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

146 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. Dakshiṇá remains, and the only explanation at present suggested is that Dakshiṇá means ‘skilful’ or ‘expert.’ A better way to explain these phrases is to make them refer to the southerly direction ; and after what has been said above such an explana- tion will seem to be highly probable. It is, of course, necessary to be critical in the interpretation of the Vedic hymns, but I think that we shall be carrying our critical spirit too far, if we say that in no passage in the Ṛig-Veda dakshiṇá or its derivatives are used to denote the southerly direction (I, 95, 6 ; II, 42, 3). Herodotus informs us (IV, 42) that certain Phœnician mariners were com- manded by Pharoah Neco, king of Egypt, to sail round Lybia (Africa) and return by the Pillars of Hercules (Straits of Gibralter). The mariners accomplished the voyage and returned in the third year. But Horodotus disbelieves them, because, on their return they told such (to him incredible) stories, that in rounding Lybia they saw the sun to their right. Herodotus could not believe that the sun would ever appear in the north ; but he little thought that what was incredible to him would itself be regarded as indisputable evidence of the authenticity of the account in later days. Let us take a lesson from this story, and not interpret dakshiṇá, either by ‘right-hand side’ or by ‘largess,’ in every passage in the Ṛig-Veda. There may not be distinct passages to show that the sun, or the dawn, came from the south. But the very fact that Uṣhas is called Dakshiṇá (I, 123, 1 ; X, 107, 1), and the sun, the son of Dakshiṇá (III, 58, 1), is itself very suggestive, and possibly we have here phrases which the Vedic bards employed because in their days these were old and recognised expressions in the language. Words, like fossils, very often preserve the oldest ideas or facts in a language; and though Vedic poets may have forgotten the original meaning of these phrases, that is no reason why we should refuse to draw from the history of these words such conclusions