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

THE COWS' WALK. 197 attained their object. One, who knows this, prospers, whether rising (from the sacrifice) in the tenth month or in the twelfth. They indeed go by the path (padena); he going by the path indeed attains (the end). This is that successful ayanam (session). Therefore, it is go-sani (beneficial to the cows).” This passage, in its first part, repeats the story given in the previous Anuvâka of the Saṁhitâ and in the Aitareya Brâh- maṇa with slight variations. But the latter part contains two important statements : firstly that whether we complete the sacrifice within ten months or twelve months, the religious me- rit or fruit obtained is the same in either case, for both are said to prosper equally ; and secondly, this is said to be the case because it is the ‘path,’ or as Sâyaṇa explains, “ an immemorial custom.” The Saṁhitâ is, in fact, silent as to the reason why an annual Sattra, which ought to, and as a matter of fact does, now last for twelve months, could be completed in ten months; and this reticence is very remarkable, considering how the Saṁhitâ sometimes indulges in speculations about the origin of sacrificial rites. Any how we have two facts clearly established, (1) that at the time of the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ the Gavâm-aya- nam, the type of all annual Sattras, could be completed in ten months ; and (2) that no reason was known at the time, as to why a Sattra of twelve months could be thus finished in ten, except that it was ‘an immemorial custom.’ The Tâṇḍya Brâhmaṇa, IV, 1, has a similar discussion about Gavâm-aya- nam, and clearly recognises its two-fold character so far as its duration is concerned. Sâyaṇa and Bhaṭṭ-Bhâskara, in their commentaries on the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, cannot, there- fore, be said to have invented any new theory of their own as regards the double duration of this annual Sattra. We shall discuss later on what is denoted by “ cows ” in the above passages. At present we are concerned with the duration of the Sattra ; and if we compare the above matter-of-fact state- ments in the Saṁhitâ about the double duration of the annual