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

CHAPTER IV.
THE NIGHT OF THE GODS.
Vedic sacrifices, regulated by the luni-solar calendar—A year of
six seasons and twelve months, with an intercalary month in
the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ—The same in the Ṛig-Veda—Present
results of the Vedic mythology—All presuppose a home in the
temperate or the tropical zone—But further research still
necessary—The special character of the Ṛig-Veda explained—
Polar tests found in the Ṛig-Veda—Indra supporting the
heavens with a pole, and moving them like a wheel—A day and
a night of six months, in the form of the half-yearly day and
night of the Gods—Found in the Sûrya Sidhânta and older
astronomical Saṁhitâs—Bhâskarâchârya's error explained—Gods'
day and night mentioned by Manu and referred to by Yâska—
The description of Meru or the North Pole in the Mahâbhârata
—In the Taittirîya Araṇyaka—The passage in the Taittirîya
Brâhmaṇa about the year-long day of the Gods—Improbability
of explaining it except as founded. on the observation of nature
—Parallel passage in the Vendidad—Its Polar character clearly
established by the context—The Vara of Yima in the Airyāna
Vaejo—The sun rising and setting there only once a year—The
Devayâna and the Pitriyâna in the Ṛig-Veda—Probably repre-
sent the oldest division of the year, like the day and the night,
of the Gods—The path of Mazda in the Parsi scriptures—Death
during Pitriyâna regarded inauspicious—Bâdarâyaṇa's view—
Probable explanation suggested—Death during winter or Pitriyâna
in the Parsi scriptures—Probably indicates a period of total
darkness—Similar Greek traditions—Norse Twilight of the Gods
—The idea of half yearly day and night of the Gods thus proved
to be not only Indo-Iranian, but Indo-Germanic—A sure indica-
tion of an original Polar home.
AT the threshold of the Vedic literature, we meet
with an elaborately organised sacrificial system so well
regulated by the luni-solar calendar as to show that the