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

228 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. night, and strictly speaking the performance of the Ati-râtra is- necessary on every one of the 360 nights of the Sattra. But as a matter of fact the Ati-râtra is performed only at the beginning and the end of the Sattra; and even then the regular Sattra is said to commence on the Chaturviṁsha and close on the Mahâ- vrata day, and not on the concluding Atirâtra day. It seems, therefore, that the performance of the Ati-râtra was not originally intended to drive away the Asuras from only the first of 360 nights over which the Sattra now extends. For in that case, there is no reason why the Asuras were not required to be expelled from every one of the 360 nights. It follows, therefore, that the Ati-râtra or the trans-nocturnal sacrifice refers to some night not included in the regular nights of the Gavâm-ayanam. It is true that the Ati-râtra is performed at the beginning and the end of every Sattra, and in one sense it is, therefore, a trans-sattra or ati-sattra sacrifice. But that does not account for the name Ati-râtra, as the Sattra is not held during night. We must, therefore, hold that the two Ati-râtras were originally performed not at the beginning and the end of a Sattra, but at the begin- ning and the end of a night, which occured or intervened between the last and the first day of the Sattra. When this night ended with an Ati-râtra, the usual Sattra began; and as the sun was above the horizon during the period producing the regular succession of days and nights, no Ati-râtra was needed during the Sattra, for, as stated in the Taṇḍya Brâhmaṇa, the object of the Ati-râtra was gained. But the Sattra closed with the long night, and the Ati-râtra had, therefore, again to be performed at the end of the Sattra to drive the Asuras from this night. I have shown before that we have direct and reliable authority in the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ to hold that the Gavâm-ayanam was once completed in ten months or 300 days, and it was, therefore, appropriately closed with and in- troduced by an Ati-râtra. The word Ati-râtra is thus rationally