Abstract
The concept of the year’s bipartition is fundamental to the structure of the Vedic
ritual calendar. This division was marked by two key festive occasions: viṣuvat, aligned with
the spring equinox, and mahāvrata, aligned with the winter solstice. During the period in which
the Brahmans developed śrauta ritual forms, the observances on these days were integrated
into the ritual of gavāmayana (literally, “the cow’s path”), a year-long ritual session known as
saṃvatsarasattra. The division of the year into two distinct halves appears intricately connected
to its representation within this extended ritual cycle, influencing the performance of individual
rituals characterized by their “inversion” in the year’s second half. Examining the concept of
“inversion” (āvr̥tti)—understood here as a technical term in the ritual lexicon—proves particularly insightful, especially considering its varied semantic and ritual implications across the
versions documented in Brahmanical literature. These conceptions seem to foreshadow themes
that will later receive more elaborate treatment in the Upaniṣadic texts.
Keywords: Vedic Rituals; Vedic Studies; Ritual Calendar; Gavāmayana Ritual.