KNOWLEDGE FROM COSMOS

    The ORION Or research onto The Antiquity of the Vedas Chapters I and II Introduction Sacrifices alias the year The author introduces the subject and highlights the need to ascertain the age of the Vedas. European oriental scholars, in their treatises on the subject, have used their methods and their interpretation of texts to determine the age/ antiquity of the Vedas. Tilak highlights the defects in adopting the Literary/ Linguist methods used by Max Muller, Dr Haug and Professor Wilson. These scholars have divided the Vedic literature into 4 periods, namely Chhandas, Mantra, Brahmana and Sutras. These scholars assign a duration of 100/200/500/1000 years to each period, thus arriving at an estimated antiquity ranging from 1200 to 2400 BCE. Other European orientalists have placed the age around 2000 BCE based on their interpretation of Aitreya Brahman, Vedang Jyotish, Vedic and other Puranic texts.  Mr Dhruva, who also submitted a similar essay to the...

 Tradition of Pitru Paksha/Shradh  As per the Hindu calendar, Pitru paksha or Shradh fortnight is observed during Krishna paksha of the lunar month of Bhadrapad (immediately after Ganesh Utsav) for those following the Amanta system. For those following the Purnimanta system (For North, East India and Nepal) it will be the lunar month of Ashwini, Shukla paksha. It begins on the Pratipada (first day of the fortnight) and ends with the no-moon day known as सर्वापित्री अमावस्या, Pitri Amavasya, Peddala Amavasya, Mahalaya Amavasya. Rituals associated with Pitru paksha/Shradh, are mentioned in Rgved and are observed to this day, with changes and modifications.  But why was this month and date selected and not any other? As I had said most of our Hindu festivals/ rituals are based on celestial events, indicating a change of season/Ritu/elapsed time and actions to be taken by all given the cosmic event and what to expect further.  This was a method of timekeeping, by perform...

  Brief Summary of the Book The Orion Or research onto The Antiquity of Vedas Tilak states that the high antiquity of the Egyptian civilization is an accepted fact. However, the scholars hesitated to accept the antiquity of Vedic Civilization earlier than 2400 BCE. He has tried, to show and explain in this book, that the traditions recorded in the Rgved point to a period around 4000 BCE, when the vernal equinox was in Orion (The Dog Star), or when the Dog-star commenced the equinoctial year. He reasons how legends corroborated in later Sanskrit works are corroborated by the legends of Iran and Greece. He has placed all this evidence, in the form of explanations and interpretations of various texts, quoted by him. He has used the astronomical method for his interpretation of the Sanskrit texts. He has not touched upon the antiquity of the epic texts the Ramayan and Mahabharat, as he found that some accounts in the Puranas are conflicting. He discusses how time was docume...

  The ORION Or research onto The Antiquity of the Vedas Preface to Summary and Book Review This book was written by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and published in 1893, is a work of extensive research carried out by him, in giving out his explanation of the antiquity of the Vedas. He was inspired by Lord Krishna’s statement, while reading Bhagwat Gita, which led him to inquire into the ancient Vedic calendar. He clarifies that this research paper was originally written for the Ninth Oriental Congress held in London in 1892. However the document was too lengthy to be presented and, hence only a summary was inserted in the proceedings. This research paper he later published as a book in 1893. In the course of his four year research, prior to the publication of this book, he studied and referred the works of numerous scholars, Vedic scriptures, texts, their essays. Tilak in his quest to recognize the Indian Antiquity puts forth his research work way back in 1893 and analysing the ve...