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

176 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.

or, at least, that was one of its meanings in early days. The Ṛig-Veda often speaks of 'the first' (prathamâ) dawn, or 'the first of the coming' (âyatînâm prathamâ) dawns, (Ṛig. I, 113, 8; 123, 2; VII, 76, 6; X, 35, 4); while 'the last' (avamâ) dawn is mentioned in VII, 71, 3, and the dawn is said to have 'the knowledge of the first day' in I, 123, 9. Now, independently of what I have said before about the Vedic dawns, the ordinal numeral 'first' as- applied to the dawn is intelligible only if we suppose it to refer to the first dawn of the year, or the dawn on the first day of the year, somewhat like the phrase 'first night' (prathamâ râtriḥ) used in the Brâhmaṇas (see Orion, p. 67). The 'first' (prathamâ) and the 'last' (avamâ) dawn must, therefore, be- taken to signify the beginning and the end of the year in those days; and in the light of what has been said about the nature of the Vedic dawns in the fifth chapter, we may safely conclude that the 'first' of the dawns was no other than the first of a set or group of dawns that appeared at the- close of the long night and commenced the year. Now this 'first dawn' is described as "wearing out human ages" (praminatî manushyâ yugâni) in I, 124, 2, and I, 92, 11; while in I, 115, 2, we are told that "the pious or godly men extend the yugas" on the appearance of the dawn (yatra naro devayanto yugâni vitanvate). European scholars inter- pret yuga in the above passages to mean 'generations of men.' But apart from the fact that the phrase mânusha yugâ must be understood to mean 'human ages' in at least two passages discussed above, the context in I, 124, 2 and I, 92, 11 is obviously in favour of interpreting the word yuga, oc- curring therein, as equivalent to a period of time. The dawn is here described as commencing a new course of heaven- ly ordinances, or holy sacrifices (daivyani vratâni), and set- ting in motion the manushyâ yugâni, obviously implying that with the first dawn came the sacrifices, as well as the