Page 79 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

66 SAMAGRA TJLA.K - 2 • TliE ORION
it appears to me more pr<1bable, however, that the old ·tradition
·about the Nakohatra gradually got ·connected with the month
which was named after it as in the case of Kartika, whose first
rank amongst m~nths is suggested by Prof. Whitney as 'due to
the ancient position of the Krittikas as the first among the lunar
maniions: '* This is very likely if, as shown below, the word
" .
Agrahay~£ was ever used to denote both the Nak~Jhatra and the
full-moon. But whatever the origin, the speculation was the~ .
safe under the authority and prestige of the Bhagavad Gita, and
Amarasinha, who appears to have been not wholly free :from the
'
"
influence of such theories, natqrally put down Agralu1yaf'J£ instead
" . ~
of Agrahayar;a as the name of the M rigashiras, especiaHy as the
latter word, 4grahdya')Q, was not expressly mentioned by PaiJ.ini.
Later lexicographers, who considered Amara and especially the
Gita to be above error, attempted to reconcile Amara's statement
with the system of PaiJ.ini by unusual derivations, and astronomers
appear to have vied with them in mathematically reconciling
the real and the imaginary begiDillings of the year ! We must,
therefore, set aside all these theories and go back to the purer
times of PaiJ.ini, to determine what was the real name of the
Nak,hatra. I have already shown that PaiJ.ini knew the word
Agrahdy~ and also that he could not have understood it to
mean the month of Margashir~ha. It is, therefore, evident that he
used it as a derivative from Agraluiyana in the sense of tinie as
given m PaiJ.tni iv. 2. 3. If so, he considered Agrahdy~a to be a
name of the Nak,hatra of Mrtgashiras. Amarasinha's Agrahdy~£
is, therefore, either an error or a feminine adjective or the tara
of Mrigasbiras meaning exactly the same thing as Agrahdyana;
thus Agrahdya'}a- Agrahciyar;a (Pan. v. 4. 38 ), Agrahdyf11J'l. +
i \ Pan. iv. I. 15) Agrahay~t.t In support of this derivation,
may be cited the fact that M rigashiras was once considered to be
a feminine word. Mukuta and Bbanu Dik,hita:f= both quote,
BopAlita who gives the n~uter and the feminine forms of Mriga-
• See his Sury~ Siddb!nta, p. 271 ( xiv .• 6 n ).
t This is open ·io the objection that we have to ir.clude Agrahay~a
in the Prajnldi list.
t Am;~ra i. 3· 23. Bh3nu Dikshita's commentary is printed in
Fombay and Muku!a's and Kshfrasvlmin's are published in Anundo-
ram Borooah s unfortunately incomplete eqition of Amara's le~icon.