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

THE COWS' WALK. 201
but also in the Greek mythology ; and we can, therefore, now
give a better account of the origin of this sacrificial session
than that it was a session of bovine animals for the purpose
of obtaining horns. Speaking of cows in the Aryan mythology,
Prof. Max Muller in his Contributions to the Science of Mythology
(Vol. II. p. 761) writes as follows :—
"There were thus three kinds of cows, the real cows, the
cows in the dark cloud (rain=milk), and the cows stepping forth
from the dark stable of the night (the rays of the morning).
These three are not always easy to distinguish in the Veda, nay,
while we naturally try to distinguish between them, the poets-
themselves seem to delight in mixing them up. In the passage
quoted above (I, 32, 11), we saw how the captive waters were
compared to cows that had been stolen by Paṇi (niruddhāḥ
āpaḥ Paṇinā iva gāvaḥ), but what is once compared in the Veda
is soon identified. As to the Dawn, she is not only compared
to a cow, she is called the cow straight out. Thus when we
read, R. V. I, 92, 1, 'These dawns have made a light on the east-
ern half of the sky, they brighten their splendour, the bright
cows approach, the mothers,' the cows, gāvaḥ, can only be the
dawns themselves, the plural of dawn being constantly in the
Veda used where we should use the singular. In R. V. I, 93, 4,
we read that 'Agnîshomau deprived Paṇi of his cows and found
light for many.' Here again the cows are the dawns kept by
Paṇi in the dark stable or cave of the night, discovered by
Saramâ and delivered every morning by the gods of light."
"We read in R. V. I, 62, 3, that Bṛihaspati split the rock
and found the cows."
"Of Indra it is said, II, 19, 3, that he produced the sun and
found the cows ; of Bṛihaspati, II, 24, 3, that he drove out
the cows, that he split the cave by his word, that he hid the
darkness, and lighted up the sky. What can be clearer ? The
Maruts also, II, 34, 1, are said to uncover the cows, and Agni,

202 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
V, 14, 4, is praised for killing the fiends, for having overcome
darkness by light, and having found the cows, water and the
sun."
"In all these passages we find no iva or na, which would
indicate that the word cow was used metaphorically. The
dawns or days as they proceed from the dark stable, or are
rescued from evil spirits, are spoken of directly as the cows. If
they are spoken of in the plural, we find the same in the case
of the Dawn (ushas) who is often conceived as many, as in II,
28, 2, upâyane ushasâm gomatinâm, 'at the approach of the
dawns with their cows.' From that it required but a small
step to speak of the one Dawn as the mother of the cows, IV,
52, 2, mâtâ gavâm."
"Kuhn thought that these cows should be understood as the
red clouds of the morning. But clouds are not always present
at sunrise, nor can it well be said that they are carried off and
kept in prison during the night by the powers of darkness."
"But What is important and settles the point is the fact
that these cows or oxen of the dawn or of the rising sun occur
in other mythologies also and are there clearly meant for days.
They are numbered as 12 × 30, that is, the thirty days of the 12
lunar months. If Hêlios has 350 oxen and 350 sheep, that can
only refer to the days and to the nights of the year, and would
prove the knowledge of a year of 350 days before the Aryan
separation."
"Thus the cows in mythology are the days and nights, or
dawns, that are imprisoned by Paṇi, and not real living cows
with horns. Adopting this explanation and substituting these
metaphorical cows for gavâḥ in the Gavâm-ayanam, it is not
difficult to see that underneath the strange story of cows
holding a sacrificial session for getting horns, there lies concealed
the remarkable phenomenon, that, released from the clutches
of Paṇi, these cows of days and nights walked on for ten
months, the oldest duration of the session known as Cows'

THE COWS' WALK. 203
walk. In plain language this means, if it means anything,
that the oldest Aryan year was one of ten months followed by
the long night, during which the cows were again carried away
by the powers of darkness. We have seen that the oldest Ro-
man year was of ten months, and the Avesta, as will be shown
later on, also speaks of ten months' summer prevailing in the
Airyana Vaejo before the home was invaded by the evil spirit,
who brought on ice and severe winter in that place. A year of
ten months with a long night of two months may thus be
taken to be known before the Aryan separation, and the refer-
ences to it in the Vedic literature are neither isolated nor ima-
ginary. Thye are the relics of ancient history, which have been
faithfully preserved in the sacrificial literature of India, and if
they were hitherto misunderstood it was because the true key
required for their solution was as yet unknown.
But as stated in the previous chapter, a year in the circum-
polar region will always have a varying number of the months
of sunshine according to latitude. Although, therefore, there
is sufficient evidence to establish the existence of a year of
ten months, we cannot hold that it was the only year known in
ancient times. In fact we have seen that the legend of Aditi
indicates the existence of the seven months of sunshine ; and a
band of thirty continuous dawns supports the same conclusion.
But it seems that a year of ten months of sunshine was more
prevalent, or was selected as the mean of the different vary-
ing years. The former view is rendered probable by the fact
that of the Aṅgirases of various forms (virûpas) the Navag-
vas and the Dashagvas are said to be the principal or the most
important in the Ṛig-Veda (X, 62, 6). But whichever view
we adopt, the existence of a year of seven, eight, nine, ten or
eleven months of sunshine follows as a matter of course, if the
ancient Aryan home was within the Arctic circle. Prof. Max
Muller, in the passage quoted above, points out that the old
Greek year probably consisted of 350 days, the 350 oxen of

