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

82 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. under the influence of the theory that the plateau of Central Asia was the original home of the Aryan race. Therefore several expressions in the dawn-hymns, which would have otherwise suggested the inquiry regarding the physical or the astronomical character of the Vedic dawn, have been either ignored, or some- how explained away, by scholars, who could certainly have thrown more light on the subject, had they not been under the influence of the assumption mentioned above. It is with passages like these that we are here chiefly concerned, and we shall pre- sently see that if these are interpreted in a natural way, they fully establish the Polar nature of the Vedic dawn. The first hint, regarding the long duration of the Vedic dawn, is obtained from the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa, IV, 7. Before commencing the Gavâm-ayana sacrifice, there is a long recita- tion of not less than a thousand verses, to be recited by the Hotṛi priest. This Ashvina-shastra, as it is called, is addressed to Agni, Uṣhas and Ashvins, which deities rule at the end of the night and the commencement of the day. It is the longest recitation to be recited by the Hotṛi, and the time for reciting it is after midnight, when "the darkness of the night is about to be re- lieved by the light of the dawn," (Nir. XII, 1; Ashv. Shr. Sûtra, VI, 5, 8).* The same period of time is referred to also in the Ṛig-Veda, VII, 67, 2 and 3. The shastra is so long, that the Hotṛi, who has to recite it, is directed to refresh himself by drinking beforehand melted butter after sacrificing thrice a little of it, (Ait. Bṛ. IV, 7; Ashv. Shr. Sûtra, VI, 5, 3). "He ought to eat ghee," observes the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa, "before he commences repeat- ing. Just as in this world a cart or a carriage goes well if smeared (with oil),† thus his repeating proceeds well if he be

• Nir. XII, 1,—तयोः काल ऊर्ध्वमर्धरात्रात्प्रकाशीभावस्यानुविष्टंभम् । † See Haug's Translation of Ait. Br., p. 270.