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

THE COWS' WALK 191 "7. The seven milk the one, and the two create the five, on the ocean's loud-sounding bank." "8. With the ten of Vivasvat, Indra, by his three-fold hammer, caused the heaven's bucket to drop down."* Here, first of all, we are told that his (sun's) chariot, the great chariot with horses, has become visible, evidently mean- ing that the dawn has made its appearance on the horizon. Then the seven, probably the seven Hotṛis, or seven rivers, are said to milk this dawn and produce the two. This milking is a familiar process in the Ṛig-Veda, and in one place the cows of the morning are said to be milked from darkness (I, 33, 10). The two evidently mean day and night, and as soon as they are milked, they give rise to the five seasons. The day and the night are said to be the two mothers of Sûrya in III, 55, 6, and here they are the mothers of the five seasons. What becomes after the expiry of the seasons is described in the eighth verse. It says that with the ten of Vivasvat, or with the lapse of ten months, Indra with his three-fold hammer shook down the heavenly jar. This means that the three storing places of the aerial waters (VII, 101, 4) were all emptied into the ocean at this time, and along with it the sun also went to the lower world, for sunlight is described to be three-fold in VII, 101, 2, and Sâyaṇa there quotes the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ (II, 1, 2, 5), which says that the sun has three lights, the morning light being the Vasanta, the mid-day the Grîshma, and the evening the Sharad. The verse, therefore, obviously refers to the three-fold courses of waters in the heaven and the three-fold light of the sun; and all this is said to come to an end with the ten of Vivasvat. The sun and the sacrifice are then preserved as seed to be re-generated some time after,—a process symbolised in the Pravargya ceremony. The

• Ṛig. VIII, 72, 6-8,—उतो न्वस्य यन्महदश्वावद्योजनं बृहत् । दामा रथस्य ददृशे ॥ दुहन्ति सप्तैकामुप द्वा पञ्च सृजतः । तीर्थे सिन्धोरधिस्वरे आ दशभिर्विवस्वत इंद्रः कोशमचुच्यवीत् । खेदां त्रिवृता दिवः ॥