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

64 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
Such are the results of the latest researches in Vedic philology,
mythology or calendar, regarding the ancient home of the Vedic
people, and the origin and the antiquity of their mythology. But
to a man who is working in the same field, the question whether
we have reached the utmost limit of our researches naturally oc-
curs. It is a mistake to suppose that all the traditions and myths,
and even the deities, mentioned in the Ṛig-Veda were the creation
of one period. To adopt a geological phrase, the Ṛig-Veda, or we
might even say the whole Vedic literature, is not arranged into dif-
ferent strata according to their chronological order, so that we can
go on from one stratum to another and examine each separately.
The Ṛig-Veda is a book in which old things of different periods
are so mixed up that we have to work long and patiently before
we are able to separate and classify its contents in chronological
order. I have stated before how owing to our imperfect knowledge
of the ancient man and his surroundings this task is rendered
difficult, or even impossible in some cases. But, as observed by
Prof. Max Muller, it is the duty of each generation of Vedic
scholars to reduce as much as possible the unintelligible
portion of the Ṛig-Veda, so that with the advance of scientific
knowledge each succeeding generation may, in this matter,
naturally be in a better position than its predecessors. The
Vedic calendar, so far as we know, or the Vedic mythology
may not have, as yet, disclosed any indication of an Arctic
home, but underneath the materials that have been examined,
or even by their side, we may still find facts, which, though
hitherto neglected, may, in the new light of scientific discoveries,
lead to important conclusions. The mention of the luni-solar
calendar in the Ṛig-Veda ought not, therefore, to detain
us from further pursuing our investigation by examining the

THE NIGHT OF THE GODS. · 65
texts and legends which have not yet been satisfactorily explained,
and ascertaining how far such texts and legends indicate
the existence of a Polar or Circum-Polar home in early times.
The distinguishing characteristics of these regions have been
already discussed and stated in the previous chapter, and all
that we have now to do is to apply these tests, and decide if
they are satisfied or fulfilled by the texts and legends under con-
sideration.
The spinning round of the heavenly dome over the head is
one of the special characteristics of the North Pole, and the
phenomenon is so peculiar that one may expect to find traces
of it in the early traditions of a people, if they, or their ances-
tors ever lived near the North Pole. Applying this test to the
Vedic literature, we do find passages which compare the motion
of the heavens to that of a wheel, and state that the celestial
vault is supported as if on an axis. Thus in Ṛig. X, 89, 4, Indra
is said " to separately uphold by his power heaven and earth
as the two wheels of a chariot are held by the axle."* Prof.
Ludwig thinks that this refers to the axis of the earth, and the
explanation is very probable. The same idea occurs in other
places, and sometimes the sky is described as being supported
even without a pole, testifying thereby to the great power or
might of Indra (II, 15, 2; IV, 56, 3).† In X, 89, 2, Indra is
identified with Sûrya and he is described as " turning the widest
expanse like the wheels of a chariot."‡ The word for ' expanse '
is varâṁsi, which Sâyaṇa understands to mean ' lights,' or
'stars.' But whichever meaning we adopt, it is clear that
the verse in question refers to the revolution of the sky,

• Ṛig. X, 89, 4,—यो अक्षेणेव चक्रिया शचीभिर्विश्वक्तस्तंभ पृथिवीमुत द्यां ।
  † Ṛig. II, 15, 2,—अवंशे द्यामस्तंाभवत् । IV, 56, 3,—स इमे द्यावा-
  पृथिवी जजान उर्वी गंभीरे रजसी सुमेके अवंशे धीरः शच्या समैरत् ।
  ‡ Ṛig. X, 89,2,—स सूर्यः पर्युरु वरांस्येन्द्रो ववृत्याद्रथ्येव चक्रा ।

66 . THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
and compares it to the motion of a chariot wheel. Now the
heavens in the temperate and the tropical regions may be des-
cribed as moving like a wheel from east to west and then back
again to the east, though the latter half of this circuit is not
visible to the observer. But we cannot certainly speak of the
tropical sky as being supported on a pole, for the simple reason
that the North Pole, which must be the point of support in
such a case, will not be sufficiently near the zenith in the tropi-
cal or the temperate zone. If we, therefore, combine the two
statements, that the heavens are supported as on a pole, and
that they move like a wheel, we may safely infer that the
motion referred to is such a motion of the celestial hemisphere
as can be witnessed only by an observer at the North Pole. In
the Ṛig-Veda I, 24, 10, the constellation of Ursa Major (Ṛikshaḥ)
is described as being placed 'high' (uchchāḥ), and, as this can
refer only to the altitude of the constellation, it follows that
it must then have been over the head of the observer, which
is possible only in the Circum-Polar regions. Unfortunately
there are few other passages in the Ṛig-Veda which describe
the motion of the celestial hemisphere or of the stars therein,
and we must, therefore, take up another characteristic of the
Polar regions, namely, 'a day and a night of six months each,'
and see if the Vedic literature contains any references to this
singular feature of the Polar regions.
The idea that the day and the night of the Gods
are each of six months' duration is so widespread in

