Ishwardas RE: [HinduCalendar] The Significance of the Spring Equinox and Kal

[Guest guest]

that the pundits of jammu and kashmir having to take refuge in other

parts of india,is indeed a very sorry tale causing extreme anguish to

me.but this situation has come because of the performance of vedic

ritual incorrectly,is to be debated.its very difficult for me to

understand this point,because rest of india and its citizens are

progressing at a very rapid pace,and this is happening only because of

correct muhurats thats being taken into consideration as per our

panchangs of different regions.technically i do feel out of common

sense to agree that at the start of spring equinox to have the

commencement of new year ,as spring ushers all new growth more like a

starting time for everything under the sun.

 

jk.

 

 

, " jyotirved "

<jyotirved wrote:

>

> Shri Ishwardas ji,

>

> Namaskar!

>

> Your scholarly and carefully worded post is a pleasure to read and deal

> with!

>

>

>

> In a different post, I have mentioned it somewhere that it appears

that all

> the four cardinal points, viz. the two equinoxes and two solstices

had an

> equal importance at one or the other point of time in the Vedic

period. Thus

> your statement that sometimes the solar year started with Uttarayana and

> sometimes with the Vasant Sampat is quite correct.

>

>

>

> You must have observed that we always celebrate (actually must

celebrate!)

> the lunar new year before the solar new year! It gives a wrong

impression

> that the lunar New year has a preference over the solar new year!

No it is

> not so. The fact of the matter is that the lunar new year is named as

> vasanti navratra or sharadiya navratra! That means it will start

only after

> Vsanta ritu or Sharad Ritu has started! And that is a phenomenon

created by

> the sun! When the sun enters the month of Madhu, it is the start of

vasanta

> ritu. The first new Moon after that is the Vasanti Navratra! As

such, you

> can say that if there had been no vasanta ritu, there would have been no

> vasanti navratras either! Similarly, with the ingress of the sun

into the

> month of Urja, Sharad Ritu starts. It is the first new moon after

that which

> is known as the start of the Sharadiya navratras!

>

> Thus the sun gains an " upper hand " .

>

>

>

> What perturbs me most, and what should perturb every Hindu equally,

is that

> these days we celebrate neither Vasanti Navratras nor Sharadiya

navratras,

> for that matter any other festival, whether solar or lunar, on

correct days!

> It is all because of the Ayanamsha confusion created by Lahiri and

Lahiri

> jyotishis, who call themselves Vedic jyotishis!

>

>

>

> For example, the sun enters the month of Madhu around February 20 these

> days. Every Panchanga, including the Rashtriya Panchanga, in any

language,

> mentions clearly that it is the start of Vasantu Ritu. Naturally,

Vasanti

> navratras should have stated with the first new moon after that.

But no, we

> are asked to wait till it is the Lahiri Sun that enters Lahiri Mina

Rashi.

> It is only after that the first New Moon will be taken as the start of

> Vasanti Navratra! And as everybody knows, Lahiri sun enters Lahiri Mina

> Rashi around March 14 these days, that is about 25 days after the

start of

> the real Vasanta Ritu! Naturally, the first New Moon after that

Lahiri sun

> in Lahiri Mina will be away by about one month from the first New

Moon after

> the start of solar Madhu, the real Vasanta Ritu! It means that our

Vasnati

> navratras are off by one month! Same is the case with Sharadiya

Navratras

> and every other festival!

>

>

>

> What is still more perturbing is that we are just unaware of all such

> atrocities being committed on us by these Lahiriwalas, including the

> Rashtriya Panchanga, simply because we have a blind faith in our

> panchanga-makers, who are actually phalit jyotishis or their clients!

>

>

>

> Now about Uttarayana lasting from one equinox to another:

>

> Lokmanya Tilak also has said in his " Orion " that the Uttarayana

lasted from

> one Equinox to another but as far as I remember, it was from Autumn

Equinox

> to Spring Equinox and not the other way round according to him. His

surmise

> appears to be more reasonable and logical since the Winter Solstice

would

> then fall in the middle whereas if we take Uttarayana from Spring

Equinox to

> Autumn Equinox, Winter Solstice is completely ruled out! However,

the VJ is

> quite categorical that the shortest day i.e. WS is the real start of

> Uttarayana!

>

>

>

> IMHO, there is no reason to suggest some alteration in the period of

> Uttarayana ranging from Winter solstice to Summer Solstice, at least not

> after about 1400 BCE, the approximate date of the VJ. Technically, a

period

> ranging from the shortest day of the year to the longest day of the

year is

> in complete agreement with the phenomenon of seasons -- and worthy

of being

> called Uttarayana. Our commentators like Shankaracharya, Abhinav

Gupta etc.

