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

226 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. discussed in the last chapter, and shews that when Tishtrya's fight with Apaosha, or Indra's war with Vala, was over, the new year commenced with the long dawn, followed by the months of sunshine varying from seven to eleven in number, according to the latitude of the place.*

• The passage about Tishtrya's connection with the year is noticed by Mr. Meherjibhai Nosherwanji Kuka, M. A, in his essay “On the order of Parsi months,” published in the Cama Memorial Volume (p. 58), and of which he was kind enough to send me a separate copy. The passage is in the Tir Yasht, § 36:—‘Tishtrîm stârem raevan- tem kharenanghvantem yazamaide, yim yâre-charesho mashyehe Ahuracha khratu-gûto aurunacha gairishâcho sizdaracha ravas- charâto uziyoirentem hisposentem huydiryâicha danghve uzjasen- tem duzydiryâicha, kata Airyâo danghâvo huydiryâo bavâonti.’ Spiegel translates it thus, ‘We praise the star Tishtrya, the shining, the majestic, who brings here the circling years of men.” Darmesteter takes yâre- charesho mashyehe &c., with the words following, viz, uziyoirentem hisposentem, and translates, “We praise Tishtrya, &c., whose rising is watched by men, who live on the fruits of the year.” According to Dastur Erachji Meherjirana (see his Yasht bâ mâeni), the meaning of the whole paragraph, in which this passage occurs, is:—“We praise Tishtrya, &c, who maketh the year revolve in accordance with the notions of the mountaineers and the nomads. He riseth and is visible towards the regions where there is no correct calculation of the year.” But whatever the difficulties of interpretation may be, one thing seems to be quite clear from this passage, viz., that Tishtrya was the star by which the year was reckoned. In the Tîr Yasht § 5, springs of water are said to flow at the rising of Tishtrya, who in § 16 is described as ‘mingling his shape with light, or ‘moving in light,’ § 46. All those incidents can be satisfactorily explained if we suppose that, after Tishtrya's fight with Apaosha, lasting for 100 nights at the longest, the aerial waters, which communicated motion to the sun and other heavenly bodies (see Faravardîn Yasht 53-58) and which lay still or stagnant during the time, were set free to move again along the path made by Mazda, bringing on with them the light of the sun and thus commencing the new year after the long winter night in the Arctic region. The simultaneous character of the motion of waters, the commencement of the new year, and the winning of light after Tishtrya's fight with Apaosha, can be explained only in this way, and not by making the legend refer to the rainy season (see the discus- sion about ‘waters’ in the next chapter). The Pairika Duz-yairya, or the Bad Year, which Tishtrya is said to break-asunder, is, on this theory, the wearisome dark Arctic night.