Page 29 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

16 SAMAGRA TIL.U:: - 2 • THE ORION

the same time.• A tradition has also been recorded by Jaimini
and others that all Deva ceremonies should be performedt only
during the Uttar&ya~a; and the Uttari.yapa, according to the
several Jyoti~ha works,~ is the period of the year from the winter
to the summer solstice, that is, from the time when the sun turns
towards the north till it returns towards the south. This leads one
to suppose that the winter solstice was the beginning of the year
and also of the Uttari.yapa at the time when the annual sacrifices
were established, and therefore in the old Vedic days. But a closer
consideration of the ceremonies performed in the yearly satras
will show that the winter solstice could not have been the original
beginning of these satras. The middle day of the annual satra is
called the Vi~hftv&n day, and it is expressly stated that this central
day divides the satra into two equal halves, in the same way as
the Vi~hftv&n or the equinoctial day divides the year.§ The satra
was thus the imitation of the year in every respect, and originally
it must have corresponded exactly with the course of the year.
Now, as Vi~hUvcin literally means the time when day and night
are of equal length, if we suppose the year to have at the time
commenced with the winter solstice, the Vi~Mvan or the equi-
noctial day could never have been its central day, and the middle
day of the satra would correspond, not with the equinoctial, as it
should, but with the summer solstice. It might be urged that Vi~hu­
-vcin as referring to the satra should be supposed to be used in a
secondary sense. But this does not solve the difficulty. It presup-
poses that Vi1hU vein must have been used at one time in the primary
sense (i.e., denoting the time when day and night are equal),
and if in its primary sense it was not used with reference to the
satra it must have been so used at least with reference'to the year.
But if Vi~hUvcin was thus the central day of the year, the year
must have once commenCed with the equinoxes. The word

• -See_ Ved. Jy. s; Ashvallyana Shr. Su. i. 2. J4. 1; JI. 2. q, 3 and
22; KAt. Shr. Slh v. 1.
t MlmAnsl DaJShana, vi. 8. s. Ashvalayana Gr. Su. i. ~- i. Shata-
patha Br. xiv. g. 3· I. The last quoted in Klla Mldhava, Chapter on
Ayana, Cal. Ed., p. 57, but .from the K!J;Iva recension thus : ~
Oii'(.r/4!')U)qltf~ ~ G:li{\(IQqti'(sl)(ft ~ I
t Stir. Sid. xiv. JO; Ved. Jy. s.
§Ait. Br. iv. 22: Tritt. Br. i. 2. 3· 1 :TAn. Br. iv. 7. 1.