Vedic Origins of the Zodiac

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Vedic Origins of the Zodiac: The Hymns of Dirghatamas in the Rig Veda

By Vamadeva Shastri (David Frawley)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vedic Origins of the Zodiac:

 

 

 

The Hymns of Dirghatamas in the Rig Veda

 

Some scholars have claimed that the Babylonians invented the zodiac

of 360 degrees around 700 BCE, perhaps even earlier. Many claim that

India received the knowledge of the zodiac from Babylonia or even

later from Greece. However, as old as the Rig Veda, the oldest Vedic

text, there are clear references to a chakra or wheel of 360 spokes

placed in the sky. The number 360 and its related numbers like 12,

24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 108, 432 and 720 occur commonly in Vedic

symbolism. It is in the hymns of the great Rishi Dirghatamas (RV

I.140 - 164) that we have the clearest such references.

 

 

 

Dirghatamas is one of the most famous Rig Vedic Rishis. He was the

reputed purohit or chief priest of King Bharata (Aitareya Brahmana

VIII.23), one of the earliest kings of the land, from which India as

Bharata (the traditional name of the country) was named.

 

 

 

Dirghatamas was one of the Angirasa Rishis, the oldest of the Rishi

families, and regarded as brother to the Rishi Bharadvaja, who is the

seer of the sixth book of the Rig Veda. Dirghatamas is also the chief

predecessor of the Gotama family of Rishis that includes Kakshivan,

Gotama, Nodhas and Vamadeva (seer of the fourth book of the Rig

Veda), who along with Dirghatamas account for almost 150 of the 1000

hymns of the Rig Veda. His own verses occur frequently in many Vedic

texts, a few even in the Upanishads.

 

 

 

The hymns of Dirghatamas speak clearly of a zodiac of 360 degrees,

divided in various ways, including by three, six and twelve, as well

as related numbers of five and seven. We must remember that the

zodiac is first of all a mathematical division of the heavens such as

this hymn outlines. This is defined mainly according to the elements,

qualities and planetary rulerships of the twelve signs. The symbols

we ascribe to these twelve divisions is a different factor that can

vary to some degree. The actual stars making up the constellation

that goes along with the sign is yet a third factor. For example,

some constellations are less or more than thirty degrees, but the

mathematical or harmonic division of each sign will only be thirty

degrees. What is important about the hymns of Dirghatamas is that he

shows the mathematical basis of such harmonic divisions of a zodiac

of 360 degrees.

 

 

 

For Dirghatamas, as was the case for much of later Vedic astronomy,

the main God of the zodiac is the Sun God called Vishnu. Vishnu rules

over the highest heaven and is sometimes identified with the pole

star or polar point, which in the unique view of Vedic astronomy is

the central point that governs all celestial motions and form which

these are calculated.

 

 

 

According to Dirghatamas Rig Veda I.155.6, " With four times ninety

names (caturbhih sakam navatim ca namabhih), he (Vishnu) sets in

motion moving forces like a turning wheel (cakra). " This suggests

that even in Vedic times Vishnu had 360 names or forms, one for each

degree of the zodiac. A fourfold division may correspond to the

solstices and equinoxes. Elsewhere Dirghatamas states,

I.164.36, " Seven half embryos form the seed of the world. They stand

in the dharma by the direction of Vishnu. " This probably refers to

the seven planets.

 

 

 

Most of the astronomical information occurs in his famous Asya

Vamasya Hymn I.164. Much of this hymn can be understood as a

description of the zodiac. It begins:

 

 

 

1. Of this adorable old invoker (the Sun) is a middle brother who is

pervasive (the Wind or lightning). He has a third brother, whose back

carries ghee (Fire). There I saw the Lord of the people (the Sun) who

has seven children.

 

 

 

This verse is referring to the usual threefold Vedic division of Gods

and worlds as the Fire (Agni) on Earth, the Wind or Lightning (Vayu)

in the Atmosphere and the Sun (Surya) in Heaven. This also may refer

to the three steps or strides of Vishnu through which he measures the

Earth, the Atmosphere and Heaven. The Sun is also a symbol of the

supreme light or the supreme Sun God that is Vishnu. The Sun or

supreme light has seven children, the visible Sun, Moon and five

planets.

 

 

 

We should note that the zodiac of twelve signs is divided into three

sections based upon a similar understanding, starting with Aries or

fire (cardinal fire ruled by Mars, who in Vedic thought is the fire

born of the Earth), then with Leo or the Sun (fixed fire ruled by the

Sun), and then with Sagittarius, the atmospheric fire, lightning or

wind (mutable fire ruled by Jupiter, the God of the rains).

