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

THE COWS' WALK 209
parts marked 3 and 11 in the above scheme. The Âdityanâm-
ayanam is another modification of the above scheme in which,
amongst other changes, the shaḷahas are all Abhiplava,
instead of being a combination of Abhiplava and Prishṭhya;
while if all the shaḷahas are Prishṭhya, along with some
other changes, it becomes the Aṅgirasâm-ayanam. All
these modifications do not, however, touch the total number
of 360 days. But there were sacrificers, who adopted the
lunar year of 354 days, and, therefore, omitted 6 days from
the above scheme; and their Sattra is called the Utsar-
giṇâm-ayanam (Tait. Sam. VII, 5, 7, 1; Tâṇḍya Brâh. V, 10).
In short, the object was to make the Sattra correspond with
the year adopted, civil or lunar, as closely as possible. But
these points are not relevant to our purpose. The Brâhmaṇas
and the Shrauta Sûtras give further details about the various
rites to be performed on the Viṣhuvân, the Abhijit and the
Vishvajit or the Svara-sâman day. The Aitareya Âraṇyaka
describes the Mahâvrata ceremony; while the Atirâtra and the
Chaturviṁsha are described in the fourth book of the Aitareya
Brâhmaṇa. The Chaturviṁsha is so called because the stoma
to be chanted on that day is twenty-four-fold. It is the real
beginning of the Sattra as the Mahâvrata is its end. The
Aitareya Brâhmaṇa (IV, 14) says, "The Hotṛi pours forth
the seed. Thus he makes the seed (which is poured forth)
by means of the Mahâvrata day produce off-spring. For seed
if effused every year is productive." This explanation shows
that like the Pravargya ceremony, the Mahâvrata was intended
to preserve the seed of the sacrifice in order that it might ger-
minate or grow at the proper time. It was a sort of link bet-
ween the dying and the coming year, and appropriately con-
cluded the annual Sattra. It will be further seen that every
annual Sattra had an Ati-râtra at each of its ends, and that
the Dvâdashâha, or rather the ten days thereof, formed an
important concluding part of the Sattra.
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