204 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
Hêlios representing the days, and 350 sheep representing the
nights. He also notices that in German mythology 700 gold
rings of Wieland, the smith, are spoken of, and comparing the
number with 720 sons of Agni mentioned in I, 164, 11, he
draws from it the conclusion that a year of 350 days is also
represented in the German mythology. This year is shorter
by ten days than the civil year of 360 days, or falls short of
the full solar year by 15 days. It is, therefore, clear, that if a
year of 350 days existed before the Aryan separation, it must
have been followed by a continuous night of ten days ; while,
where the year was of 300 days, the long night extended over
60 days of 24 hours each. We shall thus have different kinds
of long nights; and it is necessary to see if we can collect evi-
dence to indicate the longest duration of the night known be-
fore the Aryan separation. Speaking of the cows or oxen of
Hêlios, as stated in the passage quoted above, Prof. Max Mul-
ler goes on to observe :-
"The cows or oxen of Hêlios thus receive their back-
ground from the Veda, but what is told of them by Homer is
by no means clear. When it is said that the companions of
Odysseus consumed the oxen of Hêlios, and that they thus
forfeited their return home, we can hardly take this in the
modern sense of consuming or wasting their days, thought it
may be difficult to assign any other definite meaning to it.
Equally puzzling is the fable alluded to in the Homeric hymn
that Hermes stole the oxen of Apollon and killed two of them.
The number of Apollon's oxen is given as fifty (others give
the number as 100 cows, twelve oxen and one bull), which
looks like the number of weeks in the lunar year, but why
Hermes should be represented as carrying off the whole herd
and then killing two, is difficult to guess, unless we refer it to
the two additional months in a cycle of four years."
In the light of the Arctic theory the puzzle here referred
to is solved without any difficulty. The stealing away or the

THE COWS' WALK. 205
carrying off of the cows need not now be taken to mean
simple wasting of the days in the modern sense of the word; nor
need we attribute such stories to the "fancy of ancient bards
and story tellers." The legend or the tradition of stealing,
consuming, or carrying off the cows or oxen is but another
form of stating that so many days were lost, being swallowed
up in the long night that occurred at the end of the year and
lasted, according to latitude, for varying periods of time. So
long as every thing was to be explained on the theory of a
daily struggle between light and darkness, these legends were
unintelligible. But as soon as we adopt the Arctic theory the
whole difficulty vanishes, and what was confused and puzzling
before becomes at once plain and comprehensible. In the
Vedic mythology cows are similarly said to be stolen by Vṛitra
or Vala, but their number is nowhere given, unless we regard
the story of Ṛijrâshva (the Red-horse) slaughtering 100 or 101
sheep and giving them to a she-wolf to devour (I,116,16; 117, 18),
as a modification of the story of stealing the cows. The Vedic
sacrificial literature does, however, preserve for us an important
relic, besides the one above noted, of the older calendar and
especially the long night. But in this case the relic is so deeply
buried under the weight of later explanations, adaptations and
emendations, that we must here examine at some length the
history of the Soma sacrifices in order to discover the original
meaning of the rites which are included under that general name.
That the Soma sacrifice is an ancient institution is amply proved
by parallel rites in the Parsi scriptures; and whatever doubt we
may have regarding the knowledge of Soma in the Indo-European
period, as the word is not found in the European languages,
the system of sacrifices can be clearly traced back to the
primeval age. Of this sacrificial system, the Soma sacrifice may,
at any rate, be safely taken as the oldest representative, since it
forms the main feature of the ritual of the Ṛig-Veda, and a whole

