[73] At p. 48 he quotes authorities in favour of the Ekâṣhṭakā (day) in this passage meaning the 8th day of the dark half of Mâgha. “1^{st}, that in the days of the Taittirîya Sanhitâ the winter solstice occurred before the eighth day of the dark half of Mâgha ... and that throughout the whole passage the intention of sacrificing at the beginning (real, constructive, or traditional) of the year is quite clear: ... 2^{nd}, that the year then commenced with the winter solstice”: “3^{rd}, that as there can not be three real beginnings of the year, at an interval of one month each, the passage must be understood as recording a tradition about the Chitrâ full moon and the Phalgunī full moon being once considered as the first days of the year.” This is B. G. Tilak’s conclusion; merely judging from the _translation_, the passage might, as it seems to me, be understood as unreservedly recommending the full-moon of Chaitra as the most suitable for the beginning of the sacrifice, for in the text of the Taittirîya Sanhitâ it is said of it, “It has no fault whatsoever.” But in whichever sense the words are understood, this passage from the Yajur Veda may be set against the hymns and lists in the Yajur and Atharva Vedas, above alluded to,[74] in which Krittikā is celebrated in the first, and Aswinī in the twenty-seventh place. [74] V. p. 94. The fact that the evidence as to the beginning of the year “in the days of the Taittirîya Sanhitâ,” is, as it seems, so uncertain, and so contradictory to the opinion based on the hymn in the Taittirîya Brāhmana concerning Krittikā being the leader of the Nakshatras, seems to add interest to the question whether there are, or are not, indications in the Rig Veda that the Indian year was counted from the same point on the ecliptic as at present?[75] [75] At present the month Chaitra in most parts of India is the first month of the Hindu year. The beginning of the year is measured by the return of the sun to the same point in the Zodiac: at present the beginning of the Lunar Mansion Aswinī. (See _Indian Calendar_, p. 45.) And at once, as it seems to me, on turning to the Rig Veda, on page after page, such indications are to be met with. The first Nakshatra in the Indian series is named Aswinī (Aswins). The two chief stars in that Nakshatra are the twin stars, as they may fairly be called, α and β Arietis--stars of almost equal radiance. The joyous hymns addressed to the twin heroes, the Aswins, I would claim as new-year hymns composed in honour of these _stars_, whose appearance before sunrise heralded the approach of the great festival-day of the Hindu new year.