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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[SEPTEMBER, 1891.
mentions in addition two other points. In the beginning of his paper he quotes R.-V., VII. 103, 9:
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देवहितं जुगुपुर्द्वाद॒शस्य॑ ऋ॒तुं नरो॒ न मि॑िनन्स्ये॒ते ।
which according to his interpretation means, "They guard the sacred order, these males never forget the proper time of the twelfth (month)." The passage thus alleges that the frogs are annually resuscitated in the twelfth month, of course, the last of the hot season, and it indicates that the year began with the rains or about the summer solstice. The assertion that the frogs reappear before the rains does agree with the actualities observable in India. It is perfectly true that the large species, usually called the bull-frog, makes the nights hideous with its cries about a fortnight before the Monsoon commences. I shall never forget my experiences during the hot season of 1863, when I lived in the old Elphinstone College near the Gavalia Talão in Bombay. During the latter half of May the bull-frogs came out every night and, sitting round the tank, disturbed my sleep with the noises, which are described in so graphic a manner in the Frog-hymn of the Rigveda and in the corresponding verses of the Atharvaveda. But unfortunately the all-important word dvddasú in R. V., VII. 103, 9, is ambiguous and may mean also "the (year) consisting of twelve (parts)." I do not see any particular philological objection to Prof. Jacobi's rendering, but I cannot put any great value on a line which may also be translated "They keep the sacred order of the year, these males never forget the proper season," whereby the allusion to a Varshâ-year is lost.16
Another argument of Prof. Jacobi's, drawn from R. V., X. 85, 13, seems to me equally precarious. It is possible that the verses connecting the entry of Sûryâ, the celestial prototype of a bride, into her husband's house with the Nakshatra Arjunyah or Phalgunyaḥ, may refer to the sun's entering on a course, i. e., beginning a new year on the day of its conjunction with Uttara Phalguni.17 But other explanations are equally possible.
Among the numerous further arguments, which Prof. Tilak brings forward in his chapters IV.-VII., there is, I fear, none which will help to convince our fellow-students of the soundness of the new theory. His contention that Mrigasiras was once called Agrahayana, because it stood at the head of the series of Nakshatras and at the vernal equinox, with which the Vasanta-year began, would be most important, if it could be established. Unfortunately the. word Agrahayana is not as yet traceable in Sanskrit literature, and the name Âgrahâyani, which really is given to Mrigasiras, is explained by the fact that one of the old Indian years did begin in the month of Margasirsha or Agrahâyana.18 Professor Tilak denies this. But he has not only to refute the Mahabharata and Amarasimha. As stated above, the perfectly clear statement of Bêrûnî is opposed to his view, and it is not to be thought of, that Bêrûnî and his Hindu informants could have been in error on the simple question of fact whether in A. D. 1030 a Margasirsha year was actually used in various provinces of North-Western India. As they say that this was the case, I cannot but believe them and see a confirmation of their statement in the hints of the Mahabharata and of the Amarakosha.
But to return to the main question. It seems to me that what has been set forth above is quite sufficient to make it at least probable that some Vedic writings have preserved reminiscences of a time when the Nakshatra Praushṭhapada or Bhadrapadâ stood at the winter solstice and the vernal equinox fell in Mrigasiras, and that this arrangement has left its traces in the rules regarding the seasons for certain ceremonies and sacrifices. The period when this arrangement
16 Professor Jacobi authorises me to state that he is fully aware of the objections, which may be raised against his first argument. He has placed it first, merely because the verse first suggested to him the idea that the ancient Hindus might have had a Varshâ-year, and this observation induced him to examine the other Vedic passages regarding the beginnings of the Vedic years and the position of the months in which they occur.
17 Compare also Prof. Weber, Nachrichten von den vedischen Nakshatras, II. p. 364 ff.
18 Regarding the grammatical explanation of the word Agrahayana, see Varttika, 4, on Pânini, V. 4, 36, where it is enumerated among the Nipátas, formed by the affix an without change of meaning.