> etc. also have said " Uttarayana -- when the sun turns uttara " and as

> everybody knows, rather should know, sun really starts turning

towards north

> on the WS day after having gained the maximum southern declination till

> then!

>

>

>

> Now coming to your points regarding Uttarayana etc. being clubbed

with Makar

> Rashi by Acharya Abhinavgupta.

>

>

>

> The Acharya was one of the greatest yogis of all times of the tenth

century

> AD in Kashmir. I have personally gone through all the volumes of

> " Tantraloka " with a Sanskrit commentary by Jayaratha.

>

> In a different post recently, I have referred to Laghumanasa of

Munjala. It

> was one of the most important works of Hindu astronomy, and the only

work

> which gave a real " definition " to Ayanamsha -- that the calculated

results

> were to be adjusted to be brought in line with the observed

positions. Thus

> the Ayanamsha was to be subtracted from the Surya Sidhanta results

to make

> the calculated results of the solar transits coincide with that of the

> observed Uttarayana, Dakshinayana etc. He suggested an amount of one

> arc-minute per year from Shaka 444 AD. This is exactly opposed to

what was

> practised, more than about a thousand years later, by Ganesha

Daivajnya, the

> author of Graha Laghava! He advised that we should add Ayanamsha to

planets

> observed as per " Vedha " at the rate of one arc-minute per year from

Shaka

> 444 AD! In other words, he put the cart before the horse!

>

> Panchangamakers of all over India took to Grahalaghava like ducks

taking to

> water since Grahalaghava is one of the easiest karna-granthas to

work with

> and anybody, knowing a bit of mathematics, could calculate a panchanga

> accordingly! Thus Grahalaghava panchangas became the rage of the day,

> forgetting about Laghumanasa etc. etc. This is exactly what made N C

Lahiri

> dovetail his Lahiri Ayanamsha to Grahalaghava since people were

addicted to

> that ayanamsha then. His Ayanamdha in the 1940s is hardly different

from

> Grahalaghava Ayanamsha by more than half a degree! Since he knew

astronomy,

> he took to the actual rate of precession from that date onwards,

i.e. from

> about 1940, he started decreasing the Sayana longitudes at the rate

of about

> 53 arc-seconds per year further as against the Grahalaghva ayanamsha

of 60

> arc-seconds per year.

>

>

>

> Coming back to Acharya Abhinvgupta clubbing Uttarayana with Makar

Sankranti,

> this is what Alberuni has said on page 367 of Alberuni's India --Vol I,

> " For Punjala (read Munjala) the author of Small Manasa i.e. Laghumanasa,

> says that in the year 854 of the Shakakala the real solstice

preceded his

> calculation by 6 degrees 50 minutes and that this difference will

increase

> in future by one minute every year.

>

>

>

> " These are the words of a man who either was himself a most careful

> practical observer, or who examined the observations of former

astronomers

> which he had at his disposal, and thereby found out the amount of

the annual

> difference. No doubt, also other people have perceived the same or a

> similar difference by means of the calculation of the noon-shadows.

> Therefore (as this observation was already much known) Utpala of

Kashmir has

> taken this theory from Punjala " .

>

>

>

> Alberuni is referring to the same Utapala who became known as

Bhatotpala,

> since his full name was Utpala and Bhat his sir-name! He has written

> commentaries on Brihat Samhita and other works.

>

>

>

> What Alberuni's statement indicates is that Kashmir was following

system of

> observed positions i.e. Vedha already. Thus Kashmiri astronomers were

> already subtracting from the calculated results of Surya Sidhanta the

> difference of " Ayansmha " so as to make them tally exactly with the

observed

> positions!

>

That means Makar Sankranti and Uttarayana or Dakshinayana and Karka

Sankanti

> etc. were one and the same thing for Kashmiri astronomers.

>

> And no wonder Acharya Abhinavgupta also adopted the same nomenclature.

>

>

>

> (Much to the dismay of real scholars, Kashmir also started making

panchangas

> as per Grahalaghava and/or Makaranda (another karna gantha of

Grahalaghava

> ilk!) over the last couple of centuries and since 1990s as per Lahiri

> ayanamsha, as against what Utpala and other early Kashmir

astronomers had

> been doing. Thus you can see the results for yourself! Hindu

monarchy was

> abolished in Kashmir, like in the rest of the country, and Kashmiri

Pandits

> were the worst sufferers since they were made to lose their dharma

-- by

> celebrating Pitramavsya on the day of Dipavali -- by their worthy

> panchanga-makers of today---and Pandits have become refugees in

their own

> country!)

>

If you peruse BVB6.doc in files section of this forum, I have

referred to

> more or less similar asseverations of Acharya Abhinavgupta as

pointed out by

> you in support of my contention that we are celebrating all our

festivals on

> wrong days!

