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

70 . THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
splendours of the Aurora Borealis visible at the North Pole. So
far as the Post-Vedic literature is concerned, we have, therefore,
not only the tradition of the half-year-long night and day of the
Gods persistently mentioned, but the Mount Meru, or the North
Pole, is described with such accuracy as to lead us to believe
that it is an ancient tradition, whose origin must be traced to a
time when these phenomena were daily observed by the people ;
and this is confirmed by the fact that the tradition is not confin-
ed only to the Post-Vedic literature.
Passing on, therefore, to the Vedic literature, we find
Mount Meru described as the seat of seven Âdityas in the Tait-
tirîya Âraṇyaka I, 7, 1, while the eighth Âditya, called Kashyapa,
is said never to leave the great Meru or Mahâmeru. Kashyapa
is further described as communicating light to the seven Âdityas,
and himself perpetually illumining the great mountain. It is,
however, in the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa, (III, 9, 22, 1), that we meet
with a passage which clearly says, "That which is a year is but a
single day of the Gods." The statement is so clear that there
can be no doubt whatever about its meaning. A year of the
mortals is said to be but a day of the Gods ; but, at one time, I
considered it extremely hazardous* to base any theory even
upon such a clear statement, inasmuch as it then appeared to me
to be but solitary in the Vedic literature. I could not then find
anything to match it in the Saṁhitâs, and especially in
the Ṛig Veda , and I was inclined to hold that Uttarâyaṇa
and Dakṣiṇâyana were, in all probability, described in this
way as 'day' and 'night' with a qualifying word to mark
their special nature. Later researches have however forced
on me the conclusion that the tradition, represented by

• Taitt. Br. III, 9, 22, 1,—एकं वा एतद्देवानामहः यत्संवत्सरः ।
  See Orion, p. 29, note