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

THE VEDIC DAWNS. 89
has done in the Pada text ; for jāre+iva makes the simile more
appropriate than if we were to compare uṣhas with jāraḥ. Liter-
ally rendered the verse, therefore, means, "Verily, many were
those days, which were aforetime at the uprising of the sun,
and about which, O Dawn ! thou wast seen moving on, as
towards a lover, and not like one (woman) who forsakes." I
take pari with yataḥ, meaning that the dawn goes after the
days. Yataḥ pari, thus construed, means 'after which,' or
'about which.' Sâyaṇa takes pari with dadṛikshe, and Griffith
renders yataḥ by 'since.' But these constructions do not materi-
ally alter the meaning of the second half of the verse, though
taking pari with yataḥ enables us to take the second line as an
adjectival clause, rendering the meaning more plain. In IV,
52, 1, the Dawn is said to shine after her sister (svasuḥ pari),
and pari, with an ablative, does not necessarily denote 'from'
in every case, but is used in various senses, as, for instance, in
III, 5, 10, where the phrase Bhṛigubhyaḥ pari occurs, and is
rendered by Grassmann as equivalent to 'for the sake of Bhṛi-
gus,' while Sâyaṇa paraphrases pari by paritaḥ 'round about.'
In the verse under consideration we can, therefore, take pari
with yataḥ, and understand the expression as meaning 'after,
about or around which (days).' It must also be borne in mind
that there must be an expression to correspond with jāre in the
simile, and this we get only if we construe yataḥ pari in the
way proposed above. If we now analyse the verse it will be
found to be made up of three clauses, one principal and two
adjectival. The principal statement asserts that those days
were many. The demonstrative 'those' (tāni) is then fol-
lowed by two relative clauses, yā prāchīnam &c., and yataḥ
pari &c. The first of these states that the days referred to
in the principal clause were those that 'preceded the rising
of the sun.' But if the days preceded the rising of the sun,

90 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
one might think that they were pervaded with darkness. The
poet, therefore, further adds, in the second relative clause,
that though these days were anterior to the rising of the sun,
yet they were such that 'the Dawn was seen to move after or
about them as after a lover, and not like a woman who for-
sakes.' In short, the verse states in unmistakable terms (1)
that many days (bahulâni ahâni) passed between the appearance
of the first morning beams and sunrise, and (2) that these days
were faithfully attended by the Dawn, meaning that the whole
period was one of continuous Dawn which never vanished
during the time. The words as they stand convey no other
meaning but this, and we have now to see how far it is intelli-
gible to us.
To the commentators the verse is a perfect puzzle. Thus
Sâyaṇa does not understand how the word 'days' (ahâni) can
be applied to a period of time anterior to sunrise; for, says he,
"The word day (ahaḥ) is used only to denote such a period
of time as 'is invested with the light of the Dawn.'"* Then,
again, he is obviously at a loss to understand how a number of
days can be said to have elapsed between the first beams of
the dawn and sunrise. These were serious difficulties for
Sâyaṇa, and the only way to get over them was to force an
unnatural sense upon the words, and make them yield some
intelligible meaning. This was no difficult task for Sâyaṇa.
The word ahâni, which means 'days,' was the only stumbling
block in his way, and instead of taking it in the sense in which
it is ordinarily used, without exception, everywhere in the
Ṛig-Veda, he went back to its root-meaning, and interpreted it
as equivalent to 'light' or 'splendour.' Ahan is derived from
the root ah (or philologically dah), 'to burn,' or 'shine,'
and Ahanâ meaning 'dawn' is derived from the same root.

