Page 137 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

122 SAMAGRA TILAK - 2 • THE ORION
be a Columbus, who would, by his superior capacity, inspire the
feelings of awe and reverence for him. When the bards, therefore,
tell us that Atri knew of the eclipse by turtya brahma, we can now
easily see what it means. Siyapa's explanation, as I have above
observed, may be good from the ritualistic standpoint; but we
cannot, for other purposes, accept an interpretation which makes
the 'fourth • to mean the 'tenth' verse of the hymn ! Thus
understood the hymn clearly indicates that at the time when
the observation' was taken the Vedic priests were tolerably well
acquainted with the elementry astronomical facts. It is, however,
suggested that the planets were unknown in these days. I am
unable to accept even this statement. It is impossible to suppose
that the Vedic poets, who constantly watched and observed the
various Nak~hatras in the Zodiac, should not have noticed planets
like Venus, Jupiter, or Saturn, which outshine many of the Nak~ha­
tras in brilliancy. The periodical appearance of Venus in the
west and the east, and especially its rising only to a certain
altitude followed by its regress, are facts too striking to remain
unnoti,~ed even by the superficial observers of the heaven. But
we must not go on mere probabilities. The hymns of the lUgveda
are before us and though probabilities, may serve the purpose of
determining the direction of our search, yet if we cannot find
any reference to the planets in the Vedic works themselves we
must give up the notion that they were known to the poets of
these hymns. There is no question that planets were known in the
days of the Brahmapas. In the Taittirtya Brahamapa (iii. 1. 1. 5 )
we are told that Brthaspati (Jupiter) was first born* near the
asterism of Tishya, and to this day the conjunction of Tishya
and Jupiter is considered as highly auspicious in the astrological
works. We have, however, to look for any allusion to the planets
in the ~igveda itself. The mention of the five bulls in ~ig. i. 105.
10 may not be considered as sufficiently explicit to denote the
live plane!s,t but what !>hall we say to the mention of Shukra arid
.
. * ~: ~ ~: ·~ ~ ~ 1 This reminds us of ~ig.
1v. so. s, where similar wording occurs, thus:-~: lNJi' i;!J~-
~~~:lf{~~l
t Cf. (ti~. I6z. 18; x. 55· 8. Also see Kagi's ~igveda (translated
by Arrowsmith), p. 20, and note 67 on page II 5. I hold that the
plan~ts were. not only known, but some of them at least had already
rece1ved their n4mes by this time.