in a Nakṣatra is mentioned, Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, x. 5, 4, 17; Nirukta, v. 21; a Mantra in Kauśika Sūtra, 135; Taittirīya Āraṇyaka, i. 11, 6; v. 12, 1, etc.

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²¹ Op. cit., 277. Cf. the later system of the Siddhāntas, Whitney, Oriental and Linguistic Studies, 2, 372, and see Tilak, Orion, 33 et seq.

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number; but 27 appears as their number in the list which is found in the Taittirīya Saṃhitā²² and elsewhere.²³ The number 28 is much less well attested: in one passage of the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa²⁴ Abhijit is practically marked as a new comer, though in a later book,²⁵ in the Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā,²⁶ and in the Atharvaveda list,²⁷ it has found acceptance. It is perfectly possible that 28 is the earlier number, and that Abhijit dropped out because it was faint, or too far north, or because 27 was a more mystic (3 × 3 × 3) number: it is significant that the Chinese Sieou and the Arabic Manāzil are 28 in number.²⁸ Weber,²⁹ however, believes that 27 is the older number in India.

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²² iv. 4, 10, 1-3.

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²³ Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, xxxix. 13, but Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, ii. 13, 20, has 28; Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, i. 5, 1, 1-5, in lists of Nakṣatras. See also Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, ix. 7; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, x. 5, 4. 5; Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa, xxiii. 23; Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, v. 1; Sāṅkhāyana Āraṇyaka, ii. 16; Taittirīya Saṃhitā, vii. 1, 2, 2; Jyotiṣa, 18. 20 (verse 34 has 28, but it is interpolated); Sāṅkhāyana Śrauta Sūtra, xiv. 78, etc.

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²⁴ i. 5, 2, 3. Cf. Weber, i, 360, n.

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²⁵ iii. 1, 2, 6.

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²⁶ ii. 13, 20.

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²⁷ xix. 7, 1; 8, 1 = Nakṣatrakalpa, 10. 26. So in Śāṅkhāyana Gṛhya Sūtra, i. 26.

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²⁸ Whitney, op. cit., 409-411; Journal of the American Oriental Society, 8, 390.

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²⁹ Op. cit., 2, 280; Indische Studien, 9, 446; 10, 223, 224, 226, 227.

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The meaning of the number is easily explained when it is remembered that a periodic month occupies something between 27 and 28 days, more nearly the former number. Such a month is in fact recognized in the Lāṭyāyana³⁰ and Nidāna Sūtras³¹ as consisting of 27 days, 12 months making a year of 324 days, a Nakṣatra year, or with an intercalary month, a year of 351 days. The Nidāna Sūtra³² makes an attempt to introduce the Nakṣatra reckoning into the civil or solar (sāvana) year of 360 days, for it holds that the sun spends 13⅓ days in each Nakṣatra (13⅓ × 27 = 360). But the month of 27 or 28 days plays no part in the chronological calculations of the Veda.³³

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³⁰ iv. 8, 1 et seq.

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³¹ v. II. 12. See Weber, 2, 281-288.

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³² Thibaut, Astronomie, Astrologie und Mathematik, 7.

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³³ See Māsa.

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The Names of the Nakṣatras.—In addition to the two mentioned in the Rigveda, the earlier Atharvaveda³⁴ gives the names of Jyeṣṭhaghni³⁵ (the later Jyeṣṭhā) and Vicṛtau,³⁶ which are mentioned as in close connexion, and of Revatīs (plural) and Kṛttikās.³⁷ With reference to possible times for the ceremony of the Agnyādhāna, or ‘laying of the sacred fires,’ the Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā,³⁸ the Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā,³⁹ and the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa⁴⁰ mention the Nakṣatras called Kṛttikās, Rohiṇī, Phalgunyas, Hasta; the latter Brāhmaṇa adds Punarvasū, and in an additional remark⁴¹ excludes Pūrve Phalgunī in favour of Uttare Phalgunī. The Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa⁴² adds Mṛgaśīrṣa and Citrā as possibilities. On the other hand, Punarvasū is recommended by all authorities⁴³ as suitable for the Punarādheya, ‘relaying of the sacred fires,’ which takes place if the first fire has failed to effect the aim of its existence, the prosperity of the sacrificer.⁴⁴ The Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā,⁴⁵ however, allows Anurādhās also.

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³⁴ I.e., books i-xvi.

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³⁵ vi. 110, 2. This constellation, ‘the slayer of the oldest,’ was apparently of evil omen. Cf. Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, i. 5, 2, 8. Whitney, Translation of the Atharvaveda, 361, equates it with Antares or Cor Scorpionis, with or without σ, τ Scorpionis (Jyaiṣṭhaghni is a misreading in the edition of Whitney and Roth).

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³⁶ vi. 110, 2. It is also mentioned in ii. 8, 1; iii. 7, 4; vi. 121, 3. It is identified by the commentators with Mūla, ‘the root,’ the two stars, λ and υ Scorpionis, which form the sting of the Scorpion’s tail; Whitney, op. cit., 48.

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³⁷ ix. 7, 3.

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³⁸ viii. 1.

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³⁹ i. 6, 9.

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⁴⁰ i. 1, 2, 1-6.

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⁴¹ i. 1, 2, 8.

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⁴² ii. 1, 2, 1.

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⁴³ Taittirīya Saṃhitā, i. 5, 1, 4; Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, i. 7, 2; Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, viii. 15; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, ii. 1, 2, 10; Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, i. 3.

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⁴⁴ Hillebrandt, Rituallitteratur, 109.

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⁴⁵ viii. 15; Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, i. 7, 2.