• उषःप्रकाशयुक्तस्यैव कालस्याहःशब्दव्यवहारात ।

THE VEDIC DAWNS. 91
Etymologically ahâni may, therefore, mean splendours ; but the
question is whether it is so used anywhere, and why we should
here give up the ordinary meaning of the word. Sâyaṇa's answer
is given above. It is because the word 'day' (ahan) can, according
to him, be applied only to a period after sunrise and before sun-
set. But this reasoning is not sound, because in the Ṛig-Veda
VI, 9, 1, ahaḥ is applied to the dark as well as to the bright pe-
riod of time, for the verse says, “there is a dark day (ahaḥ) and
a bright day (ahaḥ).” This shows that the Vedic poets were in the
habit of using the word ahaḥ (day) to denote a period of time devoid
of the light of the sun.* Sâyaṇa knew this, and in his commentary
on I, 185, 4, he expressly says that the word ahaḥ may include
night. His real difficulty was different, viz., the impossibility of
supposing that a period of several days could have elapsed between
the first appearance of light and sunrise, and this difficulty seems to
have been experienced even by Western scholars. Thus Prof.
Ludwig materially adopts Sâyaṇa's view and interprets the verse
to mean that the splendours of the dawn were numerous, and that
they appear either before sunrise, or, if prâchînam be differently
interpreted 'in the east' at the rising of the sun. Roth and Grass-
mann seem to interpret prâchînam in the same way. Griffith
translates ahâni by 'mornings' and prâchînam by 'aforetime.' His
rendering of the verse runs thus:—“Great is, in truth, the number
of the mornings, which were aforetime at the sun's uprising; since
thou, O Dawn, hast been beheld repairing as to thy love, as
one no more to leave him.” But Griffith does not explain
* Ṛig. VI. 9, 1,—अहश्च कृष्णमहरर्जुनं च वि वर्तेते रजसी वेद्याभिः
Also cf. T. S. III, 3, 4, 1,—एतद्वा अहो रूपं यद्रात्रिः । Similarly in T. S.
VI, 3, 9, 1, the phrase शमहॊभ्याम् ( 1, 3, 9, 1 ) is thus explained:—
शमहोभ्यामिति निनयत्यहोरात्राभ्यामेव ।

92 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
what he understands by the expression, “a number of mornings
which were aforetime at the sun’s uprising.”
The case , is, therefore, reduced to this. The word ahan,
of which ahâni (days) is a plural form, can be ordinarily interpre-
ted to mean (1) a period of time between sunrise and sunset; (2) a
nycthemeron, as when we speak of 360 days of the year; or (3) a
measure of time to mark a period of 24 hours, irrespective of
the fact whether the sun is above or below the horizon, as when
we speak of the long Arctic night of 30 days. Are we then to
abandon all these meanings, and understand ahâni to mean ‘splen-
dours’ in the verse under consideration? The only difficulty is to
account for the interval of many, days between the appearance
of the banner of the Dawn on the horizon and the emergence of
the sun’s orb over it; and this difficulty vanishes if the description
be taken to refer to the dawn in the Polar or Circum-Polar
regions. That is the real key to the meaning of this and similar
other passages, which will be noted hereafter; and in its absence
a number of artificial devices have been made use of to make these
passages somehow intelligible to us. But now nothing of the kind
is necessary. As regards the word ‘days’ it has been observed
that we often speak ‘a night of several days,’ or ‘a night of several
months ’ when describing the Polar phenomena. In expressions like
these the word ‘day’ or ‘month’ simply denotes a measure of time
equivalent to ‘twenty-four hours,’ or ‘thirty days;’ and there is
nothing unusual in the exclamation of the Ṛig-Vedic poet that
“many were the days between the first beams of the dawn and
actual sunrise.” We have, also seen that, at the Pole, it is quite
possible to mark the periods of twenty-four hours by the rotations
of the celestial sphere or the circum-polar stars, and these
could be or rather must have been termed ‘days’ by the

THE VEDIC DAWNS. 93
inhabitants of the place. In the first chapter of the Old Testa-
ment we were told that God created the heaven and the earth
and also light "on the first day;" while the sun was created
on the fourth "to divide the day from the night and to rule the
day." Here the word 'day' is used to denote a period of time
even before the sun was created; and a fortiori, there can be no
impropriety in using it to denote a period of time before sun-
rise. We need not, therefore, affect a hypercritical spirit in exa-
mining the Vedic expression in question. If Sâyaṇa did it, it
was because he did not know as much about the Polar regions
as we now do. We have no such excuse, and must, therefore,
accept the meaning which follows from the natural construction
and reading of the sentence.
It is therefore clear that the verse in question (VII, 76, 3)
expressly describes a dawn continuously lasting for many days,
which is possible only in the Arctic regions. I have discussed the
passage at so much length because the history of its interpreta-
tion clearly shows how certain passages in the Ṛig-Veda, which
are unintelligible to us in spite of their simple diction, have been
treated by commentators, who know not what to make of them
if read in a natural way. But to proceed with the subject in hand,
we have seen that the Polar dawn could be divided into periods of
24 hours owing to the circuits it makes round the horizon. In such
a case we can very well speak of these divisions as so many day-
long dawns of 24 hours each, and state that so many of them are
past and so many are yet to come, as has been done in the verse
(I, 113, 10) discussed above. We may also say that so many
day-long dawns have passed, and yet the sun has not risen, as in
II, 28, 9, a verse addressed to Varuṇa, wherein the poet asks for
the following boon from the deity:—

