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

104 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
indicating the whole universe ; but there is no authority for this
meaning. Sâyaṇa, whom Wilson follows, gives an elaborate
astronomical explanation. He says that the sun's rays precede
his rising and are visible when the sun is below the horizon by
thirty yojanas, or, in other words, the dawn is in advance of the
sun by that distance. When dawns are, therefore, said to
traverse thirty yojanas, Sâyaṇa understands by it the astrono-
mical phenomenon of the dawn illumining a space of thirty yojanas
in advance of the sun, and, that when the dawn, at one
place, is over, it is to be found in another place, occupying
a space of thirty yojanas in that place. The explanation
is very ingenious ; and Sâyaṇa also adds that the dawns are
spoken of in the plural number in the verse under consideration,
because the dawns at different places on the surface of the earth,
brought on by the daily motion of the sun, are intended. But
unfortunately the explanation cannot stand scientific scrutiny.
Sâyaṇa says that the sun travels 5,059 yojanas round the Meru
in 24 hours ; and as Meru means the earth and the circumference
of the earth is now known to be about 24,877 miles, a yojana
would be about 4.9, or in round number, about 5 miles. Thirty
such yojanas will, therefore, be 150 miles ; while the first beams
of the dawn greet us on the horizon when the sun is not less than
16° below the horizon. Taking one degree equal to 60 miles,
16° would mean 960 miles, a distance far in excess of the thirty
yojanas of Sâyaṇa. Another objection to Sâyaṇa's explanation
is that the Vedic bard is evidently speaking of a phenomenon pre-
sent before him, and not mentally following the astronomical
dawns at different places produced by the daily rotation of the
earth on its axis. The explanation is again inapplicable to
"thirty steps (padâni)' of the dawn expressly mentioned
in VI, 59, 6. Therefore, the only alternative left is to take