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

MONTHS AND SEASONS. 173 Turning to the hymns of the Ṛig-Veda, we find as remark- ed by Muir, the phrase yuge yuge used at least in half a dozen places (III, 26, 3; VI, 15, 8; X, 94, 12, &c.), and it is interpreted by Sâyaṇa to mean a period of time. In III, 33, 8, and X, 10, 10, we have uttara yugáni 'later ages,' and in X, 72, 1, we read uttare yuge 'in a later age'; whilst in the next two verses we have the phrases Devânâm pûrvye yuge and Devânâm prathame yuge clearly referring to the later and earlier ages of the gods. The word Devânâm is in the plural and yuga is in the singular, and it is not therefore possible to take the phrase to mean 'generations of gods.' The context again clearly shows that a reference to time is intended, for the hymn speaks of the creation and the birth of the gods in early primeval times. Now if we interpret Devânâm yugam to mean 'an age of gods,' why should manushyâ yugâni or mânushâ yugâ be not interpreted to mean 'human ages,' is more than I can understand. There are again express passages in the Ṛig-Veda where mânushâ yugâ cannot be taken to mean 'generations of men.' Thus in V, 52, 4, which is a hymn to Maruts, we read Vishve ye mânushâ yugâ pânti martyam rishaḥ. Here the verb is pânti (protect), the nominative vishve ye (all those), and the object is martyam (the mortal man), while rishaḥ (from injury), in the ablative, denotes the object against which the protection is sought. So far the sentence, therefore, means "All those who protect man from injury"; and now the question is, what does mânushâ yugâ mean? If we take it to mean "genera- tions of men" in the objective case it becomes superfluous, for martyam (man) is already the object of pânti (protect). It is, therefore, necessary to assign to mânushâ yugâ the only other meaning we know of, viz., 'human ages' and take the phrase as an accusative of time. Thus interpreted the whole sentence means "All those, who protect man from injury during human ages." No other construction is more natural