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

164 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
expression for 'ten months' in the original is dasha māsāḥ, and
the words are so plain that there can be no doubt about their
import. We have seen that the Navagvas used to help Indra
in releasing the cows from the grasp of Vala, and in X, 62, 2
and 3, the Aṅgirases are said to have defeated Vala at the end of
the year, and raised the sun to heaven. This exploit of Indra,
the Aṅgirases, the Navagvas and the Dashagvas, therefore,
clearly refers to the yearly rescue of the sun, or the cows of the
morning, from the dark prison into which they are thrown by
Vala; and the expression "Indra found the sun dwelling in dark-
ness", mentioned above further supports this view. In I, 117, 5,
the Ashvins are said to have rescued Vandana, like some
bright buried gold, "like one asleep in the lap of Nir-ṛiti (death),
like the sun dwelling in darkness (tamasi kṣhiyantam)". This
shows that the expression 'dwelling in darkness,' as applied to
the sun, means that the sun was hidden or concealed below the
horizon so as not to be seen by man. We must, therefore, hold
that Indra killed or defeated Vala at the end of the year, in a
place of darkness, and that the Dashagvas helped Indra by
their songs at the time. This might lead any one to suppose
that the Soma libations, offered by the Navagvas and the
Dashagvas for ten months, were offered during the time when
war with Vala was waging. But the Vedic idea is entirely
different. For instance the morning prayers are recited be-
fore the rise of the sun, and so the sacrifices to help Indra
against Vala had to be performed before the war. Darkness
or a dark period, of ten months is again astronomically im-
possible anywhere on the globe, and as there cannot be ten
months of darkness the only other alternative admissible is
that the Dashagvas and the Navagvas carried on their ten
months' sacrifice during the period of sunshine. Now if this
period of sunshine had extended to twelve months, there was