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

90 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
one might think that they were pervaded with darkness. The
poet, therefore, further adds, in the second relative clause,
that though these days were anterior to the rising of the sun,
yet they were such that 'the Dawn was seen to move after or
about them as after a lover, and not like a woman who for-
sakes.' In short, the verse states in unmistakable terms (1)
that many days (bahulâni ahâni) passed between the appearance
of the first morning beams and sunrise, and (2) that these days
were faithfully attended by the Dawn, meaning that the whole
period was one of continuous Dawn which never vanished
during the time. The words as they stand convey no other
meaning but this, and we have now to see how far it is intelli-
gible to us.
To the commentators the verse is a perfect puzzle. Thus
Sâyaṇa does not understand how the word 'days' (ahâni) can
be applied to a period of time anterior to sunrise; for, says he,
"The word day (ahaḥ) is used only to denote such a period
of time as 'is invested with the light of the Dawn.'"* Then,
again, he is obviously at a loss to understand how a number of
days can be said to have elapsed between the first beams of
the dawn and sunrise. These were serious difficulties for
Sâyaṇa, and the only way to get over them was to force an
unnatural sense upon the words, and make them yield some
intelligible meaning. This was no difficult task for Sâyaṇa.
The word ahâni, which means 'days,' was the only stumbling
block in his way, and instead of taking it in the sense in which
it is ordinarily used, without exception, everywhere in the
Ṛig-Veda, he went back to its root-meaning, and interpreted it
as equivalent to 'light' or 'splendour.' Ahan is derived from
the root ah (or philologically dah), 'to burn,' or 'shine,'
and Ahanâ meaning 'dawn' is derived from the same root.

• उषःप्रकाशयुक्तस्यैव कालस्याहःशब्दव्यवहारात ।