Hindu festivals

[Guest guest]

Dear Raj ji,

Many thanks for

your post regarding the above topic. 

I am really

glad that a jyotishi also is taking interest in calendar reform!

<You have

categorically and critically claimed that we are celebrating festivals on the

wrong dates or in other words, the dates chosen for our festivals (by the

panchanga makers - including the govt of india) do not follow the criteria

available in our ancient texts for determining the dates for each festival.

>

You are

absolutely right.  These days we are celebrating all our festivals neither as

per the Vedas, nor Puranas nor sidhantas, and surprisingly, not even as per

Primary School level geography but only as per the whims and fancies of some

“almighties” like Lahiriwalas and Ramanawalas and so on.  I have

made quite a few representations to all those who matter, including the

President of India, New Delhi; Postional Astronomy Centre and the India

Meteorological Department (publishers of Rashtriya Panchanga) etc. etc. in this

regard, as will be clear from the papers in the files section of Hinducalendar

forum.

The calendar reform has been a process of evolution for me personally on

the lines of the Vedas and the Puranas. To start with, I was totally

enamoured of Grahalghava etc. Makar Sankrantis and other festivals, and believe

it or not, it was through predictive astrology---nirayana, with

Lahiri/Grahalaghava  ayanamsha, of course!----that I started delving deep into

calendar reform! It was an inadvertent wake-up call for me, since when I

found quite a few predictions not coming true because of one ayanamsha, I

experimented with other ayanamshas, and finally delved deep into sidhantas and

the Puranas!

From a perusal

of all those puranas and sidhantas, I concluded that it was the " Tropical

zodiac " (Sayana Rashichakra) that was being followed by all of

them for festivals and by implication, the Pauranic and sidhantic authorities

must have been following it even for astrological predictions! I

therefore started a crusade for Tropical Zodiac i.e. Sayana Rashichakra,

presuming that since that was the basis of Pauranic festivals, it must be the

basis of not only Vedic festivals but even the real Vedic astrology.  That

crusade lasted for a considerable period through my Panchangas and

surprisingly, I even made quite a few correct predictions on the basis of

Sayana Rashichakra and secondary progressions etc.  For one of those

predictions,  I was awarded NOSTRADAMUS  Award by His Holiness of Kanchi

Kamakoti, Swami Jayendra Saraswati, at Kanchi, (and not at Delhi!).  My to and

fro expenses of air-fair and stay at a five-star hotel in Chennai etc. etc.

apart from a cheque for Rs. 11000/- as back as 1995,  also were borne by

Express Star Teller Magazine, who had started that award.  That strengthened my

view that Tropical astrology was the real Vedic astrology, which it is not, as

we shall see shortly!

 Since

" the greatest Vedic astrologer of the twentieth century "   viz. Dr. B.

V. Raman etc. called the nirayana astrology as Vedic, I was intrigued as to how

could the Vedic Rashis be different from the Paurnic and sidhantic!  I,

therefore, went through all the Vedas and the Vedanga Jyotisha etc. with a

tooth comb!

As is common

knowledge by now, there were/are absolutely no Mesha, Vrisha etc. Rashis in the

Vedas!  So to call them sayana or nirayana was just meaningless and tacking at

the air!

In my

panchangas, I had been clubbing Ashvini, Bharni etc. nakshatras also with

Sayana Rashichakra since that was what was done by the Hindu astrologers on the

basis of the Surya Sidhanta.   That very practice of Ashvini etc. nakshatras

being clubbed with Sayana rashis  continued to be followed at the time of

Alberuni i.e. eleventh century in India.  But a member of Indiaarchaeology

forum, Shri Paul Kekai Manansala, drew my attention to the fact that Tropical

Rashis could never be clubbed with Ashvini, Bharni etc. nakshatras!

That set me

thinking again as to how the Puranas had talked of a sayana rashichakra and

also nakshatras, in one and the same breath, whereas the Vedas talked about the

nakshatras times without number but did not mention, much less link them, with

any Mesha etc. rashis, which were conspicuous by their absence from the same! 

There was yet another dichotomy:  The year as per the Vedanga Jyotisha started

from Uttarayana but the nakshatras started from Kritiika as against Ashvini (as

is happening these days) or Dhanishtha where the Uttarayana was located then!

It dawned on me

much later in the day that nakshatras had nothing to do with Madhu, Madhava

etc. months---the real Vedic months instead of Mesha, Vrisha etc.

rashis---since the latter were/are seasonal and immune to the effects of

precession of equinoxes!  Thus if the Vernal Equinox was the Vasanta Sampat i.e

when the day was equal to night in 10000 BCE, it will remain so in 10000 AD as

well, when the day will be equal to night again, irrespective of the fact that

if the VE was in nakshatra “A” (the first nakshatra of the

nakshatra chakra)  in 10000 BCE, it may be in nakshatra “Z” (the last

nakshatra of that very nakshatra chakra) in 10000 AD, but Vernal Equinox would

continue to be Vasanta Sampat i.e., when day is equal to night!  Similarly, if

Madhu was the first month of Vasanta Ritu (the month before the VE) in 10000

BCE, it will be the first month of that very Vasanta Ritu in 10000 AD as well,

since the Vasanta Ritu (Spring season) will always start a month prior to the

Vernal Equinox, unaffected by precession of equinoxes!

