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

226 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
discussed in the last chapter, and shews that when Tishtrya's
fight with Apaosha, or Indra's war with Vala, was over, the new
year commenced with the long dawn, followed by the months
of sunshine varying from seven to eleven in number, according
to the latitude of the place.*

• The passage about Tishtrya's connection with the year is
  noticed by Mr. Meherjibhai Nosherwanji Kuka, M. A, in his essay
  “On the order of Parsi months,” published in the Cama Memorial
  Volume (p. 58), and of which he was kind enough to send me a
  separate copy.
  The passage is in the Tir Yasht, § 36:—‘Tishtrîm stârem raevan-
  tem kharenanghvantem yazamaide, yim yâre-charesho mashyehe
  Ahuracha khratu-gûto aurunacha gairishâcho sizdaracha ravas-
  charâto uziyoirentem hisposentem huydiryâicha danghve uzjasen-
  tem duzydiryâicha, kata Airyâo danghâvo huydiryâo bavâonti.’ Spiegel
  translates it thus, ‘We praise the star Tishtrya, the shining, the majestic,
  who brings here the circling years of men.” Darmesteter takes yâre-
  charesho mashyehe &c., with the words following, viz, uziyoirentem
  hisposentem, and translates, “We praise Tishtrya, &c., whose rising
  is watched by men, who live on the fruits of the year.” According
  to Dastur Erachji Meherjirana (see his Yasht bâ mâeni), the meaning
  of the whole paragraph, in which this passage occurs, is:—“We
  praise Tishtrya, &c, who maketh the year revolve in accordance with
  the notions of the mountaineers and the nomads. He riseth and is
  visible towards the regions where there is no correct calculation of
  the year.”
  But whatever the difficulties of interpretation may be, one thing
  seems to be quite clear from this passage, viz., that Tishtrya was the
  star by which the year was reckoned. In the Tîr Yasht § 5, springs
  of water are said to flow at the rising of Tishtrya, who in § 16 is
  described as ‘mingling his shape with light, or ‘moving in light,’ § 46.
  All those incidents can be satisfactorily explained if we suppose that,
  after Tishtrya's fight with Apaosha, lasting for 100 nights at the
  longest, the aerial waters, which communicated motion to the sun and
  other heavenly bodies (see Faravardîn Yasht 53-58) and which lay
  still or stagnant during the time, were set free to move again
  along the path made by Mazda, bringing on with them the light of
  the sun and thus commencing the new year after the long winter
  night in the Arctic region. The simultaneous character of the motion
  of waters, the commencement of the new year, and the winning of light
  after Tishtrya's fight with Apaosha, can be explained only in this way,
  and not by making the legend refer to the rainy season (see the discus-
  sion about ‘waters’ in the next chapter). The Pairika Duz-yairya,
  or the Bad Year, which Tishtrya is said to break-asunder, is, on this
  theory, the wearisome dark Arctic night.