﻿^84 OS THE nF-LIGIOUS CF.RESfO JTItS 



xeal course of the seasons ; fur the rains do generally 

 begm a week before the summer solstice, but their 

 commencement does var\', in difrerent years, about 

 a fortnight on either side of that period. It seems 

 therefoie a j^robahle inference, that such was the 

 position of the equinox when the calendar of months 

 and seasons was adjusted as describefl in this pas- 

 sage of the I'ecia. lieiice I infer the probability, 

 that the Vedas were not arran^^ed in their present 

 form earher than the fourteenth century before the 

 Ciiristian sra. This, it must be acknowledged, is 

 vague and conjectural; but, if the Vcdas were com- 

 pik^d in India so early as the commencement of the 

 astronomical Cali yuga, the seasons must have then 

 corresponded with other months ; and the passage of 

 the Veda, which shall be forthwith cited, must have 

 disagreed with the natural course of the seasons at 

 tlie very time it was written. 1 shall now quote tlie 

 pa^sage so often alluded to in this note. Mad'hus cha 

 Aladihaxas cha Vasant'icfiv r'ttu ; S'ucras cha S'uchis 

 cha grahhmdo riti'i ; Nabhaa' cha i\ahhasyas cha 

 vdrshicdv ritu; Ishas chojas cha saraddv ritu ; Sahas' . 

 cka Sahasyas cha haimanticdv ritu ; Tapa.i cha Tapa- 

 •syas cha sa'mrdu ritu.''' Jj adhu and Mddhava are 

 the two portions of the ser.sou Vasanta (or the 

 spring) ; Sucra and Suclii, of grishma (or the hot 

 season) ; Nahhas and Kabha.sya, of -varsha (or the 

 rainy season): Ijas and Ujas ; of S'arada (or the 

 sultry season) ; and Sahas and Sahsi/a, of himanta 

 (or the frosty season) ; and Tapas and lapasya^ of 

 s'isra (or the dewy season). 



All authors agree that ?Jadhu signifies the month 

 of'Chaitra; Alddhara the month of f'ai.'.ac'ha, and so 

 forth. These names are so explained in dictionaries 

 and by astronomical writers, as well as by the com- 

 mentators on this and other passages, where these 

 names of the months are employed. The author 

 now before me (Divacara bhat't'a) expressly 

 says, that this text of the Fedd reUtes to the order 



of 



