Indian Antiquary Vol 41

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 123

MAY, 1912.]
THE VEDIC CALENDAR
119
" Then as regards the eleven nights :
The Akini period does not extend beyond eleven nights. Sessional sacrifice is continued from the twelfth day and onwards. He observes the Ahina period only for eleven days, lest he might encroach upon one place one day) more."
The above passage clearly shows that the difference of eleven full days between the lunar and the solar years constitutes the period of Ahina sacrifices, and that the twelfth day is an extra day, scrupulously excluded by the sacrificer from the Ahina period. By way of distinguishing between the two kinds of sacrifices, the Ahina sacrifices and the Sattra sacrifices, the author of the NidanaSätra says in IX., 9:
अथायं द्वादशाहोऽहीनो भवती ३ सत्रमिति. महीनो भवतीत्याहुः एको दीक्षेति. अथाप्याहीनिकान्यErfara z a ... ... ... ... चयोऽहीना इति धानंजयः एकाहाहीनः महीनाहीनः सत्राहीन इति. अयं ज्योतिष्टोमोऽतिरात्रः पोडशिमानेकाहाहीनः अत्र हि न किंचनेकाहिकं कर्म हीयत इति. द्वादशाहोऽहीनाहीनः अत्र हि न किंचनाहीनिकमहींयत इति. गवामयनं सत्राहीनः अत्र हि न किंचन साबिकमहीयत इति.
" Well then ! does the period of twelve days constitute the Ahina form of sacrifices, or the sessional form ? They say that it constitutes an Ahina period; and they declare that one person only. should undergo the rite of initiation into it. But others say that the period of ten days constitutes an Alina period . ....... Dhanamjapya says that there are three forms of Ahina sacrifices : (1) an Ahina sacrifice of one day ; (2) an Ahina sacrifice continued for several A hina days ; (8) Ahina sacrifices taking the form of sessional sacrifices. An Atir átra sacrifice with the recitation of sixteen verses, performed in the Jyotislıtôma way, is an Ahina sacrifice of one day; it is so called because none of the rites usually performed in a single day are neglected here. The twelve-days' sacrifice constitutes the Alina sacrifice of several days; it is so called because none of the days constituting the Ahina period is here lost. Gavên-Ayana forms the Ahina form of the Sessional sacrifices; it is so called because none of the sessional days is here lost (hina)."50
This apparently meaningless discussion about the distinction between the china and Sattra sacrifices ends in the lame conclusion that the word Ahina means the absence of the loss of a day or part of a day, and that it is applicable to all kinds of sessional sacrifices in which neither a day nor part of a day is omitted. It seems probable that the eleven full days, which form the difference between the lunar and the solar years, were originally calld Ahinas or not-incomplete' ones, for the reason that those eleven days are not as incomplete as the one-fourth part of a day at the end of every solar year. It is clear, therefore, that a series of the intercalary periods of twelve days, or a series of the twelfth Atiratra days, is taken to constitute a Sattra called Gavam-Ayana. Similarly, a series of the intercalary periods of twenty-one days, or a series of successive twenty-first days, is taken to constitute another form of the Gavam-Ayana. As the 12th and 21st days are the product of the four quarter-days at the close of any four consecutive solar years, the interval between any two successive twelfth days or twenty-first days must necessarily be four solar years. That a sacrificial session is made up of a series of such 12th or 21st days, is clearly stated in the Nidâ na-Sutra, III., 7:
अहीनकाहसमासा ह्येव सत्राणि भवंति. "The assemblage of the single days closing the Ahina period constitutes sacrificial sessions."
That a series of successive twelfth days are termed Atirâtras, is implied in the following passage of the Nidans-Sútra, ix., 10 :
अथातस्सवाणि. तेषां बादशाहः प्रथमः तस्मिन्नुपकृतानि. तत्र उपधिस्थाते अंतरणातिरात्रौ च दशरावंच. यत्रैकेनाहार्थो भवति व्रतमाहरेदेतदेकार्थे वृष्टमिति. तस्य तदेव स्थानं यत्संवत्सरे. यहाथै गोआयुषीतयो
to Soo slao "Gavam-Ayana : the Vedio Era," pp. 60, 61,