94 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
Para ṛiṇâ sâvîr adha mat-kṛitâni
mâ aham râjan anya-kṛitena bhojam ।
Avyushṭâ in nu bhûyasîr ushâsa
â no jîvân Varuṇa tâsu shadhi ॥
Literally translated this means "Remove far the debts (sins)
incurred by me. May I not, O King ! be affected by others'
doings. Verily, many dawns (have) not fully (vi) flashed forth.
O Varuṇa ! direct that we may be alive during them."* The
first part of this verse contains a prayer usually addressed to
Gods, and we have nothing to say with respect to it, so far as the
subject in hand is concerned. The only expression necessary to
be discussed is bhûyasîh ushâsaḥ avyushṭâḥ in the third quarter of
the verse. The first two words present no difficulty. They mean
'many dawns.' Now avyushṭa is a negative participle from vyushṭa,
which again is derived from ushṭa with vi prefixed. I have refer-
red to the distinction between ushas and vyushṭi suggested by the
three-fold or the five-fold division of the dawn. Vyushṭi, according
to the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa, means 'day,' or rather 'the flashing
forth of the dawn into sunrise' ; and the word a+vi+ushṭa,
therefore, means "not-fully-flashed-forth into sunrise." But
Sâyaṇa and others do not seem to have kept in view this distinc-
tion between the meanings of ushas and vyushṭi ; or if they did,
they did not know or had not in their mind the phenomenon of
the long continuous dawn in the Arctic regions, a dawn, that
lasted for several day-long periods of time before the sun's orb
appeared on the horizon. The expression, bhûyasîh ushâsaḥ
avyushṭâḥ, which literally means "many dawns have not dawned,
or fully flashed forth," was, therefore, a riddle to these com-
mentators. Every dawn, they saw, was followed by sunrise; and

• Ṛig. II, 28, 9,—पर ऋणा सावीरध मत्कृतानि माहं राजन्नन्यकृतेन
  भोजम् । अव्युष्टा इन्नु भूयसीरुषास आ नो जीवान्वरुण तासु शाधि ॥

THE VEDIC DAWNS. 95
they could not, therefore, understand how ‘many dawns’ could be
described as “not-fully-flashed-forth.” An explanation was thus
felt to be a necessity, and this was obtained by converting, in
sense, the past passive participle avyushṭa into a future participle;
and the expression in question was translated as meaning, “during
the dawns (or days) that have not yet dawned,” or, in other words,
“ in days to come.” But the interpretation is on the face of it
strained and artificial. If future days were intended, the idea
could have been more easily and briefly expressed. The poet is
evidently speaking of things present, and, taking vi-ushṭa to
denote what it literally signifies, we can easily and naturally
interpret the expression to mean that though many dawns, mean-
ing many day-long portions of time during which the dawn last-
ed, have passed, yet it is not vyushṭa, that is the sun's orb has
not yet emerged from below the horizon, and that Varuṇa should
protect the worshipper under the circumstances.
There are many other expressions in the Ṛig-Veda which
further strengthen the same view. Thus corresponding to bhūy-
asīḥ in the above passage, we have the adjective pūrvīḥ (many)
used in IV, 19, 8 and VI, 28, 1, to denote the number of the
dawns, evidently shewing that numerically more than one dawn
is intended. The dawns are again not unfrequently addressed
in the plural number in the Ṛig-Veda, and the fact is well-known
to all Vedic scholars. Thus in I, 92, which is a dawn-hymn,
the bard opens his song with the characteristically emphatic
exclamation, “these (etāḥ) are those (tyāḥ) dawns (ushasaḥ), which
have made their appearance on the horizon,” and the same ex-
pression again occurs in VII, 78, 3. Yâska explains the plural
number ushasaḥ by considering it to be used only honori-
fically (Nirukta XII, 7); while Sâyaṇa interprets it as re-
ferring to the number of divinities that preside over the.

96 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
morn. The Western scholars have not made any improve-
ment on these explanations; and Prof. Max Muller is simply
content with observing that the Vedic bards, when speaking of
the dawn, did sometimes use the plural just as we would use the
singular number! But a little reflection will show that neither
of these explanations is satisfactory. If the plural is honorific
why is it changed into singular only a few lines after in the
same hymn? Surely the poet does not mean to address the Dawn
respectfully only at the outset, and then change his manner of
address and assume a familiar tone. This is not, however, the
only objection to Yâska's explanation. Various similes are used
by the Vedic poets to describe the appearance of the Dawns on
the horizon, and an examination of these similes will convince
any one that the plural number, used in reference to the Dawn,
cannot be merely honorific. Thus in the second line of I, 92, 1,
the Dawns are compared to a number of 'warriors' (dhṛishṇavah),
and in the third verse of the same hymn they are likened to
'women (nārīḥ) active in their occupations.' They are said to
appear on the horizon like 'waves of waters' (apām na urmayha) in
VI, 64, 1; or like 'pillars planted at a sacrifice' (adhvareshu
svaravaḥ) in IV, 51, 2. We are again told that they work like
'men arrayed' (visho na yuktāḥ), or advance like 'troops of cattle'
(gavām na sargāḥ), in VII, 79, 2, and IV, 51, 8, respectively.
They are described as all 'alike' (sadṛiśhīḥ); and are said to be
of 'one mind' (sañjānanāse), or 'acting harmoniously' in IV, 51, 6,
and VII, 76, 5. In the last verse the poet again informs us that
they 'do not strive against each other' (mithah na yatante), though
they live jointly in the 'same enclosure' (samāne urve). Finally
in X, 88, 18, the poet distinctly asks the question, "How
many fires, how many suns and how many dawns (ushāsaḥ)
are there?" If the Dawn were addressed in plural simply