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In the ceremony of the Agnicayana, or ‘piling of the fire-altar,’ the bricks are assumed to be equal in number to the Nakṣatras. The bricks number 756, and they are equated to 27 Nakṣatras multiplied by 27 secondary Nakṣatras, reckoned as 720 (instead of 729), with the addition of 36 days, the length of an intercalary month. Nothing can be usefully derived from this piece of priestly nonsense.⁴⁶ But in connexion with this ceremony the Yajurveda Saṃhitās⁴⁷ enumerate the 27

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⁴⁶ Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, x. 5, 4, 5. See Weber, 2, 298, with whom Eggeling, Sacred Books of the East, 43, 383, n. 1, concurs. For a wild speculation, see Shamasastry, Gavām ayana, 122 et seq.

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⁴⁷ Taittirīya Saṃhitā, iv. 4, 10, 1-3; Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, ii. 13, 20; Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, xxxix. 13.

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Nakṣatras, and these lists⁴⁸ may be given in extenso as follows:

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⁴⁸ The forms and genders are given as accepted by Weber, 2, 300. The latter depend on references to the names of the Nakṣatras in other passages in some cases — e.g., Anūrādheṣu, in Kāṭhaka, viii. 15, shows that the name is a masculine in that Saṃhitā.

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The Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa⁴⁹ has a list of the Nakṣatras which agrees generally with the list of the Saṃhitās. It runs as follows: Kṛttikās, Rohiṇī, Invakās, Bāhū (dual), Tiṣya, Āśleṣās, Maghās, Pūrve Phalgunī, Uttare Phalgunī, Hasta, Citrā, Niṣtyā, Viśākhe, Anūrādhās, Rohiṇī, Mūlabarhaṇī, Pūrvā Aṣāḍhās, Uttarā Aṣāḍhās, Śroṇā, Śraviṣṭhās, Śatabhiṣaj, Pūrve Proṣṭhapadās, Uttare Proṣṭhapadās, Revatī, Áśvayujau, Apabharaṇīs. In a later book,⁵⁰ however, the list grows to 28, and the full moon is inserted after number 14, and the new moon after number 28, as an attempt to bring the Nākṣatra (lunar) month into accordance with the Sāvana (solar) month of 30 days. The names in this second list are as in the Saṃhitās with the following exceptions. The seven stars of the Kṛttikās are named as Ambā, Dulā, Nitatnī, Abhrayantī, Meghayantī, Varṣayantī, Cupuṇikā, names found also in the Taittirīya⁵¹ and Kāṭhaka Saṃhitās.⁵² Beside Mṛgaśīrṣa, Invakās are also mentioned.⁵³ Then come Ārdrā, Punarvasū, Tiṣya, Āśreṣās, Maghās (beside which Anaghās, Agadās, and Arundhatīs are also mentioned), Phalgunyas (but elsewhere in the dual, Phalgunyau),⁵⁴ Phalgunyas, Hasta, Citrā, Niṣtyā, Viśākhe, Anūrādhās, Jyeṣṭhā, Mūla, Aṣāḍhās, Aṣāḍhās, Abhijit, Śroṇā, Śraviṣṭhās, Śatabhiṣaj, Proṣṭhapadās, Proṣṭhapadās, Revatī, Aśvayujau, Bharaṇyas, but also Apabharaṇīs.⁵⁵ Abhijit, which occurs also in an earlier part of the Brāhmaṇa,⁵⁶ is perhaps interpolated. But Weber’s⁵⁷ argument that Abhijit is out of place in this list because Brāhmaṇa is here mentioned as the 28th Nakṣatra, loses some force from the fact (of course unknown to him) that the list in the Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā⁵⁸ contains 28 Nakṣatras, including Abhijit, and adds Brāhmaṇa at the end as another.

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⁴⁹ i. 5, 1.

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⁵⁰ iii. 1, 4, 1 et seq. Cf. iii. 1, 1-2.

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⁵¹ iv. 4, 5, 1.

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⁵² xl. 4.

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⁵³ iii. 1, 4, 3.

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⁵⁴ iii. 1, 4, 9.

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⁵⁵ iii. 1, 5, 14.

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⁵⁶ i. 5, 2, 3.

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⁵⁷ Op. cit., 305, 306.

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⁵⁸ ii. 13, 20.

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In another passage⁵⁹ the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa divides the Nakṣatras into two sets, the Deva Nakṣatras and the Yama Nakṣatras, being 1-14 and 15-27 (with the omission of Abhijit) respectively. This division corresponds with one in the third book of the Brāhmaṇa⁶⁰ where the days of the light half of the month and those of the dark half are equated with the Nakṣatras. The Brāhmaṇa treats the former series as south, the latter as north; but this has no relation to facts, and can only be regarded as a ritual absurdity.

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⁵⁹ i. 5, 2, 7. Cf. Tilak, Orion, 41 et seq.

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⁶⁰ iii. 1, 2. Cf. Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, iv. 12, with Vināyaka’s note.

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The late nineteenth book of the Atharvaveda contains a list⁶¹ of the Nakṣatras, including Abhijit. The names here given are: Kṛttikās, Rohiṇī, Mṛgaśiras, Ārdrā, Punarvasū, Puṣya, Āśleṣās, Maghās, Pūrvā Phalgunyau (sic),⁶² Hasta, Citrā, Svātī (masc.),⁶³ Viśākhe, Anurādhā,⁶⁴ Jyeṣṭhā, Mūla, Pūrvā Aṣāḍhās,⁶⁵ Uttarā Aṣāḍhās, Abhijit, Śravaṇa, Śraviṣṭhās, Śatabhiṣaj, Dvayā Proṣṭhapadā, Revatī, Aśvayujau, Bharaṇyas.

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⁶¹ xix. 7, 1 et seq. The number is given as 28 in xix. 7, 1 (as emended) and 8, 2. Cf. Lanman’s introductory note to the former hymn in Whitney’s Translation, 906, 907.

