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

182 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
is furnished by the number of seasons mentioned in certain
Vedic texts. A period of sunshine of ten months followed by
a long night of two months can well be described as five seasons
of two months each, followed by the sinking of the sun into
the waters below the horizon; and as a matter of fact we find
the year so described in I, 164, 12, a verse, which occurs also in
the Atharva Veda (IX, 9, 12,) with a slight variation and in the
Prashnopaniṣhad I, 11. It may be literally translated as
follows:—"The five-footed (pañcha-pâdam) Father of twelve
forms, they say, is full of watery vapours (purîshiṇam) in the
farther half (pare ardhe) of the heaven. These others again
say (that) He the far-seeing (vichakshaṇam) is placed on the six-
spoked (shaḍ are) and seven-wheeled (car), in the nearer (upare,
scil. ardhe) half of the heaven."* The adjective 'far-seeing' is
made to qualify 'seven-wheeled' instead of 'He' in the
Atharva Veda, vichakshaṇe being in the locative case; while
Shaṅkarâchârya in his commentary on the Prashnopaniṣhpad
splits upare into two words u and pare, taking u as an expletive.
But these readings do not materially alter the meaning of the
verse. The context everywhere clearly indicates that the
year-god of twelve months (âkṛiti, X, 85, 5) is here described.
The previous verse in the hymn (Ṛig. I, 164) mentions
"The twelve-spoked wheel, in which 720 sons of Agni
are established," a clear reference to a year of twelve
months with 720 days and nights. There is, therefore,

• Ṛig. I., 164, 12, — पंचपादं पितरं द्वादशाकृतिं दिव आहुः परे अर्धे
  पुरीषिणम्। अथेमे अन्य उपरे विचक्षणं सप्तचक्रे षळर आहुरर्पितम्॥ For
  विचक्षणम् A. V. (IX, 9 12,) reads विचक्षणे; while Shaṅkarâchârya in his
  gloss on Prashnopaniṣhad takes उ and परे as two different words.
  Shaṅkarâchârya's explanation of परे अर्धे is also noteworthy. He trans-
  lates it by तृतीयास्यां दिवि, 'in the third heaven,' the seat of the third
  step of Vishṇu, meaning that the five-footed year-god is then hidden in
  the remotest part of the heaven.