• Ṛig. I, 24, 10,—अमी यऋक्षा निहितास उच्चा नक्तं ददृश्रे कुहचिद्दिवेयुः ।
  It may also be remarked, in this connection, that the passage speaks
  of the appearance (not rising) of the Seven Bears at night, and their
  disappearance (not setting) during the day, showing that the constella-
  tion was circum-polar at the place of the observer.

THE NIGHT OF THE GODS. 67
the Indian literature, that we examine it here at some length,
and, for that purpose, commence with the Post-Vedic litera-
ture and trace it back to the most ancient books. It is found
not only in the Purâṇas, but also in astronomical works, and as
the latter state it in a more definite form we shall begin with
the later Siddhântas. Mount Meru is the terrestrial North Pole
of our astronomers, and the Sûrya-Siddhânta, XII, 67, says :--
"At Meru Gods behold the sun after but a single rising during
the half of his revolution beginning with Aries." Now accord-
ing to Purâṇas Meru is the home or seat of all the Gods, and
the statement about their half-year-long night and day is thus
easily and naturally explained; and all astronomers and divines
have accepted the accuracy of the explanation. The day of
the Gods corresponds with the passage of the sun from the
vernal to the autumnal equinox, when the sun is visible at the
North Pole, or the Meru; and the night with the southern
passage of sun, from the autumnal back to the vernal equinox.
But Bhâskarâchârya, not properly understanding the passage
which states that the "Uttarâyaṇa is a day of Gods," has raised
the question how Uttarâyaṇa, which in his day meant the
passage of the sun from the winter to the summer solstice,
could be the day of the Gods stationed at the North Pole; for
an observer at the Pole can only see the sun in his passage from
the vernal to the autumnal equinox. But, as shown by me
elsewhere, Bhâskarâchârya has here fallen into an error
by attributing to the word Uttarâyaṇa, a sense which it
did not bear in old times, or at least in the passages
embodying this tradition. The old meaning of Uttarâyaṇa,
literally, the northern passage of the sun, was the period
of time required by the sun to travel from the vernal to

• See Orion, p. 29.

68 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
the autumnal equinox, or the portion of the ecliptic in the
northern hemisphere ; and if we understand the word in this
sense, the statement that the Uttarâyaṇa is a day of the Devas is
at once plain and intelligible. Bhâskarâchârya's reference to older
astronomical Saṁhitâs clearly shows that the tradition was
handed down from the oldest times. It is suggested that in
these passages Gods may mean the apotheosized ancestors of
the human race. But I do not think that we need any such
explanation. If the ancestors of the human race ever lived at
the North Pole, so must have their Gods ; and I shall shew in a
subsequent chapter that the Vedic deities are, as a matter of
fact, clothed with attributes, which are distinctly Polar in
origin. It makes, therefore, no difference for our purpose, if a
striking feature of the primitive home is traditionally preserved
and remembered as a characteristic of the Gods, or of the
apotheosized ancestors of the race. We are concerned with the
tradition itself, and our object is gained if its existence is clearly
established.
The next authority for the statement is Manu I, 67.
While describing the divisions of time it says, "A year
(human) is a day and a night of the Gods ; thus are the
two divided, the northern passage of the sun is the day and
the southern the night."* The day and the night of the
Gods are then taken as a unit for measuring longer periods
of time as the Kalpas and so on, and Yâska's Nirukta,
XIV, 4, probably contains the same reference. Muir, in the
first Volume of his Original Sanskrit Texts, gives some of these
passages so far as they bear on the yuga-system found in the
Purâṇas. But we are not concerned with the later development
of the idea that the day and the night of the Gods each lasted for

• Manu, I, 67,—दैवे रात्र्यहनी वर्ष प्रविभागस्तयोः पुनः । अहस्तत्रोदगयनं
  रात्रिः स्याद्दक्षिणायनम् ॥

