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

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 ।

THE COWS' WALK. 221
5, 3-4; and if deva-puraḥ means 'days,' the puraḥ (cities, for-
tresses) of Shambara may well be taken to mean 'nights.'
This view is confirmed by the statement in the Aitareya Brāh-
maṇa, previously quoted, which says that the Asuras found
shelter with the night, or, in other words, the darkness of the
night was, so to say, their fortress. Indra's destroying a hundred
forts of Shambara is, therefore, equivalent to his fighting with
the enemy for a hundred continuous nights, a period during
which the ancient sacrificers offered him Soma libations in
order that he may be better prepared for the struggle with Vala.
The destruction of 99 or 100 forts of the enemy, a group of a
hundred nightly sacrifices, the nine and ninety rivers (sravantīḥ)
which Indra is described as crossing during his fight with Ahi
(I, 32, 14), and a hundred leather straps with which Kutsa is
said to have bound down Indra to his sacrifice in the Tāṇḍya
Brāhmaṇa IX, 2, 22, and from which he is invoked to free
himself in Ṛig. X, 38, 5, are but so many different kaleidoscopic
views of the same idea which makes Indra and Indra alone the
lord of a hundred sacrifices; and if we take all these together
they undoubtedly point out to the existence of a hundred conti-
nuous nights in the ancient home of the ancestors of the Vedic
people. In V, 48, 3, 'a hundred,' moving in the abode of Indra,
are said to turn on and turn off the course of ordinary days when
Indra strikes Vṛitra with his bolt ;* and I think we have here a
distinct allusion either to a hundred sacrifices performed or to
a hundred continuous nights required for securing a complete
victory over the powers of darkness in the nether world, and
which nights (or rather one long night of hundred days) may well
be described as breaking off and bringing back the succession of
ordinary days and nights, inasmuch as the long night immediately
follows and precedes the period of sunshine in the Arctic regions.

• Ṛig. V, 48, 3,—आ ग्रावभिरहन्येभिरर्किभिर्वरिहं वज्रमा जिघर्ति मायिनि ।
  शतं वा यस्य प्रचरन्त्स्वे दमे संवर्तयन्तो वि च वर्तयन्नहा ॥

222 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
But a far more striking corroboration of the above view is
furnished by certain passages in the Avesta which describe the
fight of Tishtrya with the demon of draught called Apaosha or
'the burner' in the Parsi scriptures. In the Ṛig-Veda the fight of
Indra with Vṛitra (Vṛitra-tûrya) is often represented as 'a struggle
for waters' (ap-tûrya), or as 'the striving for cows' (go-
ishṭi), or 'the striving for day' (div-ishṭi), and Indra is said to have
released the cows or waters, and brought on the dawn or the sun
by killing Vṛitra (I, 51, 4; II, 19, 3). Now Indra, as Vṛitra-han,
appears as Verethraghna in the Avesta; but the fight for waters is
therein ascribed not to Verethraghna but to Tishtrya, the star of
rain. It is he, who knocks down Apaosha and liberates the waters
for the benefit of man, "with the assistance of the winds, and the
light that dwells in the waters." In short Tishtrya's conquest
over Apaosha is an exact parallel of Indra's conquest over
Vṛitra as described in the Ṛig-Veda; and as the legends are in-
terpreted at present, they are said to refer to the breaking up of
the clouds and the bringing on of the rains on the earth, Tish-
trya being supposed to be the star of rain. But this theory fails
to account for the fact how the recovery of the dawn and the
rising of the sun, or the bringing on of light, were included
amongst the effects of Indra's victory over Vṛitra. It will be
shown in the next chapter that the struggle for waters has very
little to do with rain, and that the fight for waters and the fight
for light are really synchronous, being two different versions of
the same story. In short, both of these legends really represent
the victory of the powers of light over darkness. Shushṇa or
'the scorcher' is one of the names given to Indra's enemy in
the Ṛig-Veda (I, 51, 11), and the result of the conflict between
Indra and Shushṇa is the release of the waters, as well as the
finding of the morning cows (VIII, 96, 17), and the winning of the
sun (VI, 20, 5). Apaosha is thus Shushṇa under a different garb,