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⁶² The reading Pūrvā Phalgunyau must be wrong; perhaps Dvaye (cf. verse 5) or Pūrve should be read. See Lanman in Whitney, Translation of the Atharvaveda, 908. The Uttare Phalgunyau are omitted.

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⁶³ Svātī should, no doubt, be read; but for the Svāti (sic) of all the manuscripts (Saṃhitā and Pada), cf. the navasrakti of the Aitareya Āraṇyaka, ii. 3, 6, with Keith’s note.

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⁶⁴ See Lanman in Whitney, 908.

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⁶⁵ Lanman, ibid., 909, reads Pūrvā Aṣāḍhā and Uttarā Aṣāḍhā; Whitney reads Pūrvā and Uttarā Aṣāḍhās. The manuscripts have Pūrvā and Uttare, which cannot stand.

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The Position of the Nakṣatras.—There is nothing definite in Vedic literature regarding the position of most of the Nakṣatras, but the later astronomy precisely locates all of them, and its statements agree on the whole satisfactorily with what is said in the earlier texts, though Weber⁶⁶ was inclined to doubt this. The determinations adopted below are due to Whitney⁶⁷ in his notes on the Sūrya Siddhānta.

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⁶⁶ Op. cit., 2, 367 et seq.

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⁶⁷ Oriental and Linguistic Essays, 2, 350 et seq.

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1. Kṛttikās are unquestionably η Tauri, etc., the Pleiades. The names of the seven stars forming this constellation, and given above from Yajurveda texts,⁶⁸ include three—abhrayantī, ‘forming clouds’; meghayantī, ‘making cloudy’; varṣayantī, ‘causing rain’—which clearly refer to the rainy Pleiades. The word kṛttikā possibly means ‘web,’ from the root kṛt, ‘spin.’

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⁶⁸ Taittirīya Saṃhitā, iv. 4, 5, 1; Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, xl. 4; Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, iii. 1, 4, 1.

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2. Rohiṇī, ‘ruddy,’ is the name of the conspicuously reddish star, α Tauri or Aldebaran, and denotes the group of the Hyades, α θ γ δ ε Tauri. Its identification seems absolutely assured by the legend of Prajāpati in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa.⁶⁹ He is there represented as pursuing his daughter with incestuous intention, and as having been shot with an arrow (Iṣu Trikāṇḍā, ‘the belt of Orion’) by the ‘huntsman’ (Mṛgavyādha, ‘Sirius’). Prajāpati is clearly Orion (Mṛgaśiras being the name of the little group of stars in Orion’s head).

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⁶⁹ iii. 33. Cf. Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, ii. 1, 2, 8; Tilak, Orion, 98 et seq.

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3. Mṛgaśīrṣa or Mṛgaśiras, also called Invakā or Invagā, seems to be the faint stars λ, φ,¹ φ² Orionis. They are called Andhakā, ‘blind,’ in the Śāntikalpa of the Atharvaveda, probably because of their dimness.⁷⁰

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⁷⁰ Whitney, op. cit., 401. Cf. Tilak, 102 et seq.

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4. Ārdrā, ‘moist,’ is the name of the brilliant star, α Orionis. But the names by which it is styled, in the plural as Ārdrās in the Śāṅkhāyana Gṛhya Sūtra⁷¹ and the Nakṣatrakalpa,⁷² and in the dual as Bāhū, in the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa,⁷³ point to a constellation of two or more stars, and it may be noted⁷⁴ that the corresponding Chinese Sieou includes the seven brilliant stars composing the shoulders, the belt, and the knees of Orion.

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⁷¹ i. 26.

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⁷² 10.

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⁷³ i. 5, 1.

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⁷⁴ Whitney, op. cit., 352, 401, n. 1.

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5. Punarvasū, ‘the two that give wealth again,’ denotes the two stars, α and β Geminorum, on the heads of Castor and Pollux. The name is no doubt connected with the beneficent character of the Aśvins, who correspond to the Dioscuri.⁷⁵

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⁷⁵ Oldenberg, Religion des Veda, 212; Macdonell, Vedic Mythology, p. 53.

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6. Tiṣya or Puṣya includes the somewhat faint group in the body of the Crab, γ, δ, and θ Cancri. The singular is rather curious, as primarily one star would seem to have been meant, and none of the group is at all prominent.⁷⁶

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⁷⁶ Whitney, op. cit., 403, n. 1

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7. Āśleṣās or Āśleṣās, which in some texts⁷⁷ is certainly to be read Aśleṣās or Aśleṣas, denotes δ, ε, η, ρ, σ, and perhaps also ζ, Hydræ. The word means ‘embracer,’ a name which admirably fits the constellation.

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⁷⁷ Aśleṣās, Śāṅkhāyana Gṛhya Sūtra, i. 26; Śāntikalpa; Nakṣatrakalpa; Aśleṣās, Śāntikalpa, 2; Nakṣatrakalpa, 4. 48.

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8. Maghās, the ‘bounties,’ are the Sickle, or α, η, γ, ζ, μ, ε Leonis. The variants Anaghā, the ‘sinless one,’ etc., clearly refer to the auspicious influence of the constellation.

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9, 10. Phalgunī, Phalgunyau, Phalgū,⁷⁸ Phalgunīs, Phalgunyas, is really a double constellation, divided into Pūrve, ‘former,’ and Uttare, ‘latter.’ The former is δ and θ Leonis, the latter β and 93 Leonis. According to Weber, the word denotes, like Arjunī, the variant of the Rigveda,⁷⁹ a ‘bright-coloured’ constellation.

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⁷⁸ Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, v. 1.

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⁷⁹ x. 85, 13.

