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

CONTENTS. xv PAGE CHAPTER VI. LONG DAY AND LONG NIGHT. Independent evidence about the long night—Vṛitra living in long darkness—Expressions denoting long darkness or long night— Anxiety to reach the end of darkness—Prayers to reach safely the other end of night—A night, the other boundary of which was not known according to the Atharva Veda—The Taittirīya Saṁhitâ explains that these prayers were due to fears entertained by the ancient priests that the night would not dawn—Not caused by long winter nights as supposed by Sâyaṇa—Description of days and nights in the Ṛig-Veda—Divided into two typical pairs —One described as bright, dark and virûpe—Virûpe means 'of varying lengths' and not 'of various colours'—Second pair, Ahanî, different from the first—Durations of days and nights on the globe examined—Ahanî can only be a couple of the long Arc- tic day and night—Described as forming the right and left, or the opposite sides of the Year in the Taittirīya Âraṇyaka—The sun is described in the Ṛig-Veda as unyoking his car in the midst of the sky—And thereby retaliating Dâsa's mischief—Represents the long day and the long night—Summary of evidence regarding long day and long night—Uṣhas and Sûrya as Dakṣhiṇâ and Dakshiṇa's son—Probably imply the southerly course of both. . 123 CHAPTER VII. MONTHS AND SEASONS. Evidence of rejected calendar generally preserved in sacrificial rites by conservative priests—Varying number of the months of sunshine in the Arctic region—Its effect on sacrificial sessions considered —Seven-fold character of the sun in the Vedas—The legend of Aditi—She presents her seven sons to the gods and casts away the eighth—Various explanations of the legend in the Brâhmaṇas and the Taittirīya Âraṇyaka—Twelve suns understood to be the twelve month-gods in later literature—By analogy seven suns must have once indicated seven months of sunshine—Different suns were believed to be necessary to produce different seasons— Aditi's legend belongs to the former age, or pûrvyam yugam