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

266 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
aerial way. Up! rise up and roll along! thou swift-horsed sun,
above Hara Berezaiti, and produce light for the world, and
mayest thou rise up there, if thou art to abide in Garo-nmânem,
along the path made by Mazda, along the way made by the
gods, the watery way they opened." Here the aerial waters
are said to start from their gathering place, the sea Vouru-Kasha,
go up into heaven and come back again to the sea to be purified
before starting on a second round. Prof. Darmesteter in a note
on this passage observes that "waters and light are believed to
flow from the same spring and in the same bed," and quotes
Bundahish, XX, 4, which says, "just as the light comes in
through Albûrz (Hara Berezaiti, the mountain by which the
earth is surrounded) and goes out through Albûrz, the water also
comes out through Albûrz and goes away through Albûrz."
Now waters are described in the Ṛig-Veda as following the path
of the gods (VII, 47, 3), much in the same way as the waters in
the Avesta are said to follow the path made by Mazda or the
way made by the gods. Like the Avestic waters, the waters
in the Ṛig-Veda have also the sea for their goal, and going by
the aerial way eventually fall into the mouth of Varuṇa. But
the Avesta supplies us with the key which establishes the con-
nection of waters and light in unambiguous terms, for, as
remarked by Prof. Darmesteter, it states clearly that both of
them have the same source, and, in the passage quoted above,
the swift-horsed sun is accordingly asked to go along the watery
way in the skies above. In the Aban Yasht (V, 3), the river
Ardvi Sûra Anâhita is described as running powerfully from
the height Hukairya down to the sea Vouru-Kasha, like the
river Sarasvatî, which is described in the Ṛig-Veda as tearing
the peaks of mountains, and is invoked to descend from the
great mountain in the sky to the sacrifice (V, 43, 11). Both
are aerial rivers, but by coming down upon the earth they are
said to fill up all the terrestrial streams. The terrestrial waters,