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

228 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
night, and strictly speaking the performance of the Ati-râtra is-
necessary on every one of the 360 nights of the Sattra. But as a
matter of fact the Ati-râtra is performed only at the beginning
and the end of the Sattra; and even then the regular Sattra is
said to commence on the Chaturviṁsha and close on the Mahâ-
vrata day, and not on the concluding Atirâtra day. It seems,
therefore, that the performance of the Ati-râtra was not originally
intended to drive away the Asuras from only the first of 360
nights over which the Sattra now extends. For in that case,
there is no reason why the Asuras were not required to be expelled
from every one of the 360 nights. It follows, therefore, that the
Ati-râtra or the trans-nocturnal sacrifice refers to some night
not included in the regular nights of the Gavâm-ayanam. It is
true that the Ati-râtra is performed at the beginning and the end
of every Sattra, and in one sense it is, therefore, a trans-sattra or
ati-sattra sacrifice. But that does not account for the name
Ati-râtra, as the Sattra is not held during night. We must,
therefore, hold that the two Ati-râtras were originally performed
not at the beginning and the end of a Sattra, but at the begin-
ning and the end of a night, which occured or intervened between
the last and the first day of the Sattra. When this night
ended with an Ati-râtra, the usual Sattra began; and as
the sun was above the horizon during the period producing the
regular succession of days and nights, no Ati-râtra was needed
during the Sattra, for, as stated in the Taṇḍya Brâhmaṇa,
the object of the Ati-râtra was gained. But the Sattra closed
with the long night, and the Ati-râtra had, therefore, again
to be performed at the end of the Sattra to drive the Asuras
from this night. I have shown before that we have direct
and reliable authority in the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ to hold that
the Gavâm-ayanam was once completed in ten months or
300 days, and it was, therefore, appropriately closed with and in-
troduced by an Ati-râtra. The word Ati-râtra is thus rationally