THE COWS' WALK. 223
and the only difference between the two legends is that while Indra
is the chief actor in the one, Tishtrya is the chief hero in the
other. But this difference is immaterial inasmuch as the attributes
of one deity are often transferred, even in Ṛig-Veda, to another.
The Avestic legend of Tishtrya is, therefore, rightly understood
by Zend scholars to be a reproduction of the Vedic legend of
Indra and Vṛitra.* Now, in the Tîr Yasht, Tishtrya is repre-
sented as eventually overcoming Apaosha with the help of the
Haoma sacrifice offered to Tishtrya by Ahura Mazda (Yt. VIII,
15-25). The fight is carried on in the region of the waters, the
sea Vouru-Kasha, from which Tishtrya is described as rising up
victorious after defeating Apaosha (Yt. VIII, 32). Daêva Apao-
sha is again said to have assumed the form of a dark horse,
while Tishtrya is represented as opposing him in the form of a
bright horse, hoof against hoof (Yt. VIII, 28), and eventually com-
ing up victorious from out of the sea Vouru-Kasha, like the sacri-
ficial horse rising from the waters in the Ṛig-Veda (I, 163, 1).
But the passage most important for our purpose is the one in
which Tishtrya informs Ahura Mazda as to what should be done
in order to enable Tishtrya to overcome his enemy and to appear
before the faithful at the appointed time. "If men would wor-
ship me," says Tishtrya to Ahura Mazda, "with a sacrifice in
which I were invoked by my own name, as they worship the
other Yazatas with sacrifices in which they are invoked by their
own names, then I should have come to the faithful at the appoin-
ted time; I should have come in the appointed time of my beauti-
ful immortal life, should it be one night, or two nights, or fifty,
or a hundred nights," (Yt. VIII, 11). As Tishtrya appears before
man after his battle with Apaosha, the phrase "appointed

• See Darmesteter's Trans. of Zend-Avesta Part II, (Vol. XXIII
  S. B. E. Series), p. 92. He remarks that Tishtrya's legend is 'a
  refacimento of the old storm-myths.'

224 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS,
time " signifies the time during which the battle is fought and at
the termination of which Tishtrya comes to the faithful ; and
the passage, therefore, means (1) that the "appointed time," when
Tishtrya was to appear before man after fighting with Apaosha,
varied from one night to a hundred nights, and (2) that Tishtrya
required to be strengthened during the period by Haoma sacri-
fices in which he was to be invoked by his own name. We have
seen above that a hundred nightly Soma sacrifices were offered to
Indra by the ancient Vedic sacrificers to enable him to secure
a victory over Vṛitra, and that Indra was the only deity to whom
the libations were offered in these sacrifices. The legend of
Tishtrya and Apaosha is, therefore, an exact reproduction of
Indra's fight with Vṛitra or Vala ; and with this correspondence
before us, we should feel no hesitation in accepting the view
stated above regarding the origin of the Shata-râtra sacrifice.
Neither Darmesteter nor Spiegel explains why the appointed
time for the appearance of Tishtrya is described as " one night,
or two nights, or fifty, or a hundred nights," though both trans-
late the original in the same way. The legend also forms the
subject of chapter VII of the Bundahish, but there, too, we find no
explanation as to why the appointed time is described as varying
from one to a hundred nights. It is, however, suggested by some
that the appointed time may refer to the season of rains. But
rains cannot be said to come after "one night, two nights, or fifty,
or a hundred nights," and the latter expression would, therefore,
be utterly inappropriate in their case ; nor, as stated above, does
Tishtrya's fight with Apaosha represent only a struggle for rain,
since we know that it is a struggle for light as well. We have also
seen that the existence of night-sacrifices in the Vedic literature,
extending over one, two, three, or ten, or a hundred nights, indi-
cates the long darkness during which Indra fought with Vala ;
and the coincidence between this fact and the 'appointed time,'