It means that

it is only Mesha, Vrisha etc. rashis that are creating the confusion of so

called sayana and nirayana and so on whereas there are no such confusions and

dichotomies in the Vedas or the Vedic months, much less the Vedic seasons! 

In fact, the

Vedic calendar is the most scientific and the most wonderful as well beautiful

calendar the world could ever have!  It is unlike all the other calendars the

world over!  It is directly linked to the four cardinal points viz. the two

equinoxes and two solstices and to the resulting Madhu, Madhava etc. months. 

It is to those very Madhu, Madhava months to which the synodic months are

pegged!  Thus the real Vedic synodic (what most people call lunar) months are

also immune to precession, since they are directly linked to seasonal solar

months!  Thus if the lunar Vasanti  Navratra started with the first New Moon

(Amanta---Shukla pratipat) after the month of Madhu in 10000 BCE, it will start

similarly in 10000 AD also, i.e., the first New Moon after the month of

Madhu---you may as well say the last new Moon before the Vernal Equinox----will

be the start of the lunar Vasanti-Navratra-cum-Chaitra in 10000 AD also just as

it was so in 10000 BC.  That will be the first month of Vasanta Ritu therefore 

in 10000 AD, as it was in 10000 BCE.

Thus when we

say that Bhagwan Ram was born on Chaitra Shukla Navmi in Vasanta Ritu, it was

thus Shukla_navmi of the first lunar month of Vasanta Ritu---the last New Moon

before the Vernal Equinox---known as the month of Madhu in the Vedanga

Jyotisha---where there is no confusion of any Mesha, Vrisha etc. rashis nor the

so called sayana or nirayana etc. cacophony!

This was a

revelation to me that the Vedas were really without Mesha etc. Rashis and that

is why the Vedic calendar is the most scientific and a durable one!  If you

peruse the history of Vedic calendar, it is only after the introduction of

Mehsa, Vrisha etc. rashis through the Surya Sidhanta of  Maya the mlechha that

things have gone helter-skelter!  We have become completely delinked from the

Madhu, Madhaa etc. months and the four cardinal points and got hooked to Mesha,

Vrisha etc. Rashis about which nobody knows as to which rashi starts from where,

if at all it starts from any point!

Since I could

not find any Mesha, Vrisha etc. rashis in the Vedas and the Vedanga Jyotisha

etc., I was just mad with rage as to how the Vedic seers had been so negligent

as not to talk about them at all, as all the astrologers the world over had

been dinning it into my ears that Mesha, Vrisha etc. rashis were astronomical

twelve equal divisions of the zodiac, which in itself was “rock

solid”!

I had therefore

to delve deeper into astronomical works as well so as to see as to what had

gone wrong and where about the Vedic lore as to why the Seers had not talked

about Mesha, Vrisha etc. Rashis and Mangal, Shanie etc. planets, when the whole

world had been talking about the same over the last at least two thousand years!

To my surprise,

I found that the Vedic seers were more advanced than all the astronomers the

world over put together a few thousand years back!  Astronomically, zodiac (the

famous Rashichakra/bhachakra of the sidhantas and Puranas and jyotishis!) is

nothing but “an imaginary belt of the heavens centering on the ecliptic,

within which are the apparent paths of the sun, moon and principal

planets”.  Zodiac is actually a  Greek word which in itself means a

“circle of animals”. It was actually divided into many more

parts---all of them unequal----than twelve and each part was known as a

constellation by Greek astronomers.  Prominent among those constellations were

Aries, Taurus etc. thirteen (including Ophuchius) Greek constellations----none

equal to one another.  These constellations are supposed to have resembled some

figures in the past e.g. a cluster of millions and billions of stars is

supposed to have resembled a Ram in the hoary past by Babylonian astrologers,

and yet another part resembled a Bull and so on.  That is why they named those

portions as Aries, Taurus and so on.  Even those constellations no longer

resemble those figures these days, because of the Proper Motion of stars, but

somehow, IAU is sill calling those constellations by those very names.