THE NIGHT OF THE GODS. 69
six months. What is important, from our point of view, is the
persistent prevalence of this tradition in the Vedic and the Post-
Vedic literature, which can only be explained on the hypothesis
that originally it must have been the result of actual observation.
We shall, therefore, next quote the Mahâbhârata, which gives
such a clear description of Mount Meru, the lord of the moun-
tains, as to leave no doubt about its being the North Pole, or
possessing the Polar characteristics. In chapters 163 and 164
of the Vanaparvan, Arjuna's visit to the Mount is described in
detail, and we are therein told, "At Meru the sun and the moon
go round from left to right (Pradakshinam) every day, and so
do all the stars." Later on the writer informs us:—"The moun-
tain, by its lustre, so overcomes the darkness of night, that the
night can hardly be distinguished from the day." A few verses
further, and we find, "The day and the night are together equal
to a year to the residents of the place."* These quotations
are quite sufficient to convince any one that at the time when
the great epic was composed Indian writers had a tolerably
accurate knowledge of the meteorological and astronomical
characteristics of the North Pole, and this knowledge cannot
be supposed to have been acquired by mere mathematical calcul-
ations. The reference to the lustre of the mountain is specially
interesting, inasmuch as, in all probability, it is a description of the

• The verses (Calcutta Ed.) are as follows,—
  एवं त्वहरहर्मेरुं सूर्याचंद्रमसौ ध्रुवं । प्रदक्षिणमुपावृत्य कुरुतः कुरुनंदन ॥
  ज्योतींषि चाप्यशेषेण सर्वाण्यनघ सर्वतः। परियान्ति महाराज गिरिराजं प्रदक्षिणं॥
  Vana-parvan, Chap. 163, vv. 37, 38.
  स्वतेजसा तस्य नगोत्तमस्य महौषधीनां च तथा प्रभावात् ।
  विभक्तभावो न बभूव कश्चिदहोर्निशानां पुरुषप्रवीर ॥
  बभूव रात्रिर्दिवसश्च तेषां संवत्सरेणैव समानरूपः ॥
  Ibid, Chap. 164, vv. 11, 13.

70 . THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
splendours of the Aurora Borealis visible at the North Pole. So
far as the Post-Vedic literature is concerned, we have, therefore,
not only the tradition of the half-year-long night and day of the
Gods persistently mentioned, but the Mount Meru, or the North
Pole, is described with such accuracy as to lead us to believe
that it is an ancient tradition, whose origin must be traced to a
time when these phenomena were daily observed by the people ;
and this is confirmed by the fact that the tradition is not confin-
ed only to the Post-Vedic literature.
Passing on, therefore, to the Vedic literature, we find
Mount Meru described as the seat of seven Âdityas in the Tait-
tirîya Âraṇyaka I, 7, 1, while the eighth Âditya, called Kashyapa,
is said never to leave the great Meru or Mahâmeru. Kashyapa
is further described as communicating light to the seven Âdityas,
and himself perpetually illumining the great mountain. It is,
however, in the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa, (III, 9, 22, 1), that we meet
with a passage which clearly says, "That which is a year is but a
single day of the Gods." The statement is so clear that there
can be no doubt whatever about its meaning. A year of the
mortals is said to be but a day of the Gods ; but, at one time, I
considered it extremely hazardous* to base any theory even
upon such a clear statement, inasmuch as it then appeared to me
to be but solitary in the Vedic literature. I could not then find
anything to match it in the Saṁhitâs, and especially in
the Ṛig Veda , and I was inclined to hold that Uttarâyaṇa
and Dakṣiṇâyana were, in all probability, described in this
way as 'day' and 'night' with a qualifying word to mark
their special nature. Later researches have however forced
on me the conclusion that the tradition, represented by

• Taitt. Br. III, 9, 22, 1,—एकं वा एतद्देवानामहः यत्संवत्सरः ।
  See Orion, p. 29, note

