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

118 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
7. Through the sky, the illumined Goddess of Night
accepts the ordinances of the sun. The cattle, of various forms,
(begin to) look up as they rise on the lap of the mother.
8. The Ekâshṭakâ, glowing with holy fervour (tapas),
gave birth to a child, the great Indra. Through him the
(See supra p. 101, and T. S. V, 3, 4, 7, quoted below.) The Dawns are
called sisters also in the Ṛig-veda, (Cf. I, 124, 8 and 9).
Appointed place: nish-kṛitam, (Nir. XII, 7), used in reference to
the course of the Dawns also in Ṛig. I, 123, 9. It is appropriate only
if the Dawns returned to the same point in their daily rounds, (See
supra p. 106).
Go round amidst-songs: pari yanti, 'go round' is also the phrase
used in Ṛig. I, 123, 8. Madye-chchandasaḥ is interpreted by Sâyaṇa
to mean "about the sun, which is always surrounded by songs." But
we need not go so far, for madye-chchandasaḥ may be more simply
taken to mean 'amidst-songs,' that are usually sung at the dawn, (Ṛig.
VII, 80, 1).
7. Through the sky: I take nabhas as an accusative of space.
Sâyaṇa appears to take it as an adjective equivalent to nabhasthasya
and qualifying sûryasya. In either case the meaning is the same, viz.,
that the night was gradually changing into day-light.
The cattle: morning rays or splendours usually spoken of as cows.
In Ṛig. I, 92, 12, the Dawn is described as spreading cattle (pashûn)
before her; and in I, 124, 5, we are told that she fills the lap of both
parents, heaven and earth. I construe, with Sâyaṇa, nânâ-rûpa
pashavaḥ vi pashyanti, taking vi pashyanti intransitively, and nânâ-
rûpa as an adjective. The same phrase is found used in reference to a
woman's children in the Atharva-Veda, XIV, 2, 25. For the intran-
sitive use of vi pashyanti, See Ṛig. X, 125, 4.
8. The Ekâshṭakâ: The birth of Indra is evidently the birth of
the sun after the expiry of thirty dawns. Sâyaṇa, quoting Âpastamba
Gṛihya Sûtra (VIII, 21, 10), interprets Ekâshṭakâ to mean the 8th
day of the dark half of the month of Mâgha (January-February); and in
the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, VII, 4, 8, quoted and explained by me in Chap-
ter III of Orion, it seems to have same meaning, (See Orion p. 44 ff;
Ekâshṭakâ was the first day, or the consort, of the Year, when the sun
turned towards the north from the winter solstice; and the commencement
of all annual sattras is, therefore, directed to be made on the Ekâshṭakâ
day. This meaning was, however, settled when the vernal equinox had
receded from the asterism of Mṛiga (Orion) to that of the Kṛittikâs
(Pleiades). But in earlier days Ekâshṭakâ seems to have meant the last of
the dawns which preceded the rise of the sun after the long darkness, and