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

84 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. the Devas had to perform a prāyaschitta because the sun did not shine as expected. Another indication of the long duration of the dawn is furnished by the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, VII, 2, 20.* Seven oblations are here mentioned, one to Uṣhas, one to Vyuṣhṭi, one to Udeshyat, one to Udyat, one to Udita, one to Suvarga and one to Loka. Five of these are evidently intended for the dawn in its five forms. The Tatittirîya Brâhmaṇa (III, 8, 16, 4) explains the first two, viz., to Uṣhas and Vyuṣhṭi, as referring to dawn and sunrise, or rather to night and day, for according to the Brâhmaṇa, “Uṣhas is night, and Vyuṣhṭi is day.”† But even though we may accept this as correct, and take Uṣhas and Vyuṣhṭi to be the representatives of night and day, because the former signalises the end of the night and the latter the beginning of the day, still we have to account for three oblations, viz., one to the dawn about to rise (Udeshyat), one to the rising dawn (Udyat), and one to the dawn that has risen (Uditâ), the first two of which are, according to the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa, to be offered before the rising of the sun. Now the dawn in the tropical zone is so short that the three-fold distinction between the dawn that is about to rise, the dawn that is rising, and one that has risen or that is full-blown (vi-uṣhṭi), is a distinction without a difference. We must, there- fore, hold that the dawn, which admitted such manifold division for the practical purpose of sacrifice, was a long dawn.

• T. S. VII, 2, 20,—उषसे स्वाहा व्युष्ट्यै स्वाहोदेष्यते स्वाहोद्यते स्वाहोदिताय स्वाहा सुवर्गाय स्वाहा लोकाय स्वाहा । † Tait. Br. III, 8, 16, 4, explains the above passage as follows:— उषसे स्वाहा व्युष्ट्यै स्वाहेत्याह । रात्रिर्वा उषाः । अहर्व्युष्टिः । अहोरात्रे एवाव- रुन्धे । अथो अहोरात्रयोरेव प्रतितिष्ठति । ता यदुभयीँर्दिवा वा नक्तं वा जुहुयात् अहोरात्रे मोहयेत् । उषसे स्वाहा व्युष्ट्यै स्वाहोदेष्यते स्वाहोद्यते स्वाहेत्यनुदिते जुहोति । उदिताय स्वाहा सुवर्गाय स्वाहा लोकाय स्वाहेत्युदिते जुहोति ।