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.The transition from the erstwhile urban to the new ruralsettings in the newly settled regions to the east beyond the GaE g is repre-sented by the ranyaka phase of the Vedic literature and it is also alluded.to in the Brhmanas.It was during this phase that the altar ritual lost its.link with astronomy and was transformed.Thus agnihotra was replaced byprna-agnihotra.Later developments focused on the inner space of the indi-.vidual.The fires of the altar have the parallel in the fires inside the body.Asacrifice, yajña, is a recursive system: any given level is based on a transcen-dence of the lower level.This is to be seen not only in life but also withinthe mind, which was viewed as a hierarchical system with systems of the thegross body, prna, manas, vijñna, and nanda.In analysis a dynamic balance between three fundamental categories waspostulated.ZvetÅ›vatara Upanisad39speaks of a balance between red, white,.and black made conscious by purusa; this is repeated in the rajas, sattva,.and tamas of prakrti in SE khya.Clearly, the regions of atmosphere, sky,.and earth correspond to these three.In Vedic society also there is mentionof an original single class that divided into the three brhmana, rjanya, and.vaiÅ›ya.The altars are made in five layers to represent the three regions andthe two intermediate spaces where atmosphere and earth and also atmosphereand sky meet.Paralleling this later a fourth class of Å›kdra was added tothe societal classes to represent the new foundation against which theother classes were defined; the fifth class of sages , who transcended classcategories, was described only indirectly.The texts themselves do not speakwith this directness about the parallels but these are easy enough to infer.Brhadranyaka Upanisad40speaks of three primary constituents.Later.like the expansion of the altar from three to five layers, we come across fiveprimary elements, pancabhktas, earth, water, fire, air, and ether.The three31 doÅ›as or dhtus (humors) vta, pitta, and kapha in the human body likewisedefine a basic tripartite model.But each of these dhtus is taken to havefive types.The observer has a central place in Indian thought, and a considerationof the act of observation leads to the question of the nature of time.Thisquestion eventually leads to a consideration of consciousness and the self.But as the basic science of time, astronomy helps us place the overarchingsystem of knowledge of Vedic times in context.AbbreviationsAA Aitareya ranyaka.AB Aitareya Brhmana.ASS pastamba ZulbasktraAV AtharvavedaBSS Baudhyana ZulbasktraBU Brhadranyaka Upanisad.CU Chndogya Upanisad.KB Kaus%2Å‚taki Brahmana.PB PañcavimÅ›a Brahmana.RV Rgveda.ZB Zatapatha Brhmana.ZU ZvetÅ›vatara Upanisad.TB Taittir%2Å‚ya Brhmana.TS Taittir%2Å‚ya Samhit.VJ VedE ga Jyotisa.Notes1.See, for example, RV 1.25.8.This is described in many passages inother texts such as Kaus%2Å‚taki Brahmana and Zatapatha Brhmana.Specifically the thirteenth intercalary month is mentioned in KB 5.8,7.10, 19.2, 25.11 and ZB 5.4.5.23, 6.2.2.29, 9.1.1.43, 12.8.2.31.Fordetailed references and a general background to this article see S.C.Kak, The Astronomical Code of the Rgveda.Aditya, New Delhi, 1994.32 2.RV 1.164.45.3.ZB 11.5.8 or AB 5.32.4.Although such a technical usage of psychological categories comes laterin SE khya, references in CU 6.4 and ZU 4.5 make it abundantly clearthat these categories are quite old.5.S.C.Kak, Astronomy of the Vedic Altars and the Rigveda , MankindQuarterly, 33, 43-55, 1992; S.C.Kak, Astronomy of the Vedic Altars ,Vistas in Astronomy, 36, 117-140, 1993 and so on.For a detailedbibliography see S.C.Kak, The Astronomical Code of the Rgveda.6.RV 1.164.2 speaks of eko aÅ›vo vahati saptanm; Nirukta 4.27 makesit clear that this horse is the sun; ZB 6.1.11 speaks of the birth fromPrajpati, representing time here, of aÅ›va before that of the earth.7.BSS 7.17, ASS 14.11.For the texts see S.N.Sen and A.K.Bag, TheZulbasktras.Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi, 1983.Thesignificance of its mathematics is described in A.Seidenberg, Theorigin of mathematics, Archive for History of Exact Sciences, 18, 301-342, 1978.8.J.Gonda, The Ritual Sutras.Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 1977.That the ritual had its own grammar is described in F.Staal, RulesWithout Meaning: Ritual, Mantras and the Human Sciences.PeterLang, New York, 1989.9.ZB 10.4.3.9.10.ZB 7.1.1.13 for earth, ZB 7.1.2.12 for space, and ZB 8.2.1,2 for sky orheaven.11.F.E.Pargiter, Ancient Indian Historical Tradition.Oxford UniversityPress, London, 1922.12.B.G.Tilak, The Orion
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