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

THE COWS' WALK. 201
but also in the Greek mythology ; and we can, therefore, now
give a better account of the origin of this sacrificial session
than that it was a session of bovine animals for the purpose
of obtaining horns. Speaking of cows in the Aryan mythology,
Prof. Max Muller in his Contributions to the Science of Mythology
(Vol. II. p. 761) writes as follows :—
"There were thus three kinds of cows, the real cows, the
cows in the dark cloud (rain=milk), and the cows stepping forth
from the dark stable of the night (the rays of the morning).
These three are not always easy to distinguish in the Veda, nay,
while we naturally try to distinguish between them, the poets-
themselves seem to delight in mixing them up. In the passage
quoted above (I, 32, 11), we saw how the captive waters were
compared to cows that had been stolen by Paṇi (niruddhāḥ
āpaḥ Paṇinā iva gāvaḥ), but what is once compared in the Veda
is soon identified. As to the Dawn, she is not only compared
to a cow, she is called the cow straight out. Thus when we
read, R. V. I, 92, 1, 'These dawns have made a light on the east-
ern half of the sky, they brighten their splendour, the bright
cows approach, the mothers,' the cows, gāvaḥ, can only be the
dawns themselves, the plural of dawn being constantly in the
Veda used where we should use the singular. In R. V. I, 93, 4,
we read that 'Agnîshomau deprived Paṇi of his cows and found
light for many.' Here again the cows are the dawns kept by
Paṇi in the dark stable or cave of the night, discovered by
Saramâ and delivered every morning by the gods of light."
"We read in R. V. I, 62, 3, that Bṛihaspati split the rock
and found the cows."
"Of Indra it is said, II, 19, 3, that he produced the sun and
found the cows ; of Bṛihaspati, II, 24, 3, that he drove out
the cows, that he split the cave by his word, that he hid the
darkness, and lighted up the sky. What can be clearer ? The
Maruts also, II, 34, 1, are said to uncover the cows, and Agni,