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.The astronomical references in the Zatapatha about theKrttiks never swerving from the east and the Saptarsis rising.from the north correspond to this general time period.Ina new study, Achar25argues that these observations indicatearound 3000 BC.The Zatapatha itself recorded old tradition,so its own compositional date could be several centuries later.Earth s precession makes the seasons shift by a naksatra.every thousand years.If Aśvin%2ł corresponds to about 200BC, as we know from texts certified to be from that period,Bharan%2ł would correspond to 1200 BC.The epochs for the.first five naksatras will be:.Aśvin%2ł 200 BCBharan%2ł 1200 BC.Krttik 2200 BC.Rohin%2ł 3200 BC.Mrgaśiras 4200 BC.The lists in the Brhmanas begin with the Krttiks indi-.cates that it was drawn up in the third millennium BC.Thelegend of the cutting off of Prajpati s head indicates a timewhen the year began with Mrgaś%2łrsa in the fifth millennium.BC.Scholars have also argued that a subsequent list beganwith Rohin%2ł.This argumentation is supported by the fact.that there are two Rohin%2łs, separated by fourteen naksatras,.indicating that the two marked the beginning of the two half-years. Epilogue 55The Zatapatha Brhmana story of the marriage between.the Seven Sages, the stars of the Ursa Major, and the Krttiks.is elaborated in the Purnas where it is stated that the rsis.remain for a hundred years in each naksatra.In other words,.during the earliest times in India there existed a centennialcalendar with a cycle of 2,700 years.Called the Saptarsi.calendar, it is still in use in several parts of India.Its currentbeginning is taken to be 3076 BC, but the notices by theGreek historians Pliny and Arrian suggest that, during theMauryan times, this calendar was taken to begin in 6676 BC.All this indicates that there was a very ancient tradition ofcalendrics in India and therefore a memory of the seasonsbeginning with Caitra is not surprising.The holding of the Aśvamedha in Caitra points to thisrite having been celebrated in the 3rd or the 4th millenniumBC.This accords with the traditional date associated withthe Mahbhrata War.This accords with the fact that theMahbhrata contains very ancient material which was re-vised and enlarged repeatedly right into the classical times.Royal PowerThe statement of Zatapatha 13.1.6.3, rs.ram v aśvame-.tdhah, the Aśvamedha means the national (or royal) sway,.sums up the various aspects of the sacrifice very well.Itassociates all classes of people in its year-long ritual.Thesoldiers protecting the sacrificial horse come from differentclasses too.The ritual emphasizes dichotomies of class andpower, and the sacrifice shows a way to transcend these inthe sacred enactment.The power of the king, mirroring the power of Brahmanin the cave of the heart, arises out of its location.Like the Sun in the rock , a phrase used for the tman or Brahmanin the Rgveda (RV 1.130.3), it is hidden and transcendent.The brahma- and the ksatra-powers are structurally similar.The Rgveda tells us that power is, at its deepest level,.embodiment of the observation process:dv suparn sayuj sakhy. 56 The Aśvamedhasamnm vrksam pari sasvajte.tayor anyah pipplalm svdv atty.anasnann anyo abhi ckaś%2łti.Two birds, friends joined together, clutch the sametree.One of them eats the sweet fruti; the otherlooks on without eating.(RV 1.164.20)This idea is expressed similarly in the Smkhyan system,.where the purusa provides the observational counterfoil to the.incessant activity of the prakrti.The king, like this purusa,.is in the background, whereas the prakrti represented by the.queens, soldiers, priests, and the public is centerstage.The theme of a four-fold division of royal power runsthroughout the rite.The four divisions are the cardinal di-rections; they are also the base, the body, the activity, andthe vision of the king and their embodiment.The referenceto the four divisions is to emphasize the gathering togetherof the Universe that is broken into so many parts in ordinaryappearance.The power of the king rises to the heaven as the Sunascends the heaven after its rejuvenation.Renewal of the Cosmic OrderThe theme of the preservation of the cosmic order in faceof change is to be seen in hymns such as RV 1.24 and 5.2where there is mention of the freeing of Zunahśepa, Dog s.organ, who appears to be the star Kochab in Ursa Minor.This alludes to the stars shifting from their original loca-tion due to the precession of the Earth.The identificationof Zunahśepa becomes clear when you note that his brothers.are named Zunahpuccha and ZunolE gkla (AB 7.14), who are.the Dog tail Polaris and Pherked.The hero of this cosmicdrama is Zunahśepa because he, unlike his brothers, deviates.the least from the original location in the sky.The Zunahśepa.story is given a prominent place in the Rjaskya ceremonies. Epilogue 57There is a three-fold drama of change and renewal sug-gested here.First, is the cosmic layer related to preservationin spite of precession and the stars losing their bearings.Sec-ond, is the strengthening of the Sun in the spring after theweakening in the winter.Third, is the mirroring of these pro-cesses in the spirit of the Sacrificer.The king, by virtue of hisauthority and responsibility, sees the dangers to his positionmagnified many times over those faced by a commoner.Mythologies from across the world code the drama of thegradual displacement of the constellations marking veral andautumnal equinox and summer and winter solstice by newconstellations to the west of them [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.The astronomical references in the Zatapatha about theKrttiks never swerving from the east and the Saptarsis rising.from the north correspond to this general time period.Ina new study, Achar25argues that these observations indicatearound 3000 BC.The Zatapatha itself recorded old tradition,so its own compositional date could be several centuries later.Earth s precession makes the seasons shift by a naksatra.every thousand years.If Aśvin%2ł corresponds to about 200BC, as we know from texts certified to be from that period,Bharan%2ł would correspond to 1200 BC.The epochs for the.first five naksatras will be:.Aśvin%2ł 200 BCBharan%2ł 1200 BC.Krttik 2200 BC.Rohin%2ł 3200 BC.Mrgaśiras 4200 BC.The lists in the Brhmanas begin with the Krttiks indi-.cates that it was drawn up in the third millennium BC.Thelegend of the cutting off of Prajpati s head indicates a timewhen the year began with Mrgaś%2łrsa in the fifth millennium.BC.Scholars have also argued that a subsequent list beganwith Rohin%2ł.This argumentation is supported by the fact.that there are two Rohin%2łs, separated by fourteen naksatras,.indicating that the two marked the beginning of the two half-years. Epilogue 55The Zatapatha Brhmana story of the marriage between.the Seven Sages, the stars of the Ursa Major, and the Krttiks.is elaborated in the Purnas where it is stated that the rsis.remain for a hundred years in each naksatra.In other words,.during the earliest times in India there existed a centennialcalendar with a cycle of 2,700 years.Called the Saptarsi.calendar, it is still in use in several parts of India.Its currentbeginning is taken to be 3076 BC, but the notices by theGreek historians Pliny and Arrian suggest that, during theMauryan times, this calendar was taken to begin in 6676 BC.All this indicates that there was a very ancient tradition ofcalendrics in India and therefore a memory of the seasonsbeginning with Caitra is not surprising.The holding of the Aśvamedha in Caitra points to thisrite having been celebrated in the 3rd or the 4th millenniumBC.This accords with the traditional date associated withthe Mahbhrata War.This accords with the fact that theMahbhrata contains very ancient material which was re-vised and enlarged repeatedly right into the classical times.Royal PowerThe statement of Zatapatha 13.1.6.3, rs.ram v aśvame-.tdhah, the Aśvamedha means the national (or royal) sway,.sums up the various aspects of the sacrifice very well.Itassociates all classes of people in its year-long ritual.Thesoldiers protecting the sacrificial horse come from differentclasses too.The ritual emphasizes dichotomies of class andpower, and the sacrifice shows a way to transcend these inthe sacred enactment.The power of the king, mirroring the power of Brahmanin the cave of the heart, arises out of its location.Like the Sun in the rock , a phrase used for the tman or Brahmanin the Rgveda (RV 1.130.3), it is hidden and transcendent.The brahma- and the ksatra-powers are structurally similar.The Rgveda tells us that power is, at its deepest level,.embodiment of the observation process:dv suparn sayuj sakhy. 56 The Aśvamedhasamnm vrksam pari sasvajte.tayor anyah pipplalm svdv atty.anasnann anyo abhi ckaś%2łti.Two birds, friends joined together, clutch the sametree.One of them eats the sweet fruti; the otherlooks on without eating.(RV 1.164.20)This idea is expressed similarly in the Smkhyan system,.where the purusa provides the observational counterfoil to the.incessant activity of the prakrti.The king, like this purusa,.is in the background, whereas the prakrti represented by the.queens, soldiers, priests, and the public is centerstage.The theme of a four-fold division of royal power runsthroughout the rite.The four divisions are the cardinal di-rections; they are also the base, the body, the activity, andthe vision of the king and their embodiment.The referenceto the four divisions is to emphasize the gathering togetherof the Universe that is broken into so many parts in ordinaryappearance.The power of the king rises to the heaven as the Sunascends the heaven after its rejuvenation.Renewal of the Cosmic OrderThe theme of the preservation of the cosmic order in faceof change is to be seen in hymns such as RV 1.24 and 5.2where there is mention of the freeing of Zunahśepa, Dog s.organ, who appears to be the star Kochab in Ursa Minor.This alludes to the stars shifting from their original loca-tion due to the precession of the Earth.The identificationof Zunahśepa becomes clear when you note that his brothers.are named Zunahpuccha and ZunolE gkla (AB 7.14), who are.the Dog tail Polaris and Pherked.The hero of this cosmicdrama is Zunahśepa because he, unlike his brothers, deviates.the least from the original location in the sky.The Zunahśepa.story is given a prominent place in the Rjaskya ceremonies. Epilogue 57There is a three-fold drama of change and renewal sug-gested here.First, is the cosmic layer related to preservationin spite of precession and the stars losing their bearings.Sec-ond, is the strengthening of the Sun in the spring after theweakening in the winter.Third, is the mirroring of these pro-cesses in the spirit of the Sacrificer.The king, by virtue of hisauthority and responsibility, sees the dangers to his positionmagnified many times over those faced by a commoner.Mythologies from across the world code the drama of thegradual displacement of the constellations marking veral andautumnal equinox and summer and winter solstice by newconstellations to the west of them [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]