Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s20.204

v1.c3.s20.204

(7) Jacobi has also argued, with the support of Bühler,¹⁵⁴ from the terms given for the beginning of Vedic study in the Gṛhya Sūtras, on the principle that study commenced with the rains (as in the Buddhist vassā) which mark the summer solstice. He concludes that if Bhādrapada appears as the date of commencing study in some texts, it was fixed thus because at one time Proṣṭhapadās (the early name of Bhadrapadās) coincided with the summer solstice, this having been the case when the winter solstice was in Phālguna. But Whitney¹⁵⁵ has pointed out that this argument is utterly illegitimate; we cannot say that there was any necessary connexion between the rains and learning—a month like Śrāvaṇa might be preferred because of its connexion with the word Śravaṇa, ‘ear’—and in view of the precession of the equinoxes, we must assume that Bhādrapada was kept because of its traditional coincidence with the beginning of the rains after it had ceased actually so to coincide.¹⁵⁶