A Concise History of Science in India c6.4

c6.4

The whole corpus of the Vedic literature represents the intellectual activity of a sacerdotal caste which, by turning to account the religious instincts of a gifted and devout race, transformed a primitive worship of the powers of nature into a highly artificial system of sacrificial ceremonies. In prescribing rules for the observance of such ceremonies, the priestly leaders never tired of emphasizing the importance of carrying them out in proper times. This clearly envisaged a dependable calendar. Thus, the building of the different types of fire altars and consecration (*agnyādhāna*), or the holding of seasonal sacrifices (*cāturmāsyāni*), the full-moon sacrifices, the *soma* feast lasting a year, the yearly *sattras* and so on involved knowledge of a workable calendar and presupposed a class of priests skilled in time-reckoning.