Rashi mantra in the Vedanga Jyotisha is spurious!

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Dear friends,

Jai Shri Ram!

In # No. 2807 of May 27, 09 of WAVES-vedic forum Shri Sunil Bhattacharjya had quoted his mentor as saying "Some preliminary evidence to prove the existence of Meshadi month names in Vedic period is given below) Take the Yajur Vedanga Jyotisha text and read the 5th sloka. It reads as follows - Ye brihaspatina bhuktva MEENAN prabbriti rasayaH te hritaH panchabhiryataH yaH seshaH sa parigrihaH

(Yajur Vedanga Jyotisha - sloka 5)

[Take the sign count of Jupiter counting from Meena Rasi (Pisces Sign), ............ .......etc] I believe you have noticed the words 'Meenan prabhriti RasayaH' [signs counted from Meena Rasi (Pisces Sign)]. That proves the existence of signs like Meena, Mesha etc in Vedanga Jyotisha period."

 

The name "Yajur Vedanga Jyotisha" itself is misleading! There is actually no such workI The original work is titled Vedanga Jyotisham (VJ) by Lagadha. It was later divided into two separate portions Rik Jyotisham and Yajush-jyotishm (but not Rik-Vednga-Jyotisha or Yajur-Vedanga jyotisha)

I had already seen the translation/commentary of the VJ by S. B. Dikshit in his "Bharatiya Jyotisha Shastra" but he has not referred to any such mantra even in an oblique manner. On the other hand, he has said on page 147 (English translation) "The names of Rashis Mesha and others came into vogue at about 400 BS. The names of week days came into use before them, and have been borrowed from foreign countries". And Dikshit had written those words in 1896 AD,, i.e. much before David Pingree!

I had also gone through the complete VJ with an exhaustive Hindi commentary by Dr. Suresh Chandra Mishra, Jyotishacharya, published by a Daryaganj, Delhi, publisher in 2003. Dr. Mishra, after discussing thoroughly the pros and cons, has said, without mincing any words, on pages 51-52 of his commentary, "...this shloka has been interpolated by some good for nothing (the exact Hindi word used by Dr. Mishra is "angadh"---a humpty-dumpty "intellectual") person, and as such gives very wrong results....There was nothing like a rashi of thirty degrees in the Vedanga Jyotisha period, but even then this mantra talks of Mina etc. rashis. Rashi word has been used in an entirely different manner like parva-rashi, bha-rashi etc in the VJ....This shloka has not even been numbered i.e. it is without any number and Somakar (a commentator of repute in the past) also has not commented on it".

What is all the more surprising is that this spurious mantra, without any number after the fourth mantra, occurs in the Yajush-Jyotisham and not Rik Jyotisham! Yajush-Jyotisham is a much later work than the Rik-Jyotisham and as per Dr. Mishra in his foreword, "There is an unbroken tradition among the Vedic Brahmins that those who know even ABC of jyotisha recite at least once the Rik-Jyotisham everyday, like some Sukta etc. and it is revered like the Rig-Veda itself. I must make it clear here that Yajush-Jyotisham is not held in that high esteem at all nor is it recited daily". Dikshit also has said the same thing.

All these anachronisms were pointed out to Shri Bhattacharjya vide # 5127 dt. June 11 of abhinavagupta forum. But he inssited in several posts to Shri K. K. Mehrotra of waves-vedic that he must see the edition that does not refer to rashi mantra as spurious. Shri Bhattacharjya's message No. # No. 26262 of June 25, of Shri Bhattacharjya in vedic_research_institute reads, "INSA stands for Indian national Science Academy. The Vedanga Jyotisha was published in their "Indian Journal of History of Science, Vol.19, No. 4, Supplement. Their website is www.insa.ac.in"

 

Shri Mehrotra had asked in #No. 5232 dt. June 26 of Abhinavagupta forum, "The email address at which this post was sent to INSA does not exist and the mail was received back. I, therefore, request Dr. Sunil Bhattacharjya again to give the full address of the website wherefrom he is supposed to have downloaded the Vedanga Jyotisha by Acharya Lagadha, with the fifth mantra showing Mina rashi". And this is what Shri Bhattacharjya had replied in the same post, " Shri Mehrotra can contact Indian National Science Academy. Or he can place an order on a bookseller for the book. If he thinks he must have the book let him get it."It was clear from Shri Bhattacharjya's messsages that he had the INSA edition ofthe VJ edition with him, or had at least seen it and there was no doubt in his mind that the fifth mantra in the Vedanga Jyotisha (Yajush-Jyotisham) of INSA edition was not spurious but had been listeed as fifth mantra there.

