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

152 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. number of the months of sunshine would be the chief peculiarity of the Arctic sacrificial calendar, and we must bear it in mind in examining the traces of the oldest calendar in the Ṛig-Veda, or other Saṁhitâs. A dawn of thirty days, as we measure days, implies a position so near the North Pole, that the period of sunshine at the place could not have been longer than about seven months, comprising, of course, a long day of four or five months, and a succession of regular days and nights during the remaining period; and we find that the Ṛig-Veda does preserve for us the memory of such months of sunshine. We refer first to the legend of Aditi, or the seven Âdityas (suns), which is obviously based on some natural phenomenon. This legend expressly tells us that the oldest number of Âdityas or suns was seven, and the same idea is independently found in many other places in the Ṛig-Veda. Thus in IX, 114, 3, seven Âdityas and seven priests are men- tioned together, though the names of the different suns are not given therein. In II, 27, 1, Mitra, Aryaman, Bhaga, Varuṇa, Dakṣha and Aṁsha are mentioned by name as so many dif- ferent Âdityas, but the seventh 'is not named. This omission does not, however, mean much, as the septenary character of the sun is quite patent from the fact that he is called saptâ- shva (seven-horsed) in V, 45, 9, and his 'seven-wheeled' chariot is said to be drawn by 'seven bay steeds' (I, 50, 8), or by a single horse 'with seven names' in I, 164, 2. The Atharva Veda also speaks of "the seven bright rays of the sun" (VII, 107, 1); and the epithet Âditya, as applied to the sun in the Ṛig-Veda, is rendered more clearly by Aditeḥ putraḥ (Aditi's son) in A. V. XIII, 2, 9. Sâyaṇa, following Yâska, derives this seven-fold character of the sun from his seven rays; but why solar rays were taken to be seven still re- mains unexplained, unless we hold that the Vedic bards had anticipated the discovery of seven prismatic rays or colours,