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

146 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
Dakshiṇá remains, and the only explanation at present suggested
is that Dakshiṇá means ‘skilful’ or ‘expert.’ A better way to
explain these phrases is to make them refer to the southerly
direction ; and after what has been said above such an explana-
tion will seem to be highly probable. It is, of course, necessary to
be critical in the interpretation of the Vedic hymns, but I think
that we shall be carrying our critical spirit too far, if we say that
in no passage in the Ṛig-Veda dakshiṇá or its derivatives are used
to denote the southerly direction (I, 95, 6 ; II, 42, 3). Herodotus
informs us (IV, 42) that certain Phœnician mariners were com-
manded by Pharoah Neco, king of Egypt, to sail round Lybia
(Africa) and return by the Pillars of Hercules (Straits of
Gibralter). The mariners accomplished the voyage and returned
in the third year. But Horodotus disbelieves them, because,
on their return they told such (to him incredible) stories, that
in rounding Lybia they saw the sun to their right. Herodotus
could not believe that the sun would ever appear in the
north ; but he little thought that what was incredible to
him would itself be regarded as indisputable evidence of the
authenticity of the account in later days. Let us take a
lesson from this story, and not interpret dakshiṇá, either by
‘right-hand side’ or by ‘largess,’ in every passage in the Ṛig-Veda.
There may not be distinct passages to show that the sun, or the
dawn, came from the south. But the very fact that Uṣhas is
called Dakshiṇá (I, 123, 1 ; X, 107, 1), and the sun, the son of
Dakshiṇá (III, 58, 1), is itself very suggestive, and possibly we
have here phrases which the Vedic bards employed because in
their days these were old and recognised expressions in the
language. Words, like fossils, very often preserve the oldest ideas or
facts in a language; and though Vedic poets may have forgotten the
original meaning of these phrases, that is no reason why we should
refuse to draw from the history of these words such conclusions