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

APP. TO CHAP. V—THE THIRTY DAWNS. 121 Taitt. Saṁhitâ V, 3, 4, 7. It was un-distinguished,* neither day nor night. The Gods perceived these dawn-bricks (for the laying of which the 15 verses given above are to be used). They laid them. Then it . shone forth†. Therefore for whom these are laid, it shines forth to him, destroys (his) darkness. REMARKS. It has been previously mentioned that the fifteen verses, quoted above, are used or recited as Mantras at the time of laying down, certain emblematical bricks, called Vyushṭi-ishṭakâs, or dawn-bricks, on the sacrificial altar. But as the Mantras, or verses, used for sacrificial purposes are often taken from different Vedic hymns, these verses are likely to be regarded as unconnec- ted with each other. The account of the thirty dawns, contained therein, however, shews that these verses must have originally formed an entire or one homogeneous hymn. Again if the Mantras had been selected from different hymns, one for each dawn- brick, there would naturally be 16 verses in all, as 16 dawn- bricks are to be laid on the altar. The very fact, that the Anuvâka contains only 15 verses (leaving the sacrificer to select the 16th from elsewhere), therefore, further supports the same view. It is true that some of these verses are found in the Atharva-Veda, either detached or in connection with other subjects. But that does not prevent us from treating the passage in the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, * It was undistinguished : This paragraph, which is found later on in the Saṁhitâ, explains how the dawn-bricks came to be laid with the fifteen verses given above. The portions of the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, which contain such explanations are called Brâhmaṇa. † Then it shone forth : This shews that all the thirty Dawns were understood to have preceded the rise of the sun. I have already quoted (supra p. 100) a passage from Taitt. Brâh. (II, 5, 6, 5), which says . that these dawns were continuous and unseparated.