Calendrical Sources

[Guest Bhava]

By way of introduction, my dikṣa-nāma is Bhāvasindhu dāsa, and I am the śiṣya of Hṛdayānanda dāsa Gosvāmī Śrīla Ācāryadeva. I have been a student of Sanskrit Vedic literature for some 20 years now, and yet have only within the last year or so come to realize the tremendous importance of the astrological elements of Vedic hermeneutics. This is perhaps not least due to the rather elliptical manner in which such astrological references show up in the classics, or else, simply due to the fact that I previously failed to take seriously the need for comparing Vedic-Hindu classics to the classics of other cultures with whom ancient South Asians were evidently in contact.

That said, my seven-year research focus on the characteristics of Kāla in the Vedas has led me to recognize just how intricately the astrological domain of thought is tied up in the onto-theology of Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism, Śāktism, and even some forms of Buddhism. It seems to me as if one can hardly avoid bringing up the cosmic connotations of astrology in any serious attempt at reconstructing a robust understanding of the classical Vedic interpretation of Bhagavan Śrī Kṛṣṇa's onto-cosmogonic role in viśva-sṛṣṭi.

Given all this, I would like to ask you, my dear reader, if you can offer any references to pertinent classical or modern literature which offers evidence or arguments for an implicit deriving of Purāṇic narratives or the like from constellations and/or cosmological events, as well as for the formation of Indian calendrical conventions.

Much obliged,

B