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

96 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. morn. The Western scholars have not made any improve- ment on these explanations; and Prof. Max Muller is simply content with observing that the Vedic bards, when speaking of the dawn, did sometimes use the plural just as we would use the singular number! But a little reflection will show that neither of these explanations is satisfactory. If the plural is honorific why is it changed into singular only a few lines after in the same hymn? Surely the poet does not mean to address the Dawn respectfully only at the outset, and then change his manner of address and assume a familiar tone. This is not, however, the only objection to Yâska's explanation. Various similes are used by the Vedic poets to describe the appearance of the Dawns on the horizon, and an examination of these similes will convince any one that the plural number, used in reference to the Dawn, cannot be merely honorific. Thus in the second line of I, 92, 1, the Dawns are compared to a number of 'warriors' (dhṛishṇavah), and in the third verse of the same hymn they are likened to 'women (nārīḥ) active in their occupations.' They are said to appear on the horizon like 'waves of waters' (apām na urmayha) in VI, 64, 1; or like 'pillars planted at a sacrifice' (adhvareshu svaravaḥ) in IV, 51, 2. We are again told that they work like 'men arrayed' (visho na yuktāḥ), or advance like 'troops of cattle' (gavām na sargāḥ), in VII, 79, 2, and IV, 51, 8, respectively. They are described as all 'alike' (sadṛiśhīḥ); and are said to be of 'one mind' (sañjānanāse), or 'acting harmoniously' in IV, 51, 6, and VII, 76, 5. In the last verse the poet again informs us that they 'do not strive against each other' (mithah na yatante), though they live jointly in the 'same enclosure' (samāne urve). Finally in X, 88, 18, the poet distinctly asks the question, "How many fires, how many suns and how many dawns (ushāsaḥ) are there?" If the Dawn were addressed in plural simply