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10i
Zodiacal Circumference Besides, we find that Uttarāṣādhā (o Sagittarii) lying near the Winter solstice is associated with last saura day of the 4th sauca month of Grisama (Summer) when the Sun is in the neighbourhood of Summer solstice. This shows that the number of saura days associated with any naksatra (asterism) represents its number of acronical risings in the eastern herizon after sunset. In this context, Henry C. King13 also refers to the use of dekanal system, a kind of clock calendar of the stars, constellations and parts of constellations based on a year of 360 days, used by priests in some parts of the east. With the observed disposition of dekan stars, both the time and the direction could be found out. Ipso facto the Jainian approach may be contemplated as a sign of graduating the zodiacal circumference into 360 saura days.
Besides, if Summer ends with Sun at Summer solstice, winter solstice coineides with one saura day of Uttarāşdhā (o Sagittarii) i e. 14 saura days (time degrees) preceding winter solstice coincided with Abhijit (a Lyrae) naksatra (See Table No. 4). Taking 72 years for 1° (= one saura day of) precession, we have.
14° (Saura dys) of precession = 72 x 14 = 1008 years,
Thus this observation dates ubout 1008 years after Winter solstice coincided with the beginning of Abhijit (a Lyrae) nakşatra. So the event might have occurred in about 3rd/4th century A. D., i.e. just the transition period between pre-Siddhāntic and Siddhāntic astronomical systems.
Be it mentioned that the method of season determination as implied in the given data (vide table No. 4) has beed exhaustively dealt with in a separate paper. 14 However a passing reference may be made that allotment of equal numbers of saura days to the seasons is an indication that some inequalities of the Sun were not at all conceived contrary to the notion of step functions in Babylonian astronomy.
5. Discussion
In Vedic period, days were called after the names of nak satras (asterims).15 That was the first attempt to graduate zodiac il circumference in 27 days of a lunar sidereal revolution. Moon travels by definition through 27 nak satras (asterisms) in each sidereal revolution. 16 Pingreel7 points out from the Rk. recension, verse 18, that 27 nakşatras (asterisms) have been interpreted as equal arcs of 13° 90' each. It is, of course, true that from verse 18 of the Rk. recension, we find that the Moon travels tbrough a naksatra (asterism) in 1 day and 7 kalas such that it completes 67 lunar cycles or covers 1809 (= 67x27) nakşitras (asterisms) in a 5-year cycles of 1830 days. But this is the average motion of Moon. An estimate of the
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