THE VEDIC DAWNS. 97
out of respect for the deity, where was the necessity of informing
us that they do not quarrel though collected in the same place ?
The expresssions 'waves of waters', or 'men arrayed' &c., are
again too definite to be explained away as honorific. Sâyaṇa
seems to have perceived this difficulty, and has, probably for the
same reason, proposed an explanation slightly different from that
of Yâska But, unfortunately, Sâyaṇa's explanation does not solve
the difficulty, as the question still remains, why the deities pre-
siding over the dawn should be more than one in number. The
only other explanation put forward, so far as I know, is that the
plural number refers to the dawns on successive days during the
year, as we perceive them in the temperate or the tropical zone.
On this theory there would be 360 dawns in a year, each followed
by the rising of the sun every day. This explanation may appear
plausible at the first sight. But on a closer examination it will
be found that the expressions used in the hymns cannot be made
to reconcile with this theory. For, if 360 dawns, all separated
by intervals of 24 hours, were intended by the plural number used
in the Vedic verses, no poet, with any propriety, would speak of
them as he does in I, 92, 1, by using the double pronoun etâḥ and
tyâḥ, as if he was pointing out to a physical phenomenon
before him; nor can we understand how 360 dawns, spread
over the whole year, can be described as advancing like 'men
arrayed' for battle. It is again absurd to describe the 360
dawns of the year as being collected in the 'same enclosure'
and 'not striving against or quarrelling with each other.' We
are thus forced to the conclusion that the Ṛig-Veda speaks
of a team or a group of dawns, unbroken or uninterrupted
by sunlight, so that if we be so minded, we can regard
them as constituting a single long continuous dawn. This
is in perfect accord with the statement discussed above, viz.,
13

98 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
that many days passed between the first appearance of light on
the horizon and the uprising of the sun (VII, 76, 3). We cannot,
therefore, accept the explanation of consecutive dawns, nor that of
Yâska, nor of Sâyaṇa regarding the use of the plural number in
this case. The fact is that the Vedic dawn represents one long
physical phenomenon which can be spoken of in plural by suppo-
sing it to be split up into smaller day-long portions. It is thus
that we find Uṣhas addressed sometimes in the plural, and some-
times in the singular number. There is no other explanation on
which we can account for and explain the various descriptions of
the dawn found in the different hymns.
But to clinch the matter, the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, IV, 3, 11,
expressly states that the dawns are thirty sisters, or, in other
words, they are thirty in number, and that they go round and round
in five groups, reaching the same appointed place and having the
same banner for all. The whole of this Anuvâka may be said to
be practically a dawn-hymn of 15 verses, which are used as Man-
tras for the laying down of certain emblematical bricks called the
'dawn-bricks' on the sacrificial altar. There are sixteen such
bricks to be placed on the altar, and the Anuvâka in question
gives 15 Mantras, or verses, to be used on the occasion, the 16th
being recorded elsewhere. These 15 verses, together with their
Brâhmaṇa (T. S., V, 3, 4, 7), are so important for our purpose
that I have appended to this chapter the original passages, with
their translation, comparing the version in the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ
with that of the Atharva-Veda, in the case of those verses which
are found in the latter. The first verse of the section or the
Anuvâka, is used for laying down the first dawn-brick, and
it speaks only of a single dawn first appearing on the
horizon. In the second verse we have, however, a couple

