Indian Antiquary Vol 24

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 96

92
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[APRIL, 1895.
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them perfectly perspicuous and coherent. I do not now discuss in detail the beginning on the ekáshtaká, and remark only that, if the ckáskṭakú is as the commentators say the eighth day after full moon in Magha, the beginning of the sacrifice on that day is rightly objected to as falling within the season which is the 'end' of the year; for it falls within the last month before Phalguni-fullmoon, which marks the beginning of the new year. The Tandya further rightly objects to it that the water is then unpleasantly cold for bathing. That, as Prof. Jacobi remarks, this objection could not be raised by those who take the Phalguni-fallmoon for their beginning, because within the 24 days between the ekáshtaki and Phalguni-fullmoon the water does not become sensibly warmer, I cannot admit. Just at that season the difference would be a very perceptible one; and the whole question loses in importance, owing to the fact that after all the Phalguni-fallmoon is immediately afterwards itself rejected in favour of the Chaitri-fullmoon. The texts next both mention the Phalguni-fullmoon as the proper day for beginning the sacrifice, because it is the 'mouth' of the year. This is in order as we have explained above. Equally justified is the rejection of this alternative for the reason that it involves the falling of the vishuvat-day within the cloudy season. For from those who begin the diksha on about the 7th of February, the oishuvat falls end of August, within the rainy season. Equally intelligible is then the third alternative, which decides for Chaitri-fullmoon. For those who begin the diksha on that term, celebrate the vishuvat-day at the end of September, when the rains are over. Nor is there any objection to the Taittiriya Samhita speaking of the Chaitri-fullmoon as an alternative beginning of the year. For, as we have seen, the Phalguni-fullmoon stands just on the confines of the cold season and spring, and it, therefore, is quite intelligible that some should prefer as the beginning of the year the first fullmoon which falls within spring, and cannot be claimed by the cold season also, i. e., the Chaitri-fullmoon. And again, we clearly see why the Tandya, in order to escape the somewhat awkard admission that two consecutive full moons are both called the mouth of the year, prefers to call the earlier full moon the mouth, and the later one the eye of the year. To the fourth alternative, according to which the diksha begins four days before full moon,' we shall return further on.
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The same reasons, which induce the Brahmanas to mention the Phalguni and the Chaitrî as optional beginnings of the gavam-ayana, account for the differences in the terms assigned for the chaturmasya sacrifices. The Brahmanas and some sutras prescribe the Phalguni, Ashadhi and Kartikî full moons, i. e., they adhere to the strict beginnings of the three fundamental seasons; other sûtras admit as alternatives the Chaitri, Sravani and Agrahayani full moons, i. e., they allow the sacrifices to take place, not exactly at the beginning of each season, but in its earlier part when it has well established itself. And here we must not forget to take into account a further circumstance, which most likely has had its share in leading to the establishment of alternative beginnings. As the lunar months lag behind the seasons, the Phalgunf-fullmoon, which in one year may coincide with, let us say, the 7th of February, will fall in the next year about twelve days earlier, and again twelve days earlier in the third year; so that by that time it will be twenty-four days less remote from the winter solstice than at first. Any further displacement will, of course, be stopped by the insertion of an intercalary month at, let us say, with the Jyotisha Védánga, the middle of the third year, which will restore the disturbed harmony between lunar and solar time. But it is clear that those who wished their vaisvadé va sacrifice in the third year to coincide with the actual beginning of spring would give the preference to chaitri paurņamosi over phalguni; and that there was some excuse for doing so in the second year already, considering that even in the normal year the Phalguni-fullmoon lay right on the confines of the cold season. Displacements of the kind described may also account for the fact that according to some authorities the vaiśvadéca sacrifice might be offered as late as Vaisakhîfullmoon.
In order to complete the discussion of the passages from the Taittiriya Samhita and the Tándya Brahmana, it remains to enquire into the meaning of the first and the last terms mentioned, viz.,