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

126 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
their deities to release them from darkness. Thus in II, 27, 14,
the poet says "Aditi, Mitra and also Varuṇa, forgive if we have
committed any sin against you! May I obtain the wide fearless-
light, O Indra! May not the long darkness come over us." The ex-
pression in the original for 'long darkness' is dīrghāḥ tamisrāḥ,
and means rather an 'uninterrupted succession of dark nights
(tamisrāḥ)' than simply 'long darkness.' But even adopting Max
Müller's rendering given above,* the anxiety here manifested
for the disappearance of the long darkness is unmeaning, if the
darkness never lasted for more than twenty-four hours. In I,
46, 6, the Ashvins are asked "to vouchsafe such strength to the
worshipper as may carry him through darkness"; and in VII,
67, 2 the poet exclaims:—"The fire has commenced to burn,
the ends of darkness have been seen, and the banner of the Dawn
has appeared in the east!"† The expression 'ends of darkness'
(tamasaḥ antāḥ) is very peculiar, and it would be a violation of
idiom to take this and other expressions indicating 'long darkness'
to mean nothing more than long winter nights, as we have them
in the temperate or the tropical zone. As stated previously the
longest winter night in these zones must be, at best, a little
short of twenty-four hours, and even then these long nights
prevail only for a fortnight or so. It is, therefore, very un-
likely that Vedic bards perpetuated the memory of these
long nights by making it a grievance of such importance
as to require the aid of their deities to relieve them from

• Hibbert Lectures, p. 231. The verse is:— अदिते मित्र वरुणोत
  मृळ यह्वो वयं चकृमा कच्चिदागः । उर्वश्यामभयं ज्योतिरिंद्र मा नो दीर्घा
  अभि नशन्तमिस्त्राः ॥
  † Ṛig. I, 46, 6,—या नः पीपरदश्विना ज्योतिष्मती तमस्तिरः । तामस्मे
  रासाथामिषम् ॥ Ṛig. VII, 67, 2,—अशोच्यग्निः समिधानो अस्मे उपो अद-
  श्रन्तमसश्चिदन्ताः ।