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

MONTHS AND SEASONS. 169 sense. The Navagvas and the Dashagvas were no doubt the most important of the early sacrificers, but these too were not their only species. In other words they were not merely ‘nine-going,’ and ‘ten-going,’ but ‘various-going’ (virûpas), meaning that the duration of their sacrifices was sometimes shorter than nine and sometimes longer than ten months. In fact a Sapta-gu (seven-going) is mentioned in X, 47, 6, along with Bṛihaspati, the son of Aṅgiras, and it seems to be used there as an adjective qualifying Bṛihaspati; for Bṛihaspati is described in another place (IV, 50, 4) as saptâsya (seven-mouthed), while the Atharva-Veda IV, 6, 1, describes the first Brâhmaṇa, Bṛihas- pati, as dashâsya or ten-mouthed. We have also seen that in IV, 51, 4, the Dashagva is also called ‘seven-mouthed.’ All these expressions can be satisfactorily explained only by supposing that the Aṅgirases were not merely ‘nine-going’ or ‘ten-go- ing,’ but virûpas or ‘various-going,’ and that they completed their sacrifices within the number of months for which the sun was above the horizon at the place where these sacrifices were performed. It follows, therefore, that in ancient times the sacrificial session lasted from seven to ten months; and the number of sacrificers (Hotṛis) corresponded with the number of the months, each doing his duty by rotation somewhat after the manner of the Egyptian priests previously referred to. These sacrifices were over when the long night com- menced, during which Indra fought with Vala and van- quished him by the end of the year (parivatsare, X, 62, 2). The word parivatsare (at the end of the year) is very sug- gestive and shows that the year closed with the long night. Another reference to a period of ten months’ sun-shine is found in the legend of Dîrghatamas whom the Ashvins are said to have saved or rescued from a pit, into which he was thrown, after being made blind and infirm. I have devoted a separate chapter later on to the discussion of