>

>

>

> However, there is a fly in this ointment of clubbing Uttarayana with

Makar

> Rashi/sankranti and Vasant Sampat with Mesha Sankranti etc. In

around tenth

> century AD, the difference between the observed positins and the SS

> calculated positions of the sun were not more than about 7 degrees. As

> such, when the Vernal Equinox was clubbed with Mesha Rashi, it was

> simultaneously fixed with Ashvini nakshatra! i.e. Mesha Sankranti,

Vasant

> Sampat (Vernal Equinox, and the start of Ashvini nakshatra became

one and

> the same thing! Thus what had been advocated by the Surya Sidhanta

in about

> second century AD, was continued in the tenth century AD as well, since

> nobody ever doubted the " integrity " of the SS as it was supposed to have

> been revealed by Surya Bhagwan. Clubbing the three together is

impossible

> astronomically! Vernal Equinox keeps on " precessing " whereas the

> constellation Aries and the nakshtra Asvhini (or Ashvini star) are not

> subject to precession! It may sound strange on the face of it but it is

> actually so!

>

>

>

> Astronomically, actually, when we say that the stars have precessed,

what we

> mean to say is that since we are taking the Vernal Equinoxo point of the

> zodiac and since the Vernal Equinox has precessed, the measurement

of stars

> has undergone a change in the position, from one epoch to another!!

Stars

> are more or less " stationary " and since constellations and

nakshatras are a

> haphazard grouping of stars, may be trillions upon trillions of

them, they

> i.e. constellations and nakshatras remain comparatively " fixed " .

That is

> why Acharya Yaska also had said something like " na ksharati iti

nakshatrasm "

> i.e. the 'bodies' that do not deviate from their places are known as

> nakshatras in his " Nirukta " .

>

>

>

> We know that stars have two types of motion, one is an implied

" precession "

> and the other is Apparent motion. The former is also known as mean

motion

> and the latter as True motion. The Apparent or True motion is

actually the

> motion of one star as compared with another, in this case the motion

of rest

> of the stars as compared to the sun-earth combine.

>

>

>

> Since precession of equinoxes (and even solstices etc.!) has a

direct impact

> on the earth, some of the stars become " invisible " after a few thousand

> years. For example, a few thousand years back, the star Sirius

(Lubhaka)

> was a marker for floods in the Nile but it is no longer so. That

means that

> in the past it was visible with the onset of rains in Egypt by

coming out of

> combustion of the sun during that time, but later on it became

" invisible "

> during that time. Even the much talked about Pole Star keeps on

changing!

> The Yogavasishtha has said, in its inimitable style, " dhruvo api

adhrvatam

> gatah " - even Dhruva is not actually dhrvua i.e. even a star like

> Dhruvtara, supposed to be permanent, is not actually ever lasting.

>

>

>

> Thus the condition that Mesha Sankranti can always be clubbed with

Vernal

> Equinox and Ashivni nakshatra is astronomically just not feasible. This

> will be evident from the Stars tables on this forum. The Vernal

Equinox is

> these days in actual conjunction with Purva-Bhadra-II star and

technically

> speaking, that star belongs to an entirely different sign that Mesha

Rashis

> or Aries constellatin!

>

>

>

> As such, we have to, willy-nilly, forget about clubbing so called Sayana

> Rashis either with Uttarayana etc. or with nakshatras!

>

> That means that we have to go by the Vedanga Jyotisha calendar ---

Madhu,

> Madhava etc. months, and Krittika etc. nakshatras! Nowadays, maybe

Madhu,

> Madhava etc. months and Purvabhadra etc. nakshatras.

>

>

>

> This is the only way when we can keep our calendars aligned to the

seasons

> and nakshatras and that is what you mean by " agriculture " .

>

>

>

> As already mentioned in a different post, the Rashtriya Panchanga is

playing

> a very very cruel joke on all the Hindus when it clubs an artificial

Chaitra

> with the Spring Equinox! It should actually have been Vaishakha and

that

> also, to the exclusion of any another solar Vaishakha! There are

actually

> countless Vaishakhas going on thee days! RP itself starts one

Vaishakha on

> April 12 another on April 14 and then another one on April 21

whereas the

> real Vedic (solar) Vaishkha has been obliterated by the RP and all

the other

> panchangas, as it should actually have started on March 21! Thus a

time will

> come when instead of the real Vedic Vaishakha of Mach 21, the RP

will start

> it on the day of Summer Solstice. (Please see Rashi5.doc).

>

>

>

> To sum up this long post, when the astronomers (read sidhanta and

> panchangamakers) of India knew hardly any astronomy they clubbed

> Meshaarambha-bindu with Vernal Equinox as well the Ashvini

nakshatra, which

> means virtually Ashvini Star and it continued at the time of Acharya

> Abhinavgupta. The same panchanga-ganita is continuing even today,

with the

> only difference that these days, most of the astronomers like N. C.

