King Puranjana and the 360 Gandharvas and Gandharvis

[Guest guest]

Shree Indologists,

 

In the Shrimadbhagavatam there is the wonderful story of King

Puranjana who is wholly captivated by his wife Puranjani, so much so

that he loses his common sense and allows his realm to be plundered

by 360 Gandharvas and 360 Gandharvis under the command of King

Candavega.

 

Following the story, it is explained that this all is an allegory

describing the typical life of a human being. The 360 Gandharvas

represent the 360 days in a year and the 360 Gandharvis the 360

nights.

 

My question is this: Did the ancient Hindus really believe that

there were only 360 days in a year rather than 365 1/4? If so, it

would be interesting to know how the Vedic astrologers dealt with

the fact that the constellations would not be in the same place in

the sky after 360 days and how they corrected for this error.

 

Yours,

 

---Matt