The Oldest Definition of a Yuga (“Age”). It’s only FIVE years long and based on the Winter Solstice!

What is the Vedāṁga Jyotiṣa’s concept of a “yuga”? It is a period of time that starts and ends whenever the beginning of the year coincides with the beginning of a month.

What does Vedāṁga Jyotiṣa consider the beginning of the year? When the Sun ceases moving southward and begins moving north;  the “Winter Solstice.”

What does Vedāṁga Jyotiṣa consider the beginning of a month? When the Moon ceases waning and begins to wax;  the “New Moon.”

When the New Moon occurs in close proximity to the Winter Solstice, a new Yuga begins. This Yuga will last 5 years, because after that much time there will be another New Moon near the Winter Solstice.

The Vedāṁga Jyotiṣa gives details about the exact duration of the Yuga and how to keep it synchronized from solar and lunar perspectives. It also gives details about the stars and phases the Moon will be in when the yuga goes through all 20 of its important milestones: 5 Winter Solstices, 5 Summer Solstices, 5 Vernal Equinoxes, and 5 Autumnal Equinoxes.

The specific details reveal that the content of Vedāṁga Jyotiṣa really is very old, because it says the winter solstice occurs when the stars of “Dhaniṣṭhā” rise with the Sun. The last time that was true was in roughly the third millennium BCE.

Except for one text very obviously added at a later time, Vedāṁga Jyotiṣa does not divide the sky into the 12 divisions we are familiar with today – which are anchored to the solstices and equinoxes. Rather it divides the sky into 27 divisions anchored to the stars. The stars that rise with the Sun on the winter solstice gradually change over the centuries. Thus the data given in Vedāṁga Jyotiṣa regarding the stars at which the New Moon occurs to begin a yuga are about 5,000 years out of date. We could update them, but it is simpler to use the classical 12-sign tropical system and measure as the start of a yuga the New Moon occurring near the first degrees of Capricorn (the tropical marker for the winter solstice).

It is also rather unusual for readers familiar with later Sanskrit literature to learn that the Vedāṁga’s yuga is only five years long! We are used to hearing from the Purana that yugas are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years long. The very different definition we encounter in Vedāṁga Jyotiṣa should help us understand that “yuga” is a general concept for measuring a span of time longer than a year. There are different types of yuga for different spans of time.

Since “yuga” literally means “coupling”, and since Vedāṁga Jyotiṣa provides the oldest definition of yuga, it is safe to say that the five year yuga it defines – based on the coupling of the Sun and Moon with the Winter Equinox – is the original idea, and that a different type and duration are altogether different, and probably later as an expansion on the original idea.

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

Varuna’s Makara & Ancient Equinoxes

Varuna on the Makara

Varuṇa’s carrier is the fearsome sea-monster called a Makara (“Capricorn”). This, of course, is due to his lordship over the deep seas. But there is something else, extremely interesting here. Varuṇa’s connection with Makara suggests that the ancient positions of solstices and equinoxes may have influenced the concepts of which gods dwell in which stars, and may also serve as evidence that ancient Indians did in fact have a concept of 12 tropical divisions in addition to their unequivocally documented use of sidereal nakṣatra.

The oldest hymns of Ṛg Veda most probably took formal shape at a period in history when the Winter Solstice occurred with the heliacal rising of Śatabhiṣaj. By definition, the Winter Solstice is the beginning of Capricorn Capricorn is called “Makara” in Sanskrit, the creature that Varuṇa travels on.

Varuṇa’s close relationship to the Nāga is also significant here, for in those ancient times the Summer Solstice would have occurred at or very near the heliacal rising of the Nāga’s star, Āśleṣā.

The Summer and Winter Solstices mark the beginning and end of dakṣināyaṇa – the six months the Sun spends below the equator, in the “underworld” of Varuṇa. The entrance and exit from this underworld were guarded by the Nāga and Varuṇa.

The Vernal and Autumnal Equinoxes, on the other hand, occurred in those ancient times with the heliacal rising of Kṛttikā and Anurādhā, respectively. Anurādhā belongs to Mitra, god of the daytime sky – the inseparable polar opposite of Varuṇa, the god of the nighttime sky. Kṛttikā belongs to Agni, the god of fire.

Thus dark underworld gods guarded the solstices marking the entrance and exit to the “southern” half of space, while bright overworld gods empowered the equinoxes.[1]

- Vic DiCara

www.vicdicara.com

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[1] Varuṇa is almost always paired with Mitra, but does so with Indra several times in Ṛg Veda. Indra’s star is Jyeṣṭhā, which is right next to Mitra’s Anurādhā.

Makara Sankranti, and the Whole Indian 12-fold Zodiac, is Off.

I recently posted an alert to my Indian readers that the now-popular method of calculating the date of “Makara-sankranti” is wrong. (It is a very important Hindu holiday: The winter-solstice, which marks the beginning of Capricorn). The correct date is near December 21st, not near January 14th. One of my readers investigated and sent me a defense of the erroneous Makara-sankranti date, written by an astrologer in India. Here is my reply to what he wrote.

“Considering the Winter Solstice marks the beginning of the gradual increase of the duration of the day.

That’s right, that’s exactly what the winter solstice is – the shortest day / longest night.

“Scientifically, the shortest day of the year is around December 21-22 after which the days begin to get longer, hence actual Winter Solstice begins on December 21 or December 22 when the tropical sun enters Makara rashi. Hence actual Uttarayana is December 21.

Correct. Uttarayana means “northern course” and refers to the Sun hitting the tropic of Capricorn and beginning to move northward towards the equator. Makra Sankranti is the comencement of Uttarayana (the northern course) and of Makara (Capricorn).

This was the actual date of Makar Sakranti too. But because of the Earth’s tilt of 23.45 degrees and sliding of Equinoxes, Ayanamasha occurs.

The equinoxes do shift in relation to the stars, that is true. But it does not change the dates of the equinoxes and solstices. It changes the star that is closest to the Sun at the equinoxes and solstices! So the date of makara-sankranti and the Sun beginning its northern course does not change. It always occurs when the days stop getting shorter, which is always more or less on December 21st.

This has caused Makara Sankranti to slide further over the ages.

No. What “slides further over the ages” is the star that is near the Sun when makara sankranti (winter solstice) happens.

A thousand years ago, Makar Sankranti was on December 31 and is now on January 14. Five thousand years later, it shall be by the end of February, while in 9000 years it shall come in June.”

No. Precession of equinoxes doesn’t change the date of the equinoxes and solstices, it changes the stars which are associated with the equinoxes and solstices. Makara Sankranti (the winter solstice) is always more or less December 21st. This is not a point of contention, even the Indian government passed this as a law at the same time they ratified Lahiri ayanamsha. The problem is that Indian astrologers wrongly project the rashis into the stars, against not only the judgement of the Indian government but also of astrological logic. To them “Makara” / “Capricorn” is a group of stars in the sky. And they notice that the Sun does not enter that group of stars until mid-January, although two thousand years ago it did so in mid-december. They have become ignorant to the fact that the rashi’s are defined by solstices and equinoxes, not by stars. The nakshatras are the stars, the rashis are not.

Please read this paper for much more information about this.

Thanks,
Vic

www.vicdicara.com