Indian Antiquary Vol 62

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 187

SEPTEMBER, 1933
THE LUNAR CULT IN INDIA
175
The difference in the method of calculating mean samkrantis has thus, in this instance, led to a difference in the names of fivc lunar months; and what, according to one method, are the months of adhika-Mârgasira, Margasira, Puşya, Magha and Phålguna, are, according to the other method, the months of Margasira, Puşya, Mâgha, Phalguna and adhika-Caitra respectively.
As already observed above, however, I have not up to now come across any date which cites a mean samkranti calculated according to the method adopted by Mr. Sewell, while, on the other hand, the five dates given above cite, clearly, mean sankrantis calculated according to a different method. It would be well therefore if computers of Indian dates, and especially those that use Mr. Sewell's tablos referred to above for this purpose, bear in mind that there is a method of calculating mean samkrantis which is different from that adopted by him, and that the employment of this method leads, not only to a difference in the time at which the mean sankrantis took place, but, occasionally, to a difference in the years in which intercalary months occurred, and in the names of lunar months also.
THE LUNAR CULT IN INDIA.
BY V. R. RAMACHANDRA DIKSHITAR, M.A. In an informing note on the Traces of Lunar cult in India' in the Rivista degli Studi Orientali, vol. XII (1930), Professor Giuseppe Tucci makes the following observation. “While sun worship was widely spread in India, it does not appear that the moon was ever raised to the rank of an independent divinity, or that it ever had its own temples and its own devotoes." (Translated from the original Italian by Mr. C. E. A. W. Oldham in the Ind. Ant., Jan. 1932, p. 17.) An endeavour is made bere to show that the lunar cult was as old as the solar cult, and the moon enjoyed an independent status like any other deity of the Vedic pantheon. The worship of the moon, like that of the sun, must be traced back to the Vedic period of India's ancient history. It is generally known that orthodox tradition classifica the Yajurveda samhita into four kandams. These are the Prajapatikandam, Saumya kandam, Agneya kandam and Vaišvadeva kandam. Of these, the Saumya kandam is in honour of the moon, who is raised to the rank of divinities like the Prajâ pati-, Agni- and Viśvadevas. The texts of the Samhita which are devoted to the elaboration of sacrificial ritual mfer to the moon as an adhipati of the sacrifice, and hence a devata. If the evidence of the Yajurveda-samhita teaches us anything, it is that the moon is raised to the rank of a yarña or sacrificial deity and is undoubtedly a Vedic god. There is again the invaluable testimony of the Brahmana literature where tho moon is looked upon as an independent divinity. In the Taittiriya Brahmana we have what is known as the Somasuktam, and this súktam is celebrated in honour of the moon (II, viii, 3). These hymns in praise of the moon can be favourably compared to the Rudrasuktam, Puruşasúktam and other Vedic súktams of much importance. Added to this is the statement that the presiding deity of the sadhotd in the sacrificial literature is no one else than Candra or the moon-god. (Ibid., II, ii, 11-12.) Besides their use in the gajas or sacrificos, they are used in connection with a number of ceremonials attending the innumerable vratams or special vows and the installation of images in temples, much adumbrated in the Purana literature and the Agama treatises as well. (See the Malaya. purana, ch. 265, 24.)
The Puranas, which are rogarded as the fifth Voda according to the tradition transmitted in the Indian religious and secular works, make claborate references to the different aspects of the lunar cult. The moon is one of the ten dig-pålas or the guardian deities of the directions. (See the Matsya Purana, ch. 266-26.) He is the lord of the twenty-seven naksatras (Ibid., ch. 23. 1 ff.) and is one of the nine planets which go by the name of navagrahas. (Ibid., ch. 93-10.) He is above all the 6şadhipati. or the lord of oceans and plants. (Ibid., ch. 266, 25.)