THE COWS' WALK. 225
of Tishtrya cannot be regarded as accidental. The legends are
undoubtedly identical in character, and taking the one to illus-
trate the other, the only conclusion deducible from them is that
a hundred nights was regarded to be the maximum duration of
the fight between Indra and Vala, or Tishtrya and Apaosha, so
far as the ancestors of the Indo-Iranian people were concerned,
and that the sea Vouru-Kasha, or the ocean 'encompassed with
darkness,' as the Ṛig-Veda has it (II, 23, 18), was the scene of
this battle between the powers of light and darkness. We also
learn from them that the hero of the battle, whether he was
Indra or Tishtrya, stood in need of help, derived from the per-
formance of the sacrifices specially offered to him during the
period; and that as a matter of fact such sacrifices were performed
in ancient times. The word shata-kratu does not occur in the
Avesta, but in the Ashi Yasht (Yt. XVII, 56) "a.ram of hundred-
fold energy (maeshahe satokarahe) is spoken of; and considering
the fact that in the Bahram Yasht (Yt. XIV, 23) "a beautiful ram,
with horns bent round" is said to be one of the incarnations of
Verethraghna, and that Indra is also described as appearing in
the form of a ram in the Ṛig-Veda (VIII, 2, 40), it is very
probable that the phrase sato-karahe maeshahe refers to Verethra-
ghna in the Ashi Yasht, and like the epithet shata-kratu, the
adjective sato-karahe means not "possessed of hundred powers,"
but "the master of a hundred deeds or sacrifices." There is
thus a very close correspondence between the Vedic and the
Avestic ideas on this subject, and this strengthens the conclusion
that the night sacrifices in the Vedic literature had their origin
in the existence of a long continuous night of varying durations
in the original home of the Vedic people. We can now also
satisfactorily explain why Tishtrya is described (Yt. VIII, 36,
vide Spiegel's Trans.) as 'bringing hither the circling years of
men." It is the Avestic parallel of the Vedic story of the
Dawn setting, in motion "the ages of men, or mânuṣhâ yugâ,"
15

226 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
discussed in the last chapter, and shews that when Tishtrya's
fight with Apaosha, or Indra's war with Vala, was over, the new
year commenced with the long dawn, followed by the months
of sunshine varying from seven to eleven in number, according
to the latitude of the place.*

• The passage about Tishtrya's connection with the year is
  noticed by Mr. Meherjibhai Nosherwanji Kuka, M. A, in his essay
  “On the order of Parsi months,” published in the Cama Memorial
  Volume (p. 58), and of which he was kind enough to send me a
  separate copy.
  The passage is in the Tir Yasht, § 36:—‘Tishtrîm stârem raevan-
  tem kharenanghvantem yazamaide, yim yâre-charesho mashyehe
  Ahuracha khratu-gûto aurunacha gairishâcho sizdaracha ravas-
  charâto uziyoirentem hisposentem huydiryâicha danghve uzjasen-
  tem duzydiryâicha, kata Airyâo danghâvo huydiryâo bavâonti.’ Spiegel
  translates it thus, ‘We praise the star Tishtrya, the shining, the majestic,
  who brings here the circling years of men.” Darmesteter takes yâre-
  charesho mashyehe &c., with the words following, viz, uziyoirentem
  hisposentem, and translates, “We praise Tishtrya, &c., whose rising
  is watched by men, who live on the fruits of the year.” According
  to Dastur Erachji Meherjirana (see his Yasht bâ mâeni), the meaning
  of the whole paragraph, in which this passage occurs, is:—“We
  praise Tishtrya, &c, who maketh the year revolve in accordance with
  the notions of the mountaineers and the nomads. He riseth and is
  visible towards the regions where there is no correct calculation of
  the year.”
  But whatever the difficulties of interpretation may be, one thing
  seems to be quite clear from this passage, viz., that Tishtrya was the
  star by which the year was reckoned. In the Tîr Yasht § 5, springs
  of water are said to flow at the rising of Tishtrya, who in § 16 is
  described as ‘mingling his shape with light, or ‘moving in light,’ § 46.
  All those incidents can be satisfactorily explained if we suppose that,
  after Tishtrya's fight with Apaosha, lasting for 100 nights at the
  longest, the aerial waters, which communicated motion to the sun and
  other heavenly bodies (see Faravardîn Yasht 53-58) and which lay
  still or stagnant during the time, were set free to move again
  along the path made by Mazda, bringing on with them the light of
  the sun and thus commencing the new year after the long winter
  night in the Arctic region. The simultaneous character of the motion
  of waters, the commencement of the new year, and the winning of light
  after Tishtrya's fight with Apaosha, can be explained only in this way,
  and not by making the legend refer to the rainy season (see the discus-
  sion about ‘waters’ in the next chapter). The Pairika Duz-yairya,
  or the Bad Year, which Tishtrya is said to break-asunder, is, on this
  theory, the wearisome dark Arctic night.

