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

xiv CONTENTS. PAGE dicates a period of total darkness—Similar Greek traditions —Norse Twilight of the Gods —The idea of half-yearly day and night of the Gods thus proved to be not only Indo-Iranian, but Indo-Germanic —A sure indication of an original Polar home. - 61 CHAPTER V. THE VEDIC DAWNS. Dawn-hymns the most beautiful in the Ṛig-Veda—The Deity fully described, unobscured by personification—First hints about the long duration of dawn —Recitation of a thousand verses, or even the whole Ṛig-Veda, while the dawn lasts—Three or five-fold divison of the dawn—Both imply a long dawn—The same in- ferred from the two words Ushas and Vyushṭi—Three Ṛig-Vedic passages about long dawns, hitherto misunderstood, discussed— Long interval of several days between the first appearance of light and sunrise—Expressly mentioned in the Ṛig-Veda, VII, 76, 3—Sâyaṇa's explanation artificial and unsatisfactory —Existence of many dawns before sunrise—Reason why dawn is addressed in the plural in the Ṛig-Veda—The plural address not honorific— Nor denotes dawns of consecutive days—Proves a team of conti- nuous dawns—The last view confirmed by the Taittirîya Saṁ- hitâ, IV, 3, 11--Dawns as 30 sisters—Direct authority from the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa for holding that they were continuous or un- separated—Sâyaṇa's explanation of 30 dawns examined—Thirty dawns described as thirty steps of a single dawn—Rotatory motion of the dawn, like a wheel, directly mentioned in the Ṛig-Veda—Their reaching the same appointed place day by day —All indicate a team of thirty closely-gathered dawns—Results summed up—Establish the Polar character of the Vedic dawns —Possible variation in the duration of the Vedic dawn—The legend of Indra shattering the Dawn's car explained—Direct passages showing that the dawns so described were the events of a former age—The Vedic Dawns Polar in character. . 80 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER V. The Thirty Dawns. . . . . . 113