Summary - Nakshatras and Upanakshatras by David Frawley

The Vedas show a division of the zodiac into 27 Nakshatras or lunar mansions. That they might have more subtle divisions of the zodiac than 27 should not surprise us. A twentysevenfold division would demand finer divisions for accurate calculations. In this regard Satapatha Brahmana describes Upanakshatras or secondary Nakshatras with each Nakshatra divided into 27 parts equalling a total of approximately 720.

It is generally thought in the West that the zodiac of 360 degrees and 12 signs is an invention of Babylonian thought and was brought to India by the Greeks after the time of Alexander (after 300 BCE). However the Vedas, all the way back to the oldest Rg Veda, contain references to a sun wheel or wheel of heaven divided into 360, 720 and 12, as well as other numbers. Vedic literature describes these divisions as located in "heaven" or the sky. Satapatha Brahmana clearly notes them as "rays" and "directions," giving them a spatial orientation and equates them with the Upanakshatras furthering making them into divisions of a zodiac.

In other words, Satapatha Brahmana presents a zodiac of 720 Upanakshatras equated with the 720 rays and directions that surround the sun. This shows a zodiac divided into 720 parts or 360 X 2. Such a zodiac existed in India at the time of Satapatha Brahmana. While modern scholarship has generally dated this text around 800 BCE, recent new discoveries in India, like that of the Sarasvati river,**1 may push this time back much further. The same text speaks of the vernal equinox in the Krttikas or Pleiades (which occurred around 2000 BCE). Hence it can be suggested that a zodiac of 360 or 720 portions was known in India by this period.

1. Background

In order to establish the background for the concept of Upanakshatras, let us first examine the complexity of Vedic thought in regard to science, astronomy and calendars. The Vedic zodiac is part of a larger system of mathematical thought, and not merely an interpolation, borrowing or an extraneous factor. It is integral to this entire system, particularly for constructing fire altars, which was probably the most important and complex aspect of Vedic thought. Vedic knowledge of the zodiac must be viewed in the context of other carful observations made in that area.

Large Numbers

The Rg Veda (IV.58.3) speaks of the cosmic bull with "four horns, three feet, two heads and seven hands." This has been identified by some as the kalpa number 4,320,000,000, the great age in Vedic astronomy. The Atharva Veda (VIII.2.21) also mentions yugas of 10,000 years in length, "ten thousand, two yugas, three yugas, four yugas," or a total period of 100,000 years. Meanwhile the Yajur Veda (Sukla Yajur Veda XVII.2) relates the universe to the number 1,000,000,000,000, giving names for numbers from one to ten all the way up to this number which is ten to the twelfth power.

According to Satapatha Brahmana X.4.2.25 all the three Vedas amount to "ten thousand eight hundred eighties (of syllables)" or 864,000, the number of muhurtas (48 minute periods or 1/30 of a day) in eighty years. Such numbers show a use of mathematics on a grand scale to understand the universe in which we live, not only in terms of time but in terms of space. This concern for large numbers is well known in later Indian mathematics and astronomy of the classical period.

Small Numbers

Satapatha Brahmana XII.3.2.5 shows a knowledge of very subtle time divisions as well:

"And there are ten thousand and eight hundred 'muhurta' in the year; and fifteen times as many 'kshipras' as there are 'muhurta'; and fifteen times as many 'etarhi' as there are 'kshipra'; and fifteen times as many 'idani' as there are 'etarhi'; and fifteen times as many breathings as there are 'idani'; and as many spirations as there are breathings as there are 'idani'; and as many spirations as there are breathings; and as many twinklings of the eye as there are spirations, and as many hair-pits as there are twinklings of the eye, and as many sweat-pores as there are hair-pits; and as many sweat-pores as there are so many drops it rains."

Similar data occurs in Taittiriya Brahmana as well and is also characteristic of later yogic thought.

Vedic View of Time

Taittiriya Brahmana (III.10.1) gives separate names for the days and nights of the bright half of the moon and their muhurtas, the days and nights of the dark half of the moon and their muhurtas, the twelve bright and twelve dark halves of the month in the year, the thirteen months of the year (including the intercalary month), and a fifteen fold division of muhurtas (muhurtas of muhurtas). These are all connected with various Vedic rituals and with the construction of the Vedic fire altar. This suggests a very strong awareness of time and its calculation.

Vedic time and the Vedic ritual were equated. The rituals were various ways of following the cosmos and its rhythms through time and space. Such a culture needed to have the basis for determining stellar positions.