THE NIGHT OF THE GODS. 71
this passage, indicates the existence of a Polar home in old days,
and I have set forth in the sequel the evidence on which I have
come to the above conclusion. There are several theories on
which the above statement in the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa can be
explained. We may regard it as the outcome of pure imagina-
tion, or of a metaphor expressing in figurative language a fact
quite different from the one denoted by the words used, or it may
be the result of actual observation by the writer himself or by
persons from whom he traditionally derived his information. It
may also be considered as based on astronomical calculations
made in later days, what was originally an astronomical inference
being subsequently converted into a real observed fact. The last
of these suppositions would have appeared probable, if the tradi-
tion had been confined only to the Post-Vedic literature, or mere-
ly to the astronomical works. But we cannot suppose that dur-
ing the times of the Brâhmaṇas the astronomical knowledge was
so far advanced as to make it possible to fabricate a fact by
mathematical calculation, even supposing that the Vedic poets
were capable of making such a fabrication. Even in the days of
Herodotus the statement that 'there existed a people who slept
for six months' was regarded 'incredible' (IV, 24); and we must,
therefore, give up the idea, that several centuries before He-
rodotus, a statement regarding the day or the night of the Gods
could have been fabricated in the way stated above. But all
doubts on the point are set at rest by the occurrence of an almost
identical statement in the sacred books of the Parsis. In the
Vendidad, Fargard II, para 40, (or, according to Spiegel, para
133), we find the sentence, Tae cha ayara mainyaente yat yare,
meaning "They regard, as a day, what is a year." This is but
a paraphrase of the statement, in the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa,

72 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
and the context in the Parsi scriptures removes all possible
doubts regarding the Polar character of the statement. The
latter part of the second Fargard, wherein this passage occurs,
contains a discourse between Ahura Mazda and Yima.* Ahura
Mazda warns Yima, the first king of men, of the approach of a
dire winter, which is to destroy every living creature by covering
the land with a thick sheet of ice, and advises Yima to build a
Vara, or an enclosure, to preserve the seeds of every kind of
animals and plants. The meeting is said to have taken place in
the Airyana Vaejo, or the Paradise of the Iranians. The Vara,
or the enclosure, advised by Ahura Mazda, is accordingly prepar-
ed, and Yima asked Ahura Mazda, "O Maker of the material world,
thou Holy One! What lights are there to give light in the Vara
which Yima made?" Ahura Mazda answered, "There are
uncreated lights and created lights. There the stars, the moon
and the sun are only once (a year) seen to rise and set, and a year
seems only as a day." I have taken Darmesteter's rendering, but
Spiegel's is substantially the same. This passage is important
from various standpoints. First of all it tells us, that the Airyana
Vaejo, or the original home of the Iranians, was a place which
was rendered uninhabitable by glaciation; and secondly that in
this original home the sun rose and set only once in the year, and
that the year was like a day to the inhabitants of the place. The
bearing of the passage in regard to glaciation will be discussed
later on. For the present, it is enough to point out how completely
it corroborates and ellucidates the statement in the Taittirīya
Brāhmaṇa stated and discussed above. The yearly rising and set-
ting of the sun is possible only at the North Pole, and the mention
of this characteristic leaves no room for doubting that the Vara

• See Sacred Books of the East Series, Vol. IV, pp. 15-31.

THE NIGHT OF THE GODS. 73
and the Airyana Vaejo were both located in the Arctic or
Circum-Polar regions, and that the passage in the Taittirīya
Brâhmaṇa also refers to the Polar year. The fact that the
statement is found both in the Iranian and the Indian literature
further negatives the probability of its being a fabrication from
mathematical calculation. Nor can we suppose that both the
branches of the Aryan race became acquainted with this fact
simply by an effort of unassisted imagination, or that it was a
mere metaphor. The only remaining alternative is to hold, as
Sir Charles Lyell* has remarked, that the tradition was "founded
on the observation of Nature."
It is true, that the statement, or anything similar to it, is
not found in the Ṛig-Veda; but it will be shewn later on that
there are many other passages in the Ṛig-Veda which go to
corroborate this statement in a remarkable way by referring to
other Polar characteristics. I may, however, mention here the
fact that the oldest Vedic year appears to have been divided
only into two portions, the Devayâna and the Pitṛiyâna, which
originally corresponded with the Uttarâyaṇa and the Dakshiṇâ-
yana, or the day and the night of the Gods. The word Devayâna
occurs several times in the Ṛig-Veda Saṁhitâ, and denotes 'the
path of the Gods. Thus in the Ṛig-Veda, I, 72, 7, Agni is said to
be cognizant of the Devayâna road, and in Ṛig. I, 183, 6, and 184, 6,
the poet says, "We have, O Ashvins ! reached the end of dark-
ness; now come to us by the Devayâna road."† In VII, 76, 2,
we again read, "The Devayâna path has become visible to me...
The banner of the Dawn has appeared in the east." Passages like