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11. Hasta, ‘hand,’ is made up of the five conspicuous stars (δ, γ, ε, a, β) in Corvus, a number which the word itself suggests. According to Geldner,⁸⁰ the ‘five bulls’ of the Rigveda are this constellation.

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⁸⁰ Vedische Studien, 3, 177; Rv. i. 105, 10. Cf. below, p. 427, n. 156.

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12. Citrā, ‘bright,’ is the beautiful star, a Virginis. It is mentioned in a legend of Indra in the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa,⁸¹ and in that of the ‘two divine dogs’ (*divyau śvānau*) in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa.⁸²

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⁸¹ Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, i. 1, 2, 4-6.

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⁸² ii. 1, 2, 13-17.

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13. Svātī or Niṣṭyā is later clearly the brilliant star Arcturus or a Bootis, its place in the north being assured by the notice in the Śāntikalpa,⁸³ where it is said to be ‘ever traversing the northern way’ (*nityam uttara-mārgagam*). The Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa,⁸⁴ however, constructs an asterismal Prajāpati, giving him Citrā (a Virginis) for head, Hasta (Corvus) for hand, the Viśākhe (a and β Libræ) for thighs, and the Anurādhās (β, δ, and π Scorpionis) for standing place, with Niṣṭyā for heart. But Arcturus, being 30° out, spoils this figure, while, on the other hand, the Arabic and Chinese systems have respectively, instead of Arcturus, ι, κ, and λ Virginis and κ Virginis, which would well fit into the Prajāpati figure. But in spite of the force of this argument of Weber’s,⁸⁵ Whitney⁸⁶ is not certain that Niṣṭyā here must mean a star in Virgo, pointing out that the name Niṣṭyā, ‘outcast,’ suggests the separation of this Nakṣatra from the others in question.

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⁸³ 3.

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⁸⁴ i. 5, 2. Cf. Tilak, Orion, 204.

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⁸⁵ Op. cit., 2, 307, 308.

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⁸⁶ Op. cit., 409.

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14. Viśākhe is the couple of stars a and β Libræ. This mansion is later called Rādhā according to the Amarakośa, and it is curious that in the Atharvaveda⁸⁷ the expression *rādho Viśākhe*, ‘the Viśākhe are prosperity,’ should occur. But probably Rādhā is merely an invention due to the name of the next Nakṣatra, Anurādhā, wrongly conceived as meaning ‘that which is after or follows Rādhā.’⁸⁸

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⁸⁷ xix. 7.

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⁸⁸ Lanman in Whitney’s Translation of the Atharvaveda, 908. Cf. Thibaut, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 63, 156.

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15. Anurādhās or Anurādhā, ‘propitious,’ is β, δ, and π (perhaps also ρ) Scorpionis.

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16. Rohiṇī, ‘ruddy’; Jyeṣṭhaghni, ‘slaying the eldest’; or Jyeṣṭhā, ‘eldest,’ is the name of the constellation σ, a, and τ Scorpionis, of which the central star, a, is the brilliant reddish Antares (or Cor Scorpionis).

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17. Vicṛtau, ‘the two releasers’; Mūla, ‘root’; or Mūlabarhaṇī, ‘uprooting,’ denote primarily λ and ν at the extremity of the tail of the Scorpion, but including also the nine or eleven stars from ε to ν.

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18, 19. Aṣāḍhās (‘unconquered’), distinguished as Pūrvās, ‘former,’ and Uttarās, ‘latter,’ are really two constellations, of which the former is composed of γ, δ, ε, and η Sagittarii, or of δ and ε only, and the latter of θ, σ, τ, and ζ Sagittarii, or of two, σ and ζ, only. It is probable that originally only four stars forming a square were meant as included in the whole constellation⁸⁹—viz., σ and ζ, with δ and ε.

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⁸⁹ Cf. Thibaut, *Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal*, 63, 156.

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20. Abhijit is the brilliant star a Lyræ with its two companions ε and ζ. Its location in 60° north latitude is completely discordant with the position of the corresponding Arabian and Chinese asterisms. This fact is considered by Oldenberg⁹⁰ to support the view that it was a later addition to the system; its occurrence, however, as early as the Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā,⁹¹ which he does not note, somewhat invalidates⁹² that view. In the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa⁹³ Abhijit is said to be ‘over Aṣāḍhās, under Śroṇā,’ which Weber⁹⁴ held to refer to its position in space, inferring thence that its Vedic position corresponded to that of the Arab Manāzil and the Chinese Sieou—viz., a, β Capricorni. But Whitney⁹⁵ argues effectively that the words ‘over’ and ‘under’ really refer to the place of Abhijit in the list, ‘after’ Aṣāḍhās and ‘before’ Śroṇā.

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⁹⁰ *Nachrichten der königl. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen*, 1909, 551, 552.

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⁹¹ ii. 13, 20.

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⁹² It is at the same time to be noted that Abhijit is wanting both in the Taittirīya Saṃhitā and in the Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā lists.

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⁹³ i. 5, 2, 3.

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⁹⁴ *Op. cit.*, I, 320, 321; 2, 307; *Indische Studien*, 10, 224 et seq.

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⁹⁵ *Journal of the American Oriental Society*, 8, 393.

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21. Śroṇā, ‘lame,’ or Śravaṇa, ‘ear,’ denotes the bright star a Aquilæ with β below and γ above it. Weber⁹⁶ very needlessly thinks that the name Śravaṇa suggested two ears and the head between. It is quite out of correspondence with the Manāzil and the Sieou, and is clearly an Indian invention.⁹⁷

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⁹⁶ *Op. cit.*, 2, 382; but see Whitney, 404.

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⁹⁷ Oldenberg, loc. cit.