THE VEDIC DAWNS. 99
of dawns mentioned as ‘dwelling in the same abode.’ A third
dawn is spoken in the third verse, followed by the fourth and the
fifth dawn. The five dawns are then said to have five sisters each,
exclusive of themselves, thus raising the total number of dawns
to thirty. These ‘thirty sisters’ (triṁshat svasâraḥ) are then
described as ‘going round’ (parî yanti) in groups of six each, keep-
ing up to the same goal (nishkṛitam). Two verses later on, the
worshipper asks that he and his follower should be blessed with
the same concord as is observed amongst these dawns. We are
then told that one of these five principal dawns is the child of
Ṛita, the second upholds the greatness of Waters, the third
moves in the region of Sûrya, the fourth in that of Fire or
Gharma, and the fifth is ruled by Savitṛi, evidently showing
that the dawns are not the dawns of consecutive days. The last
verse of the Anuvâka sums up the description by stating that the
dawn, though it shines forth in various forms, is but one in reality.
Throughout the whole Anuvâka there is no mention of the rising
of the sun or the appearance of sun-light, and the Brâhmaṇa
makes the point clear by stating “There was a time, when all
this was neither day nor night, being in an undistinguishable state.
It was then that the Gods perceived these dawns and laid them
down, then there was light ; therefore, it brightens to him and
destroys his darkness for whom these (dawn-bricks) are placed. ”
The object of this passage is to explain how and why the dawn-
bricks came to be laid down with these Mantras, and it gives the
ancient story of thirty dawns being perceived by the Gods, not
on consecutive days, but during the period of time when it was
neither night nor day. This, joined with the express statement
at the end of the Anuvâka that in reality it is but one dawn,
is sufficient to prove that the thirty dawns mentioned in
the Anuvâka were continuous and not consecutive. But, if

100 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
a still more explicit authority be needed it will be found in the
Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa, II, 5, 6, 5. This is an old Mantra, and
not a portion of the explanatory Brâhmaṇa, and is, therefore, as
good an authority as any of the verses quoted above. It is address-
ed to the dawns and means "These very Dawns are those that
first shone forth, the Goddesses make five forms ; eternal
(shashvatîḥ), (they) are not separated (na avapṛijyanti), nor do
(they) terminate (na gamanti antam)." * The 'five forms' here
referred to correspond with the division of 30 dawns into 5 groups
of 6 each, made in the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, after the manner of
sacrificial shaḷ-ahas, or groups of six days ; and we are expressly
told that the dawns, which make these 5 forms, are continuous,
unseparated, or uninterrupted. In the Ṛig-Veda I, 152, 4, the
garment of the lover of the dawns (lit. the maidens, kanînâṁ
jâram) is described as 'inseparable' and 'wide' (an-avapṛigṇa and
vitata), and reading this in the light of the aforesaid Mantra from
the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa we are led to conclude that in the
Ṛig-Veda itself the dawny garment of the sun, or the garment,
which the dawns, as mothers, weave for him (cf. V, 47, 6), is
considered as 'wide' and 'continuous.' Translated into common
language this means that the dawn described in the Ṛig-Veda
was a long and continuous phenomenon. In the Atharva-Veda
(VII, 22, 2) the dawns are described as sachetasaḥ and samîchîḥ,
which means that they are 'harmonious' and 'walk together' and
not separately. The first expression is found in the Ṛig-Veda,
but not the second, though it could be easily inferred, from the
fact that the dawns are there described as "collected in the same
enclosure." Griffith renders samîchîḥ by 'a closely gathered
band' and translates the verse thus :—"The Bright one hath

• Taitt. Br. II, 5, 6, 5,—इमा एव ता उषसो या प्रथमा व्यौच्छन् ।
  ता देव्यः कुर्वते पंच रूपा । शश्वतीर्नावपृज्यंति न गमन्त्यन्तम् ॥

THE VEDIC DAWNS. 101
sent forth the Dawns, a closely gathered band, immaculate,
unanimous, brightly refulgent in their homes." * Here all the
adjectives of the dawns clearly indicate a group of undivided
dawns acting harmoniously; and yet, strange to say, Griffith,
who translates correctly, misses the spirit altogether. We have
thus sufficient direct authority for holding that it is a 'team,' or
in Griffith's words, 'a closely gathered band' of thirty continuous
dawns that is described in the Vedic hymns, and not the evane-
scent dawn of the temperate or the tropical zone, either single or
as a series of consecutive dawns.
It is interesting to examine how Sâyaṇa explains the
existence of as many as thirty dawns, before we proceed to
other authorities. In his commentary on the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ
IV, 3, 11, he tells us that the first dawn spoken of in the first
verse in the Anuvâka, is the dawn at the beginning of the creation,
when every thing was undistinguishable according to the Brâh-
maṇa. The second dawn in the second verse is said to be the
ordinary dawn that we see every day. So far it was all right ;
but the number of dawns soon outgrew the number of the kinds
of dawn known to Sâyaṇa. The third, fourth and fifth verses of the
Anuvâka describe three more dawns, and Sâyaṇa was at last
forced to explain that though the dawn was one yet by its Yogic
or occult powers it assumed these various shapes ! But the five
dawns multiplied into thirty sisters in the next verse, and Sâyaṇa
finally adopted the explanation that thirty separate dawns repre-
sented the thirty consecutive dawns of one month. But, why
only thirty dawns of one month out of 360 dawns of a year
should thus be selected in these Mantras is nowhere explained.
The explanations, besides being mutually inconsistent,