• See Elements of Geology, 11th Ed., Vol. I, p. 8.
  † Ṛig. I. 183, 6,—अतारिष्म तम॑सस्पारमस्य प्रति वां स्तोमो अश्विनाव-
  धायि । एह यात॑ पथिभिर्देवयानैः ॥ Ṛig. VII, 76, 2,—प्र मे पंथा देवयाना
  अदृश्रन्.....अभूदु केतुरुषसः पुरस्तात् ।

74 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
these clearly indicate that the road of the Devayâna commenced
at the rise of the Dawn, or after the end of darkness ; and that it
was the road by which Agni, Ashvins, Uṣhas, Sûrya and other
matutinal deities travelled during their heavenly course. The path
of the Pitṛis, or the Pitṛiyâna, is, on the other hand, described
in X, 18, 1, as the "reverse of Devayâna, or the path of Death."
In the Ṛig-Veda, X, 88, 15, the poet says that he has "heard" only
of "two roads, one of the Devas and the other of the Pitṛis." If
the Devayâna, therefore, commenced with the Dawn, we must
suppose that the Pitṛiyâna commenced with the advent of dark-
ness. Sâyaṇa is, therefore, correct in interpreting V, 77, 2, as
stating that "the evening is not for the Gods (devayâḥ)." Now
if the Devayâna and the Pitṛiyâna were only synonymous with
ordinary day and night, there was obviously no propriety in
stating that these were the only two paths or roads known to
the ancient Ṛishis, and they could not have been described as
consisting of three seasons each, beginning with the spring,
(Shat. Brâ. II, 1, 3, 1-3).* It seems, therefore, very probable
that the Devayâna and the Pitṛiyâna originally represented a
two-fold division of the year, one of continuous light and the
other of continuous darkness as at the North Pole ; and that
though it was not suited to the later home of the Vedic people it
was retained, because it was an established and recognised fact
in the language, like the seven suns, or the seven horses of a
single sun. The evidence in support of this view will be stated in
subsequent chapters. It is sufficient to observe in this place, that if
we interpret the twofold division of the Devayâna and the Pitṛi-
yâna in this way, it fully corroborates the statement in the
Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa that a year was but a day of the Gods. We
may also note in this connection that the expression 'path

• For a full discussion of the subject see Orion, pp. 24-30.

THE NIGHT OF THE GODS. 75
of the Gods' occurs even in the Parsi scriptures. Thus in the
Farvardin Yasht, paras 56, 57, the Fravashis, which correspond
with the Pitṛis in the Vedic literature, are said to have shown
to the sun and the moon "the path made by Mazda, the way
made by the Gods," along which the Fravashis themselves are
described as growing. The sun and the moon are, again, said
to have "stood for a long time in the same place, without
moving forwards through the oppression of the Daevas (Vedic
Asuras, or the demons of darkness)," before the Fravashis
showed 'the path of Mazda,' to these two luminaries.* This
shows that 'the path of Mazda' commenced, like the Devayâna
road, when the sun was set free from the clutches of the demons
of darkness. In other words, it represented the period of the
year when the sun was above the horizon at the place where
the ancestors of the Indo-Iranian lived in ancient days. We
have seen that the Devayâna, or the path of the Gods, is the
way along which Sûrya, Agni and other matutinal deities are
said to travel in the Ṛig-Veda; and the Parsi scriptures supple-
ment this information by telling us that the sun stood still before
the Fravashis showed to him 'the path of Mazda', evidently
meaning that the Devayâna, or 'the path of Mazda', was the
portion of the year when the sun was above the horizon after
being confined for some time by the powers of darkness.
But the correspondence between the Indian and the
Parsi scriptures does not stop here. There is a strong pre-
judice, connected with the Pitṛiyâna, found in the later
Indian literature, and even this has its parallel in the Parsi
scriptures. The Hindus consider it inauspicious for a man
to die during the Pitṛiyâna, and the great Mahâbhârata
warrior, Bhîshma, is said to have waited on his death-bed
until the sun passed through the winter solstice, as the

• See Sacred Books of the East Series, Vol, XXIII, pp. 193-194.

