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