Page 67 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

S4 SAMAGM 'I'iLAK- 2 • THE OIUON

to the PhAlgunt ftjll-noon in the V6dic works are mere conjectures
81ld guesses of his own. I admit that even the guesses of a scholar
like Siylll:Ul deserve consideration. But when on a closer exami-
nation we find that they ace n()t supported by ~y old traditions
and are beside$ objectionable on various other gounds, I think
we are bound to reject them. As Qbserved by BbAskara Bha~
the passage in the Taittirtya &hpbiti must therefore, be understood
as referriJig.to an older year beginning. and we must hold that the
full-moon in PhAlguna did as a matter of fact once commence the
year at the winter solstice. I know that this view has been reprded
as improbable by some scholars, on the sole grouJ;ld that it would,
if substantiated, enhance the antiquity of the Vedic works by
about 2000 years more than what these scholan are willing to apign
to them; and as the natural result of such prepossessions amongst
them the subject has till now remained uninvestipted. But I hope
that they will patiently examine the evidence, direct and con-obora-
tive, which "I intend to put forth in support of the suggestion and
then give their judgement upon it. There is no a priori impossibility
involved in the hypothesis that the old priests, after changing their
starting point to the Krittikis and framing the calendar accordingly
continued to recognize for sacrificial purposes, the older positions
of the Nak,hatras, just as all Brihma11-as from the Himalaya to
the Cape Comorin at present perform their sacrifices on days and
at times fixed when the vernal equinox was in the Krittikis. I think
the present Brahmal)aS are worse off in this respect, inasmuch as
they have not even the liberty, which the passage in the Taittirtya
Sa!llhiti accorded, though hesitatingly, to the old priests, of choos-
ing either the old or the new calendar. To use the words of Professor
Max MUller we must in such cases, therefore, ' keep our precon-
ceived notions of what people call primitive humanity in abey-
ance for a time'• and form our judgement of antiquity, as we do
of other facts, solely ·upon evidence.
We have seen in the hist chapter that the evidence for placing
the vernal equinox in the KpttikAs consisted of ( 1 ) the lists of the
Nak,hatras all beginn;ng with the Krittikas, ( 2 ) the winter
solstice then falling in the month of Migha, ( 3) the Nak,hatra
at the summer solstice being presided over by the pitris, and ( 4) ·
the possibility of considering, as Bentley suggested, the portion
•Iadia :what lt oaa teach us? p. 112.