four-monthly, denoting the festival of the Vedic ritual held at the beginning of the three seasons of four months each into which the Vedic year was divided
चातुर्मास्य (cāturmāsya) [Printed book page 1-259] Cātur-māsya, ‘four-monthly,’ denotes the festival of the
Vedic ritual held at the beginning of the three seasons of four
months each, into which the Vedic year was artificially divided.
1 It is clear that the sacrifices commenced with the beginning
of each season,
2 and it is certain that the first of them, the
Vaiśvadeva, coincided with the Phālgunī full moon,
3 the second,
the Varuṇa-praghāsas, with the Āṣāḍhī full moon,
4 and the
third, the Sāka-medha, with the Kārttikī full moon.
5 There
were, however, two alternative datings: the festivals could also
be held in the Caitrī, the Śrāvaṇī, and Āgrahāyaṇī (Mārgaśīrṣī)
full moons,
6 or in the Vaiśākhī, Bhādrapadī, and Pauṣī full
moons.
7 Neither of the later datings is found in a Brāhmaṇa
text, but each may well have been known early, since the
Taittirīya Saṃhitā
8 and the Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa
9 both
recognize the full moon in the month Caitra as an alternative
to the full moon in the month Phālguna, for the beginning of
the year.
Jacobi considers that the commencement of the year with the
full moon in the asterism Phalgunī, which is supported by other
evidence,
10 indicates that the year at one time began with the winter
solstice with the moon in Phalgunī, corresponding to the summer
solstice when the sun was in Phalgunī. These astronomical
conditions, he believes, existed in the time of the Rigveda,
11 and prevailed in the fourth millennium B.C. The alternative
Page1-260+ 51 dates would then indicate periods when the winter solstice
coincided with the Caitrī or the Vaiśākhī full moon. But
Oldenberg
12 and Thibaut
13 seem clearly right in holding that
the coincidence of Phālgunī with the beginning of spring,
14 which is certain, is fatal to this view, and that there is no
difficulty in regarding this date as consistent with the date of
the winter solstice in the new moon of Māgha, which is given
by the Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa,
15 and which forms the basis of
the calculations of the Jyotiṣa.
16 The full moon in Phālguna
would be placed about one month and a half after the winter
solstice, or, say, in the first week of February, which date,
according to Thibaut, may reasonably be deemed to mark the
beginning of a new season in India about 800 B.C. At the
same time it must be remembered that the date was necessarily
artificial, inasmuch as the year was divided into three seasons,
each of four months, and the Indian year does not in fact
consist of three equal seasons. The variations of the other
datings would then not be unnatural if any school wished to
defer its spring festival, the Vaiśvadeva, to the time when
spring had really manifested itself. See also
Saṃvatsara. [
Footnote: 1) Taittirīya Saṃhitā, i. 6, 5, 3; Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, i. 4, 9, 5; ii. 2, 2, 2; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, i. 6, 3, 36; ii. 5, 2, 48; 6, 4, 1; v. 2, 3, 10; xiii. 2, 5, 2; Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, v. 1, etc.] [
Footnote: 2) Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, i. 6, 3, 36 (cf. xiv. 1, 1, 28); Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, v. 1.] [
Footnote: 3) In the month Phālguna, or Feb- ruary-March.] [
Footnote: 4) In the month Āṣāḍhā, or June- July.] [
Footnote: 5) That is, in the month Kārttika, when the moon is in the asterism Kṛttikā: Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, ii. 6, 3, 13; Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa, v. 1, etc.] [
Footnote: 6) Śāṅkhāyana Śrauta Sūtra, iii. 13, 1; 14, 1. 2; 15, 1. These are the full- moon days in the months Caitra (March-April), Śrāvaṇa (July-August), and Mārgaśīṛṣa (November-December) respectively.] [
Footnote: 7) Deva's Paddhati on Kātyāyana Srauta Sūtra, pp. 430, 450, 497. These are the full-moon days in the months Vaiśākha (April-May), Bhādrapada (August-September), and Pauṣa (De- cember-January) respectively.] [
Footnote: 8) vii. 4, 8, 1. 2.] [
Footnote: 9) v. 9, 8. 11.] [
Footnote: 10) Indian Antiquary, 23, 156 et seq.; Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 49, 223 et seq.; 50, 72-81.] [
Footnote: 11) vii. 103, 9; x. 85, 13. Cf. Festgruss an Rudolf von Roth, 68 et seq.] [
Footnote: 12) Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgen- ländischen Gesellschaft, 48, 630 et seq.; 49, 475, 476; 50, 453-457.] [
Footnote: 13) Indian Antiquary, 24, 86 et seq.] [
Footnote: 14) See Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, i. 1, 2, 6, 8; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, xiii. 4, 1, 2-4. So the Phālgunī full moon is called ‘the mouth of the seasons (ṛtūnāṃ mukham) — e.g., Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa, xxi. 15, 2; Kāṭhaka Saṃ- hitā, viii. 1; Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā, i. 6, 9; and the first season is always spring: Śatapaṭha Brāhmaṇa, i. 5, 3, 8-14; ii. 1, 3, 1; vii. 2, 4, 26; xi. 2, 7, 32; xii. 8, 2, 34; xiii. 5, 4, 28; Taittirīya Saṃhitā, ii. 1, 2, 5; Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, xiii. 1. 7, etc. See Weber, Naxatra, 2, 352.] [
Footnote: 15) xix. 3.] [
Footnote: 16) Thibaut, Astronomie, Astrologie, und Mathematik, 17, 18. Cf. Weber, Naxatra, 2, 329 et seq.; Whitney, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 16, lxxxvi., lxxxvii.; Keith, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1909, 1101-1104.] [ID=969]
