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

128 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. easily fordable " to the worshipper (nah sutarâ bhava). In the Parishishṭa, which follows this hymn in the Ṛig-Veda, and which is known as Rātri-sûkta or Durgā-stava, the worshipper asks the Night to be favourable to him, exclaiming “May we reach the other side in safety ! May we reach the other side in safety !"* In the Atharva-Veda, XIX, 47, which is a reproduction, with some variations, of the above Parishishṭa, the second verse runs thus : “Each moving thing finds rest in her (Night), whose yonder boundary is not seen, nor that which keeps her separate. O spacious, darksome Night ! May we,uninjured, reach the end of thee, reach, O thou blessed one, thine end !" And in the third verse of the 50th hymn of the same book the worshippers ask that they may pass uninjured in their body, “through each succeeding night, (rātrim rātrim)." Now a question is naturally raised why should every one be so anxious about safely reaching the other end of the night ? And why should the poet exclaim that “its yonder boundary is not seen, nor what keeps it separate ?” Was it because it was an ordinary winter night, or, was it because it was the long Arctic night ? Fortunately, the Taittirīya Saṁhitâ preserves for us the oldest traditional reply to these questions, and we need not, therefore, depend upon the speculations of modern commentators. In the Taittirīya Saṁhitâ I, 5, 5, 4,† we

• The 4th verse in the Râtri-Sûkta is:—प्रपद्येऽहं शिवां रात्रीं भद्रे पारमशीमहि भद्रे पारमशीमहि। The Atharva-Veda, XIX, 47, 2, — न यस्याः पारं ददृशे न योयुवद्विश्वमत्वां नि विशते यदेजति। अरिष्टांसस्त उर्वि तम- स्वति रात्रि पारमशीमहि भद्रे पारमशीमहि॥ Ibid, XIX, 50,3,— रात्रिं रात्रिम- रिष्यन्तस्तरेम तन्वा वयम् । † Taitt Sam. 1, 5, 5, 4,— चित्रावसो स्वस्त ते पारमशीव ॥ Taitt, Sam. 1,5,7,5,— चित्रावसो स्वस्ति ते पारमशीयेत्त्वाह । रात्रिर्वै चित्रावसुर्- व्युष्ट्यै वा एतस्यै पुरा ब्राह्मणा अभैषुः ॥ Sâyaṇa thus explains the passage हेमन्तर्तौ रात्रेर्दीर्घत्वेन प्रभातं न भविष्यत्येवेति कदाचिद् ब्राह्मणा भीता अतः पारमशीवेति प्रार्थनया प्रभातं लभते ।