The ocean of story, being C.H. Tawney's translation of Somadeva's ...

THE WINTER SOLSTICE 19
NOTE 2. THE FESTIVAL OF THE WINTER SOLSTICE
As already intimated (p. 12), Tawney has translated the text wrongly.
The word in question is 'uttarayane, the locative case, which simply means
"at" or "in the northward journey" i.e. the ayana, or "course" beginning
at the winter solstice. There is no word for " festival " at all, but since bathing
in the sacred rivers takes place immediately after the solstice during the
festivity known as the Makara-sahkranti, Tawney has doubtless considered
the addition necessary. He was probably justified; but the text merely says
he was "
bathing at the winter solstice." How Roth, Monier Williams, etc.,
came to call it the "summer solstice" I cannot imagine. Full details of the
sankrantis will be found in Sewell and Dikshit, Indian Calendar, p. 9- The
following is a brief account of the festival from the various sources shown.
Sankranti is the name given to the day on which the sun passes into
a fresh sign of the zodiac, and the Makara corresponds to Capricornus. In
ancient times a twelve nights' celebration was held immediately after the
winter solstice. The period was regarded as sacred, for it was then that
the three Ribhus (Ribhukshan, Vaja and Vibhvan), who by their extreme
skill rose to be the personified seasonal deities, slept. In modern times
the Makara-sankranti forms the chief seasonal festival, corresponding to our
New Year's Day. It is the time for the great pilgrimage to Allahabad and
the annual bath of purification in the sacred rivers of the North. In the
South the corresponding festival is called Pongol,
at which the boiling of the
new rice is watched and regarded as an augury for the New Year. In an
E. Wr .
interesting article (Hastings' Ency. Rel. Eth., vol. v, pp. 868-869)
Hopkins describes the festival " : Cattle are led about decorated with garlands
and treated with veneration. Presents are given to friends at this time,
and general rejoicing takes place. The festival lasts for three days, and is
officially a celebration of the Vedic gods Indra and Agni, with the addition
of the (later) god, Ganesa."
Speaking of the Uttarayana, as observed in Northern India, Crooke states
(Religion fy Folklore of Northern India, 1926, pp. 31-32)
a lucky period for all enterprises ;
that it is considered
while on the other hand, the Dakshindyana,
when the sun moves southwards, is the unlucky season.
"In the Lower Himalaya the January Sankranti is observed by baking
little images of birds made of flour in butter and oil, which are hung on the
children's necks and given next day, the winter solstice, probably with the
intention of passing away evil, to the crows and other birds."
Crooke refers us to Atkinson, Himalayan Districts of the North-Western
Provinces oj India, vol. ii, p. 869 et seq.
Under the heading of" Joshi, Jyotishi, Bhadri, Parsai," " the village priests
and astrologers," Russell (Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces, vol. iii,
p. 26l) discusses the "Sankrants." He says that "the Til Sankrant, or entry
of the sun into Makara or Capricorn, which falls about the 15th January, is
a special festival, because it marks approximately the commencement of the