THE COWS' WALK. 227
In the light of what has been stated above, we can now
better understand the original nature and meaning of the Ati-
râtra sacrifice. It is a nightly sacrifice, performed during the
night, even at present, and the Mîmâṁsakas have not succeeded
in converting it into a day-sacrifice. So far it is all right; but the
question is why should the sacrifice be called Ati-râtra ? The pre-
fix ati (corresponding with Latin trans) ordinarily denotes 'some-
thing beyond,' 'something on the other side, or at the other end,'
and not 'something pervading, extending, or spreading through
the whole extent of anything.' Even Sâyaṇa in his commentary
on VII, 103, 7, the only place where the word Ati-râtra occurs in
the Ṛig-Veda, explains it to mean 'that which is past or beyond
the night' (râtrim atîtya vartate iti atirâtraḥ), and Rudradatta
in his commentary on the Âpastamba Shrauta Sûtra (XIV, 1, 1),
gives the same explanation. The Ati-râtra, therefore, denotes a
trans-nocturnal sacrifice, that is, performed at either end of the
night. Now according to the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa (IV, 5), the
Ati-râtra sacrifice is performed for the purpose of driving out the
Asuras from the darkness of night; and the Tâṇḍya Brâhmaṇa
(IV, 1, 4-5) tells us that Prajâpati, who first perceived the sacri-
fice, created from it the twin of day and night (aho-râtre). It
follows from this that the Ati-râtra was performed at the close
of such night as gave rise to the ordinary days and nights, or, in
other words, the regular succession of days and nights follow-
ed its performance. This can only be the case if we suppose
that the Ati-râtra was performed at the end of a long continu-
ous night in regions where such night occurred. With us
in the temperate or the tropical zone, ordinary days and nights
regularly succeed each other throughout the year without any
break, and it is meaningless, if not absurd, to speak of the cycle
of day and night, as produced from a particular night in the
year. Again, on the theory of a daily struggle between light
and darkness the Asuras must be turned out of darkness every

228 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
night, and strictly speaking the performance of the Ati-râtra is-
necessary on every one of the 360 nights of the Sattra. But as a
matter of fact the Ati-râtra is performed only at the beginning
and the end of the Sattra; and even then the regular Sattra is
said to commence on the Chaturviṁsha and close on the Mahâ-
vrata day, and not on the concluding Atirâtra day. It seems,
therefore, that the performance of the Ati-râtra was not originally
intended to drive away the Asuras from only the first of 360
nights over which the Sattra now extends. For in that case,
there is no reason why the Asuras were not required to be expelled
from every one of the 360 nights. It follows, therefore, that the
Ati-râtra or the trans-nocturnal sacrifice refers to some night
not included in the regular nights of the Gavâm-ayanam. It is
true that the Ati-râtra is performed at the beginning and the end
of every Sattra, and in one sense it is, therefore, a trans-sattra or
ati-sattra sacrifice. But that does not account for the name
Ati-râtra, as the Sattra is not held during night. We must,
therefore, hold that the two Ati-râtras were originally performed
not at the beginning and the end of a Sattra, but at the begin-
ning and the end of a night, which occured or intervened between
the last and the first day of the Sattra. When this night
ended with an Ati-râtra, the usual Sattra began; and as
the sun was above the horizon during the period producing the
regular succession of days and nights, no Ati-râtra was needed
during the Sattra, for, as stated in the Taṇḍya Brâhmaṇa,
the object of the Ati-râtra was gained. But the Sattra closed
with the long night, and the Ati-râtra had, therefore, again
to be performed at the end of the Sattra to drive the Asuras
from this night. I have shown before that we have direct
and reliable authority in the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ to hold that
the Gavâm-ayanam was once completed in ten months or
300 days, and it was, therefore, appropriately closed with and in-
troduced by an Ati-râtra. The word Ati-râtra is thus rationally

