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

66 . THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. and compares it to the motion of a chariot wheel. Now the heavens in the temperate and the tropical regions may be des- cribed as moving like a wheel from east to west and then back again to the east, though the latter half of this circuit is not visible to the observer. But we cannot certainly speak of the tropical sky as being supported on a pole, for the simple reason that the North Pole, which must be the point of support in such a case, will not be sufficiently near the zenith in the tropi- cal or the temperate zone. If we, therefore, combine the two statements, that the heavens are supported as on a pole, and that they move like a wheel, we may safely infer that the motion referred to is such a motion of the celestial hemisphere as can be witnessed only by an observer at the North Pole. In the Ṛig-Veda I, 24, 10, the constellation of Ursa Major (Ṛikshaḥ) is described as being placed 'high' (uchchāḥ), and, as this can refer only to the altitude of the constellation, it follows that it must then have been over the head of the observer, which is possible only in the Circum-Polar regions. Unfortunately there are few other passages in the Ṛig-Veda which describe the motion of the celestial hemisphere or of the stars therein, and we must, therefore, take up another characteristic of the Polar regions, namely, 'a day and a night of six months each,' and see if the Vedic literature contains any references to this singular feature of the Polar regions. The idea that the day and the night of the Gods are each of six months' duration is so widespread in

• Ṛig. I, 24, 10,—अमी यऋक्षा निहितास उच्चा नक्तं ददृश्रे कुहचिद्दिवेयुः । It may also be remarked, in this connection, that the passage speaks of the appearance (not rising) of the Seven Bears at night, and their disappearance (not setting) during the day, showing that the constella- tion was circum-polar at the place of the observer.