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22. Śraviṣṭhās, ‘most famous,’ or later Dhaniṣṭhās,⁹⁸ ‘most wealthy,’ is the diamond-shaped group, α, β, δ, and γ, in the Dolphin, perhaps also ζ in the same constellation. Like the preceding Nakṣatra, it is out of harmony with the Manāzil and Sieou.

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⁹⁸ Śāṅkhāyana Gṛhya Sūtra, i. 26; Śāntikalpa, 13; Dhaniṣṭhā, ibid., 5.

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23. Śatabhiṣaj or Śatabhiṣa,⁹⁹ ‘having a hundred physicians,’ seems to be λ Aquarii with the others around it vaguely conceived as numbering a hundred.

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⁹⁹ So probably in Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, ii. 20, where see von Schroeder’s critical note. The Śāntikalpa, 5, and Nakṣatrakalpa, 2, have Śatabhiṣā, and the latter, 1, has Śatabhiṣa (masculine).

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24, 25. Proṣṭha-padās (fem. plur.), ‘feet of a stool,’ or later Bhadra-padās,¹⁰⁰ ‘auspicious feet,’ a double asterism forming a square, the former (pūrva) consisting of α and β Pegasi, the latter (uttara) of γ Pegasi and α Andromedæ.

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¹⁰⁰ Śāntikalpa, 5, etc.

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26. Revatī, ‘wealthy,’ denotes a large number of stars (later 32), of which ζ Piscium, close upon the ecliptic where it was crossed by the equator of about 570 A.D., is given as the southernmost.

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27. Aśva-yujau, ‘the two horse-harnessers,’ denotes the stars β and γ Arietis. Aśvinyau¹⁰¹ and Aśvinī¹⁰² are later names.

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¹⁰¹ Śāṅkhāyana Gṛhya Sūtra, i. 26; Nakṣatrakalpa, 9. 30.

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¹⁰² Nakṣatrakalpa, 4. 45; Śāntikalpa, 5. 11.

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28. Apabharaṇīs, Bharaṇīs, or Bharaṇyas, ‘the bearers,’ is the name of the small triangle in the northern part of the Ram known as Musca or 35, 39, and 41 Arietis.

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The Nakṣatras and the Months.—In the Brāhmaṇas the Nakṣatra names are regularly used to denote dates. This is done in two ways. The name, if not already a feminine, may be turned into a feminine and compounded with pūrṇa-māsa, ‘the full moon,’ as in Tiṣyā-pūrṇamāsa, ‘the full moon in the Nakṣatra Tiṣya.’¹⁰³ Much more often, however, it is turned into a derivative adjective, used with paurṇamāsī, ‘the full moon (night),’ or with amāvāsyā, ‘the new moon (night),’ as in Phālgunī paurṇamāsī, ‘the full-moon night in the Nakṣatra Phālgunī’;¹⁰⁴ or, as is usual in the Sūtras, the Nakṣatra adjective alone is used to denote the full-moon night. The month itself is called by a name derived¹⁰⁵ from that of a Nakṣatra, but only Phālguna,¹⁰⁶ Caitra,¹⁰⁷ Vaiśākha,¹⁰⁸ Taiṣya,¹⁰⁹ Māgha¹¹⁰ occur in the Brāhmaṇas, the complete list later being Phālguna, Caitra, Vaiśākha, Jyaiṣṭha, Āṣāḍha, Śrāvaṇa, Prauṣṭhapada, Āśvayuja, Kārttika, Mārgaśīrṣa, Taiṣya, Māgha. Strictly speaking, these should be lunar months, but the use of a lunar year was clearly very restricted: we have seen that as early as the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa there was a tendency to equate lunar months with the twelve months of thirty days which made up the solar year (see Māsa).

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¹⁰³ Taittirīya Saṃhitā, ii. 2, 10, 1. Cf. vii. 4, 8, 1. 2; Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa, v. 9, 1.

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¹⁰⁴ Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, ii. 6, 3, 11 et seq.; vi. 2, 2, 18; xiii. 4, 1, 4; Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, i. 3; iv. 4; v. 1. See also Caland, Über das rituelle Sūtra des Baudhāyana, 36, 37, and Māsa.

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¹⁰⁵ Primarily an adjective, with māsa to be supplied—e.g., Phālguna, ‘(the month) connected with the Nakṣatra Phālgunī.’

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¹⁰⁶ Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa, v. 9, 8.

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¹⁰⁷ Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, xix. 3.

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¹⁰⁸ Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, xi. 1, 1, 7.

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¹⁰⁹ Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, xix. 2. 3.

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¹¹⁰ Ibid.; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, xiii. 8, 1, 4. For the later list, see Weber, Naxatra, 2, 327, 328.

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The Nakṣatras and Chronology.—(I) An endeavour has been made to ascertain from the names of the months the period at which the systematic employment of those names was introduced. Sir William Jones¹¹¹ refers to this possibility, and Bentley, by the gratuitous assumption that Śrāvaṇa always marked the summer solstice, concluded that the names of the months did not date before B.C. 1181. Weber¹¹² considered that there was a possibility of fixing a date by this means, but Whitney¹¹³ has convincingly shown that it is an impossible feat, and Thibaut¹¹⁴ concurs in this view. Twelve became fixed as the number of the months because of the desire, evident in the Brāhmaṇas, somehow or other to harmonize lunar with solar time; but the selection of twelve Nakṣatras out of twenty-seven as connected with the night of full moon can have no chronological significance, because full moon at no period occurred in those twelve only, but has at all periods occurred in every one of the twenty-seven at regularly recurrent intervals.

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¹¹¹ Asiatic Researches, 2, 296.

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¹¹² Op. cit., 2, 347, 348; Indische Studien, 9, 455; 10, 230, 231.

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¹¹³ Journal of the American Oriental Society, 6, 413; 8, 85 et seq.

