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

182 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. is furnished by the number of seasons mentioned in certain Vedic texts. A period of sunshine of ten months followed by a long night of two months can well be described as five seasons of two months each, followed by the sinking of the sun into the waters below the horizon; and as a matter of fact we find the year so described in I, 164, 12, a verse, which occurs also in the Atharva Veda (IX, 9, 12,) with a slight variation and in the Prashnopaniṣhad I, 11. It may be literally translated as follows:—"The five-footed (pañcha-pâdam) Father of twelve forms, they say, is full of watery vapours (purîshiṇam) in the farther half (pare ardhe) of the heaven. These others again say (that) He the far-seeing (vichakshaṇam) is placed on the six- spoked (shaḍ are) and seven-wheeled (car), in the nearer (upare, scil. ardhe) half of the heaven."* The adjective 'far-seeing' is made to qualify 'seven-wheeled' instead of 'He' in the Atharva Veda, vichakshaṇe being in the locative case; while Shaṅkarâchârya in his commentary on the Prashnopaniṣhpad splits upare into two words u and pare, taking u as an expletive. But these readings do not materially alter the meaning of the verse. The context everywhere clearly indicates that the year-god of twelve months (âkṛiti, X, 85, 5) is here described. The previous verse in the hymn (Ṛig. I, 164) mentions "The twelve-spoked wheel, in which 720 sons of Agni are established," a clear reference to a year of twelve months with 720 days and nights. There is, therefore,

• Ṛig. I., 164, 12, — पंचपादं पितरं द्वादशाकृतिं दिव आहुः परे अर्धे पुरीषिणम्। अथेमे अन्य उपरे विचक्षणं सप्तचक्रे षळर आहुरर्पितम्॥ For विचक्षणम् A. V. (IX, 9 12,) reads विचक्षणे; while Shaṅkarâchârya in his gloss on Prashnopaniṣhad takes उ and परे as two different words. Shaṅkarâchârya's explanation of परे अर्धे is also noteworthy. He trans- lates it by तृतीयास्यां दिवि, 'in the third heaven,' the seat of the third step of Vishṇu, meaning that the five-footed year-god is then hidden in the remotest part of the heaven.