76 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
Dakshiṇâyana, which is synonymous with the Pitṛiyâna, was
then understood to mean the time required by the sun to travel
from the summer to the winter solstice.* A number of passages
scattered over the whole Upanishad literature support the same
view, by describing the course of the soul of a man according as
he dies during the Devayâna or the Pitṛiyâna, and exhibiting a
marked preference for the fate of the soul of a man dying
during the path of the Gods, or the Devayâna. All these
passages will be found collected in Shankarâchârya's Bhâṣhya on
Brahma-Sûtras, IV, 2, 18-21, wherein Bâdarâyaṇa,† anxious to
reconcile all these passages with the practical difficulty sure to
be experienced if death during the night of the Gods were held
to be absolutely unmeritorious from a religious point of view, has
recorded his opinion that we must not interpret these texts as
predicating an uncomfortable future life for every man dying
during the Dakshiṇâyana or the night of the Gods. As an alter-
native Bâdarâyaṇa, therefore, adds that these passages may be
taken to refer to the Yogins who desire to attain to a particular
kind of heaven after death. Whatever we may think of this
view, we can, in this attempt of Bâdarâyaṇa, clearly see a
distinct consciousness of the existence of a tradition, which, if it
did not put an absolute ban on death during the night of the
Gods, did, at any rate, clearly disapprove of such occur-
rences from a religious point of view. If the Pitṛiyâna ori-
ginally represented, as stated above, a period of continuous
darkness the tradition can be easily and rationally explain-
ed; for as the Pitṛiyâna then meant an uninterrupted night,
the funeral ceremonies of any ‘one dying during the period

• For the text and discussion thereon, see Orion, p. 39.
  † The Sûtras are,— रश्म्यनुसारी । १८ । निशि नेति चेन्न, संबंधस्य
  यावद्देहभावित्वाद्दर्शयति च । १९ । अतश्चायनेऽपि दक्षिणे । २० । योगिनः प्रति च
  •स्मर्यते स्मार्ते चैते । २१ । See also Orion, pp. 23-25.

THE NIGHT OF THE GODS. 77
were deferred till the break of the dawn at the end of the
Pitṛiyâna, or the commencement of the Devayâna. Even now
death during night is considered inauspicious, and the funeral
generally takes place after daybreak.
The Parsi scriptures are still more explicit. In the Vendi-
dad, Fargards V, 10, and VIII, 4, a question is raised how the
worshipper of Mazda should act, when a death takes place in a
house when the summer has passed and the winter has come;
and Ahura Mazda answers, "In such cases a Kata (ditch) should
be made in every house and there the lifeless body should be
allowed to lie for two nights, or for three nights, or for a month
long, until the birds begin to fly, the plants to grow, the floods
to flow, and the wind to dry up the water from off the earth."
Considering the fact, that the dead body of a worshipper of
Mazda is required to be exposed to the sun before it is consigned
to birds, the only reason for keeping the dead body in the house
for one month seems to be that it was a month of darkness. The
description of birds beginning to fly, and the floods to flow, &c.,
reminds one of the description of the dawn in the Ṛig-Veda, and
it is quite probable that the expressions here denote the same
phenomenon as in the Ṛig-Veda. In fact they indicate a winter
of total darkness during which the corpse is directed to be kept
in the house, to be exposed to the sun on the first breaking of
the dawn after the long night. * It will, however, be more
convenient to discuss these passages, after examining the whole
of the Vedic evidence in favour of the Arctic home. I have
referred to them here to show the complete correspondence
between the Hindu and the Parsi scriptures regarding the day
and the night of the Gods, and their unmistakable Polar charac-
teristics indicating the existence of an early home within the
Arctic circle.

• See infra Chapter IX.

78 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
The same traditions are also found in the literature of many
other branches of the Aryan race, besides the Hindus and the
Parsis. For instance, Dr. Warren quotes Greek traditions
similar to those we have discussed above. Regarding the primi-
tive revolution of the sky, Anaximenes, we are told, likened the
motions of the heaven in early days to "the rotating of a man's
hat on his head".* Another Greek writer is quoted to show
that "at first the Pole-star always appeared in the zenith." It
is also stated, on the authority of Anton Krichenbauer, that in
the Iliad and Odyssey two kinds of days are continually referred
to, one of a year's duration, especially when describing the life
and exploits of the Gods, and the other of twenty-four hours.
The night of the Gods has its parallel also in the Norse my-
thology, which mentions "the Twilight of the Gods," denoting
by that phrase the time when the reign of Odin and the Æsir,
or Gods, would come to an end, not forever, but to be again
revived; for we are told that "from the dead sun springs a
daughter more beautiful than her sire, and mankind starts afresh
from the Life-raiser and his bride Life."† If these traditions
and statements are correct, they show that the idea of half-
yearly night and day of the Gods is not only Indo-Iranian, but
Indo-Germanic, and that it must, therefore, have originated in
the original home of the Aryans. Comparative mythology, it
will be shown in a subsequent chapter, fully supports the view
of an original Arctic home of the Aryan races, and there is no-
thing surprising if the traditions about a day and a night of six
months are found not only in the Vedic and the Iranian, but also
in the Greek and the Norse literature. It seems to have been an

• See Paradise Found, 10th Ed., pp. 192 and 200.
  † See Cox's Mythology of the Aryan Nations, p. 41, quoting
  Brown's Religion and Mythology of the Aryans of the North of
  Europe, Arts. 15-17.