Those very

unequal constellations were used by Greco-Chaldean astrologers for astrological

predictions, under the impression that since those “groups”

contained stars they were affecting every Tom, Dick and Harry through

“divine entities” like Mars, Jupiter, Saturn etc. etc.  Instead of

considering the actual unequal imaginary constellations even for predictions,

they just divided the already imaginary zodiac into twelve imaginary divisions,

and called each division by the original name of Aries, Taurus etc.  Thus you

will not find any astrological sign Aries, Taurus etc. corresponding at all

with the exact constellation of that very name e.g. Astrological sign Aries is

away by light years from the constellation Aries and astrological sign Taurus

is away by Light years from the constellation Taurus and so on! Still jyotishis

claim to be making correct predictions from those very imaginary “equal

animals” (Rashis) of imaginary “unequal animals”

(constellations) of a still more imaginary circle named zodiac which extends

about nine/ten degrees above and below of yet another imaginary circle known as

Ecliptic!  My God!  It is real imagination run riot!

NATURALLY, THE

VEDIC SEERS WERE REAL SCIENTISTS NOT TO HAVE THOUGHT OF SUCH IMAGINARY

“TWELVE EQUAL ANIMAL DIVISIONS” OF “UNEQUAL ANIMALS”!

Anyway, coming

back to our Vedic calendar, it was the same imaginary circle of imaginary

twelve imaginary animals that Maya the mlechha thrust on us and we got

dislodged completely from Madhu, Madhava etc. months and the real Vedic

nakshtras like Krittika, Mrigasira etc.

Thus, if we

really want to streamline our Vedic calendar and put it back on the real Vedic

track, we have to completely eliminate Mesha, Vrisha etc. rashis from our

vocabulary, just as the Vedic seers had done it, and delink nakshatras

completely from not only the non-existent rashis but even Madhu, Madhava etc.

months to which they were never linked, in the first place.

If because of

our infatuation with predictive gimmicks, we are unable to forget Mesha, Vrisha

etc. Rashis, then we must at the best or even at the worst use the so called

Sayana Rashis for the real Vedic months like Mina for Madhu, Mesha for Madhava

and so on, since that is what all the Puranas and sidhantas have done.

That way we can

at least claim that we are celebrating our festivals in accordance with the

Puranas if not the Vedas!  Nakshatras have to be completely delinked from

Rashis, whether sayana or nirayana, and after a thorough debate, they may be

pegged to the Junction Stars, if it is found that they have really anything to

do with their namesake nakshatra divisions of the Vedas.  If the scholars

decide that the name-sake Junction stars also were thrust by Maya the mlechha

on us on the basis of Hipparchus’ Star catalogue or some other source and

they have nothing to do with the Vedic nakshatras, we may as well shun them and

find some other way to decide the Vedic nakshatras.

The beauty

of the Vedic calendar lies in the fact that it combines both the lunar

(synodic) and the solar months and years and pegs them to the natural

phenomenon of seasons.

For example,

the Muslim calendar is based purely on synodic months, and since a synodic

twelve month cycle is always short by about eleven days from a solar year, that

is why we find Muslim festivals receding back every year by 11 days!  Thus, if

Id-uz-Zuha was (say) on December 31 in 1990, it would have been on December 20

in 1991, on December 9 in 1992, November 29 in 1993 and so on, with the result

that after a period of about 33 years, it may be back on December 31 in around

2023!  Thus none of the festivals of Hejira calendar remains stable!

On the other

hand, a Vedic Vasanti Navratra always starts with the first New Moon after the

start of Vasanta Ritu, since the “shortfall” of eleven days in a

lunar cycle of twelve months vis-à-vis a solar year is compensated by an

adhika-masa every 32/33 solar months.  This adhika masa concept is in fact

found in the ancient most work viz. the Rigveda “Veda maso dhrita vrato

dwadasha prajavatah, veda ya upajayate” (Rigveda  1/25/8)  i.e.

“Varuna knows the twelve months, it also knows the thirteenth (adhika)

month”.

If on the other

hand, we peg the Hindu calendar to so called Lahiri or Raman or Muladhara etc.

Rashichakra, we are faced with a peculiar situation!  We are not following

either Islamic calendar of a pure synodic months, nor are we following the real

Vedic calendar pegged to seasons! It is not even the Pauranic calendar as that

is aligned with sayana rashis! Nor is it a geographical calendar, since that is

dependent on the two Vishuvas and Ayanasa! We are just between two stools---and

have fallen to the ground already!  We are not celebrating Vasanta Navratras

with the start of the Vasanta Ritu, but after one month of that ritu is already

over!  WE are not celebrating Sharadiya Navratras with the start of Sharad ritu

but after one month of that ritu is already over.  If we continue to follow

this pattern, a day will come when we will celebrate Vasanti Navratras in

Sharad Ritu and vice-versa!

If at all we

have to hug any Makar or Mehsa or karkata etc. Sankrantis, we must choose the

lesser of two evils and embrace pauranic and sidhanti Makar,  Mesha etc.

Sankrantis, which are all so called Sayana--- and shun Lahiri etc Sankrantis.

