Page 109 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

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96 SAMAGRA TILAK - 2 • THE ORION

not press it here. The only other fact about Rudra worthy of notice
is that he seems to be described as followed by dogs or rather
as their master ( VAj. SaJP.. 16, 27 ). • This may shew that the
Vedic poets knew of the dogs near the star of Rudra.
I have already alluded to the Parsi legends of the Chinvat
Bridge and the dogs that keep it. There is, however, one more
circumstance to which I wish here to refer. The star Tistrya has
been identified with Sirius and the identification, if not absolutely
correct, is at least sufficiently so for ge·neral purposes. But I think
that the word itself has not been yet satisfactorily explained. I
propose to derive Tistrya from Tri-stri which in Sanskr;t means
three-stars. Tri-stri may ~:asily be corrupted into Tistri, Tister.
Tister is, therefore, the same as Kerberos or trishiras and the
fact that Tistrya is called. Tir or arrow in Modern Persian fur-
ther confirms this derivation, for the Aitareya Brihma~a
( iii. 33 ) calls it the three-starred or tripartite arrow of Rudra
in the sky. I have in the last chapter shown that if WI! commence
with the summer solstice and regard Fravashinam as the first
month of the ~'ear, Tistreye corresponds to Margashtr!Jha. If Tister
is understood etymologically to mean the belt of Orion this
coincidence of the months can be better accounted for. I am there-
fore of opinion that Tistrya should not be identified with Sirius,
but with the belt of Orion. We can then better understand why
.. the star should have been spoken of as Tristryenit probably

• In the original there are salutations to seYcral forms of the
deity, but it would not be t]U;te safe to it;fer from it that Rudra was,
as a mattc:r ol cert;dnty, followed by dogs. In Ta.'(IJ. Be. xiv. 9. 12,
Shi,;a is desaibcll as .llrig~i.nt, while the passa:;c in Vaj. Sa~. ( r6. 27)
says~ ~~~+lf;'f.: . i!JI': I .
t As th~o: word is understood at present it means' pertaimng to or
belongi ng to T ristrya." Dut grammatically i~ may mean 'many stars
or ~ruup ot stars' I may here point ( ut that if we idc::ntify Tist rya with
Siri\J:> the etymolo~y is not explaineJ, nor can we acco:.~nt fo: the modern
Pers\ an name Tir whkh agai 1 me tns a 1 ~.rrow. W hile if we ide ntify
Tristrya with toe three stars in the b~lt everything is satisfac tori\y
accounted for .. \1\ the arguments bas :d upon the ' rai 1 producing'
influence of the st:ir art ..!cJu .tlly app:icable i•1 eith.e:- case, since both
the stars ( Sirius'..:md Orion) dse at the same time. See Dr. Geiger·s
CiYil, of East lra~, Vol. I. pp. 1.p-142.