Page 65 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

52 SAMAGRA TILAK - 2 • THE ORION
Brlhma~a ( i. 19 ) after stating that the Uttar§. and the Pftrva
Phalgunt are respectively the beginning and the end of the year,
adds " just as the two ends of a thing meet so these two termini
of the year meet together. "* I have already quoted a passage
from the T~p~ya BrAhma~ to the same effect. The Sdtra-writers,
though not so explicit, do however distinctly state that the annual
sacrifices " should be commenced either on the Chaitri or the
Pbalgun! full-moon night, "t thus clearly indicating that these
were regarded as the beginnings of the year. If these passages mean
anything, we must hold that the Pbalguni full-moon night was once
considered to be actually the first night of the year, or to put it
in a modern form the new year's night. We cannot assign this
position to it by simply assuming, as Sayapa has done, that the
night occurred sometime during the two months ofVasanta. Sayapa,
it appears, was aware of this objection and so in commenting on
the passage from the Taittirtya SaiPhitA quoted in the last chapter,
he attempts to explain the position of the Phalgunt night by refer-
ence to the above mentioned passages in the BrAhmapas; while
with respect to the Chaitn, he quietly observes that " this too is
the mouth of the year as it falls during the season of Vasanta. ":t
But an explanation that admittedly fails in one case must fail in
the other, for the ChitrA and the PhAJgunl nights are described to-
gether in the same passage and the same wor:.ds, as the beginnings
of the year.
It will be clear from the above, first, that the theory of the
lunar seasons, started by S4yapa to account for the position assign-
ed the PhAlgum night in the Vedic works, cannot have a permaaen t
place in the Vedic calendar; secondly, even accepting the theory,
the beginning of the solar Vasanta might be put off to the month
of (lunar) Vaisb4kha, but could not be brought back to any day
in PbAlguna; and thirdly, the express texts in the BrAhmapas declar-

* ~ ~~·l{t ~ 1{ii I ~lll'l'<l~i~ 6~ ffiffi I V:<tlt<tffi'lffi~itll
@t~ lr<RJ: I
t ~ (sci/ m'l*~) ~~~ iftdr~~ 1ft m: I Ashvallyan
Shr. Stl. i. 2. 14. 3; KAt. Shr. Stl. v. 1. 1; SAn. Sbr. Stl. iii. 8., xiil. 18. 3·
t See the original remark quoted supra. The word "I4IJ" in this
explanation implfes that it holds good a}ao in the case of the Phllgunt
fu 11-mooD.