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

120 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. the fifteen, have a common head, directed to one world. 12. The first dawn (is) the child of Ṛita, one upholds the greatness of Waters, one moves in the regions of Sûrya, one (in those) of Gharma (fire), and Savitṛi rules one. 13. That, which dawned first, has become a cow in Yama's realm. Rich in milk, may she milk for us each succeeding year. 14. The chief of the bright, the omniform, the brindled, the fire-bannered has come, with light, in the sky. Working well towards a common goal, bearing (signs of) old age, (yet) O unwasting! O Dawn! thou hast come. 15. The wife of the seasons, this first has come, the leader of days, the mother of children. Though one, O Dawn! thou shinest manifoldly; though unwasting, thou causest all the rest to grow old (decay). (blossomy) in Vasanta ( spring ), tâpa-vatî (heated) in Grîṣhma (Summer), vṛiṣhṭi-vatî (showery) in Varṣhâ (Rains), jala-prasâda-vatî ( clear- watered) in Sharad (Autumn), and shaitya-vatî (cold) in Hemanta-Shishira (Winter). The seasons are taken as five by combining Hemanta and Shishira into one. The fifteen: The fifteen-fold Stoma, called pañcha-dasha, ( See Haug's Trans. Ait. Br. p. 238). 13. Each succeeding year: This shows that the dawn here de- scribed is the first dawn of the year. In Ṛig. I, 33, 10, light (cows) is said to be milked from darkness. 14. Working well towards a common goal: compare Ṛig. III, 61, 3, where, the Dawn "wending to one and the same goal" is asked to "turn on like a wheel." Bearing (signs of) old age: I construe jarâm bibhratî and yet ajare. Sâyaṇa takes svapasya-mânâ (working well) as an independent adjective; and connects bibhratî with artham, and jarâm with agâḥ. The meaning would then be "Working well, having a common end, O unwasting Dawn! thou hast reached old age." But it does not make any appreciable change in the general sense of the verse. 15. Though one...shinest manyfoldly shows that only one con- tinuous dawn, though made up of many parts, is described in this hymn. Leader of days, mother of children—the epithets ahnâm netrî and gavâm mâtâ are also found used in the Ṛig-Veda, VII, 77, 2.