• Ath. Veda, VII, 22, 2,—प्रत्नः समीचीरुषसः समैरयन् । अरेपसः
  सचेतसः स्वसरे मन्दुमत्तमाश्रिते गोः ॥

102 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
again conflict with the last verse in the Anuvâka, with the
Brâhmaṇa or the explanation given in the Saṁhitâ itself, and
with the passage from the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa quoted above.
But Sâyaṇa was writing under a firm belief that the Vedic
dawn was the same as he and other Vedic scholars like Yâska
perceived it in the tropical zone; and the wonder is, not that he
has given us so many contradictory explanations, but that he
has been able to suggest so many apparently plausible explana-
tions as the exigencies of the different Mantras required. In the
light of advancing knowledge about the nature of the dawn at
the North Pole, and the existence of man on earth before the
last Glacial epoch, we should, therefore, have no hesitation in
accepting more intelligible and rationalistic view of the different
passages descriptive of the dawns in the Vedic literature. We
are sure Sâyaṇa himself would have welcomed a theory more
comprehensive and reasonable than any advanced by him, if the
same could have been suggested to him in his own day. Jyotish
or astronomy has always been considered to be the ‘eye of the
Veda,’ * and as with the aid of the telescope this eye now com-
mands a wider range than previously it will be our own fault if
we fail to utilise the knowledge so gained to elucidate those
portions of our sacred books which are still unintelligible.
But to proceed with the subject, it may be urged that
it is only the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ that gives us the number
of the dawns, and that it would not be proper to mix up
these statements with the statements contained in the
hymns of the Ṛig-Veda, and draw a conclusion from both
taken together. The Taittirîya Saṁhitâ treats of sacrificial

• Cf. Shikshâ, 41-42,—छंदः पादौ तु वेदस्य हस्तौ कल्पोऽथ पठ्यते ।
  ज्योतिषामयनं चक्षुर्निंरुक्तं श्रोत्रमुच्यते ॥ शिक्षा घ्राणं तु वेदस्य मुखं व्याकरणं
  स्मृतम् । तस्मात् सांगमधीत्यैव ब्रह्मलोके महीयते ॥

THE VEDIC DAWNS. 103
rites, and the Mantras relating to the dawn-bricks may not be
regarded as being originally connected. The fact that only some
of these are found in the Atharva-Veda Saṁhitâ, might lend
some support to this view. But a critical study of the Anuvâka,
will remove all these doubts. The ‘thirty sisters’ are not mention-
ed one by one, leaving it to the hearer, or the reader, to make
up the total, and ascertain the final number for himself. The sixth
verse in the Anuvâka expressly mentions ‘the thirty sisters’, and
is, by itself, sufficient to prove that in ancient days the number
of dawns was considered to be thirty. But if an authority from
the Ṛig-Veda be still needed, we have it in VI, 59, 6, where
Dawn is described as having traversed ‘thirty steps’ (triṁshat
padâni akramît).* This statement has, as yet, remained unex-
plained. ‘A single dawn traversing thirty steps’ is but a para-
phrase of the statement that ‘dawns are thirty sisters, keeping to
the same goal in their circuits.’ Another verse which has not
yet been satisfactorily explained is the Ṛig-Veda, I, 123, 8. It
says “The dawns, alike to-day and alike to-morrow, dwell long
in the abode of Varuṇa. Blameless, they forthwith go round
(pari yanti) thirty yojanas; each its destined course (kratum).” †
The first half of the verse presents no difficulty. In the second
we are told that the dawns go round thirty yojanas, each follow-
ing its own ‘plan,’ which is the meaning of kratu, according to
the Petersberg Lexicon. But the phrase ‘thirty yojanas’ has
not been as yet satisfactorily explained. Griffith following
M. Bergaigne understands it to mean thirty regions or spaces,

• Ṛig. VI, 59, 6,—इंद्राग्नी अपादियं पूर्वागात्पदतीभ्यः । हित्वी शिरो
  जिह्वया वावदच्चरत्त्रिंशत्पदान्यक्रमीत् ॥ Ṛig. X, 189, 3, which speaks of
  thirty realms (triṁshat dhâma), refers very probably to the same fact.
  † Ṛig. I, 123, 8,—सदृशीरद्य सदृशीरिदु श्वो दीर्घं सचंते वरुणस्य
  धाम १ अनवद्यास्त्रिंशतं योजनान्येकैका क्रतुं परि यंति सद्यः ॥