< I would

like to request you to kindly make a post (or direct me to a post) where we can

identify the criteria for ascertaining the dates for the major festivals of

India.>

I find that

is not open to uploading files.  Nor does it store any

attachments.  I would request you to change this orientation so that documents

can be uploaded in the files section.    That way, instead of repeating

everything in individual posts, it would be easier for me to give the members

all the information that is already stored in the files section of

Hinducalendar forum.  As an alternative, since you are already a member of the

Hinducalendar forum, you can upload any file you want to from that forum to jyotishgoup. 

Personally, I would recommend “koshur6.doc”, BVB6.doc; rashi5.doc.,

npj3.doc,  BVB5.doc, PAC3.doc, shankar1.doc etc. etc.  Kindly take time out to

go through them and see it for yourself as to what progress, if any, has

already been made in the direction of calendar reform.

<I would

like to invite some of the scholars (and panchanga experts) to comment on these

criteria and also delve on how far have we moved away from these criteria

(rightly or wrongly).>

You are most

welcome to invite any scholar etc. to comment on these criteria since that is

what I actually want and that is why I am posting my mails on every forum.  I

am posting separately “raman.doc” which will give you an idea about

the efforts that I have been making in this direction.

< Just one

thing, lets keep 'Vedic Astrologer' and 'Rashis' out of this discussion as

these are highly charged words!!>

There is a

saying in Hindi, “main to kambal ko chhod raha hoon, lekin kambal mujhe

nahin chhod raa hai”.  The story goes like this: Some one mistook a

drowning bear for a woolen blanket of black colour and he jumped to collect

that blanket.  The bear, like a drowning man catching at a straw, caught hold

of the savoir and would not leave him.  A friend of the savoir from the

river-bank shouted, “Why don’t you let the blanket go?” and

pat came the reply from the “man who mistook the bear for blanket,

“I am trying to let the ‘blanket’ go, but it is not allowing

me to go”.  It is a similar story with “Vedic astrology” and

rashis vis-à-vis calendar reform. 

It is on record

that over the last at least three centuries efforts have been going on to put

the “dismantled” Vedic calendar back on the track.  This is evident

from S. B. Dikshit’s “Bharatiya Jyotisha Shastra”.  Similar

panchanga standardization committees were held in Varanasi, Ujjain etc. etc. so

much so that the Shankaracharya of Dwarka, more than a hundred years back, even

issued an aadesha patra that all the festivals should be celebrated on the

basis of sayana rashichakra.  That aadesha patra also is in Hinducalenar

forum.  The last such committee was the “Saha calendar reform

committee” appointed by the GOI in 1953.  Unfortunately for India, the

net result of all such committees has been a fall back upon the same

Grahalaghava ayanamsha, which late N. C. Lahiri cunningly manipulated by his

devious methods by pegging it to an imaginary point that was conjunct the

Vernal Equinox of 285 AD that was supposed to be opposite the Spica star then! 

It was actually a backdoor entry for Grahlaghava ayanamsha simply because

Lahiri’s Indian Ephemeris (English) and his Vishudha Sidhanti Panjika

(Bangla) would not sell if he had switched over to zero ayanamsha or even

Revati Ayanamsha, as was suggested by all the stalwarts!

This sabotage

of the recommendations of the Saha Calenar Reform Committee will be clear from

PAC3.doc in the files section of Hinducalendar forum!

As such, it is

a humble request to all the jyotishis, whether they call themselves Vedic or

non-Vedic or even anti-Vedic, that they may use whatever ayanamsha or whatever

system of prediction they choose for making correct predictions or patri

melapak etc. etc., but they must leave calendar reform alone and not thrust the

“almighty” Lahiri or Muladhara etc. Rashichakra down the throat of

every Hindu.  That is also a request to the Government of India.

Anybody who can

do such a Herculean task will really be the messiah of the real Vedic calendar.

With regards,

A K Kaul

 

 

--- In

, " jyotishi " <raj wrote:

>

> Dear Kaul ji,

> You have categorically and critically claimed that we are celebrating

festivals on the wrong dates or in other words, the dates chosen for our

festivals (by the panchanga makers - including the govt of india) do not follow

the criteria available in our ancient texts for determining the dates for each

festival.

>

> I think we should have an open mind to review whether and to what extent

we are adhering to the criteria given in the ancient texts. In order to do

this, we need to first identify those criteria.

>

> Kaulji, I would like to request you to kindly make a post (or direct me to

a post) where we can identify the criteria for ascertaining the dates for the

major festivals of India.

>

> I would like to invite some of the scholars (and panchanga experts) to

comment on these criteria and also delve on how far have we moved away from

these criteria (rightly or wrongly).

>

> Just one thing, lets keep 'Vedic Astrologer' and 'Rashis' out of this

discussion as these are highly charged words!!

>

> regards,

> raj

>