Page 170 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

CONCLUSION 155
But be that as it may, it will, I think, be clear from the above
that the position of the Abhijit day in the sacrificial literature.
fully supports the tradition about Aditi, the presiding deity of
Punarvasft having discovered the commencement of the sacri~
fice. Aditi at this time must have also separated the Devayana
from the Pitriyana and thus may have been appropriately called
the mother of the Devas ( ~ig. x. 72. 5. )* It was from her that
the AdityAs were born ( ~ig. x. 72. 8; Shat. Br. iii. 1. 3. 2 ), or
the sun commenced his yearly course.
The only other tradition I could find in the Vedic literature
about this position of Aditi is the story of the asterismal PrajA·
pati given in the Taittirtya Bn\hmaJ}.a ( i. 5. 2. 2 ).t The asterism
of Chitra is here said to be the head of this Prajapati, Svati the
heart, Hasta the hand, Vishakha the thighs, and Antiradha the
foot. Many conjectures are ma:de about the meaning of this figure;
but none of them satisfactorily explains why Prajapati, who is
said to be the god or-time or the lustrum of years in the Vedanga
Jyoti•ha, should have been represented in this way. I propose
that we should interpret it after the manner of similar representa-
tion of Brahman by BAdarayana,;J: wherein the different signs
of the Zodiac are said to be similarly related to the different
parts of body of Brahman or the Creator. Prof. Max Muller has
thus translated the verse :-"The ram is the head, the face of
the Creator is the bull, the breast would the man-pair,. the heart

• Aditi is here said to be the daughter of Dak,ha, also cf. ~ig. vii.
66. 2. In PurAQ.ic tradition~> the 27 Nak,hatras are said to be the
daughters of Dak:tha who gave them to the moon. If we combine these
two traditions Aditi would be at head of all the Nakshatras, in the
sa~e way as Mrlgashirl!s 'Or the Krittiras headed the list in later times.
There are agin many legends in the Pural)aS, stating that everything
was born from Aditi. We can account for all these facts If we place
.Aditl at the vernal equinox, when the calendar was fixed for the
.:Sacrificial purposes.
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