206 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
Maṇḍala of 114 hymns in the Ṛig-Veda is dedicated to the
praise of Soma. A careful analysis of the Soma sacrifice may,
therefore, be expected to disclose, at least partially, the nature
of the oldest sacrificial system of the Aryan race; and we,
therefore, proceed to examine the same.
The chief characteristic of the Soma sacrifice, as distin-
guished from other sacrifices, is, as the name indicates, the ex-
traction of the Soma juice and the offering thereof to gods be-
fore drinking it. There are three libations of Soma in a day,
one in the morning, one at mid-day, and the last in the evening,
and all these are accompanied by the chanting of hymns during
the sacrifice. These Soma sacrifices, if classed according to
their duration, fall under three heads; (1) those that are per-
formed in a single day, called Ekâhas, (2) those that are per-
formed in more than one and less than thirteen days, called
Ahînas, and (3) those that take thirteen or more than 13 days
and may last even for one thousand years, called Sattras. Under
the first head we have the Agniṣhṭoma, fully described in the
Aitareya Brâhmaṇa (III, 39-44), as the key or the type of all
the sacrifices that fall under this class. There are six modifica-
tions of Agniṣhṭoma, viz., Ati-agniṣhṭoma, Ukthya, Shoḍashî,
Vâjapeya, Atirâtra and Aptoryâma, which together with Ag-
niṣhṭoma, form the seven parts, kinds or modifications of the
Jyotiṣhṭoma sacrifice, (Ashv. S. S. VI, 11, 1). The modification
chiefly consists in the number of hymns to be recited at the
libations, or the manner of recitation, or the number of the
Grahas or Soma-cups used on the occasion. But with these we
are not at present concerned. Of the second class of Soma sacri-
fices, the Dvâdashâha or twelve days' sacrifice is celebrated both
as Ahîna and Sattra and is considered to be very important.
It is made up of three tryahas (or three days' performances,
called respectively Jyotis, Go, and Ayus), the tenth day and the
two Atirâtras (Ait. Br. IV, 23-4). The nine days' performance

THE COWS' WALK. 207
(three tryahas) is called the Nava-rātra. Side by side with this,
there are, under this head, a number of Soma sacrifices extend-
ing over two nights, three nights, four nights, upto twelve nights,
called dvi-rātra, tri-rātra and so on (Tait. Saṁ. VII; 1, 4,—VII, 3,
2 ; Ashv. Shr. Sut. X and XI ; Tāṇ. Brā. 20, 11,—24, 19). In the
third class we have the annual Sattras and of these the Gavām-
ayanam is the type. Some Sattras which come under this class
are described as extending over 1,000 years, and a discussion is
found in sacrificial works as to whether the phrase one thousand
years signifies 1,000 real years, or whether it stands for 1,000 days.
But we may pass it over as unnecessary for our purpose. The
annual Sattras are the only important Sattras of this class, and
to understand their nature we must see what a shaḷaha means.
The word literally denotes a group of six days (shaṭ + ahan) and
is used to denote six days' performance in the sacrificial litera-
ture. It is employed as a unit to measure a month in the same
way as we now use a week, a month being made up of five
shaḷahas. The shaḷaha, in its turn, consists of the daily sacrifices
called, Jyotis, Go, Āyus, and the same three taken in the
reverse order as Āyus, Go and Jyotis. Every shaḷaha, therefore,
begins and ends with a Jyotiṣhṭoma (Ait. Br. IV, 15). The sha-
ḷaha is further distinguished into Abhiplava and Pṛishṭhya, ac-
cording to the arrangement of the stomas or songs sung at the
Soma libations. An annual Sattra is, in the main, made up of
a number of shaḷahas joined with certain special rites at the be-
ginning, the middle and the close of the Sattra. The central day
of the Sattra is called Viṣhuvān, and stands by itself, dividing
the Sattra into two equal halves like the wings of a house (Tait.
Br. I, 2, 3, 1) ; and the rites in the latter half of the session or
after the Viṣhuvān day are performed in an order which is the
reverse of that followed in performing the ceremonies in the first
half of the sacrifice. The model annual Sattra (the Gavām-
ayanam) thus consists of the following parts :—

208 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
Parts. Days.

1. The introductory Atirâtra............................................ 1
2. The Chaturviṁsha day, otherwise called the Ârambha-
   nîya (Ait. Br. IV. 12), or the Prâyaṇîya (Tâṇḍ. Br.
   IV, 2), the real beginning of the Sattra............... 1
3. Four Abhiplava, followed by one Pṛiṣhṭhya shaḷaha
   each month; continued in this way for five months... 150
4. Three Abhiplava and one Pṛiṣhṭhya shaḷaha............... 24
5. The Abhijit day...................................................... 1
6. The Three Svara-Sâman days.................................... 3
7. The Viṣhuvân or the Central day, which stands by
   itself, i.e., not counted in the total of the Sattra days.
8. The three Svara-Sâman days.................................... 3
9. The Vishvajit day................................................... 1
10. One Pṛiṣhṭhya and three Abhiplava shaḷahas......... 24
11. One Pṛiṣhṭhya and four Abhiplava shaḷahas each month;
    continued in this way for four months.................. 120
12. Three Abhiplava shaḷahas, one Go-ṣhṭoma, one Âyu-
    ṣhṭoma, and one Dasharâtra (the ten days of Dvâda-
    shâha), making up one month.............................. 30
13. The Mahâvrata day, corresponding to the Chaturviṁsha
    day at the beginning............................................ 1
14. The concluding Atirâtra............................................ 1
    Total days.........360.
    It will be seen from the above scheme that there are really
    a few sacrificial rites which are absolutely fixed and unchange-
    able in the yearly Sattra. The two Atirâtras, the introductory
    and the concluding, the Chaturviṁsha and the Mahâvrata
    day, the Abhijit and the Vishvajit, the three Svara-Sâman
    days on either side of Viṣhuvân, the Viṣhuvân itself, and
    the ten days of Dvâdashâha, making up 22 days in all, ex-
    clusive of Viṣhuvân, are the only parts that have any special-
    ity about them. The rest of the days are all made up by
    Abhiplava and Pṛiṣhṭhya shaḷahas, which, therefore, consti-
    tute what may. be called the elastic or the variable part of
    the yearly Sattra. Thus if we want a Gavâm-ayanam of ten
    months, we have only to strike off five shaḷahas from the

