Page 55 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

42 SAMAGRA TILAK - 2 • THE ORION
~r&hmal)a all beginning with the K{ittikas; secondly, an express
statement in the Taittirtya Bra.hma~a, that the Kttitikas are the
mouth of the Nakthatras; thirdly, a statement that the Krittikas
are the first of the Deva Nakthatras that is, as I have shown before,
the Nakthatras in the northern hemisphere above the vernal equi-
nox; and fourthly, the passage in the Taittirtya SaiPhita above
discussed which expressly states that the winter solstice fell in
the month of Mlgha. The vernal equinox is referred to the Krittikas
directly or indirectly in all these pa~sages and I do no_t_ think that
any more confirmatory evidence from the Vedic works is required
to establish the proposition that the Krittikas coincided with the
vernal equinox, when the Taittirtya Saq1hita was compiled. As
an additional proof I may, however, mention the fact, that Pitris
are said to be the presiding deitieS' of Magha in the Taittinya
Sa!Jl}rita iv. 4.10. 1. With the Kfittikas\n the vernal equinox Magha
is the summer solstice and as the Dakthi:Qayana or the ayana
of the Pitris commenced at this point, the asterism which happened
to be there at that time was naturally assigned to the Pitris. The
posjtion for all the other cardinal points of the ecliptic can be
thqs shown to be consistent with the position of the vernal
equinox in the Krittikas.

Supposing the Krittikas to denote the asterism of that name
t)lis gives us, according to Prof. Whitney's• calculation, 2350 B. C.,
as the probable time for the compilation of the Taittirtya Saq1hita.
Some scholars unwillin_g to carry the: antiquity of the work to such
a remote period, have urged, without assigning any special reason~
that by Ktittikas we must there understand the beginning of the
zodiacal portion of that name. Now as the position of the asterism
of the K{ittikas in its zodiacal portion is 10 o 50' from the beginningt
these scholars would place the vernal equinox about 11 o behind
the asterism of the Ktittikas and thus reduce the antiquity of
the SaJpbita nearly by 11 x 72 = 792 years or to about 1426 B. C.:t
J have briefly stated before my reasons for discarding this suppo-
sition and holding that the mimes of the Nak,hatras in the early

• See SOrya SiddbAnta Add. notes, p. 323.
t This is tbe position given in the SOrya SiddhJota vii. 29. See
tbe table prepared by Prof. Whitney in his notes ,to this passage.
~ Thil is Bentley's date about which see .afta.