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

LONG DAY AND LONG NIGHT. 139 Ahans of different forms, thou art like Dyau. Thou, O Self- dependent ! protectest all magic powers, O Pûṣhan ! let thy bounty be here auspicious.'* The verse, or the Mantra, here referred to is Ṛig. VI, 58, 1. Pûṣhan is there compared to Dyau and is said to have two forms, dark and bright, like the Ahanî. These dark and bright forms of Ahanî are said to constitute the right and the left side of the Year-God, that is, the two opposite parts of the body of the personified year. In other words the passage clearly states that the dark and the bright part of Ahanî, do not follow each other closely, but are situated on the diametrically opposite sides of the year. This can only be the case if the couple of Day and Night, represent- ed by Ahanî, be taken to denote the long night and the long day in the Arctic regions. There the long night is matched by the long day, and while the one occurs when the sun is at the winter-solstice, the other occurs when he is at the summer-solstice. The two parts of Ahanî are, therefore, very correctly represented as forming the right and the left side of the Year-God in the Âraṇyaka, and the passage thus materially supports the view about the nature of Ahanî mentioned above. Lastly, we have express passages in the Ṛig-veda where a long day is described. In V, 54, 5, an extended daily course (dîrgham yojanam) of the sun is mentioned and the Maruts are said to have extended their strength and greatness in a similar way.† But the most explicit state- ment about the long day is found in X, 138, 3. This

• Taitt. Âraṇyaka, 1, 2, 4,—शुक्लकृष्णे संवत्सरस्य । दक्षिणवामयोः पार्श्वयोः । तस्यैषा भवति । शुक्लं ते अन्यद्यजतं ते अन्यद्विषुरूपे अहनी द्यौरि- वासि । विश्वा हि माया अवसि स्वधावो भद्रा ते पूषन्निह रातिरस्तु । नात्र भुवनं। न पूषा न पशवः । नादित्यः । संवत्सर एव प्रत्यक्षेण प्रियतमं विद्यात् । † Ṛig. V, 54, 5—तद्वीर्यं वो मरुतो महित्वनं दीर्घं ततान सूर्यो न योजनम् ।