THE COWS' WALK 209
parts marked 3 and 11 in the above scheme. The Âdityanâm-
ayanam is another modification of the above scheme in which,
amongst other changes, the shaḷahas are all Abhiplava,
instead of being a combination of Abhiplava and Prishṭhya;
while if all the shaḷahas are Prishṭhya, along with some
other changes, it becomes the Aṅgirasâm-ayanam. All
these modifications do not, however, touch the total number
of 360 days. But there were sacrificers, who adopted the
lunar year of 354 days, and, therefore, omitted 6 days from
the above scheme; and their Sattra is called the Utsar-
giṇâm-ayanam (Tait. Sam. VII, 5, 7, 1; Tâṇḍya Brâh. V, 10).
In short, the object was to make the Sattra correspond with
the year adopted, civil or lunar, as closely as possible. But
these points are not relevant to our purpose. The Brâhmaṇas
and the Shrauta Sûtras give further details about the various
rites to be performed on the Viṣhuvân, the Abhijit and the
Vishvajit or the Svara-sâman day. The Aitareya Âraṇyaka
describes the Mahâvrata ceremony; while the Atirâtra and the
Chaturviṁsha are described in the fourth book of the Aitareya
Brâhmaṇa. The Chaturviṁsha is so called because the stoma
to be chanted on that day is twenty-four-fold. It is the real
beginning of the Sattra as the Mahâvrata is its end. The
Aitareya Brâhmaṇa (IV, 14) says, "The Hotṛi pours forth
the seed. Thus he makes the seed (which is poured forth)
by means of the Mahâvrata day produce off-spring. For seed
if effused every year is productive." This explanation shows
that like the Pravargya ceremony, the Mahâvrata was intended
to preserve the seed of the sacrifice in order that it might ger-
minate or grow at the proper time. It was a sort of link bet-
ween the dying and the coming year, and appropriately con-
cluded the annual Sattra. It will be further seen that every
annual Sattra had an Ati-râtra at each of its ends, and that
the Dvâdashâha, or rather the ten days thereof, formed an
important concluding part of the Sattra.
24

210 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
The above is only a brief description, a mere outline of the
scheme of the annual Sattras mentioned in sacrificial works, but it
is sufficient for our purpose. We can see from it that a civil year
of 360 days formed their basis, and the position of the Viṣhuvân
was of great importance inasmuch as the ceremonies after it
were performed in the reverse order. I have shown elsewhere
what important inferences can be drawn from the position of the
Viṣhuvân regarding the calendar in use at the time when the
scheme was settled. But we have now to consider of times which
preceded the settlement of this scheme, and for that purpose
we must describe another set of Soma sacrifices included under
the general class of Sattras. It has been stated above that side
by side with the Dvâdashâha, there are Ahîna sacrifices of two
nights, three nights, etc. upto twelve nights. But these sacri-
fices do not stop with the twelve nights' performance. There are
thirteen nights', fourteen nights', fifteen nights,' and so on upto one
hundred nights' sacrifice called Trayodasha-râtra, Chaturdasha-
râtra and so on upto Shata-râtra. But since the Ahîna has
been defined to be a sacrifice extending over not more than
twelve or less than thirteen days, all the night-sacrifices extend-
ing over a period longer than twelve nights are included
in the third class, viz., the Sattras. If we, however, dis-
regard this artificial division, it will be found that along
with the Ekâha, the Dvâdashâha and the annual Sattras, there
is a series of, what are termed, the night-sacrifices or sattras
extending over a period of time from two to one hundred
nights, but not further. These night-sacrifices or Râtri-sattras
are mentioned in the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, the Brâhmaṇas and
the Shrauta Sûtras in clear terms, and there is no ambiguity
about their nature, number, or duration. The Taittirîya Saṁ-
hitâ in describing them often uses the word Râtrîḥ (nights)
in the plural, stating, that so and so was the first to institute or
to perceive 'so many nights' meaning so many nights' sacrifice,

