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

344 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. eleven? So far as I am aware there is no attempt made to explain the principle of division underlying these different classifications. But now the analogy of the seven priests, the Navagvas and the Dashagvas, suggests to us the probable rea- son of the different methods of division noticed above. The fact that the horses of the sun are once said to be seven and once ten, seems naturally to refer to seven months' and ten months' period of sunshine previously described ; and if so, this helps us in understanding the real meaning of the different divisions. The seven-fold, nine-fold or ten-fold division of things is thus merely a different phase of the division of sacrificers into the seven Hotṛis, the Navagvas and the Dashagvas. Both seem to be the effects of the same cause. The mother-land of the Aryan race in ancient times, lying between the North Pole and the Arctic circle, was probably divided into different zones according to the number of months for which the sun was seen above the horizon in each ; and the facts, that the Navagvas and the Dashagvas are said to be the chief or the most promi- nent of the Aṅgirases, that saptáshva was the principal designation of Sûrya, and that the sons of Aditi who were pre- sented to the gods were only seven in number, further show that in the ancient Arctic home a year of seven, nine, or ten months' sunshine must have been more prevalent than a year of 8 or 11 months. It may, however, be noticed that just as the Aṅgirases are said to be virûpas, Aryaman is described in X, 64, 5, as having a great chariot, and amidst his births of va- rious forms (vishu-rûpeshu) he is said to be a seven-fold sacri- ficer (sapta-hotṛi), showing that though the seven-fold cha- racter of Aryaman was the chief or the principal one, yet there were various other forms of the deity. In X, 27, 15, seven, eight, nine and ten Viras or warriors are said to rise from be- low, behind, in the front, or on the back, or, in other words, all round. This verse is differently interpreted by different scho- lars ; but it seems to me to refer to the seven-fold, eight-fold,