Page 167 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

152 SAMAGRA TILAK - 2 • THE ORION

We have so far considered only one of the trad~tional year-
beginnings recorded in the Taittirtya SaJ}lhita, the "PbAlguni full-
moon. But it may be asked how we interpret the other mentioned
along with it, and almost in the same words. Analogy at once-
suggests that we should interpret it in the same way ;;oc; we have inter-
preted the first. With the Pbalgunt full-moon, at the winter sol-
stice the vernal equinox was in Mrigashiras; so with the Cbitn1
full-moon at the solstice the vernal equinox would be in Punarvasft.
Let us therefore, see if we have evidence in the Vedic literature in
support of such an interpretation. It may be observed that we
are here entering upon the remotest period of antiquity, when
the year was probably first determined with some approach to
i.ccuracy; and even in the Vedas there is hardly anything beyond
vaJUe traditions about this period, while the Greeks and the
Parsis have not, it appears, preserved even these.
There is no express passage which states that Punarvasu was
ever the first of the Nak,hatras, nor have we in this case a synonym
like Agraluiyana or Orion, wherein we might discover similar
traditions. There are however, some indications about the oldest
position of Punarvasti preserved in -the sacrificial literature. The
presiding deity of Punarvasll is Aditi, and we are told in the
Aitareya Brahmlll},a i. 7, and the Taittirtya Sam.hita vi.l. 5. 1. that
Aditi has been blessed with a boon that all sacrifices must comm-
ence and end with her. The story begins with the statement that
the sacrifiCe ( the mysterious sacrificial personage ) went away
from the gods. The gods were then unable to perform any further
ceremonies, and did not know where it (the sacrifice) had gone
to; and it was Aditi that helped them, in this state, to find out the
proper commencement of the sacrifices.* This clearly means,.·
if it can mean anything, that before this time, sacrifices were per-
formed at random, but it was at this time resolved and fixed to
commence them from Aditi. Aditi was thus the oldest and the
first commencement of the sacrifice or the year. In the Vajasa-
neyi Samhiti 4. 19 Aditi is said to be ubhayatah shir1/u}t, " double-
headed ", and the commentators interpret it to mean that the

• Ait. Br. i. 7. A similar tradition about Orion is narrated in Greek
mythology. ~t is stated that having lost h1s sight he followed a guide
to the east in search of the sun and there, by exposing his face to the
rising sun, his sight was restored.