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¹¹⁴ Astronomie, Astrologie und Mathematik, 16.

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(2) All the lists of the Nakṣatras begin with Kṛttikās. It is only fair to suppose that there was some special reason for this fact. Now the later list of the Nakṣatras begins with Aśvinī, and it was unquestionably rearranged because at the time of its adoption the vernal equinox coincided with the star ζ Piscium on the border of Revatī and Aśvinī,¹¹⁵ say in the course of the sixth century A.D. Weber¹¹⁶ has therefore accepted the view that the Kṛttikās were chosen for a similar reason, and the date at which that Nakṣatra coincided with the vernal equinox has been estimated at some period in the third millennium B.C.¹¹⁷ A very grave objection to this view is its assumption that the sun, and not the moon, was then regarded as connected with the Nakṣatras; and both Thibaut¹¹⁸ and Oldenberg¹¹⁹ have pronounced decidedly against the idea of connecting the equinox with the Kṛttikās. Jacobi¹²⁰ has contended that in the Rigveda¹²¹ the commencement of the rains and the summer solstice mark the beginning of the new year and the end of the old, and that further the new year began with the summer solstice in Phalguni.¹²¹ He has also referred to the distinction of the two sets of Deva and Yama Nakṣatras in the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa¹²² as supporting his view of the connexion of the sun and the Nakṣatras. But this view is far from satisfactory: the Rigveda passages cannot yield the sense required except by translating the word dvādaśa¹²³ as ‘the twelfth (month)’ instead of ‘consisting of twelve parts,’ that is, ‘year,’ the accepted interpretation; and the division of the Nakṣatras is not at all satisfactorily explained by a supposed connexion with the sun. It may further be mentioned that even if the Nakṣatra of Kṛttikās be deemed to have been chosen because of its coincidence with the vernal equinox, both Whitney¹²⁴ and Thibaut¹²⁵ are prepared to regard it as no more than a careless variant of the date given by the Jyotiṣa, which puts the winter solstice in Māgha.

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¹¹⁵ Cf. Colebrooke, Essays, 2, 264; Weber, Indische Studien, 10, 234.

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¹¹⁶ Naxatra, 2, 362 - 364; Indische Studien, 10, 234; Indian Literature, 2, n. 2, etc.

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¹¹⁷ See Weber, loc. cit.; Bühler, Indian Antiquary, 23, 245, n. 20; Tilak, Orion, 40 et seq.

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¹¹⁸ Indian Antiquary, 24, 96.

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¹¹⁹ Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 48, 631; 49, 473; 50, 451, 452; Nachrichten der königl. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, 1909, 564; Keith, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1909, 1103.

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¹²⁰ Festgruss an Roth, 68 et seq. = Indian Antiquary, 23, 154 et seq.; Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 49, 218 et seq.; 50, 83; Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1910, 463.

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¹²¹ vii. 103 (the ‘frog’ hymn); x. 85 (the ‘marriage’ hymn).

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¹²² i. 5, 2, 8.

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¹²³ Rv. vii. 103, 9.

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¹²⁴ *Oriental and Linguistic Essays*, 2, 383.

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¹²⁵ *Indian Antiquary*, 24, 97. Cf. Keith, *Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society*, 1910, 464, n. 4.

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(3) The winter solstice in Māgha is assured by a Brāhmaṇa text, for the Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa¹²⁶ expressly places it in the new moon of Māgha (*māghasyāmāvāsyāyām*). It is not very important whether we take this with the commentators¹²⁷ as the new moon in the middle of a month commencing with the day after full moon in Taiṣa, or, which is much more likely, as the new moon beginning the month and preceding full moon in Māgha. The datum gives a certain possibility of fixing an epoch in the following way. If the end of Revatī marked the vernal equinox at one period, then the precession of the equinoxes would enable us to calculate at what point of time the vernal equinox was in a position corresponding to the winter solstice in Māgha, when the solstitial colure cut the ecliptic at the beginning of Śraviṣṭhās. This would be, on the strict theory, in the third quarter of Bharaṇī, 6¾ asterisms removed from Śraviṣṭhās, and the difference between that and the beginning of Aśvinī= 13⅓ asterisms = 23⅓° (27 asterisms being = 360°). Taking the starting-point at 499 A.D., the assured period of Varāha Mihira, Jones¹²⁸ arrived at the date B.C. 1181 for the vernal equinox corresponding to the winter solstice in Māgha—that is, on the basis of 1° = 72 years as the precession. Pratt¹²⁹ arrived at precisely the same date, taking the same rate of precession and adopting as his basis the ascertained position in the Siddhāntas of the junction star¹³⁰ of Maghā, α Leonis or Regulus. Davis¹³¹ and Colebrooke¹³² arrived at a different date, B.C. 1391, by taking as the basis of their calculation the junction star of Citrā, which happens to be of uncertain position, varying as much as 3° in the different textbooks. But though the twelfth century has received a certain currency as the epoch of the observation in the Jyotiṣa,¹³³ it is of very doubtful value. As Whitney points out, it is impossible to say that the earlier asterisms coincided in position with the later asterisms of 13⅓° extent each. They were not chosen as equal divisions, but as groups of stars which stood in conjunction with the moon; and the result of subsequently making them strictly equal divisions was to throw the principal stars of the later groups altogether out of their asterisms.¹³⁴ Nor can we say that the star ζ Piscium early formed the eastern boundary of Revatī; it may possibly not even have been in that asterism at all, for it is far remote from the Chinese and Arabic asterisms corresponding to Revatī. Added to all this, and to the uncertainty of the starting-point—582 A.D., 560 A.D., or 491 A.D. being variants¹³⁵—is the fact that the place of the equinox is not a matter accurately determinable by mere observation, and that the Hindu astronomers of the Vedic period cannot be deemed to have been very accurate observers, since they made no precise determination of the number of days of the year, which even in the Jyotiṣa they do not determine more precisely than as 366 days, and even the Sūrya Siddhānta¹³⁶ does not know the precession of the equinoxes. It is therefore only fair to allow a thousand years for possible errors,¹³⁷ and the only probable conclusion to be drawn from the datum of the Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa is that it was recording an observation which must have been made some centuries B.C., in itself a result quite in harmony with the probable date of the Brāhmaṇa literature,¹³⁸ say B.C. 800-600.

