Astronomical Computation of the Age of the Vedas 

           
How old is the Vedic Civilization?

Also known as Prajapati, the Mriga Sira constellation is the base for the computation for the Astro Dating of Vedic Age by Bal Gangadhar Tilak in his magnum opus, Orion, the Arctic Home in the Vedas.

                                      

The Head of Orion or Mriga is Mriga Sira, the constellation of Makeeyam, Lambda Orionis ! The Vedas mention that the Vernal Equinox was in Orion or Mriga Sira ! The Vernal Equinox was in Zero degree Aries in 286 CE. The Vernal Equinoctial Point is at 6 degree Pisces now. The Precession of the Equinoxes is 72 years per degree.

What is the Precession of the Equinoxes ?

 

                               

 

The wobble of the Earth around its Axis. Also known as Axial Precession. The occurrence of Equinoxes becomes earlier in sidereal year, due to the retrograding or precessing motion of Equinocital Points along the Earth's Path or Ecliptic.  

The Vernal Equinoctial Point precedes, retrogrades or moves backward one degree in every 72 years.

How can we know when the VEP was in Orion or Mriga Sira, now that it is in 6 deg Pisces ?  

 

It can be calculated like this.

The angular distance from Zero Point, Zero Degree Aries to the 53.33 deg of Orion or Mriga = 53.33 deg

Degrees traversed in Pisces = 30 -  6 = 24

So total degrees traversed 53.33 + 24 = 77.33 degrees.

So 77.33 * 72 = 5567 years old is the Vedic Civilization !

 

                             

( Mriga Sira starts from 53.33 degrees in the Zodiac ).

No	Constellation	Indian Name	Deg/Min	Deg/Min
1	Beta Arietis	Aswini	00 00	13 20
2	41 Arietis	Bharani	13 20	26 40

3	Eta Tauri	Karthika	26 40	40 00
4	Alpha Tauri	Rohini	40 00	53 20
5	Lambda Orionis	Mrigasira	53 20	66 40