THE COWS' WALK. 229
explained, for the sacrifice was performed at the beginning and
the close of the long night and, was therefore, adequately called
a trans-nocturnal sacrifice. Between these two Ati-râtras came
all the night-sacrifices mentioned above, offered exclusively to
Indra. The old Gavâm-ayanam of ten or less than ten months,
the Ati-râtra or the trans-nocturnal, the Râtri-kratus and Râtri-
sattras, or nightly Soma sacrifices of two, three, &c., up to a
hundred continuous nights' duration, and lastly the Ati-râtra, to
be again followed by the Gavâm-ayanam, thus formed the com-
plete yearly round of sacrifices performed by the primeval ances-
tors of the Vedic people; and each of these sacrifices had ori-
ginally the same place in the yearly round as is indicated
by the root-meaning of its name.* But when the year of ten
months was converted into one of twelve to suit the altered
conditions of the new home, the Gavâm-ayanam expanded into
a performance of 360 days, and the elastic nature of the greater
portion of the performance, as pointed out above, permitted the
change to be easily carried out. But though the annual Sattra
expanded in this way, encroaching upon the night-sacrifices of
the long night, which were no longer needed, the Ati-râtra was
retained as an introductory sacrifice and was incorporated in
the ceremonies of the Sattra itself. Thus the two Ati-râtra
sacrifices, which were originally performed, as shown by the
etymology, at the two termini of the long night, came to be
converted into the introductory and concluding sacrifices of
the annual Sattra; and if the word Ati-râtra had not been
retained, we could not have got any clue to reveal to us

• The time here assigned to the Râtri-sattras appears to have
  been known to the Shrauta Sûtras, or in the Lâtyâyana Shrauta
  Sûtra VIII, 2, 16, we have, समाप्ते वा संवत्सरे रात्रिसत्रेषु राजानं क्रीणीयुः,
  meaning that "After the year (annual secrificial session) is over, the
  Soma should be purchased during the Râtri-sattras," evidently shewing
  that the Râtri-sattras came at the end of the yearly Sattras.

230 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
the story of its changing fortune. But the night-sacrifices, the
Râtri-kratus or Râtri-sattras, which were performed during the
long night between the two Ati-râtras, were no longer needed
and their nature came to be soon misunderstood, until at last the
the Mîmâṁsakas finally made room for them in the class of
daily Soma sacrifices, partly under Ahînas and partly under
Sattras, by means of the equation that râtri (night) is equal to
aho-râtre (day and night) in the sacrificial literature. How this
change was carried out is a question beyond the scope of this
book ; but I may here state that, in my opinion, it was the
authors of Brâhmaṇas, or the Brahmavâdins who preceded them,
that had to perform the difficult task of adapting the ancient
sacrificial calendar to the changed conditions of their new
home, somewhat after the manner of Numa's reform of the
ancient Roman calendar. The sacrifice was the main ritual
of the Vedic religion, and naturally enough the priests must
have tried to preserve as much of the old sacrificial system as
they possibly could in adapting it to the new conditions. The
task was by no means an easy one, and those that find fault
with the Brâhmaṇas as full of fanciful speculations must bear in
mind the fact that an ancient and sacred system of sacrifices
had to be adapted to new conditions, by assigning plausible
reasons for the same, at a time when the true origin of the
system was almost forgotten. The Brâhmaṇas could not have
indulged in free speculations about the origin of the rites and
ceremonies mentioned by them, had the latter originated in their
own time, or in days so near to them that the real traditions
about the origin of these ceremonies could be preserved intact.
But so long as these traditions were fresh, no explanation was
probably needed; and when they became dim, their place had to
be supplied by plausible reasons based on such traditions as were
known at the time. This throws quite a new light on the nature
and composition of the Brâhmaṇas; but as the discussion is not