 

 

 

2. Seven yoke the chariot that has a single wheel (chakra). One horse

that has seven names carries it. The wheel has three naves, is

undecaying and never overcome, where all these beings are placed.

 

 

 

The zodiac is the single wheeled-chariot or circle yoked by the seven

planets which are all forms of the Sun or sunlight. It is the wheel

of time on which all beings are placed. The Vedic horse (ashva) is

symbolic of energy or propulsive force.

 

 

 

3. This chariot which the seven have mounted has seven wheels

(chakras) and is carried by seven horses. The seven sisters sing

forth together, where are hidden the seven names of the cows.

 

 

 

The seven planets create their seven rotations or seven wheels. Each

has its horse, its energy or velocity. Each has its feminine power or

sister, its power of expression. It carries its own hidden name or

secret knowledge (symbolically cows or rays). This refers to the

astrological influences of the planets.

 

 

 

11. The wheel of law with twelve spokes does not decay as it revolves

around heaven. Oh Fire, here your 720 sons abide.

 

 

 

The circle of the zodiac has twelve signs. It has 720 half degrees or

twins, making 360 total. The Shatapatha Brahmana X.5.5, a late Vedic

text, also speaks of a wheel of heaven with 720 divisions. " But

indeed that Fire-altar is also the Nakshatras. For there are twenty

seven of these Nakshatras and twenty-seven secondary Nakshatras. This

makes 720. " Twenty-seven times twenty-seven Nakshatras equals 729,

with which some overlap can be related to the 720 half-degrees of the

zodiac.

 

 

 

12. The Father with five feet and twelve forms, they say, dwells in

the higher half of heaven full of waters. Others say that he is the

clear-seeing one who dwells below in a sevenfold wheel that has six

spokes.

 

 

 

The five feet of the father or the Sun are the five planets or the

five elements that these often refer to (to which Vedic thought

associates the five sense organs and five motor organs in the human

body). His twelve forms are the twelve signs. The Sun in the higher

half of heaven with the waters is the signs Leo with Cancer (ruled by

the Moon), with the other five planets being the five feet, each

ruling two signs. In Vedic thought, the Sun is the abode of the

waters, which we can see in the zodiac by the proximity of the signs

Cancer and Leo.

 

 

 

The sevenfold wheel is the zodiac moved by the seven planets. The six

spokes are the six double signs through which the planets travel. The

same verse occurs in the Prashna Upanishad I.11 as a symbol for the

year.

 

 

 

13. Revolving on this five-spoked wheel all beings stand. Though it

carries a heavy load, its axle does not over heat. From of old it

does not break its ancient laws.

 

 

 

The five-spoked wheel is again the zodiac ruled by five planets and

five elements and their various internal and external correspondences.

 

 

 

14. The undecaying wheel (circle) together with its felly

(circumference), ten yoked to the upward extension carry it. The eye

of the Sun moves encompassing the region. In it are placed all beings.

 

 

 

This may again refer to the ten signs ruled by the five planets, with

each planet ruling two signs. The eye of the Sun may be the sign Leo

through which the solar influence pervades the zodiac or just the Sun

itself. The upward extension may be the polar region.

 

 

 

15. Of those that are born together, the seventh is born alone. The

six are twins (yama), Divine born rishis. The wishes that they grant

are apportioned according to their nature. Diversely made for their

ordainer, they move in different forms.

 

 

 

The six born together or are twins are the twelve signs, two of which

are ruled by one planet (considering the Sun and Moon as a single

planetary influence). The seventh that is singly born is the single

light that illumines all the planets. Elsewhere the Rig Veda X.64.3

speaks of the Sun and Moon as twins (yama) in heaven.

 

 

 

The planets are often associated with the rishis in Vedic thought,

particularly the rishis Brihaspati (Jupiter), Shukra (Venus) and

Kashyapa (the Sun) which became common names for the planets. Their

ordainer or stabilizer may be the pole star (polar point).

 

 

 

48. Twelve are its fellies. The wheel is one. It has three naves. Who

has understood it?

 

 

 

It are held together like spokes the 360, both moving and non-moving.

 

 

 

This perhaps the clearest verse that refers to the zodiac of twelve

signs and three hundred and sixty degrees. The same verse also occurs

in Atharva Veda (X.8.4). The zodiac has three divisions as fire,

lightning and Sun or Aries, Sagittarius and Leo that represent these

three forms of fire. The 360 spokes are the 360 degrees which revolve

in the sky but remain in the same place in the zodiac.

 

 

 

Yet another verse (43) of this same hymn of Dirghatamas refers to the

Vishuvat, the solstice or equinox, showing that such astronomical

meanings are clearly possible.

