Page 171 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

156 SAMAGRA TILAlC - 2 • THE OlliON

the crab, the Iron the stomach, the maid the hip, the balance-
bearer the belly, the eighth ( scorpion ) the membrum, the _archer
his pair of thighs, the Makara his pair of knees, the pot h~ pair
of legs, the fish his two feet. "• Thus if Mesha was Brahman's
head when the Rashis were introduced Chitra. could well be said
to be the head of ~rajApati when the Chitra. full-moon commenced
the year. But though we can thus satisfactorily account for the
fact why Chitra should have been called the head of PrajApati,
yet we cannot give an equally satisfactory reason in the case of
one of the Nak,hatras in this representation, unless we place
three intercalary months in five years. It is very difficult to deter-
mine how the intercalary months were inserted, if at all, at this
remote period, and the question must therefore, to a certain
extent, remain unsolved for the present. The analogy of the pic-
torial representation of the tw~lve signs of the Zodiac in later
days, is however, a strong ground to '!hold that the asterismal
Prajapati may have been similarly, conceived when the primitive
year was first .determined on the Nak,hatra system. There is.
so far as I know, no more evidence about this primitive calendar
in the Vedic works than what .has been given above. But the
traces of such period which we can discover in the sacrificial
·literature and espetially the express mention in TaittirtAya Salllhiti
that the Chitrl full-moon once commenced the year are, in my
opinion, sufficient to prove the existence of such a calendar in the
primitive days. We cannot otherwise account why the first and
last offerings in every sacrifice should be made to Aditi and why
Abhijit-day should precede the Vi,ht1v&n by four days. Compared
to the evidences of the Orion period, these are slender materials
for the construction of the primitive Vedic calendar, but they are
decidedly superior to the materials on which Dr. Geiger has
determined primitive calendar of the Iranians.
It appears to me therefore that the oldest Vedic calendar,
like the oldest hymn, was sacrificial; and that the sacrifice or the
year commenced with Aditi at the vernal equinox in or near
Punarvasft. The phases . of the moon, the seasons and the ayQIIQS
further guided the ancient Aryas in measuring time for sacrificial
purposes. The asterism of Abhijit marked the approach ofVi,MvAn·
or the central day, while Punarvas1l, which soon after came tOo
• India : what it can teach us? pp. 322, 323.