पृष्ठम्:ब्राह्मस्फुटसिद्धान्त भाग १.pdf/४६

ZODIAC
3
the year, the same stars are seen at corresponding hours of the
night. Of course this circumstance was less conspicuous than
the regular variation of the Sun's altitude in the sky as the year
progresses. It is the surmise that the striking naked-eye cluster,
the Pleiades, must have been one of the earliest noted star-
groups, and it became the first star-group for providing the first
fairly close determination of the length of the year as approxim-
ately 365 days. The rising of this cluster in the evening was a
mark of the coming winter to primitive man; and the husband-
man judged the time of reaping by its rising, and of ploughing
by its setting in very ancient times; Sirius, Arcturus, the Hyades
and Orion were similarly equally useful to him. The passages
in the Taittiriya Samhita and in the Satapatha Brahmana clearly
indicate the confusion once created by following the concept of
lunar months without further adjustments :
"Now the seasons were desirous to have a share in the
sacrifice among the gods and said, 'Let us share in the sacri
fice. Do not exclude us from the sacrifice! Let us have a
share in the sacrifice ! The gods, however, did not approve
of this. The gods, not approving, the seasons went to the
Asuras, the malignant, spiteful enemies of the gods. Those
(Asuras) then throve in such a manner that they (the gods)
heard of it, for even while the foremost (of the Asuras)
were still ploughing and sowing, those behind them were
already engaged in reaping and threshing: indeed even
without tilling, the plants ripened forthwith for them.
(ŚBr. 1.6.1.1-3)
The Zodiac
It is difficult to say how much time it must have
taken, but in fact, it was eventually noted that the Sun and
Moon travel over very similar paths among the stars during
their circuit of the sky. This led to the formation of the Zodiac
and its constellations, the centre of this zone, a belt about 16
broad, being the annual path of the Sun or Ecliptic. The divi-
sion into twelve parts, each corresponding to a month of the
Sun's movement, was made; and their connection with the solar
course during the year was found by observations of heliacal
risings or settings. These were the times of the year when certain
bright stars would first be seen to rise before the Sun, or when