Page 135 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

120 SAMAGRA TILAK - 2 • THE ORION

names of the ayanas beginning with the vernal equinox; and
there is therefore, no objection to understand the above verse ( i.
164. 48) as alluding to the black or Pitriyana. The intercalary
month is mentioned in ~ig. i. 25. 8 while in i. 24. 8 Varupa is
said to have constructed a broad path for the sun, which appears
evidently to refer to the Zodiacal belt. I am further inclined to
think that the path of rila ( ~ig. i. 41. 4) which is mentioned
several times in the ~igveda, where the Adityas are said to be
placed ( x. 85. 1 ), and wherein Sarama discovered the cows of
Indra ( v. 45. 7, 8.) refers to the same broad belt of the Zodiac
which the luminaries, as observed by the Zodiac bards, never
transgressed. It was so to speak their ' right ' way, and therefore
called rita, which though literally derived from ri to go, soon
came to mean the ' right ', path and circle of which exists for
ever, or rather exists and exists ( varvarti) in the vault of the
heavens ( \Ug. i. 164. 11 ). Prof. Ludwig goes further and holds
that the ~igveda mentions the inclination of the ecliptic with
equator ( i. 110. 2) and the axis of the earth ( x. 89. 4 ). It is now
generally admitted that the seven rik fhas were also known and
named at this time. The mention of a hundred physicians in ~ig.
i. 24. 9 may again be taken to represent the asterism of Shata-
bhi$hak or Slzatataraka, presided over by Varu~ according to
the later lists of the Nak~hatras in the Taittirtya. Brahmapa. The
fortieth ~ymn in the fifth Man~ala of the ~igveda is still more
important in this connection. It shows that an eclipse of the sun
was t~en first observed with any pretentions to accuracy by the
sage Atri. • Jt is thus that I understand the last verse in the hymn
which , after describing the eclipse, says, " Atri alone knew him
( the sun ) none else could. " This observation of the solar eclipse
is noticed in the Sankhyayana ( 24. 3 ) and also in the Tai:t~ya
Bcabmal).a ( iv. 3. 2; 6. 14 ), in the former of which it is said to

• Prof. Ludwig has tried to deduce the date of the hymn ftom
this circumstance. But the attempt is a failure as she\Yn by Prof.
Whitney (see the Proceedings of the American Oriental Society, 'Vol.
XIJI, pp. 1 7-u ). As the eclipses recur in the same order after a certain
period, we cannot use such facts for chronological purposes without
knowinp-rhe geographical position of the place where the eclip~e occur-
red, and even then the conclusion will be correct only if it can be hown
on mdependent grounds that such a phenomenon did not occur at
that place durang se\·eral centuries before or after the date we determine·