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¹²⁶ xix. 3. This was first noticed by Weber, *Naxatra*, 2, 345 et seq., who pointed out its relation to the datum of the Jyotiṣa. The same date as that of the Jyotiṣa is found in a passage of the Baudhāyana Śrauta Sūtra cited by Shamasastry, *Gavām Ayana*, 137 (*māghe māse dhaniṣṭhābhir uttareṇaiti bhānumān, ardhāśleṣasya śrāvaṇasya dakṣiṇenopanivartate*, 'in the month of Māgha the sun goes north with the asterism Dhaniṣṭhās, in the month of Śrāvaṇa he returns south in the middle of the asterism Aśleṣa'; the sense is clear, though the text is corrupt). The passage is apparently not in Caland's manuscripts, or he would have mentioned it in his paper, *Über das rituelle Sūtra des Baudhāyana*, 36, 37. Its date and value are therefore not quite certain.

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¹²⁷ Vināyaka on Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, *loc. cit.*; Ānartīya on Śāṅkhāyana Śrauta Sūtra, xiii. 19, 1; Weber, *Naxatra*, 2, 345. The assumption of the scholiasts seems to be due to the fact that to their minds a month must end with a new moon (*amānta*) or with full moon (*pūrṇimānta*). But there is no reason to say that in Vedic times the month may not have commenced with the new moon; the Kauṣītaki passage would thus be quite satisfactorily explained.

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¹²⁸ *Asiatic Researches*, 2, 393.

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¹²⁹ *Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal*, 31, 49.

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¹³⁰ Cf. Whitney, *Oriental and Linguistic Essays*, 2, 373.

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¹³¹ *Asiatic Researches*, 2, 268; 5, 288.

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¹³² Essays, 1, 109, 110. See Sir T. Colebrooke, *Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society*, 1, 335 et seq.; Whitney, *op. cit.*, 2, 381, 382.

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¹³³ E.g., Lassen, *Indische Alterthumskunde*, 1², 606, 607, 976, and cf. Thibaut, *Astronomie, Astrologie und Mathematik*, 17, 18; Tilak, *Orion*, 38, 39.

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¹³⁴ Whitney, *op. cit.*, 2, 375.

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¹³⁵ Cf. Whitney, *op. cit.*, 377, 379; Weber, *op. cit.*, 2, 363, 364, where he prefers A.D. 582.

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¹³⁶ See Whitney's note on Sūrya Siddhānta, iii. 12; op. cit., 2, 369, n. 1; 374, n. 1. Cf. Tilak, Orion, 18.

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¹³⁷ Whitney, 384, followed by Thibaut, Indian Antiquary, 24, 98; Astronomie, Astrologie und Mathematik, 18. See also Weber, Indische Studien, 10, 236; Indian Literature, 2, n. 2; Whitney, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1, 313 et seq.; in Colebrooke's Essays, 1², 120 et seq.; Max Müller, in his edition of the Rigveda, iv², xxx et seq., was also inclined to regard the date as very uncertain; only in his popular works (Chips, 1, 113, etc.) did he accept 1181 B.C., or rather 1186 B.C., as recalculated by Main from Pratt's calculation. Shamasastry's defence, Gavām Ayana, 122 et seq., of the Jyotiṣa shows a misunderstanding the criticisms made. See Keith, ournal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1910, 66, n. 5.

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¹³⁸ Cf. Macdonell, Sanskrit Literature, 12, 202; Keith, Aitareya Āraṇyaka, 20 et seq. It has been put earlier: see Thibaut, Astronomie, etc., 18; Bühler, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 55, 544, and cf. Bühler, Sacred Books of the East, 2, xl et seq.; Indian Antiquary, 23, 247; von Schroeder, Indiens Literatur und Cultur, 45 et seq. See also Jolly, Recht und Sitte, 3; Hillebrandt, Rituallitteratur, 31, who are inclined to accept an early date, fourth or fifth century B.C., for the Āpastamba Sūtras, from which a still earlier date for the Brāhmaṇas must be conceded. But Eggeling is more probably correct when he assigns the Āpastamba Sūtras to the third century, B.C. See Sacred Books of the East, 12, xl, and it seems unwise unduly to press back the date of Vedic literature. It is noteworthy that in the Epic the solstice is still in Māgha (Mahābhārata, xiii. 168, 6. 28). Reference is, however, made (ibid., i. 71, 34) to the Nakṣatras commencing with Śravaṇa, and the first month is Mārgaśīrṣa (see Hopkins, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 24, 21 et seq.). Cf. also Tilak, Orion, 37, 216.

