Page 44 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

THE K~ITTIKAS 31

place in the list of the Nak,hatras. • In the Taittirtya Brlhma11a
( i. 1, 2, I) it is distinctly stated, " one should consecrate the
( sacred ) fire in the KrittiUs; ... the Krittik&s are the mouth of the
Nak~hatras. "t This shows that the first place given to the K!'itti.kAs
in the list of the Nakshtras is not accidental and that we mu~t at
least suppose that the Krittikas were the "mouth of the Nak~hatras".
in the same way as Vasanta or sp~g was the ''mouth of the sea-
sons ":t or the Phalgun: full moon the ''mouth of the year. "§ The
phrase is the same in all places and naturally enough it must be simi-
larly interpreted. But granting that the Krittikls were the mouth of
the Nak~hatras in the sense that their list always commenced with
them, it may be asked what position we are to assign to the KJittikls
in the course of the year. There were, as I have previously shown
two beginnings of the year, the winter s~lstice and .the vernal
equinox; which of these two corresponded with the Kritti.kls?
Or are they to be supposed to have coiricided with a point altogether
different from these two ? A little consideration will show that
it is not difficult to answer these questions Satisfactorily. Th~
present distance between the KrittiUs and the summer solstice
is more than 30°, and ifthey ever coincided with the summer solstice
it must have been long ago in the present cycle of the precession
of the equinoxes. We cannot, therefore, interpret the above
passage so as to place the summer so1stice in the K!'ittik&s, unless
we are prepared to take back the composition of the Taittirtya
Samhita to about 22,000 B. C., and further suppose that all evi·
dence of the intermediate astronomical observations is entirely
lost, and the same thing'may be said against placing the K!'ittikAs
in the autumnal equin.ox. ~ Both the suggetions in my opinion
are too extravag<'.nt to deserve any consideration. Nor can we

• These together with the list, will be found in Pref. to '-ig. Vol.
n·, P· xxxiv. Cf. Taitt. Sa~. h·, 4· IO; Taitt. Br. iii. I. I. 6 and i.
:. I. :! \-
t 'f.f'U<r.l~~"l1~ I ......... I 51i Cff T«r~l(. I ~: II
t Taitt .. Br. i. 1. 2. 6. ~ Cfl 'Q;~ifi ~~:1
s Taitt .. Sal!l. YJi. 4· 8. quoted i1z_fra.
' ' :\ siniJlar mistake is committed by the late KrishJ).ll ShAstri GoQ-
bole, in his hsay on the antiquity of the Yedas, where he supposes
:\Iri;ashira,; t<> be' in the autumnal equinox. p. 20, zr. -