 

Being out of print, I could not get this book anywhere. A friend of mine, however, sent the complete electronic edition to me through email but he does not want his name to be disclosed!

This work had been translated originally by Prof. T. S. Kuppanna Sastry in a draft form and since it could not be published during his life time, it was later checked for corrections and edited by Dr. K. V. Sarma of Kuppannaswamy Research Institute, Madras, and published by Indian National Science Academy, Delhi, a government body, in 1985.

 

To my amazement (amusement!), from a perusal of this INSA work also I found that the so called Rashi mantra is actually from Yajush-jyotisham and has been referred to as a spurious mantra and is without any number in that work as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me quote the full text of the translator/commentator, Prof. T. S. Kuppanna Sastry, on page 50 about the same, "This verse is patently an interpolation. Firstly, it is unnumbered and found only in the Yajusha recension. Secondly, the word rashi itself, meaning the division of the zodiac of 30° each, named Mesha (Aries), Rishaba (Taurus) upto Mina (Pisces) is of foreign origin and came to India only during first centuries AD along with Greek astrology. Upto and including the time of last samhitas of the early centuries of BC the only zodiacal signs known in India were the nakshatras divisions. The word Rashi used in the VJ means only 'group', for example parva-rashi means a group of fortnights and bha-rashi meaning the group of nakshatra segments".

 

Prof. Sastry himself and the editor Dr. Sarma have given a list of manuscripts they consulted. Those manuscripts are listed on pages 8-9 of the INSA work.

It was thus a puzzle for everybody including me as to how Shri Bhattacharjya had said so authoritatively that the INSA edition had talked of the so called fifth mantra in the VJ referring to Mina etc. rashis not being spurious!

The solution of the puzzle dawned on me with the "revelation" that Shri Bhattacharjya is a "Parokshya-darshi" who claims to see things which others miss! He must, therefore, have visualized this mantra in INSA edition as original through his parokshya knowledge just as he claims to have "visualized": Mesha, Vrisha etc. Rashis--that also the so called nirayana ones---in the Vedas through that very parokshya knowledge!

Anyway, I am enclosing five pages in pdf format---Preface, pages 8-9 and 50-51---and you can verify for yourself all the details.

It appears that parokshya knowledge means, therefore, something like "somnambulism", or even hallucination i.e seeing things which others can't see! That is why Shri Bhattacharjya "saw" the fifth mantra in the INSA VJ edition also as original instead of spurious!

It must also be put on record that since it is common knowledge by now that Mesha, Vrisha etc. Rashis have been imported from Babylonia via Greece into India around early centuries of CE, "Vedic astrologers" are thus themselves trying to prove that the Vedas and the Vedanga Jyotisha etc. etc. are all post CE works! They are thus doing an incalculable damage to the entire cultural history of India, in their anti-Vedic efforts to prove that Mesha etc. Rashis and Mangal, Shani etc. planets have been referred to in the Vedas---or the Valmiki Ramayna etc., for that matter! And the more the "Vedic astrologers" and "Vedic astronomers" continue their such efforts, the more damage they will go on doing to the real Vedic cultural ethos and the more we will forget about Madhu, Madhava etc. Vedic months and continue to celebrate Lahiri or Ramana or Muladhara etc. Makara and Mesha Sankrantis etc.!

Jai Shri Ram.

A K Kaul

PS

If any owner/moderator of any forum so desires, the complete version of the VJ, INSA edition (pdf) can be sent by email for uploading in his/her forum. There are no copyright hassles.

AKK

 

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vj89.pdf