Further Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas
By V. H. Vader
Summary
Building on the astronomical theories of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, this article offers additional arguments for dating the earliest Vedic hymns to a remote antiquity. The author summarises Tilak’s view that the sacrificial year once began at the Vernal Equinox in the constellation Punarvasu and that myths of Yama, Yami and the Aśvins encode astronomical events. He then adduces evidence from the Brhaddevata, Nirukta and Brhadaranyaka Upanishad to support the idea that early Vedic people observed an arctic or high‑latitude calendar. Discussion of the zodiacal light, the visibility of the Vasus and the shifting position of the solstices bolsters the claim that the hymns reflect observations from the 6th–5th millennium BC. The article engages with criticism of Tilak’s chronology, arguing that precession and mythological symbolism have been misunderstood by later commentators. By correlating textual references with astronomical calculations, it seeks to push the origin of Vedic ritual well before 2000 BC.
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Conclusion
The author concludes that further astronomical and textual evidence supports Tilak’s thesis of a very ancient Vedic calendar. While the exact dates remain open to debate, the article reinforces the view that the earliest hymns and myths encode observations from an epoch far older than conventional chronologies suppose.