 

 

 

If we examine the hymn overall, we see that a heavenly circle of 360

degrees and 12 signs is known, along with 7 planets. It also has a

threefold division of the signs which can be identified with that of

fire, wind (lightning) and Sun (Aries, Sagittarius, Leo) and a

sixfold division that can be identified with the planets each ruling

two signs of the zodiac. This provides the basis for the main factors

of the zodiac and signs as we have known them historically. We have

all the main factors for the traditional signs of the zodiac except

the names and symbols of each individual sign. This I will address in

another article.

 

 

 

Elsewhere in Vedic literature is the idea that when the Creator

created the stars he assigned each an animal of which there were

originally five, the goat, sheep, cow, horse and man (Shatapatha

Brahmana X.2.1). This shows a Vedic tradition of assigning animals to

constellations. The animals mentioned are the man, goat, ram, bull

and horse, which contain several of the zodiacal animals.

 

 

 

The zodiac in Vedic thought is the wheel of the Sun. It is the circle

created by the Sun & #65533;s rays. The Shatapatha Brahmana X.5.4

notes, " But, indeed, the Fire-altar also is the Sun. The regions are

its enclosing stones, and there are 360 of these, because 360 regions

encircle the Sun on all sides. And 360 are the rays of the Sun. "

 

 

 

The Zodiac and the Subtle Body

 

Clearly this hymn contains a vision of the zodiac but its purpose is

not simply astronomical, nor is the zodiac the sole subject of its

concern. Besides the outer zodiac of time and the stars there is the

inner zodiac or the subtle body and its chakra system. The seven

chakras mentioned are also the seven chakras of the subtle body. In

Vedic thought the Sun that rules time outwardly corresponds inwardly

to Prana, the spirit, soul or life-force (Maitrayani Upanishad VI.1).

Prana is the inner Sun that creates time at a biological level

through the process of breathing. It is also the energy that runs up

and down the spine and flows through the seven chakras strung like

lotuses along it.

 

 

 

According to Vedic thought (Shatapatha Brahmana XII.3.28) we have

10,800 breaths by day and by night or 21,600 a day. This corresponds

to one breath every four seconds. The same text says that we have as

many breaths in one muhurta (1/30 of a day or 48 minutes) as there

are days and nights in the year or 720, so this connection of the

outer light and our inner processes is quite detailed at an early

period.

 

 

 

In Vedic thought the subtle body is composed of the five elements,

the five sense organs and five motor organs, which correspond to

different aspects of its five lower chakras .On top of these five are

the mind and intellect (manas and buddhi) which are often compared to

the Moon and the Sun and relate to the two higher chakras. They can

be added to these other five factors, like the five planets, making

seven in all. The chakras of Dirghatamas, though outwardly connected

to the zodiac, are inwardly related to the subtle body, a connection

that traditional commentators on the hymn like Sayana or Atmananda

have noted.

 

 

 

This hymn of Dirghatamas contains many other important and cryptic

verses on various spiritual matters that are connected to but go

beyond the issues of the zodiac. It is written in the typical Vedic

mantric and symbolic language to which it provides two keys;

 

 

 

39. The supreme syllable of the chant in the supreme ether, in which

all the Gods reside, those who do not know this, what can they do

with the Veda? Those who know it alone are gathered here.

 

 

 

45. Four are the levels of speech. Those trained in the knowledge,

the wise know them all. Three hidden in secrecy cannot be do not

stir. Mortals speak only with the fourth.

 

 

 

There is clearly a hidden knowledge behind these verses, which

reflect an esoteric tradition of spiritual knowledge that was mainly

accessible for initiates who had the keys to open its veils. We

cannot simply take such verses superficially but must look deeply and

see what they imply. Then the pattern of their inner meaning can come

forth. If we do this, the astronomical and astrological side cannot

be ignored.

 

 

 

Pingree & #65533;s Views

 

Western scholars of the history of astronomy like David Pingree have

accepted the astronomical basis of this hymn. In an

article, " Astronomy in India " in Astronomy Before the Telescope, C.

Walker (ed.), St. Martin's Press, New York, 1996, pps. 123-124,

Pingree suggests that Mul. Apin, Babylonian tablets that date from

687 to 500 BC has " & #65533;an ideal calendar' in which one year contains 12

months, each of which has 30 days, and consequently exactly 360 days;

a late hymn of the Rgveda refers to the same & #65533;ideal calendar & #65533;. And

Mul.Apin describes the oscillation of the rising-point of the sun

along the eastern horizon between its extremities when it is at the

solstices; the same oscillation is described in the Aitareya

Brahmana. & #65533; " This ideal calendar is the basis for the zodiac and its

twelve signs at a mathematical level. Clearly Pingree is referring to

Rig Veda I.164 as his & #65533;late & #65533; hymn of the Rig Veda.

