Abstract:
Taking guidance from Vedanga jyotis, it is found that in ancient India the sacrificial year started near the winter solstice. As the position of the winter solstice retrogrades by 1 degree in about 71 years due to the phenomenon of precession, references to the solar and lunar positions at the beginning of the year in the vedic literature allow one to trace the antiquity of the various Vedic epochs backwards upto about 7000 BC.
