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

81
dawns, — the description is intelligible, only if we take it to refer to the
Polar conditions previously mentioned. The Vedic passages,
discussed hereafter, seem, however, to support Sâyana’s or Max
Müller’s view. A number of dawns is spoken of, some past and some
yet to come: and the two groups are said to occupy a very long
interval. That seems to be the real meaning of the verse. But without
laying much stress on any particular meaning for the present, it is
enough for our purpose to show that, even adopting Aufrecht’s
rendering, we cannot escape from the necessity of making the
description refer to the Polar conditions. The verse in question is the
tenth in the hymn, and it may be noticed that in the 13th verse of the
same hymn we are told that “in former days, perpetually ‘shashvat’
did the Goddess Ushas shine,” clearly indicating that the Dawn, in
early days, lasted for a long time.
The following verse is, however, still more explicit, and decisive
on the point. The seventh Mandala of the يig-Veda contains a
number of dawn-hymns. In one of these (VII, 76), the poet, after
stating in the first two verses that the Dawns have raised their banner
on the horizon with their usual splendor, expressly tells us, (verse 3),
that a period of several days elapsed between the first appearance of
the dawn on the horizon and the actual rising of the sun that followed
it. As the verse* is very important for our purpose, I give below the
Pada text with an interlineal word for word translation: —
Tani it ahâni bahulâne âsan
Those verily days many were
Yâ prâchînam ud-itâ suryasya |
which aforetime on the uprising of the sun
Yatah pari jâre-iva â-charanti
from which after towards a lover like, moving on
Ushâh, dadrikshe na punah yatî-îva ||
O Dawn wast seen not again forsaking (woman), like
* Rig. VII, 76. 3. — तानीदहािन बलाासन या पराचीनमिदता ु सय ू । यतः पिर जार
इवाचरषो ु दे न पनयतीव ु ॥