Nakshatras vis-a-vis the Vedas and Puranas etc.

June 8, 2008

Dear friends,

Namaskar!

Following is a tentative solution to the vexatious problem of

starting/ending points/moments of nakshatra-divisions:

1. We will take the reference point/date/data from FK5 catalogue, which is

for January 1, 2000 AD---12.00 Noon. (This epoch is slightly different from

J2000 ET/TDT of that date, but since the difference is hardly a few seconds,

it will not matter at all for calculating the longitudes of stars).

2. The ecliptic (mean) longitude, w.r.t. the mean equator and equinox of

that date of Beta Pegassi i.e. Scheat----Purva-Bhadra-II--- star as on that

date was 359°-22’-27”. It was thus the star nearest to the Vernal Equinox of

that date and will remain so for at least another fifty years. As such,

that (Purva-Bhadra star) will be the starting point of the nakshatra-chakra,

which will also start with that very nakshatra. (P. see PS).

3. The longitude of the star of the next nakshatra division i.e.

Utttara-Bhadra viz. Gama Pegassi---Algenib i.e. Uttarabhadra-I as on that

date was 9°-9’-22” whereas the longitude of another star of that very

Uttarabhadra nakshatra division viz. Alpha Andromeda i.e. Alpharetz known as

Uttarabhadra-II as on that date was 14°-18’-31’.

3. We can thus calculate the exact moments of conjunction of the Moon with

Beta Pegasi---the second star of Purva-Bhadra division-----and then Gama

Pegassi--the first star of Uttara-Bhadra division. The interval between the

two conjunctions will be the duration of Purva-Bhadra nakshatra.

4. The next naksahtra division is Revati and the longitude of Zeta Piscium

as on that date was 19°-52’-39”. As such, right from the time of

conjunction of the Moon with Gama Pegassi to the time of its conjunction

with Zeta Pisicum will be the duration of Uttara-Bhadra nakshatra.

5. The next nakshatra division after Revati is Ashvini and the longitude of

Beta Arietis---Sheratan--as on that date was 33°-58’-12”. That means right

from the time of conjunction of the Moon with Zeta Piscium to the time of

its conjunction with Beta Arietis, will be the duration of Revati nakshatra.

Same will be the case with starting/ending moments of other

nakshatras/nakshara divisions including Abhijit.

According to me, this is the most scientific, practical and the real spirit

of the Vedic nakshatra divisions since we find references to unequal

dimensions of nakshatras by Bhaskara-I and even Alberuni has talked about a

similar unequal division in his “Alberuni’s India”.

This is actually the principle that is followed for determining the duration

of timings of Uttarayana or of the months Madhu, Madhava etc. E.g. when the

sun is in exact conjunction with Winter Solstice---i.e. when the sun has an

exact ecliptic longitude of 270 degrees from the True Equator and Equinox of

that date, right from that moment onwards till the moment of its conjunction

with " Dakshinayana " i.e Summer Solstice i.e. 90 degrees from the True

Equator and Equinox of that date, Uttarayana lasts. Or for that matter,

right from the time of the start of Uttarayana, till the exact moment of the

start of the Vedic month of Tapasya, the Vedic month of Tapah ranges. As

such, we will have to follow a similar process for nakshatras as well.

As and when a program/software is developed for that purpose, an inbuilt

correction for precession at the rate of about 53 arc seconds per year will

have to be included there in so that the timings of exact conjunction of the

Moon with the respective stars include corrections for precession.

I got a cue for this type of ending/starting moments/duration of nakshatra

divisions from the Surya Sidhanta (among all the astronomical works!)

itself. There is a chapter Bha-graha yuti adhyaya in it, which gives the

methodology of calculating the exact timings of conjunction of planets with

the junction stars of various nakshatra divisions! Since even according to

jyotishis---whether " Vedic " or " non-Vedic " or " anti-Vedic!---themselves,

the Moon also is a " planet " , there is absolutely no reason as to why we

should follow an irrational, arbitrary and unscientific method of

determining the nakshatras divisions, whether the so called Lahiri divisions

or so called Sayana divisions, vis-a-vis the Moon.

We can thus say that a nakshatra division will range from the actual

longitude of that star till the longitude of the first star of the next

division.

The longitudes of stars, with their latitude, RA, Declination etc. from

10000 BCE to 12030 AD can be worked out by anybody from “Vasishtha” program

that can be freely downloaded from

HinduCalendar forum

As already explained, with Core2 Duo and now even core2 Quad processors, it

should not be at all a difficult job to prepare a program that can determine

the exact moments of conjunction of the Moon with different stars.

The above suggestions are, of course, subject to an open discussion and as

such, any comments will be most welcome.

With regards,

Avtar Krishen Kaul

PS Pl. note that the Vernal Equinox will continue its “sojourn” in

Purva-Bhadra for at least another 1300 years, till its “conjunction” with

Lambda Aquarii (Shatabishak) which had a longitude of 341°-34’-34” as on Jan

1, 2000 Noon. It will not enter Uttarabhadra nakshatra division again for

at least another 25000 years---since the VE precesses with a retrograde

motion---as against the Moon, which becomes never retrograde---whereas the

lunar node is extremely rarely direct, if at all it is direct at any point

of time!

AKK

June 10, 2008

namaskAr !

Kindly explain us also how the solar and luni-solar months are to be named.

---Narayan Prasad

jyotirved <jyotirved wrote: