Page 141 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

126 SAMAGRA TILAK- 2 • 1HI! OIUON
stars that rose at the time, and though we cannot suppose the
Vedic bards to have been in the possession of any accurate astro-
nomical instruments, yet it was not difficult for them to decide"
roughly by simple observation when the day and the night were
equal, or when the sun turned to the north, either from the
solstitial or from the equinoctial point. The knowledge implied
by these observations may appear to be too much for a Vedic
poet in the opinion of those who have formed their notions of
primitive humanity from the accounts of savages in Africa or the
Islands of the Pacific. But as observed before we must give up
these a priori notions of primitive humanity in the face of evi-
dence supplied by the hymns of the ~geda. It is on this evidence
that we have to form our judgment of the primitive Aryan civi-
lization, and if that evidence is found conflicting with our prepo-
ssessions, the later must be given up. In what follows I shall there-
fore assume the capacity of a Vedic bard to make the simple
observations above mentioned.
We shall now take up the verse in the ~gveda, referred to
several times previously, the verse, which declares that a dog
awakened the 'ibhus at the end of the year. ( ~ig i. 161. 13 );
and the first question that arises in this connection is, who are
the ~ibhus ? Referring to Nirukta ( 11. 15 and 16) we find that
native scholars consider that the three ~bhus-~bhu, Vibhvan
and V!ja-were the sons of Sudhanvan and that having rendered
wonderous services to the Gods they gained divine honours and
a share in the sacrifice and immortality. • But even Y!ska does
not seem to be satisfied with this explanation. There are several
hymns in the ~gveda wherein the deeds of the ~bhus are des-
cribed ( ~ig. iv. 33-37; i. 20. 110. 111 and 161 ), and in most of
them the ~bhus are spoken of as working in close connection
with the'year ( samvatsam or samvatsara ). Thus in the ~igveda
i. 110. 4 they are said to have commenced work at the end of the
year, and in iv. 33. 4, they are described as engaged, for the whole
year ( samvatsam ), in reviving the cows (the rays of the sun).
The ~bhus are further mentioned as resting in the hoUse of
Agohya, the .. unconcealable" sun-god for twelve days at the
end of their course ( (Ug. iv. 33. 7 ). In Ait. Br. iii. 30 they are

• Also comrare frihad-:!evatl iii. 81, 88; p. 82, Cal. Ed. where
the same story is gh·en