THE COWS' WALK. 211
(vimshatim râtrîh, VII. 3, 9, 1; dvâtrimshatam râtrîh, VII, 4, 4, 1).
According to the principle of division noted above all night-
sacrifices of less than thirteen nights' duration will be called
Ahîna, while those extending over longer time upto one hundred
nights will come under Sattras; but this is, as remarked above,
evidently an artificial division, and one, who reads carefully
the description of these sacrifices, cannot fail to be struck by
the fact that we have here a series of night-sacrifices from two to
a hundred nights, or if we include the Ati-râtra in this series, we
have practically a set of hundred nightly Soma sacrifices, though,
according to the principle of division adopted, some may fall
under the head of Ahîna and some under that of Sattras.
Now an important question in connection with these
Sattras is why they alone should be designated 'night-sacri-
fices,' (râtri-kratus), or 'night-sessions' (râtri-sattras)? and
why their number should be one hundred? or, in other words,
why there are no night-sattras of longer duration than one
hundred nights? The Mîmâmsakas answer the first part of
the question by asking us to believe that the word 'night'
(râtrih) is really used to denote 'a day' in the denomination of
these sacrifices (Shabara on Jaimini VIII, 1, 17). The word
Dvi-râtra, according to this theory, means two days' sacrifice,
and Shata-râtra, a hundred days' sacrifice. This explanation
appears very good at the first sight, and as a matter of fact it
has been accepted by all writers on the sacrificial ceremonies.
In support of it, we may also cite the fact that as the moon was
the measurer of time in ancient days, the night was then natu-
rally more marked than the day, and instead of saying
'so many days' men often spoke of 'so many nights,' much
in the same way as we now use the word 'fort-night.' This
is no doubt good so far as it goes; but the question is
why should there be no Soma sacrifices of a longer duration
than one hundred nights? and why a gap, a serious gap, is left

212 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
in the series of Soma sacrifices after one hundred nights' Sattra
until we come to the annual Sattra of 360 days? Admitting that
'night' means 'day,' we have Soma sacrifices lasting from 1 to
100 days; and if so, where was the harm to complete the series
until the yearly Sattra of 360 days was reached? So far as I
know, no writer on sacrificial ceremonies has attempted to answer
this question satisfactorily. Of course, adopting the speculative
manner of the Brâhmaṇas, we might say that there are no Soma
sacrifices of longer than one hundred nights' duration, because the
life of a man cannot extend beyond a hundred years, (Tait. Br.
III, 8, 16, 2). But such an explanation can never be regarded
as satisfactory, and the Mîmâṁsakas, who got over one difficulty
by interpreting 'night' into 'day,' have practically left this latter
question untouched, and, therefore, unsolved. In short, the
case stands thus :—the sacrificial literature mentions a series
of 99, or practically one hundred Soma sacrifices, called the
'night-sacrifices'; but these do not form a part of any annual
Sattra, like the Gavâm-ayanam, nor is any reason assigned for their
separate existence, nor is their duration, which never exceeds
a hundred nights, accounted for. Neither the authors of the
Brâhmaṇas nor those of the Shrauta Sûtras, much less Sâyaṇa and
Yâska give us any clue to the solution of this question; and the
Mîmâṁsakas, after explaining the word 'night' occurring in the
names of these sacrifices as equal to 'day' have allowed these
night-sacrifices to remain as an isolated group in the organ-
ised system of Soma sacrifices. Under these circumstances
it would, no doubt, appear presumptuous for any one to suggest
an explanation, so many centuries after what may be called
the age of the Sattras. But I feel that the Arctic theory,
which, we have seen, is supported by strong independent evi-
dence, not only explains, but appropriately accounts for the
original existence of this isolated series of a hundred Soma sa-
crifices; and I, therefore, proceed to give my view on the point.

THE COWS' WALK. 213
It seems to me that if the word râtri in Ati-râtra is still
understood to mean 'night,' and that if the Ati-râtra sacrifice
is even now performed during the night, there is no reason why
we should not similarly interpret the same word in Dvi-râtra,
Tri râtra &c. upto Shata-râtra. The objection, that the Soma
juice is not extracted during the night, is more imaginary than
real; for as a matter of fact Soma libations are made in the usual
way, during the Ati-râtra sacrifice. The Ati-râtra sacrifice is
performed at the beginning and the end of every Sattra; and all
the three libations of Soma are always offered during the three
turns, or paryâyas, of the night. The Aitareya Brâhmaṇa (IV, 5),
in explaining the origin of this sacrifice, tells us that the Asuras
had taken shelter with the night, and the Devas, who had taken
shelter with the day, wanted to expel them from the dark region.
But amongst the Devas, Indra alone was found ready and willing
to undertake this task; and entering into darkness, he, with the
assistance of metres, turned the Asuras out of the first part of
the night by the first Soma libation, while by means of the middle
turn (paryâya) of passing the Soma-cup, the Asuras were turned
out of the middle part, and by the third turn out of the third or
the last part of the night. The three Soma libations, here
spoken of, are all made during the night, and the Brâhmaṇa
further observes that there is no other deity save Indra and the
Metres to whom they are offered, (Cf. Âpas. Sh. Su. XIV, 3, 12).
The next section of the Brâhmaṇa (IV, 6) distinctly raises the
question, "How are the Pavamâna Stotras (to be chanted for
the purification of the Soma juice) provided for the night,
whereas such Stotras refer only to the day, but not to the
night?" and answers it by stating that the Stotras are the
same for the day and the night. It is clear from this that
Soma juice was extracted and purified at night during the
Ati-râtra sacrifice, and Indra was the only deity to whom the

