Artic Home of the Aryans by Lokamanya Bal ... - Mandhata Global

108
7. Through the sky, the illumined Goddess of Night accepts the
ordinances of the sun. The cattle, of various forms, (begin to) look up
as they rise on the lap of the mother.
8. The Ekâshtakâ, glowing with holy fervor (tapas), gave birth to
a child, the great Indra. Through him the Gods
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and T.S.V. 3, 4, 7, quoted below.) The Dawns are called sisters also in the
Rig-Veda, (Cf. I, 124, 8 and 9).
Appointed place: niṣh kṛitam (Nir. XII, 7), used in reference to the
course of the Dawns also in Rig. I, 123, 9. It is appropriate only if the Dawns
returned to the same point in their daily rounds, (See supra p. 106).
Go round amidst-songs: pari yanti, “go round” is also the phrase
used in Rig. I, 123, 8 Madhye chchandasaḥ is interpreted by Sâyana to
mean “about the sun, which is always surrounded by songs.” But we need
not go so far, for Madhye chchandasaḥ may be more simply taken to mean
“amidst-songs” that are usually sung at the dawn (Rig. VII, 80, 1).
7. Through the sky: I take nabhas as an accusative of space. Sâyana
appears to take it as an adjective equivalent to nabhasthasya and
qualifying sûryasya. In either case the meaning is the same, viz. that the
night was gradually changing into day-light.
The cattle: morning rays or splendors usually spoken of as cows. In
Rig. I, 92, 12, the Dawn is described as spreading cattle (pashûn) before
her; and in I, 124, 5, we are told that she fills the lap of both parents heaven
and earth. I construe, with Sâyana, nânâ-rûpa pashavaḥ vi pashyanti,
taking vi pashyanti intransitively, and nânâ-rûpa as an adjective. The same
phrase is found used in reference to a woman’s children in the Atharva
Veda, XIV, 2, 25. For the intransitative use of vi pushyanti, See Rig. X, 725,
4.
8. The Ekâṣhṭaka: The birth of Indra is evidently the birth of the sun
after the expiry of thirty dawns. Sâyana, quoting Âpasthamba Grihya Sutra
(VIII, 21, 10), interprets Ekâshtakâ to mean the 8th day of the dark half of
the month of Mâgha (January-February); and in the Taittirîya Samhitâ, VII,
4, 8, quoted and explained by me in Chapter III of Orion, it seems to have
same meaning, (See Orion p. 45), Ekâshtakâ was the first day, or the
consort, of the Year, when the sun turned towards the north from the winter
solstice; and the commencement of all annual sattras is therefore, directed
to be made on the Ekâshtakâ day. This meaning was, however, settled
when the vernal equinox had receded from the asterism of Mriga (Orion) to
that of the Krittikâs (Pleiades). But in earlier days Ekâshtakâ seems to have
meant the last of the dawns which preceded the rise of the sun after the
long darkness, and