THE COWS' WALK. 231
pertinent to the subject in hand, we cannot enter into it more
fully in this place.
We have now reviewed the leading features of the system
of Soma sacrifices as described in the Vedic literature, so far
as our purpose is concerned, and seen that by the aid of the
Arctic theory, some hard facts therein, which have been hither-
to incomprehensible, can be easily and naturally explained.
A history of the whole sacrificial system from the point of view
indicated above is a work quite outside the pale of this book;
but so far as we have examined the subject and especially the
question about the isolated group of a hundred nightly Soma
sacrifices, I think, we have sufficient evidence therein to warrant
us in holding that these sacrifices are a relic of the ancient times
when the ancestors of the Vedic Ṛiṣhis performed them with
the object of helping Indra to fight with the powers of darkness.
It has been already shown in the first part of this chapter that
the Gavâm-ayanam or the 'Cows'. walk,' like the Roman year,
once lasted only for ten months; and a series of suitable night-
sacrifices is a natural supplement to such sessions. Both are
relics of ancient times, and taken along with the evidence regard-
ing the existence of a long dawn of thirty days and of the long
day and night discussed in previous chapters, they conclusively
establish the existence of an ancient home of the ancestors of the
Vedic people in the circum-polar region. The sacrificial sessions
of the Navagvas and the Dashagvas, the legend of Dîrghatamas
growing old in the tenth month, the tradition about the ancient
year of five seasons, or the yoking of seven or ten horses to the
chariot of the sun, all go to strengthen the same view; and the
Avestic passages regarding the duration of Tishtrya's fight with
Apaosha, the Purâṇic tradition about Indra's being the master
of a hundred sacrifices or the destroyer of a hundred cities,
the existence of a series of one hundred nightly Soma sacri-
fices, which; though obsolete long since, could not have found

232 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
place in the sacrificial works as Rātri-sattras, unless they were
ancient sacrifices performed, as their name indicates, during
night,—these and many other minor facts noticed before, further
corroborate, if corroboration be needed, our theory regarding
the original home of the Aryans near the north Pole. It must,
however, be stated here that I do not wish to imply in any way
that the numerous sacrificial details found in the later Vedic
literature were in vogue or were known in these ancient times.
On the contrary I am prepared to believe that in all probability
these ancient sacrifices were very simple in character. The
ancient priests probably went on sacrificing from day to day,
and afterwards from night to night, without any idea that the
system was capable of giving rise to various rigid annual Sattras.
The sacrifice was the only ritual of their religion; and howsoever
simple such sacrifices might have been in ancient times, it was
almost a matter of duty, at least with the priests, to perform
them every day. It was also a means, as remarked by me else-
where, to keep up the calendar in ancient times, as the yearly
round of sacrifices closely followed the course of the sun. It is
from this latter point of view that the ancient sacrificial system
is important for historical or antiquarian purposes, and I have
examined it above in the same light. This examination, it will
be seen, has resulted in the discovery of a number of facts which
lead us directly to, and can be satisfactorily explained only by
the theory of the original Arctic home; and when our conclusions
are thus supported by the hymns of the Ṛig-Veda on the one
hand, and the sacrificial literature on the other, I think, we need
have no doubt about their correctness.

CHAPTER IX.
VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS.
Direct evidence for the Arctic theory summed up—Different na-
ture of the mythological evidence—Schools of mythological
interpretation—The naturalistic or the Nairukta school—Its
theories—The Dawn theory and the myths explained by it
—The Storm theory, Indra and Vritra—The Vernal theory,
the Ashvins' exploits—Vritra's legend usually explained by
the Storm theory—Simultaneous effects of Indra's conquest
over Vritra—The release of waters, the release of cows, the
recovery of the dawn and the production of the sun—Vedic
authorities in support of their simultaneous character
—Passages relating to the place and time of the conflict
—The simultaneous nature left unexplained by the Dawn or
the Storm theory—Battle not fought in the atmosphere above,
as implied by the Storm theory—Nor in the rainy season
—Misinterpretation of words like parvata, giri, adri, &c.
—The Storm theory inadequate in every respect—New ex-
planation necessary—The real nature of waters explained—
They are aerial or celestial waters, and not the waters of rain
—Vedic bards knew of a region 'below the three earths'
—The contrary view of Wallis refuted—The real meaning of
rajas, Nir-riti, ardhau and samudram explained—Cosmic circu-
lation of aerial waters—Nether world, the home of aerial
waters—Avestic passages describing the circulation of waters
cited and explained—Sarasvatî and Ardvi Sûra Anâhita are
celestial rivers—The source of all plants and rain—The real
nature of Vritra's fight—Simultaneous release of waters and
light is intelligible, if both have the same source—Both
stopped by Vritra's encompassing the waters in the lower
world—The closing of the apertures in the mountains
(parvatas) on the horizon—The movement of the waters and
the sun co-related—Express passages from the Avesta to
that effect—The sun stopping for a long time in waters
—Avestic passages in support thereof—Its effect on the
disposal of corpses—Darkness synchronous with the cessation
of the flow of waters in winter—Its long duration—Cosmic
circulation of waters in other mythologies—Express