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

THE COWS' WALK. 189 Vala—Shata-râtra represented the maximum duration of the long night—Corroborated by Aditi's legend of seven months' sunshine —Explains why Indra was called 'Shata-kratu in the Purânas— The epithet misunderstood by Western scholars—Similarity between Soma and Ashvamedha sacrifices—The epithet Shata- kratu, unlike other epithets, never paraphrased in the Vedas —Implies that it was peculiar or proper to Indra—Dr. Haug's view that kratu means a sacrifice in the Vedas—Hundred forts or puraḥ (cities) of Vritra—Explained as hundred seats of dark- ness or nights—Legend of Tishtrya's fight with Apaosha in the Avesta—Only a reproduction of Indra's fight with Vritra—Tish- trya's fight described as lasting from one to a hundred nights in the Avesta—Forms an independent corroboration of hundred nightly Soma sacrifices—The phrase sato-karahe found in the Avesta—The meaning and nature of Ati-râtra discussed—Means a trans-nocturnal Soma sacrifice at either end of the long night —Production of the cycle of day and night therefrom—Hence a fitting introduction to the annual Sattras—Marked the close of the long night and the beginning of the period of sunshine— Sattra, Ati-râtra, night-sacrifices and Ati-râtra again thus formed the yearly round of sacrifices in ancient times—Clearly indicate the existence of a long darkness of 100 nights in the ancient year —Ancient sacrificial system thus corresponded with the ancient year—Adaptation of both to the new home effected by the Brâhmaṇas, like Numa's reform in the old Roman Calendar— The importance of the results of sacrificial evidence. THE legend of the Dashagvas, who completed their sa- crifices during ten months, is not the only relic of the an- cient year preserved in the sacrificial literature. The Pra- vargya ceremony, which is described in the Aitareya Brâh- maṇa, (I, 18-22), furnishes us with another instance, where a reference to the old year seems to be clearly indicated. Dr. Haug, in his translation of the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa, has fully described this ceremony in a note to I, 18. It lasts for three days and precedes the animal and the Soma sacrifice, as no one is allowed to take part in the Soma feast without having undergone this ceremony. The whole ceremony symbolises the