214 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
libations were offered in order to help him in his fight with the
Asuras, who had taken shelter with the darkness of the night.
That the Ati-râtra is an ancient sacrifice is further proved by the
occurrence of a similar ceremony in the Parsi scriptures. The
word Ati-râtra does not occur in the Avesta, but in the Vendîdad,
XVIII, 18 (43)–22 (48), we are told that there are three parts of
the night, and that in the first of these parts (thrishvai), Fire, the
son of Ahura Mazda, calls upon the master of the house to arise
and put on his girdle and to fetch clean wood in order that he
may burn bright ; for, says the Fire, “Here comes Azi (Sans. Ahi),
made by the Daêvas (Vedic Asuras), who is about to strive against
me, and wants to put out my life.” And the same request is
made during the second and the third part of the night. The
close resemblance between this and the three paryâyas of the
Ati-râtra sacrifice does not seem to have been yet noticed : but
whether noticed or not, it shows that the Ati-râtra is an ancient
rite performed during the night for the purpose of helping
Indra, or the deity that fought with the powers of darkness,
and that such sacrificial acts as putting on the girdle (kosti) or
squeezing the Soma, were performed during this period of dark-
ness.
Now what applies to the sacrifice of a single night may
well be extended to cases where sacrifices had to be performed
for two, three or more continuous nights. I have already
shown before that the ancient sacrificers completed their sacri-
ficial sessions in ten months, and a long night followed the com-
pletion of these sacrifices. What did the sacrificers do during
this long night ? They could not have slept all the time ; and
as a matter of fact we know that the people in the extreme
north of Europe and Asia do not, even at present, sleep
during the whole of the long night which occurs in their
part of the globe. Paul Du Chaillu, who has recently (1900)
published an account of his travels in The Land of the

THE COWS' WALK. 215
Long-Night, informs us (p. 75) that although the sun went below
the horizon for several days in the Arctic regions, yet during the
period "the Lapps could tell from the stars whether it was night
or day, for they were accustomed to gauge time by the stars
according to their height above the horizon, just as we do at
home with the sun"; and what the Lapps do now, must have
been done by the oldest inhabitants of the circum-polar regions.
It is, therefore, clear that the ancient sacrificers of the Aryan race
could not have gone to sleep after sacrificing for ten months. Did
they then sit idle with their hands folded when Indra was
fighting for them with the powers of darkness? They per-
formed their sacrifices for ten months with a view to help In-
dra in his war with Vala; and just at the time when Indra most
needed the help of invigorating songs and Soma libations, are we
to suppose that these sacrificers sat idle, gave up the sacrifices
and left Indra to fight with Vala alone and single-handed as best
as he could? The whole theory of sacrifices negatives such a
supposition. Therefore, if the Arctic theory is true, and if the
ancestor of the Vedic Ṛiṣhis ever lived in a region where the
darkness of the night lasted for several days, (a day being taken
as a measure of time equal to 24 hours), we naturally expect to
find a series of nightly Soma sacrifices performed during the
period, to help the gods in their struggle with the demons of
darkness; and, as a matter of fact, there are in the Vedic sacri-
ficial literature, a number of sacrifices which, if we include the
Ati-râtra in it, extend from one to a hundred nights. The Mîmâ-
ṁsakas and even the authors of the Brâhmaṇas, who knew little
about the ancient Arctic home, have converted these night-sac-
rifices into day-sacrifices; but the explanation evidently appears
to be invented at a time when the true nature of the Râtri-kratus or
Râtri-sattras was forgotten, and it does not, therefore, preclude us
from interpreting these facts in a different way. I have already