Lahiri

> etc. are doing it deliberately -- hurtling the entire Hindu society

towards

> adharma!. Now that we know a bit of astronomy, it is for people

like you to

> revolt against all such Lahiris and RPs who compel us to get literally

> uprooted from our real Vedic and even cultural roots!

>

>

>

> I hope I have clarified your doubts to some extent.

>

> With regards,

>

> A K Kaul

>

>

>

> PS I have already had a long and even a " heated " argument on this forum

> about Kali Era being an imaginary era and without any astronomical

> foundation. In any case, I will discuss it further at a later date.

>

> AKK

>

>

>

>

>

> _____

>

> HinduCalendar

[HinduCalendar ]

> On Behalf Of Ishwardas

> Sunday, June 17, 2007 7:21 PM

> HinduCalendar

> [HinduCalendar] The Significance of the Spring Equinox and Kali

> Yuga

>

>

>

> Namaskar

>

> 1. On the basis of prehistoric monuments such as New Grange in

> Ireland, Stonehenge in England and Goseck in Germany we know that,

> from about 5000 BC, the Winter Solstice enjoyed great importance in

> Ancient European cultures.

>

> However, the Nebra Disc found near Goseck suggests that the Spring

> Equinox may have been equally important at least for agricultural

> reasons if nothing else.

>

> The following parallels may be drawn from the Indian tradition.

>

> Shri Abhinavaguptacharya in his Tantraloka (Ahnika VI) says that

> Uttarayana (the sun's progression towards the North) covers the

> constellations from Capricorn to Gemini. However, he also says

> that, " Having passed through three transits, the sun reaches Aries

> where a particularly auspicious moment occurs, namely, the [spring]

> Equinox. The Equinox is the source of Siddhis. It is the most

> propitious time of the year for purposes of worship, etc. "

>

> He also compares a cycle of 12 years to the 12 months in a

> year " beginning with Chaitra " . This suggests that, although

> Uttarayana might have begun with the Winter Solstice, the solar year

> started with the month of Chaitra - and with the Spring Equinox. This

> fact was recognised by the Indian Government back in 1957 when it

> introduced the reformed calendar which remains the official calendar

> to this day.

>

> Apart from agricultural and astronomical considerations, what might

> be the religious and spiritual reasons that make the Spring Equinox

> so important? If the sun's Northward Path or Uttarayana begins on

> Winter Solstice (22 December) and ends on Summer Solstice (21 June)

> then the Vernal Equinox (21 March) represents the midpoint of the

> Northward Path. Perhaps the Equinox symbolized a kind of spiritual

> junction which allowed man to gain entrance to the spiritual world of

> the Gods.

>

> After all, as the Shatapatha Brahmana says, Spring, Summer and Rains

> represent the Gods, and Autumn, Winter and the Dewy Season represent

> the Pitris. Accordingly, the division of the year would have been

> along equinoctial rather that solstitial lines. Thus the first half

> of the year would have been Vasanta, Grishma and Varsha and the

> second half would have been Sharada, Hemanta and Shishira.

>

> In that case, the original Uttarayana might have been the period

> between Spring Equinox and Autumn Equinox. This would have been the

> Upanishadic Path of the Gods (Devayana) leading to Brahmaloka or to

> the mysterious " Northern Land " , the Uttarakuru (= Svarga?) of the

> Mahabharata.

>

> In any case, it seems natural enough to celebrate New Year in Spring

> when the changes in daylight are clearly visible to all, new

> vegetation begins to grow, the harvesting of the crops has been done

> and people have a bit of spare time and spare money to celebrate. In

> contrast, the Winter Solstice is hardly noticeable to anyone except

> to minorities like astronomers.

>

> And of course our calendar does begin in Spring already, only that as

> has been pointed out it is out of sync with the Equinox and, in the

> course of time, with the seasons.

>

> 2. Regarding the beginning of Kali Yuga we cannot reasonably exclude

> the possibility that the year 3102 BC is part of an ancient time-

> keeping tradition. After all, a sophisticated civilisation like that

> of Ancient India must have had its own calendar.

>

> That the date of 3102 BC could not have been arbitrary but was based

> on some historical event or chain of events is evident from the fact

> that it matches similar dates known from other traditions (Ancient

> Egypt, Latin America, etc.). Perhaps worldwide climatic and other

> changes gave rise to the concept that a new era had begun which in

> comparison to earlier times represented a deterioration in the world

> situation.

>

> The fact that much of the world including India itself has fallen

> under the influence of spiritual ignorance, materialism, selfishness

> and repressive religions entitles us to conclude that there is a

> considerable amount of truth in this tradition.

>