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

THE AVESTIC EVIDENCE. 363
are the chief of the eighteen rivers, and that they "flow
forth from the north, part from Albûrz and part from the
Albûrz of Auhar-mazd ; one towards the west, that is the
Arag ; and one towards the east, that is the Vêh river." The
Bundahish (VII, 15) further informs us that the Vêh river
flows out from the same source as the Arag river, and Dr.
West in a footnote observes that both these rivers flow out
from "the north side of the Arêdvîvsûr (Ardvi Sûra Anâhita)
fountain of the sea, which is said to be on the lofty Hûgar
(Hukairya), a portion of Albûrz." Even according to Bunda-
hish, the Vanguhi is, therefore, the eastern and the Rangha the
western river, in the northern part of Albûrz ; or, in other
words, they represent two rivers in a country, situated in the
north, one flowing towards the east, and one to the west, in
that region. It would, therefore, be, to say the least, unsafe to
infer from this that the Airyāna Vaêjo represents the eastern-
most country, because the name Vêh or Vanguhi was in later
times attached to the easternmost river in Irân. For by
parity of reasoning, we can as well place the Airyāna Vaêjo in
the far west, in as much as the name Arag or Rangha was given,
as stated by Darmesteter himself, in later times to the western-
most river.
It is again a question why Rangha should be identified
with the Caspian Sea, or some western river in Iran. The
Fargard does not say anything about the situation of Rangha.
It simply states that the fifteenth land created by Ahura
Mazda was Hapta Heṇdu and the sixteenth was on the floods
of Rangha. Now if Hapta Heṇdu, is identified with Sapta
Sindhu, or the Panjaub, why take a big and a sudden jump
from the Panjaub to the Caspian Sea, to find out the
Rangha river. Rangha is Sanskrit Rasâ, and in the Ṛig-Veda
(X, 75, 6) a terrestrial river, by name Rasâ, is mentioned
along with the Kubhâ, the Krumu and the Gomati, which are
all known to be the affluents of the Indus. Is it not, therefore,