216 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
stated above that if we accept the explanation of the Mîmâmsakas,
we cannot explain why the series of the night-sacrifices should
abruptly end with the Shata-râtra or a hundred nights' sacrifice;
but by the Arctic theory we can explain the fact satisfactorily
by supposing that the duration of the long night in the ancient
home varied from one night (of 24 hours) to a hundred continuous
nights ( of 2400 hours ) according to latitude, and that the
hundred nightly Soma sacrifices corresponded to the different
durations of the night at different places in the ancient home.
Thus where the darkness lasted only for ten nights ( 240 hours ) a
Dasha-râtra sacrifice was performed, while where it lasted for 100
nights ( 2400 hours ) a Shata-râtra sacrifice was necessary. There
are no sacrifices after the Shata-râtra because a hundred con-
tinuous nights marked the maximum duration of darkness ex-
perienced by the ancient sacrificers of the race. We have seen
that the legend of Aditi indicates a period of seven months
sunshine ; join to it the Dawn and the Twilight of 30 days each,
and there are left three months, ( or if we take the year to consist
of 365 days, then 95 days ) , for the duration of the long continuous
night,—a result which remarkably corresponds to the longest
duration of the night-sacrifices known in the Vedic literature.
The Dawn marked the end of the long night, and could not,
therefore, be included in the latter at least for sacrificial pur-
poses. In fact separate sacrifices are enjoined for the Dawn in
sacrificial works ; and we may, therefore, safely exclude the
long Dawn from the province of the nightly sacrifices, and the
same may be said of the period of the long evening twilight.
A hundred nights' sacrifice thus marked the maximum dura-
tion of darkness during which Indra fought with Vala and
was strengthened by the Soma libations offered to him in this
sacrifice. As there is no other theory to account for the exist-
ence of the night-sacrifices, and especially for their number, to
wit, one hundred, these sacrifices may be safely taken to

THE COWS' WALK, 217

indicate the existence of an ancient year approximately divided
into seven months' sunshine, one month's dawn, one month's
evening twilight and three months' long continuous night.
There are other considerations which point out to the same
conclusion. In the post-Vedic literature we have a persistent
tradition that Indra alone of all gods is the master of a hundred
sacrifices (shata-kratu), and that as this attribute formed, so
to say, the very essence of Indraship, he always jealously watch-
ed all possible encroachments against it. But European scholars
relying upon the fact that even Sâyaṇa prefers, except in a few
places (III, 51, 2), to interpret shata-kratu, as applied to Indra in
the Ṛig-Veda, as meaning, not 'the master of a hundred sacri-
fices,' but 'the lord of a hundred mights or powers,' have not
only put aside the Purâṇic tradition, but declined to interpret the
word kratu in the Ṛig-Veda except in the sense of 'power, energy,
skill, wisdom, or, generally speaking, the power of body or mind'.
But if the above explanation of the origin of the night-sacrifices
is correct, we must retrace our steps, and acknowledge that
the Purâṇic tradition or legend is, after all, not built upon a pure
misunderstanding of the original meaning of the epithet shata-
kratu as applied to Indra in the Vedic literature. I am aware of
the fact that traditions in the post-Vedic literature are often found
to have but a slender basis in the Vedas, but in the present case we
have something more reliable and tangible to go upon. We
have a group, an isolated group of a hundred nightly Soma
sacrifices, and as long as it stands unexplained in the Vedic
sacrificial literature it would be unreasonable to decline to con-
nect it with the Purâṇic tradition of Indra's sole mastership of
a hundred sacrifices, especially when in the light of the Arc-
tic theory the two can be so well and intelligibly connected.
The hundred sacrifices, which are regarded as constituting the
essence of Indraship in the Purâṇas, are there said to be the
Ashvamedha sacrifices; and it may, at the outset, be urged

218 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
that the Shata-râtra sacrifice mentioned in the sacrificial works
is not an Ashvamedha sacrifice. But the distinction is neither
important, nor material. The Ashvamedha sacrifice is a Soma
sacrifice and is described in the sacrificial works along with the
night-sacrifices. In the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ (VII, 2, 11,) a hundred
offerings of food to be made in the Ashvamedha sacrifice are
mentioned, and the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa (III, 8, 15, 1) states that
Prajâpati obtained these offerings "during the night," and con-
sequently they are called Râtri-homas. The duration of the Ashva-
medha sacrifice is again not fixed, inasmuch as it depends upon
the return of the horse, and in the Ṛig-Veda (I, 163, 1) the sacri-
ficial horse is identified with the sun moving in waters. The re-
turn of the sacrificial horse may, therefore, be taken to symbo-
lise the return of the sun after the long night, and a close re-
semblance between the Ashvamedha and the night-sacrifices,
which were performed to enable Indra to fight with Vala and
rescue the dawn and the sun from his clutches, may thus be taken
as established. At any rate, we need not be surprised if the Shata-
râtra Soma sacrifice appears in the form of a hundred Ashva-
medha sacrifices in the Purâṇas. The tradition is substantially
the same in either case, and when it can be so easily and natural-
ly explained on the Arctic theory, it would not be reasonable to
set it aside, and hold that the writers of the Purâṇas created it
by misinterpreting the word shata-kratu occurring in the Vedas.
We have seen that shata-kratu as applied to Indra is in-
terpreted by Western scholars, and in many places even by Sâ-
yaṇa himself, as meaning the lord of a hundred powers. Sâ-
yaṇa now and then (III, 51, 2; X, 103, 7) suggests or gives
an alternative explanation, and makes Indra 'the master of a
hundred sacrifices'; but Western scholars have gone further
and discarded all other explanations except the one noted
above. It is, therefore, necessary to examine the meaning of
this epithet, as used in the Ṛig-Veda, a little more closely in

