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

MONTHS AND SEASONS. 169
sense. The Navagvas and the Dashagvas were no doubt the
most important of the early sacrificers, but these too were
not their only species. In other words they were not merely
‘nine-going,’ and ‘ten-going,’ but ‘various-going’ (virûpas),
meaning that the duration of their sacrifices was sometimes
shorter than nine and sometimes longer than ten months. In fact
a Sapta-gu (seven-going) is mentioned in X, 47, 6, along with
Bṛihaspati, the son of Aṅgiras, and it seems to be used there
as an adjective qualifying Bṛihaspati; for Bṛihaspati is described
in another place (IV, 50, 4) as saptâsya (seven-mouthed), while
the Atharva-Veda IV, 6, 1, describes the first Brâhmaṇa, Bṛihas-
pati, as dashâsya or ten-mouthed. We have also seen that in
IV, 51, 4, the Dashagva is also called ‘seven-mouthed.’ All these
expressions can be satisfactorily explained only by supposing
that the Aṅgirases were not merely ‘nine-going’ or ‘ten-go-
ing,’ but virûpas or ‘various-going,’ and that they completed
their sacrifices within the number of months for which the
sun was above the horizon at the place where these sacrifices
were performed. It follows, therefore, that in ancient times
the sacrificial session lasted from seven to ten months; and the
number of sacrificers (Hotṛis) corresponded with the number of
the months, each doing his duty by rotation somewhat after
the manner of the Egyptian priests previously referred
to. These sacrifices were over when the long night com-
menced, during which Indra fought with Vala and van-
quished him by the end of the year (parivatsare, X, 62, 2).
The word parivatsare (at the end of the year) is very sug-
gestive and shows that the year closed with the long night.
Another reference to a period of ten months’ sun-shine
is found in the legend of Dîrghatamas whom the Ashvins
are said to have saved or rescued from a pit, into which
he was thrown, after being made blind and infirm. I
have devoted a separate chapter later on to the discussion of