104 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
indicating the whole universe ; but there is no authority for this
meaning. Sâyaṇa, whom Wilson follows, gives an elaborate
astronomical explanation. He says that the sun's rays precede
his rising and are visible when the sun is below the horizon by
thirty yojanas, or, in other words, the dawn is in advance of the
sun by that distance. When dawns are, therefore, said to
traverse thirty yojanas, Sâyaṇa understands by it the astrono-
mical phenomenon of the dawn illumining a space of thirty yojanas
in advance of the sun, and, that when the dawn, at one
place, is over, it is to be found in another place, occupying
a space of thirty yojanas in that place. The explanation
is very ingenious ; and Sâyaṇa also adds that the dawns are
spoken of in the plural number in the verse under consideration,
because the dawns at different places on the surface of the earth,
brought on by the daily motion of the sun, are intended. But
unfortunately the explanation cannot stand scientific scrutiny.
Sâyaṇa says that the sun travels 5,059 yojanas round the Meru
in 24 hours ; and as Meru means the earth and the circumference
of the earth is now known to be about 24,877 miles, a yojana
would be about 4.9, or in round number, about 5 miles. Thirty
such yojanas will, therefore, be 150 miles ; while the first beams
of the dawn greet us on the horizon when the sun is not less than
16° below the horizon. Taking one degree equal to 60 miles,
16° would mean 960 miles, a distance far in excess of the thirty
yojanas of Sâyaṇa. Another objection to Sâyaṇa's explanation
is that the Vedic bard is evidently speaking of a phenomenon pre-
sent before him, and not mentally following the astronomical
dawns at different places produced by the daily rotation of the
earth on its axis. The explanation is again inapplicable to
"thirty steps (padâni)' of the dawn expressly mentioned
in VI, 59, 6. Therefore, the only alternative left is to take

the phrases 'thirty yojanas,' 'thirty sisters,' and 'thirty steps' as
different versions of one and the same fact, viz., the circuits of
the dawn along the Polar horizon. The phrase 'each its destined
course' also becomes intelligible in this case, for though thirty
dawns complete thirty rounds, each may well be described as
following its own definite course. The words pari yanti in the
text literally apply to a circular (pari) motion, (cf. the words
pari-ukshaņam, pari-staraņam, &c.); and the same term is used
in the Taittirîya Samhitâ with reference to 'thirty sisters'. The
word yojana primarily means 'a chariot' (VIII, 72, 6), and then
it came to denote 'distance to be accomplished without unharnes-
sing the horses', or what we, in the vernacular, call a 'ṭappâ.'
Now this ṭappâ, or 'the journey to be accomplished without
unharnessing the horses', may be a day's journey, and Prof.
Max Muller has in one place interpreted the yojana in this way.*
In V, 54, 5, the Maruts are said "to have extended their
greatness as far as the sun extends his daily course," and the
word in the original for 'daily course' is yojanum. Accepting
this meaning, we can interpret the expression 'the dawns
forthwith go round (pari yanti) thirty yojanas' to mean that
the dawns complete thirty daily rounds as at the North Pole.
That circular motion is here intended is further evident from
III, 61, 3, which says, in distinct terms, "Wending towards the
same goal (samânam artham), O Newly-born (Dawn)! turn on
like a wheel (chakramiva â vavṛitsva)."† Although the word
navyasi (newly-born) is here in the vocative case, yet the
meaning is that the dawn, ever anew or becoming new every
day, revolves like a wheel. Now a wheel may either move in

• See S. B. E. Series, Vol. XXXII, pp. 177 and 325.
  † Ṛig. III, 61, 3,—उषः प्रतीची भुवनानि विश्वोध्वा॑ तिष्ठस्य॒मृत॑स्य
  केतुः। स॒मानमर्थं॑ चरणीयमाना च॒क्रमिव॒ नव्य॒स्या व॑वृत्स्व ॥