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(4) Another chronological argument has been derived from the fact that there is a considerable amount of evidence for Phālguna having been regarded as the beginning of the year, since the full moon in Phalguni is often described as the ‘mouth (mukham) of the year.’¹³⁹ Jacobi¹⁴⁰ considers that this was due to the fact that the year was reckoned from the winter solstice, which would coincide with the month of Phālguna about B.C. 4000. Oldenberg¹⁴¹ and Thibaut,¹⁴² on the other hand, maintain that the choice of Phālguna as the ‘mouth’ of the year was due to its being the first month of spring. This view is favoured by the fact that there is distinct evidence¹⁴³ of the correspondence of Phālguna and the beginning of spring: as we have seen above in the Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, the new moon in Māgha is placed at the winter solstice,¹⁴⁴ which puts the full moon of Phalgunī at a month and a half after the winter solstice, or in the first week of February, a date not in itself improbable for about B.C. 800, and corresponding with the February 7 of the *veris initium* in the Roman Calendar. This fact accords with the only natural division of the year into three periods of four months, as the rainy season lasts from June 7-10 to October 7-10, and it is certain that the second set of four months dates from the beginning of the rains (see Cāturmāsya). Tilak,¹⁴⁵ on the other hand, holds that the winter solstice coincided with Māghī full moon at the time of the Taittirīya Saṃhitā (B.C. 2350), and had coincided with Phālgunī and Caitrī in early periods—viz., B.C. 4000-2500, and B.C. 6000-4000.

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¹³⁹ Taittirīya Saṃhitā, vii. 4, 8, 1. 2; Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa, v. 9, 9. Cf. Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, iv. 4; v. 1; Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, i. 1, 2, 8; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, vi. 2, 2, 18; Āśvalāyana Śrauta Sūtra, v. 3. 16. According to the Taittirīya and the Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇas, the beginning falls at the middle of the joint asterism.

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¹⁴⁰ Indian Antiquary, 23, 156 et seq.; Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 49, 223 et seq.; 50, 72-81. See Tilak, Orion, 53 et seq.; 198 et seq.

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¹⁴¹ *Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft*, 48, 630 *et seq.*; 49, 475, 476; 50, 453-457. Cf. Whitney, *Journal of the American Oriental Society*, 16, lxxxvii.

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¹⁴² *Indian Antiquary*, 24, 86 *et seq.*

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¹⁴³ See Weber, *Naxatra*, 2, 329 *et seq.*, and *cf.* Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, i. 6, 3, 36; Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, v. 1; a Śruti passage in the commentary on Kātyāyana Śrauta Sūtra, i. 2, 13; Baudhāyana Dharma Sūtra, ii. 2, 4, 23, and especially Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, xiii. 4, 1, 2. 4. So the Phālguna full moon is called the ‘month of the seasons’ (*ṛtūnām mukham*) in Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, viii. 1; Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, i. 6, 9.

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¹⁴⁴ xix. 2. 3.

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¹⁴⁵ *Orion*, 53 *et seq.*; 198 *et seq.*

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(5) The passages of the Taittirīya Saṃhitā¹⁴⁶ and the Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa,¹⁴⁷ which treat the full moon in Phālguna as the beginning of the year, give as an alternative the full moon in Caitra. Probably the latter month was chosen so as to secure that the initial day should fall well within the season of spring,¹⁴⁸ and was not, as Jacobi believes, a relic of a period when the winter solstice corresponded with Caitra. Another alternative is the Ekāṣṭakā, interpreted by the commentators as the eighth day after the full moon in Māghās, a time which might, as being the last quarter of the waning half of the old year, well be considered as representing the end of the year. A fourth alternative is the fourth day before full moon; the full moon meant must be that of Caitra, as Ālekhana quoted by Āpastamba held, not of Māgha, as Āśmarathya, Laugākṣi and the Mīmāṃsists believed, and as Tilak believes.¹⁴⁹

Linked texts (42)

Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Atharvavedasaṃhitā — Atharvan & Aṅgiras, Sanskrit
Śatapathabrāhmaṇa — Yājñavalkya & Śāṇḍilya (Vedic teacher), Sanskrit
Taittirīyabrāhmaṇa — Sanskrit
Kāṭhakasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Taittirīyasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Vājasaneyisaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Maitrāyaṇīsaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Aitareyabrāhmaṇa — Mahidāsa Aitareya, Sanskrit
Kauṣītakibrāhmaṇa — Kauṣītaki, Sanskrit
Nirukta — Yāska, Sanskrit
Śāṅkhāyanagṛhyasūtra — Śāṅkhāyana, Sanskrit
Chāndogyopaniṣad — Sanskrit
Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad — Sanskrit
Jaiminīyopaniṣadbrāhmaṇa — Sanskrit
Kaṭhopaniṣad — Sanskrit
Śāṅkhāyanaśrautasūtra — Śāṅkhāyana, Sanskrit
Taittirīyāraṇyaka — Sanskrit
Śāṅkhāyanāraṇyaka — Sanskrit
Aitareyāraṇyaka — Sanskrit
Baudhāyanaśrautasūtra — Baudhāyana, Sanskrit
Āpastambaśrautasūtra — Āpastamba, Sanskrit
Kātyāyanaśrautasūtra — Kātyāyana (Vājasaneyi sūtrakāra), Sanskrit
Jaiminīyabrāhmaṇa — Sanskrit
Lāṭyāyanaśrautasūtra — Lāṭyāyana, Sanskrit
Baudhāyanadharmasūtra — Baudhāyana, Sanskrit
Kauṣītakibrāhmaṇopaniṣad — Sanskrit
Sūryasiddhānta — Maya, Sanskrit
Taittirīyopaniṣad — Sanskrit
Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Āśvalāyanaśrautasūtra — Āśvalāyana, Sanskrit
Nidānasūtra — Patañjali (grammarian), Sanskrit
Ṛgvedaprātiśākhya — Śaunaka, Sanskrit
Āśvalāyanagṛhyasūtra — Āśvalāyana, Sanskrit
Kauśikasūtra — Kauśika, Sanskrit
Pañcaviṃśabrāhmaṇa — Sanskrit
Tibetan translation ('Chi med mdzod) — Classical Tibetan
Ārcajyotiṣa — Lagadha, Sanskrit
אִיּוֹב — Hebrew
Sāmavedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Saṃhitā
Ṣaḍviṃśabrāhmaṇa — Sanskrit