The names of the Hindu months were selected from among those of the
nakshatras, every second or third being taken and the most important
constellations apparently chosen. The following statement shows the
current names for the months, the nakshatras from which they are
derived, and the constellations they represent:
Month. Nakshatra. Constellation.
1. Chait. Chitra. Virgo.
2. Baisakh. Visacha. Libra.
3. Jeth. Jyestha. Scorpio.
4. Asarh. Purva Ashadha. Sagittarius.
Uttara Ashadha.
5. Shrawan. Sravana. Aquila.
6. Bhadon. Purva (E) Bhadrapada. Pegasus.
Uttara (N) Bhadrapada.
7. Kunwar or Aswini. Aries.
Aswin.
8. Kartik. Krittika. Pleiades (Part
of Taurus).
9. Aghan or Mrigasiras. Orion.
Margashir.
10. Pus. Pushya. Cancer.
11. Magh. Magha. Leo.
12. Phagun. Purva (E) Phalguni. Leo.
Uttara (N) Phalguni.
Thus if the Pleiades are reckoned as part of Taurus, [221] eight
zodiacal signs give their names to months as well as Orion, Pegasus
and Aquila, while two months are included in Leo. It appears that
in former times the year began with Pus or December, as the month
Margashir was also called Aghan or Agrahana, or 'That which went
before,' that is the month before the new year. But the renewal
of vegetation in the spring has exercised a very powerful effect
on the primitive mind, being marked by the Holi festival in India,
corresponding to the Carnival in Europe. The vernal equinox was thus
perhaps selected as the most important occasion and the best date
for beginning the new year, which now commences in northern India
with the new moon of Chait, immediately following the Holi festival,
when the sun is in the sign of Mesha or Aries. At first the months
appear to have travelled round the year, but subsequently they were
fixed by ordaining that the month of Chait should begin with the new
moon during the course of which the sun entered the sign Aries. [222]
The constellation Chitra, from which the sign is named, is nearly
opposite to this in the zodiac, as shown by the above figure. [223]
Consequently, the full moon, being nearly opposite the sun on the
ecliptic, would be in the sign Chitra or near it. In southern India
the months begin with the full moon, but in northern India with the
new moon; it seems possible that the months were called after the
nakshatra, of the full moon to distinguish them from the solar months
which would be called after the sign of the zodiac in which the sun
was. But no authoritative explanation seems to be available. Similarly,
the nakshatras after which the other months are named, fall nearly
opposite to them at the new moon, while the full moon would be in or
near them.