THE NIGHT OF THE GODS. 79
idea traditionally inherited by all the branches of the Aryan
race, and, as it is distinctly Polar in character, it is alone
enough to establish the existence of an Arctic home. But
fortunately for us our edifice need not be erected on this
solitary pillar, as there is ample evidence in the Vedic liter-
ature which supports the Arctic theory by satisfying almost
all the Polar and Circum-Polar tests laid down in the last
chapter. The long revolving dawn is another peculiar
characteristic of the North Pole, and we shall see in the next
chapter that the Ṛig-Vedic account of the dawn is intelligible
only if we take it as referring to the Polar dawn.

CHAPTER V.
THE VEDIC DAWNS.
Dawn-hymns the most beautiful in the Rig-Veda—The Deity
fully described, unobscured by personification—First hints about
the long duration of dawn—Recitation of a thousand verses,
, or even the whole Rig-Veda, while the dawn lasts—Three or
five-fold division of the dawn—Both imply a long dawn—The
same inferred from the two words Ushas and Vyushti—Three
Rig-Vedic passages about long dawns, hitherto misunderstood,
discussed—Long interval of several days between the first
appearance of light and sunrise—Expressly mentioned in the
Rig-Veda, VII, 76, 3—Sâyana's explanation artificial and
unsatisfactory—Existence of many dawns before sunrise—
Reason why dawn is addressed in the plural in the Rig-Veda
—The plural address not honorific—Nor denotes dawns of
consecutive days—Proves a team of continuous dawns—The
last view confirmed by the Taittirîya Samhitâ, IV, 3, 11 —
Dawns as 30 sisters—Direct authority from the Taittrîya Brâh-
mana for holding that they were continuous or unseparated—
Sâyana's explanation of 30 dawns examined—Thirty dawns
described as thirty steps of a single dawn—Rotatory motion
of the dawn, like a wheel, directly mentioned in the Rig-Veda
—Their reaching the same appointed place day by day—All
indicate a team of thirty closely-gathered dawns—Results
summed up—Establish the Polar character of the Vedic
dawns—Possible variation in the duration of the Vedic dawn
—The legend of Indra shattering the Dawn's car explained—
Direct passages showing that the dawns so described were the
events of a former age—The Vedic Dawns Polar in character.
The Ṛig-Veda, we have seen, does not contain distinct
references to a day and a night of six months' duration,
though the deficiency is more than made up by parallel
passages from the Iranian scriptures. But in the case of
the dawn, the long continuous dawn with its revolving
splendours, which is the special characteristic of the North

THE VEDIC DAWNS. 81
Pole, there is fortunately no such difficulty. Uṣhas, or the God-
dess of Dawn, is an important and favourite Vedic deity, and is
celebrated in about twenty hymns of the Ṛig-Veda, and mention-
ed more than three hundred times, sometimes in the singular
and sometimes in the plural. These hymns, according to Muir,
are amongst the most beautiful,—if not the most beautiful,—in
the entire collection; and the deity, to which they are addressed,
is considered by Macdonell to be the most graceful creation of
Vedic poetry, there being no more charming figure in the descrip-
tive religious lyrics of any other literature*. In short, Uṣhas, or
the Goddess of Dawn, is described in the Ṛig-Veda hymns with
more than usual fulness, and what is still more important
for our purpose is that the physical character of the deity is not,
in the least, obscured by the description or the personification in
the hymns. Here, therefore, we have a fine opportunity of prov-
ing the validity of our theory, by showing, if possible, that the
oldest description of the dawn is really Polar in character. A
priori it does not look probable that the Vedic poets could have
gone into such raptures over the short-lived dawn of the tropical
or the temperate zone, or that so much anxiety about the
coming dawn should have been evinced, simply because the
Vedic bards had no electric light or candles to use during the
short night of less than 24 hours. But the dawn-hymns have not,
as yet, been examined from this stand-point. It seems to have
been tacitly assumed by all interpreters of the Vedas, Eastern and
Western, that the Uṣhas of the Ṛig-Veda can be no other than
the dawn with which we are familiar in the tropical or the tem-
perate zone. That Yâska and Sâyaṇa thought so is natural enough,
but even the Western scholars have taken the same view, probably

• See Muir's Original Sanskrit Texts, Vol. V. p. 181; and Mac-
  donell's Vedic Mythology, p. 46.
  11

82
THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
under the influence of the theory that the plateau of Central
Asia was the original home of the Aryan race. Therefore several
expressions in the dawn-hymns, which would have otherwise
suggested the inquiry regarding the physical or the astronomical
character of the Vedic dawn, have been either ignored, or some-
how explained away, by scholars, who could certainly have
thrown more light on the subject, had they not been under the
influence of the assumption mentioned above. It is with passages
like these that we are here chiefly concerned, and we shall pre-
sently see that if these are interpreted in a natural way, they
fully establish the Polar nature of the Vedic dawn.
The first hint, regarding the long duration of the Vedic
dawn, is obtained from the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa, IV, 7. Before
commencing the Gavâm-ayana sacrifice, there is a long recita-
tion of not less than a thousand verses, to be recited by the Hotṛi
priest. This Ashvina-shastra, as it is called, is addressed to Agni,
Uṣhas and Ashvins, which deities rule at the end of the night
and the commencement of the day. It is the longest recitation
to be recited by the Hotṛi, and the time for reciting it is after
midnight, when "the darkness of the night is about to be re-
lieved by the light of the dawn," (Nir. XII, 1; Ashv. Shr. Sûtra,
VI, 5, 8).* The same period of time is referred to also in the
Ṛig-Veda, VII, 67, 2 and 3. The shastra is so long, that the Hotṛi,
who has to recite it, is directed to refresh himself by drinking
beforehand melted butter after sacrificing thrice a little of it, (Ait.
Bṛ. IV, 7; Ashv. Shr. Sûtra, VI, 5, 3). "He ought to eat ghee,"
observes the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa, "before he commences repeat-
ing. Just as in this world a cart or a carriage goes well
if smeared (with oil),† thus his repeating proceeds well if he be

• Nir. XII, 1,—तयोः काल ऊर्ध्वमर्धरात्रात्प्रकाशीभावस्यानुविष्टंभम् ।
  † See Haug's Translation of Ait. Br., p. 270.

THE VEDIC DAWNS. 83
smeared with ghee (by eating it)." It is evident that if such a
recitation has to be finished before the rising of the sun, either
the Hotṛi must commence his task soon after midnight when it
is dark, or the duration of the dawn must then have been
sufficiently long to enable the priest to finish the recitation in
time, after commencing to recite it on the first appearance of
light on the horizon as directed. The first supposition is out of
the question, as it is expressly laid down that the shastra is not to
be recited until the darkness of the night is relieved by light.
So between the first appearance of light and the rise of the sun,
there must have been, in those days, time enough to recite the
long laudatory song of not less than a thousand verses. Nay, in
the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ ( II, 1, 10, 3) we are told that sometimes
the recitation of the shastra, though commenced at the proper
time, ended long before sunrise, and in that case, the Saṁhitâ
requires that a certain animal sacrifice should be performed.
Ashvalâyana directs that in such a case the recitation should
be continued up to sunrise by reciting other hymns (Ashv. S. S.
VI, 5, 8); while Âpastamba, (S. S. XIV, 1 and 2), after mention-
ing the sacrifice referred to in the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, adds that
all the ten Mandalas of the Ṛig-Veda may be recited, if neces-
sary, in such a case.* It is evident from this that the actual
rising of the sun above the horizon was a phenomenon often de-
layed beyond expectation, in those days; and in several places
in the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, (II, 1, 2, 4 ),† we are told that

• The Sûtras referred to are as follows:—Ashv. S. S. VI, 5, 8,
  प्रातरनुवाकन्वायेन तस्यैव समाम्नायस्य सहस्रावममोदेतेः शंसेत्। Âpastamba
  XIV, 1 & 2—यस्याश्विने शस्यमाने सूर्यो नाविर्भवति सौर्यं बहुरूपमाल-
  भेत ॥ १ ॥ सर्वा अपि दाशतयीरनुब्रूयात् ॥ २ ॥ The first of these two
  Sûtras is the reproduction of T. S. II, 1, 10, 3.
  † T. S. II, 1, 2, 4,—असावादित्यो न व्यरोचत तस्मै देवाः प्रायश्चित्ति-
  मैच्छन् । Cf. also T. S. II, 1, 4, 1.