वेदों की प्राचीनता एवं काल-निर्णय / ओरायन (लोकमान्य बाल गंगाधर तिलक - खगोलीय वैदिक शोध)

THE NIGHT OF THE GODS. 73 and the Airyana Vaejo were both located in the Arctic or Circum-Polar regions, and that the passage in the Taittirīya Brâhmaṇa also refers to the Polar year. The fact that the statement is found both in the Iranian and the Indian literature further negatives the probability of its being a fabrication from mathematical calculation. Nor can we suppose that both the branches of the Aryan race became acquainted with this fact simply by an effort of unassisted imagination, or that it was a mere metaphor. The only remaining alternative is to hold, as Sir Charles Lyell* has remarked, that the tradition was "founded on the observation of Nature." It is true, that the statement, or anything similar to it, is not found in the Ṛig-Veda; but it will be shewn later on that there are many other passages in the Ṛig-Veda which go to corroborate this statement in a remarkable way by referring to other Polar characteristics. I may, however, mention here the fact that the oldest Vedic year appears to have been divided only into two portions, the Devayâna and the Pitṛiyâna, which originally corresponded with the Uttarâyaṇa and the Dakshiṇâ- yana, or the day and the night of the Gods. The word Devayâna occurs several times in the Ṛig-Veda Saṁhitâ, and denotes 'the path of the Gods. Thus in the Ṛig-Veda, I, 72, 7, Agni is said to be cognizant of the Devayâna road, and in Ṛig. I, 183, 6, and 184, 6, the poet says, "We have, O Ashvins ! reached the end of dark- ness; now come to us by the Devayâna road."† In VII, 76, 2, we again read, "The Devayâna path has become visible to me... The banner of the Dawn has appeared in the east." Passages like

• See Elements of Geology, 11th Ed., Vol. I, p. 8. † Ṛig. I. 183, 6,—अतारिष्म तम॑सस्पारमस्य प्रति वां स्तोमो अश्विनाव- धायि । एह यात॑ पथिभिर्देवयानैः ॥ Ṛig. VII, 76, 2,—प्र मे पंथा देवयाना अदृश्रन्.....अभूदु केतुरुषसः पुरस्तात् ।