Why Dipavali is on October 2, 2005 and not on November 1, 2005!

September 19, 2005

Dear friends,

Namaskar!

Much to the chagrin of "Vedic astrologers", we do not find any "Rashis"

(astrological signs) like Mesha, Vrisha etc. in any of the Vedas! This is not

only my contention but this is the unanimous conclusion of quite a few scholars

like Pt. Balkrishan Dikshit (Bharatiya Jyotish), Shri Bal Gangadhar Tilak (The

Orion), Dr. S. Balachandra Rao (Indian Mathematics & Astronomy) etc. etc. All

these details are available in Rashi5.doc at HinduCalendar and some other

forums.

Same is the case with the very first astronomical work viz. the Vedanga Jyotisha

(also known as Rik-Jyotisham and/or Yajur-Jyotisham) by Maharshi Lagadha. Except

for the sun and the moon, it does not refer to any other planet either! This

astronomical work was compiled definitely not later than thirteenth century BCE

(about five thousand years back!) in or around Kashmir (J & K State).

Similarly, Atharva Jyotisha of about fifth century BCE also is quite silent

about Rashis!

Does it mean that our real Vedic Vamadevas and original Parasharas (instead of

"imported Vamadevas" and "Abhinav Parasharas") never celebrated any Makar

Sankranti then which is also known as Pongal in South India, Shishir Sankranti

in J & K; Makaradi snan in Bengal etc. and so on? Does it mean also that by

celebrating Makar etc. Sankrantis these days we are just wasting our time and

money and energy?

This question has two answers -- YES and NO!

YES, because the Makar etc. Sankrantis we are clebrating today are either Lahiri

or Raman or Kharegat or Cyril Fagan or Tilaka or Grahalaghava etc. Sankrantis

--- all of them being advocated by one or the other "Jyotishi" because they

find their astrological predictions more accurate if they base them on that

particular Rashichakra! It means that all such Sankrantis are predictive

astrologers' sankrantis and not of our Vedic Rishis!

Now the next answer NO! Because the real Vedic Rishis did celebrate "Makar

Sankranti" but instead of calling it Makar Ingress they called it Udagayana or

Uttarayana! Why did they do so? Because the sun's declination really turns

Uttara that is towards North then! They also called it the month of Tapah

because being the middle of Winter, it was the month most suitable for penance

(tapasya!). The later Puranas and the itithasas also refer to Uttarayana etc.

with the only difference that we find Rashis in some of the Puranas like

Shrimad Bhagavata and Shri Vishnu Purana etc. but they have made Makara

Sankranti a synonym of Uttarayana, Karka Sankranti a synonym of Dakshinayana

and so on! It may be news to some of the "Vedic jyotishis" that there are no

Rashis in the Mahabharata either!

Surprisingly, the period starting with "Uttarayana" which is nothing but a

Sanskrit equivalent of Winter Solstice, is known as "Chilla Kalan" in Kashmir!

Chilla is a Persian synonym of "Tapasya"! The sixty day period of Chilla Kalan,

Chilla Khurd and Chilla Bacha comprise the two Vedic months of Tapah and

Tapasya! It means clearly that our festivals were related to seasons and even

Persian scholars acknowledged it! But somehow, our "Vedic scholars" who call

themselves "Vedic Jyotishis" are unaware of this fact! It is also a tragic

truth that these "Vedic astrologers" are quite oblivious to the fact that for

the real Vedic Rishis the Udagayana or Uttarayana was one of the most important

"festivals" of the whole year and there are innumerable references to it in

almost all the Vedas! Obviously, our "Vedic scholars" of today do not refer to

such festivals even obliquely in any of their works because that will hinder

their "predictive" activities!

Lunar Tapah, Tapasya etc. names got linked to solar months later on. This also

is clear from the Vedanga Jyotisha etc.!

A solar New Year starts these days with Meshadi -- transit of the sun into

Mesha. Since there are no Mesha etc. Rashsi in the Vedas, or the Vedanga

Jyotisha, does it mean that our Vedic Vamadevas and Parasharas (unlike their

modern counterfeits) never celebrated a solar New Year?

Again this question has two answers: YES and NO!

The reasons for both the answers i.e. the affirmative and negative are the same

as in the case of Makar Sanrkanti because for our Vedic Rishis, the solar New

Year started with the Spring Equinox, known as Vasanta Sampat, Vishuvan in the

Vedas. The simple reason is that this also is one of the most important

phenomena of the sun and it is also the start of the Vedic month Madhava -- the

second month of the Vasanta i.e. Spring season!

Now that we have seen that there ae no Rashis in the Vedas, it is futile to

argue whether our Vedic Rishis were following a so called sayana Rashickara or

a non-existent nirayana Rashichakra! It is in fact an insult to our Vedic

Rishis to say that they were following some Lahiri or Ramana or Kharegat or

Cyril Fagan etc. Rashichakra since that means that those Rishis were

subservient to these "modern" Vamadevas and Parasharas and must have been

waiting for these "exalted souls" to be born in Kaliyuga so that those Rishis

could celebrate their rituals and festivals under the proper "tutelage" of

these Kaliyugi Jyotishis!

Thus the Chaitra, Vaishakha, Jyeshtha etc. months, whether solar or lunar, that

we are following these days are meaningless as these have been "re-calibrated"

by predictive astrolgoers to correlate their predictions to the same! We are

thus ahead by at least one lunar month (twenty-four solar days as on date!) of

the real Vedic solar and lunar months! This has made everything topsy-turvy

with the result that Lunar Kartika Shukla Paksha (instead of Lunar Ashvina

Shukla Paksha) will actually start on October 4, 2005, and Amavasya being

present at the Pradosha/Nishitha of October 2, 2005, that is the real

Dipavalai!

We can well imagine the "benefits" we will reap if we celebrate "Pitramavasya"

on that actual Dipavali i.e. October 2, 2005, just because our "Vedic

Panchnagamaker" or "Vedic Jyotishi" has advised us to do so! It means we have

really lost our cultural moorings since we cannot differentiate between the

real Vedic festivals/phenomena and the artificial ones!

For further details, please see BVB6 at HinduClendar forum etc.

With kind regards,

Avtar Krishen Kaul

President

All India Calendar Reform Committee

September 20, 2005

This fellow wrote earlier in Jyotish group and Sri Finn Windhall and

Sri Chandrashekhar shared his not so delightful background with us.

I do not think any more time should be wasted on him.

Thanks and Regards

Bharat

On 9/20/05, jyotirved <jyotirved (AT) sify (DOT) com> wrote: