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

MONTHS AND SEASONS. 173
Turning to the hymns of the Ṛig-Veda, we find as remark-
ed by Muir, the phrase yuge yuge used at least in half a dozen
places (III, 26, 3; VI, 15, 8; X, 94, 12, &c.), and it is interpreted
by Sâyaṇa to mean a period of time. In III, 33, 8, and X, 10, 10,
we have uttara yugáni 'later ages,' and in X, 72, 1, we read
uttare yuge 'in a later age'; whilst in the next two verses we
have the phrases Devânâm pûrvye yuge and Devânâm prathame
yuge clearly referring to the later and earlier ages of the gods.
The word Devânâm is in the plural and yuga is in the singular,
and it is not therefore possible to take the phrase to mean
'generations of gods.' The context again clearly shows that
a reference to time is intended, for the hymn speaks of the
creation and the birth of the gods in early primeval times. Now
if we interpret Devânâm yugam to mean 'an age of gods,' why
should manushyâ yugâni or mânushâ yugâ be not interpreted
to mean 'human ages,' is more than I can understand. There
are again express passages in the Ṛig-Veda where mânushâ
yugâ cannot be taken to mean 'generations of men.' Thus
in V, 52, 4, which is a hymn to Maruts, we read Vishve ye
mânushâ yugâ pânti martyam rishaḥ. Here the verb is pânti
(protect), the nominative vishve ye (all those), and the object
is martyam (the mortal man), while rishaḥ (from injury), in
the ablative, denotes the object against which the protection
is sought. So far the sentence, therefore, means "All those
who protect man from injury"; and now the question is, what
does mânushâ yugâ mean? If we take it to mean "genera-
tions of men" in the objective case it becomes superfluous, for
martyam (man) is already the object of pânti (protect). It
is, therefore, necessary to assign to mânushâ yugâ the only
other meaning we know of, viz., 'human ages' and take the
phrase as an accusative of time. Thus interpreted the whole
sentence means "All those, who protect man from injury
during human ages." No other construction is more natural