THE COWS' WALK. 219
this place. If the word kratu in shata-kratu be interpreted to
mean 'might' or 'power,' the numeral shata, which strictly
denotes 'a hundred,' will have to be taken as equivalent to
'many' or numerous,' inasmuch as no definite set of a hundred
powers can be pointed out as specially belonging to Indra. That
the word shata may be so interpreted is evident from the fact
that adjectives like shata-nîtha (I, 100, 12) and shatam-ûtî ( I, 102,
6; 1 30, 8 ), as applied to Indra in the Ṛig-Veda, are found in
other places in the form of sahasra-nîtha (III, 60, 7), and sahas-
ram-ûti (I, 52, 2). Again Indra's arrow is once called shata-bradhna
and also sahasra-parṇa in the same verse (VIII, 77, 7); while Soma
is represented as going in a hundred ways (shata-yâman) in IX,
86, 16, and a few hymns after it is said to be sahasra-yâman or
going in a thousand ways ( IX, 106, 5 ). Even the adjective
shata-manyu, which Sâyaṇa interprets as meaning 'the master
of a hundred sacrifices' in X, 103, 7, has its counterpart, if not
in the Ṛig-Veda, at least in the Sâma-Veda which reads
sahasra-manyu for sahasra-mushka in Ṛig-Veda VI, 46, 3. . This
shows that the Vedic bards considered shata (a hundred) and
sahasra (a thousand) as interchangeable numerals in some places;
and if the numeral shata in shata-kratu had been of the same
character, we should naturally have met with a paraphrase-
of the epithet as sahasra-kratu somewhere in the Vedic litera-
ture. But although the epithet shata-kratu, as applied to
Indra, occurs about sixty times in the Ṛig-Veda and several
times in other Vedic works, nowhere do we find it para-
phrased as sahasra-kratu, which shews that the Vedic bards
did not feel themselves at liberty to alter or paraphrase it
as they liked. The adjective amita-kratu is applied to Indra
in I, 102, 6; but as amita does not necessarily mean more
than 'one hundred,' it does not follow that on this account
we should give up the ordinary meaning of shata in shata-
kratu. If the word kratu had nowhere been used in the Ṛig-Veda

220 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
to denote a sacrifice, we may have been justified in interpreting
shata-kratu in the way suggested by Western scholars. But,
as observed by Dr. Haug, when Vasiṣhṭha prayed to Indra (VII,
32, 26) "Carry, O Indra! our sacrificial performance (kratum)
through, just as a father does to his sons, (by assisting them).
Teach us, O thou, who art invoked by many, that we may, in
this turn (of the night), reach alive the (sphere of) light (jyotis),"*
the prayer in all probability refers to the sacrificial performance
(kratu) held for the purpose of enabling the sacrificers to safely
reach the other end of the night. In fact, it refers to the Ati-râtra
sacrifice and the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa (IV, 10) quotes and inter-
prets it in the same way. Sâyaṇa, in his commentary on the
Aitareya Brâhmaṇa, though not in the Ṛig-Veda Bhâṣhya, also
takes the same view; and as the Ati-râtra sacrifice is referred to
expressly by its name in the Ṛig-Veda (VII, 103, 7) it is not at all
unlikely that a verse referring to this Soma sacrifice should occur
in other hymns. Hence if there are passages where kratu can be
taken to mean 'a sacrifice,' there is no reason why the epithet
shata-kratu be not understood to mean "the master of a hundred
sacrifices" as suggested by the Purâṇic tradition. Another
fact which favours this interpretation, is that in the Ṛig-Veda
Indra is described as destroying 90, 99 or 100 fortresses or
cities (puraḥ) of his enemies (I, 130, 7; II, 19, 6; VI, 31, 4; II,
14, 6). Now deva-puraḥ, which means 'the fortresses of the
gods,' has been † interpreted to mean 'days' in the description
of the dasha-râtra sacrifice in the Taittitrîya Saṁhitâ VII, 2,

• See Dr. Haug's Ait. Br. (IV, 10), Trans. Vol. II, p. 274, and the
  translator's note thereon: Dr. Haug thinks that the verse (Ṛig. VII,
  32, 26) evidently refers to the Ati-râtra feast, for which occasion it
  was in all likelihood composed by Vasiṣhṭha. The verse is :—इंद्र॒ क्रतुं॑ न॒
  आ भ॑र पि॒ता पु॒त्रेभ्यो॒ यथा॑ । शिक्षा॑ णो अ॒स्मिन् पुरुहूत॒ याम॑नि जी॒वा ज्यो-
  ति॑रशीमहि ॥
  † Cf. Bhatta Bhâskara's Com. which says:—'देवपुरा:' देवानाम् पुर-
  स्थानीयानि पुरविवक्षया इतराण्यहानि 'पर्यूहन्ते' सर्वतो दृंहंते आत्मनो
  रक्षार्थम् ।...। 'ते देवा:' देवपुराख्यानि दशरात्रसंबंधीन्यहानि ।