 

 

 

To quote from David Pingree & #65533;s " History of mathematical astronomy in

India, " in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography, C.S. Gillespie

(ed.), pp. 533-633, Charles Scribners, New York, 1981, page 534: " In

the case of the priority of the Rgveda to the Brahmanas, it is not

always clear that the views expressed in the latter developed

historically after the composition of the former. All texts that can

reasonably be dated before ca. 500 BC are here considered to

represent essentially a single body of more or less uniform

material. " The point of his statement is to try to get such Rig Veda

references as those of Dirghatamas later than the Brahmana texts as

both reflect a similar sophisticated astronomy, which is necessary to

make it later than the Babylonian references and a product of a

Babylonian influence as he proposes. This requires reducing all the

layers of Vedic literature to a more or less uniform mass at a very

late date, which is contrary to almost every view of the text.

 

 

 

Clearly this Rig Veda hymn, which has parallels and developments in

the Brahmanas (like the Shatapatha Brahmana quoted in this chapter),

must be earlier and show that such ideas were much older than the

Brahmanas. To maintain his late date for Vedic astrology, Pingree

must assume that this hymn or its particular astronomical verses were

late interpolations to the Rig Veda, around 500 BCE or about the time

of the Buddha. This is rather odd because the Buddha is generally

regarded as having come long after the Vedic period, while the actual

text is usually dated well before 1000 BCE (some have argued even to

3000 BCE).

 

 

 

Even the Brahmanas, like the Upanishads that come after them, are pre-

Buddhist by all accounts. Perhaps the main Vedic ritual given in the

Brahmanas, the Gavamayana, follows the model of a year of 360 days

and is divided into two halves based upon the solstices, showing that

such an & #65533;ideal & #65533; calendar was central to Vedic thought. That such

an

ideal calendar has its counterpart in the sky is well reflected in

Vedic ideas saying that equate the days and nights with the Sun & #65533;s

rays and with the stars (as we have noted in Shatapatha Brahmana with

720 Upanakshatras)*. The Brahmanas, we should also note, emphasize

the Krittikas or the Pleiades as the first of the Nakshatras,

reflecting an astronomical era of the Taurus equinox. The Shatapatha

Brahmana notes that the Krittikas mark the eastern direction.

 

 

 

In addition, the hymn, its verses and commentaries on them are found

in many places in Vedic literature, along with support references to

Nakshatras. It cannot be reduced to a late addition but is an

integral part of the text.

 

 

 

That being the case, a zodiac of 360 degrees and its twelvefold

division are much older in India than any Greek or even Babylonian

references that he has come up with.

 

 

 

Pingree also tries to reduce the ancient Vedic calendar work Vedanga

Jyotish to 500 BCE or to a Babylonian influence. However, the

internal date of this late Vedic text is of a summer solstice in

Aslesha or 1300 BCE, information referenced by Varaha Mihira in his

Brihat Samhita (III.1-2). " There was indeed a time when the Sun & #65533;s

southerly course (summer solstice) began from the middle of the

Nakshatra Aslesha and the northerly one (winter solstice) from the

beginning of the Nakshatra Dhanishta. For it has been stated so in

ancient works. At present the southerly course of the Sun starts from

the beginning of Cancer and the other from the initial point of the

sign Capricorn. " The middle of Aslesha is 23 20 Cancer, while the

beginning of Dhanishta (Shravishta) is 23 20 Capricorn. Calculating

the precession accordingly, this is obviously a date of around 1300

BCE.

 

 

 

There are yet earlier references in the Vedas like Atharva Veda

XIX.6.2 that starts the Nakshatras with Krittika (the Pleiades) and

places the summer solstice (ayana) in Magha (00 - 13 20 Leo), showing

a date before 1900 BCE. These I have examined in detail in my book

Gods, Sages and Kings (Lotus Press). Clearly the Vedas show the

mathematics for an early date for the zodiac as well as the

precessional points of these eras long before the Babylonians or the

Greeks supposedly gave them the zodiac.

 

 

 

It is not surprising that India could have invented the zodiac and

circle of 360 degrees. After all, the decimal system and the use of

zero came from India. In this regard, as early as the Yajur Veda, we

find names for numbers starting with one, ten, one hundred and one

thousand ending with one followed by twelve zeros (Shukla Yajur Veda

XVII.2).

 

 

 

The Rig Veda has another cryptic verse that suggests its cosmic

numerology. According to it the Cosmic Bull has four horns, three

feet, two heads and seven hands (Rig Veda IV.58.3). This sounds like

a symbolic way of presenting the great kalpa number of 4,320,000,000

years. Such large numbers for the universe are typical to Indian

thought, but scholars such as Pingree would also ascribe them to a

Babylonian origin. However, the literature suggests the opposite.

 

 

 

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