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MAT, 1912.)
THE VEDIO CALENDAR
117
THE VEDIO CALENDAR. BY R. SHAMASASTRY, B.A., M.B.A.S., M.R.S.A., MYSORE.
(Continued from p. 84.) OR else the minor session of a year of the Tapaschits may be repeated four times, so that with three such sessions the major session of twelve years is completed or else they may observe the sesion in the Jyotishtôma way (i, e., the Gavam-Ayana ); or else they may hold their session in each year seriatim (ganasainvatsarandın kalpa).49
" Then the sacrificial session of thirty-six years of the Säktyas. The foodstuff used in this sacrifice is flesh instead of cooked rice; for the Inner Man is the food-giving deity of this sacrifice. Usually these two foodstuffs, flesh and rice, are the sacrificial offerings.
"These long sessions are meant only for gods, for the gods alone) are long-lived. Others think that they are possible also'for men ; according to them, mány persons, such as sons, grandsons, and sons of grandsons undergo initiation successively and press the Sôma-plant. These Atirâtra days are not accompanied by the central day of the year and constitute what is called Urdhudyana or lengthened year. If the Atiratra day or the central day is celebrated one after another), then the desired ascending order (in the era of years ) is secured. No rule about these sessions is laid down in the Kalpas or in the Brahmaņas. Still they teach us this ancient doctrine (namely the Gavân-Ayana and other varieties). Of all the units of intercalary days celebrated by chanting as many Sima-verses as the number of days in each unit, the unit of twenty-one intercalary days is the last."
The most important points that are to be particularly noticed in the above passage are: (1) the duration of the session of the Tapaschits as cotopared with that of the Gavâm-Ayana; (2) the spreading out of the session ; (3) the question raised by the author of the Nida na-Sutra as to the possibility or impossibility of all the sessional sacrifices being observed by a single man, however long-lived he might be ; and (4) the absence of the central day of the year in these sessions. We shall presently see how in the place of twelve days celebrated by others, probably at the close of every fourth year, some celebrated only a single day. It follows, therefore, that if the latter counted 860 such single days, the former would count twelve times as many days. This is what appears to have been meant by the statement that the twelve-years' session of the Tapaschits is equal to twelve times the duration of the Gavam-Ayana. In his commentary on the Srauta-Sûtra of Ásvalâyana, Gârgyanarayana has clearly stated that the twelve-years' session of the Tapascbits may be so spread out that seventy-two months shall fall in the first half of the session and the same number of months in the second half.49 Likewise, the session of thirty-six years of the Tapaschits or of the Sâktyas. This amounts to saying that, just as twelve or twenty-one days are inserted in the middle of an ordinary year, these sessions of four, twelve, or thirty-six years are also inserted in the middle of an ordinary year. It is clear, therefore, that all these sessions are intercalary periods, not ordinary years. Had these and other sessions been ordinary years, the question raised by the author of the Nidana-Sutra aboat the possibility of all the sessional sacrifices being performed by a single man would not have cropped op at all; for it is quite possible for a man to live for 56 or 60 years, so that he may commence & sacrifice in his 20th or 24th year and bring it to a close after 36 years. It follows, therefore, that these sessional days are not ordinary consecutive days, but periodical intercalary days. We shall see that the Vedic poets knew that the solar year differed from the synodic lanar year by 117 days
46 This seems to refer to the intercalation of five daye to each jor: Nee Nidina-Satra, x, 1. For other yarieties of the session of the Tapusobits, no Gargyanarayana's Commentary on Afvalyana-Brauta-Satr, xii, 5, 14.
49 Åbvaldyana, zii, 5, 14.
