Page:The Elements of Astronomy.djvu/14

2 meet and the points in it,—by a reference to terrestrial objects,—where the heavenly bodies appeared and disappeared and appeared again in their sojourn, according to almost an immutable law,—if supremely, most impressively inscrutable, as it is even now, in the main. And while, the striking regularity of these phenomena compelled attention, they were so radically bound up with the ordinary experience of man's daily life, that some kind of measurement became almost a necessary part of the very routine of existence, from the earliest ages. Thus, according to Baily, accurate Astronomical observations had been made in India, probably before three thousand B.C., a conclusion which, as we shall presently see is justified on independent evidence. It is, moreover, conceivable that the sacrificial rites described in the Vedas were themselves astronomic in their origin. In any case, as they were regulated by the position of the moon with reference to the stars, they must be held to presuppose accurate Astronomical observations, which had, thus, come to be a religious necessity, so that it is reasonable to argue, a priori, that an extensive Astronomical knowledge obtained in India, even in the Vedic times.


 * 1) But, even in the most primitive nomadic stage, Astronomical measurements, especially that of time in terms of the solar day must have begun,—necessarily, at first, in a very crude form,—though thousands of years must have elapsed before it came to be recognised that the year was the natural unit and thousands of years, longer, before even approximate data were available for taking it to consist of 365 days; yet it is asserted in the book called Chuking (2205 B. C.) that the year was