106 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
a perpendicular plane, like the wheel of a chariot, or in a
horizontal plane like the potter’s wheel. But the first of these
two motions cannot be predicated of the dawn anywhere on the
surface of the earth. The light of the morning is, everywhere,
confined to the horizon, as described in the Ṛig-Veda, VII, 80, 1,
which speaks of the dawn as “unrolling the two rajasî, which
• border on each other (samante), and revealing all things.” * No
dawn, whether in the frigid, the temperate, or the tropical zone
can, therefore, be seen travelling, like the sun, from east to west,
over the head of the observer in a perpendicular plane. The only
possible wheel-like motion is, therefore, along the horizon, and
this can be witnessed only in regions near the Pole. A dawn in
the temperate or the tropical zone is visible only for a short time
on the eastern horizon, and is swallowed up, in the same place, by
the rays of the rising sun. It is only in the Polar regions that we
see the morning lights revolving along the horizon for some day-
long periods of time, and if the wheel-like motion of the dawn,
mentioned in III, 61, 3, has any meaning at all, we must take it to
refer to the revolving splendours of the dawn in the Arctic re-
gions previously described. The expressions “reaching the ap-
pointed place (niṣh-kṛitam) day by day” (I, 123, 9), and “wending
ever and ever to the same goal” (III, 61, 3) are also ill-suited
to describe the dawn in latitudes below the Arctic circle ;:
but if we take these expressions to refer to the Polar
dawn they become not only intelligible, but peculiarly
appropriate, as such a dawn in its daily circuits must come
to the point from which it started every twenty-four hours.
All these passages taken together, therefore, point only to
one conclusion, and that is that both the Ṛig-Veda and the

• Ṛig. VII, 80, 1,—विवर्तयंती रजसी समंते अविष्कृण्वती भुवनानि
  विश्वा । See Wallis’ Cosmology of the Ṛig-Veda, p. 116.

THE VEDIC DAWNS. 107
Taittirîya Saṁhitâ describe a long aud continuous dawn divided
into thiry dawn-days, or periods of twenty-four hours each, a char-
acteristic found only in the Polar dawn.
There are a number of other passages where the dawn is
spoken of in the plural, especially in the case of matutinal deities,
who are said to follow or come after not a single dawn, but dawns in
the plural, (I, 6, 3; I, 180, 1; V, 76, 1; VII, 9, 1; VII, 63, 3). These
passages have been hitherto understood as describing the ap-
pearance of these deities after the consecutive dawns of the year.
But now a new light is thrown upon them by the conclusion esta-
blished above from the examination of the different passages about
the dawn in the Ṛig-Veda, the Taittirîya and the Atharva Veda
Saṁhitâ. It may, however, be mentioned that I do not mean to
say that in the whole of the Ṛig-Veda not a single reference can
be found to the dawn of the tropical or the temperate zone. The
Veda which mentions a year of 360 days is sure to mention the
evanescent dawn which accompanies these days in regions to the
south of the Arctic circle. A greater part of the description of
the dawn is again of such a character that we can apply it either
to the long Polar dawn, or to the short-lived dawn of the tropics.
Thus both may be said to awaken every living being (I, 92, 9), or
disclose the treasures concealed by darkness (I, 123, 4). Similarly
when dawns of different days are said to depart and come, a new
sister succeeding each day to the sister previously vanished (I, 124, 9),
we my either suppose that the consecutive dawns of different days
are intended, or that a number of day-long dawns, which succeed
one another after every 24 hours at the Pole, were in the mind
of the poet. These passages do not, therefore, in any way affect the
conclusion we have arrived at above, by the consideration of the
special characteristics of the dawns mentioned in the hymns. What

108 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
we mean to prove is that Uṣhas, or the Goddess of dawn, the first
appearance of which was so eagerly and anxiously looked to, and
which formed the subject of so many beautiful hymns in the
Vedic literature, is not the evanescent dawn of the tropics, but the
long, continuous and revolving dawn of the pole; and if we have
succeeded in proving this from the passages discussed above, it
matters little if a passage or more are found elsewhere in the
Ṛig-Veda, describing the ordinary tropical dawn. The Vedic
Ṛiṣhis, who sang the present hymns, must have been familiar with
the tropical dawn, if they now and then added a 13th month to
secure the correspondence of the lunar and the solar year. But
the deity of the Dawn was an ancient deity, the attributes of
which had become known to the Ṛiṣhis by orally preserved
traditions, about the primeval home; and the dawn-hymns, as we
now possess them, faithfully describe these characteristics. How
these old characteristics of the Goddess of Dawn were preserved
for centuries is a question to which I shall revert after
examining the whole of the Vedic evidence bearing on the Polar
theory. For the present we may assume that these reminiscences
of the old home were preserved much in the same way as we
have preserved the hymns, accent for accent and letter for letter,
for the last three or four thousand years.
It will be seen from the foregoing discussion that if the dawn-
hymns in the Ṛig-Veda be read and studied in the light of modern
scientific discoveries and with the aid of passages in the Atharva-
Veda and the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ and Brâhmaṇa, they clearly
establish the following results:—
(1) The Ṛig-Vedic dawn was so long that several days
elapsed between the first appearance of light on the
horizon and the sunrise which followed it, (VII, 76, 3,); or,