Once more dinakshaya-sam.kraanti

[Luis Gonzalez-Reimann]

At 01:09 PM 04/12/2002 +0000, Mahes Raj Pant wrote:

> Is not correct that when winter solstice occures days
>start being longer day by day?

Yes, that is correct. The day of the winter solstice is the shortest day (and
the longest night) of the year. From there until the summer solstice, days get
longer and nights shorter.
On the day of the winter solstice the point of sunrise is as far to the south,
that is to the right, of an observer looking East as it gets; the Sun then
starts rising a little bit more to the north, that is to the left, every day
until it reaches its northernmost point of sunrise in the summer solstice (the
longest day and the shortest night).That is why the period from winter to
summer solstice is callled "the movement towards the north,"
uttarAyaNa/udagAyana; while that from the summer to the winter solstice is the
"movement towards the south," dakSiNAyana. This is so in the northern
hemisphere.

By the way, the point of sunrise doesn't move at the same speed throughout the
year, it moves faster around the equinoxes (when the Sun rises due East) and
slows almost to a standstill (sol-stitium, in Latin) as it approaches the
solstices. An understanding of this seems to be reflected in a verse of the
MahAbhArata (13.143.4) in which BhISma, while waiting for the Sun to turn
north
(that is, for the winter solstice to arrive) points out that the Sun is not
moving fast, implying that the time of the solstice is near.

Best,

Luis González-Reimann