Re: [INDOLOGY] Brahmā in early Vedic materials?

[jmdelire]

Dear Bill,

You must be right when saying that "the 28-nakṣatra system may also 
likely postdate the 27 one". Actually, the Vedāṅga-jyotiṣa (VJ), which 
has only 27 n., uses the beginning of n.Śravişţhā and the middle of 
n.Āśleşā as winter and summer solstices respectively, which places the 
astronomical data of the VJ around 1150 BC. The Gargasaṃhitā and the 
Paitāmahasiddhānta, summarized by Varāhamihira, are similar, but the 
jain works Jyotiṣakaraņḍa and Sūryaprajñapti replace n.Śravişţā by 
n.Śravaņa and add n.Abhijit (Vega) to the zodiac. On the other hand, the 
Sūryaprajñapti puts the winter solstice at the beginning of n.Abhijit, 
which makes a difference of 17,3° with the beginning of n. Śravişţhā 
(VJ), that is 1246 years after VJ (see G.Thibaut, « On the 
Sūryaprajñapti », JASB (1880), p.117).

Best,

Jean Michel Delire,
Lecturer on Science and Civilization of India - Sanskrit Texts at the 
IHEB (University of Brussels)



Le 22.06.2019 11:05, Christophe Vielle via INDOLOGY a écrit :
> Dear Bill, Maybe there is something in J. Gonda's work
> Prajāpati's relations with Brahman, Bṛhaspati and Brahmā,
> Amsterdam: North Holland Publishing Company, 1989 (Verhandelingen der
> Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afd. Letterkunde)
> http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/DL/publications/PU00010269.pdf [3]
> Best wishes
> Christophe
> 
>> Le 22 juin 2019 à 00:36, Bill Mak via INDOLOGY
>> <indology at list.indology.info> a écrit :
>> 
>> Dear colleagues,
>> 
>> I wonder if anyone could point me to any recent research on the
>> history of Brahmā as a deity in early Vedic (pre-Buddhist) sources.
>> I am aware of Bailey’s The mythology of Brahmā, where he
>> described his origin as the apotheosization of the brahmā priest in
>> the śrauta sacrifice. I am also aware of Thieme’s very thorough
>> study on the _Bráhman _in his _Kleine Schriften_ (Teil I), where
>> the the original senses and etymology as in RV are discussed. I am
>> however still somewhat puzzled about the presence of Brahmā as a
>> deity in the early Vedic saṃhitās.
>> 
>> This puzzle came about when I was going through the list of _
>> nakṣatras_ in all the Vedic sources, which give either 27 or 28.
>> The difference between 27 and 28 lies in the _nakṣatra_ _Abhijit_,
>> which is always associated with Brahmā. If Brahmā has a late
>> origin, it is likely then an interpolation, and the 28-nakṣatra
>> system may also likely postdate the 27 one. But before I proceed on
>> this line of analysis, I would appreciate it if anyone could
>> enlighten me on Brahmā as an deity in the early Vedic sources,
>> along with the most updated references on studies on the early Vedic
>> deities.
>> 
>> Best regards,
>> 
>> Bill Mak
>> 
>> -- Bill M. Mak
>> 
>> Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University
>> Yoshidahonmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto
>> Japan
>> 
>> [from Oct 2019]
>> Needham Research Institute,
>> 8 Sylvester Road,
>> Cambridge, U.K.
>> 
>> copies of my publications may be found at:
>> http://www.billmak.com [1]
>> 
>> http://kyoto-u.academia.edu/BillMak [2]
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> 
>  –––––––––––––––––––
>  Christophe Vielle [4]
>  Louvain-la-Neuve
> 
> 
> 
> Links:
> ------
> [1] http://www.billmak.com/
> [2] http://kyoto-u.academia.edu/BillMak
> [3] http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/DL/publications/PU00010269.pdf
> [4] https://uclouvain.be/en/directories/christophe.vielle
> 
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