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

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 285 day"; and another is said to be inscribed "On the tenth day, in the sixth fortnight of Grîshma, in the eighth year of king Mâḍhariputta, the lord Sirisena."* Dr. Bhâṇḍârkar, in his Early History of the Deccan, has ascertained that Mâ- ḍhariputta reigned in the Mahârâshṭra from about A. D. 190 to 197, and Puḷumâyi was on the throne of the Mahârâshṭra about 60 years earlier, that is, from A. D. 130 to 154. All the inscriptions noted above, therefore, belong to the 2nd cen- tury of the Christian era, that is, a long time before the date of Ârya Bhaṭṭa or Varâhamihira, whose works seem to have established, if not introduced, the present system of measuring time by seasons, months, fortnights and days. It is, therefore, clear that eighteen hundred years ago, dates of events were recorded and ascertained by mentioning only the season, the fortnight and the day of the.fortnight, without any reference to the month of the year; and we might very well suppose that several centuries before this period these dates were given by a still more simple method, namely, by mentioning only the season and the day of that season. And, as a matter of fact, we do find this method of measuring time, viz., by seasons and days, adopted in the Avesta to mark the particular days of the year. Thus in the Âfrîgân Gâhanbâr (I, 7-12), as written in some manuscripts mentioned by Westergaard in his notes on the Âfrîgân, there is a statement of the

• Inscription No. 14 of Kârle inscriptions runs thus :—रञो वासिठिपुतस सामिसिरि पुळुमाविस सवछरे सतमे ७ गिम्हपंखे पचमे ५ दिवसे पधमे १; (or in Sanskrit — राज्ञो वासिष्ठीपुत्रस्य स्वामिश्री पुळुमाविनः संवत्सरे सप्तमे ७, ग्रीष्मपक्षे पंचमे ५, दिवसे प्रथमे १ ). Inscription No. 20 of the same section runs thus :—सिधं रञो वासिठिपुतस सिरिपुळिमाविस सवछरे चतुविसे २४ हेमतान पंखे ततिये ३ दिवसे बितिये २; (or in Sanskrit— सिद्धम् । राज्ञो वासिष्ठीपुत्रस्य श्रीपुळिमावेः संवत्सरे चतुर्विंशे २४, हेमंतानां पक्षे तृतीये ३, दिवसे द्वितीये २). An inscription from the Kânheri cave (p. 60) is as follows :—सिधं रञो माढरीपुतस स्वामिसिरिसनेस सवछरे ८ गिप ५ दिव १०; (or in Sanskrit— सिद्धम् । राज्ञो माठरिपुत्रस्य स्वामिश्रीसेनस्य संवत्सरे ८, ग्री. प. ५, दिव. १०).