Page 40 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

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tent as to make them practically useless for chronological purposes.
For instance, suppose that there is a mistake of so in observing the
position of the sun with reference to a fixed star when the day and
the night are of equal length. This would cause- .an error of not
more than 5 x 72 = 360 years in ou~ calculations; and in the absence
of better means there is no reason' to be dissatisfied even with
-such a result, especially. when we are dealing with the remotest
periods of antiquity. I shall, therefore, assume that .references to
the Nak~hatras in the old Vedic works especially in cases where
the motions of other bodies are referred to them, are to the fixed
.asterisms and not to the zodiacal portions. I may also state here
that as a change in the position of the vernal equinox necessarily
-causes a similar change in the position of the winter solstice, both
the beginnings of the year, previou!ilY referred to, would require
to be simultaneously altered. Whenever, therefore, we find a
.change in the position of the vernal equinox recorded in the early
works, we must look' for the evidence of a corresponding altera-
tion in the position df the winter solstice, and the corroborative
evidence so supplied will naturally add to the strength of our
.conclusions. This will, I hope, sufficiently explain the procedure I
mean to follow in the investigation of the problem before us. I
shall now proceed to examine the passages which place the vernal
-equinox in the KrittiUs, beginning with the latest writer on the
subject.
It is now well-known that VarAhamihira, in whose time the
vernal equinox coincided with the end of Revati and the summer
-solstice was in Punarvas'll, distinctly refers in two places to the
~lder position of the solstices recorded by writers who preceded
him. •' When the return of the sun took place from the middle
~f Ashle~hA, " says he in his Pancha SiddhAntikA, •• the tropic
was tben right. It now takes place from Punarvasil. "• And,
.again, in the BPbat SatphitA iii, 1 and 2, he mentions the same older
position of both the solstitial points and appeals to his readers
to ascertain for themselves by actual observation which of the

• See Colebrooke's Essays, Vol. II, p. 387. The verse may now be
found in Dr. Thibaut's ~dition of the work. It is as -follows :-
llff~kRftCii(l ~: ~iiUif.\i(Uj(ii I
~~ tti(itft«ihlttif .. ;j ~d': II