Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s20.225

v1.c3.s20.225

There remains only the possibility that a common source for all the three sets—Nakṣatra, Manāzil, and Sieou—may be found in Babylonia. Hommel¹⁶⁸ has endeavoured to show that recent research has established in Babylonia the existence of a lunar zodiac of twenty-four members headed by the Pleiades (= Kṛttikās); but Thibaut’s researches¹⁶⁹ are not favourable to this claim. On the other hand, Weber,¹⁷⁰ Whitney,¹⁷¹ Zimmer,¹⁷² and Oldenberg¹⁷³ all incline to the view that in Babylonia is to be found the origin of the system, and this must for the present be regarded as the most probable view, for there are other traces of Babylonian influence in Vedic literature, such as the legend of the flood, perhaps the Ādityas,¹⁷⁴ and possibly the word Manā.