Page 300 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

THE VEDIC DAWNS 85
the horizon when the sun is not less than 16° below the horizon.
Taking one degree equal to 60 miles, 16° would mean 960 miles,
a distance far in excess of the thirty yojanas of Saya~a. Another
objection to Saya~a's explanation is that the Vedic bard is evidently
speaking of a phenomenon present before him, and not mentally
following the astronomical dawns at different places produced by
the daily rotation of the earth on its axis. The explanation is again
inapplicable to ' thirty steps ( paddni) ' of the dawn expressly
mentioned in VI, 59, 6. Therefore, the only alternative left is to take
the phrases' thirty yojanas', 'thirty sisters', and' thirty steps 'as
different versions of one and the same fact, viz., the circuit~ of the
dawn along the Polar horizon. The phrase' each its destined course'
also becomes intelligible in this case, for though thirty dawns
complete thirty rounds, each may well be described as following its
own definite course. The words pari yanti in the text literally apply
to a circular (pari ) motion, ( cf. the words pari-uk~hat}am, paris-
tara')am, etc. ) ; and the same term is used in the Taitrirtya Sari1hiia
with reference to 'thirty sisters'. The word yojana primarily
means ' a chariot ' ( VIII, 72, 6 ) and then it came to denote
•• distance to be accomplished without unharnessing the horse "
or what we, in the vernacular, call a' (appa. ' Now this ~appu, or
'' the journey to be accomplished without unharnessing the horse"
may be a day's journey and Porf. Max Muller has in one place
interpreted the yojana in this way.* In V, 54, 5, the Maruts are
said " to have extended their greatness as far as the sun extends
his daily course," and the word in the original for ' daily course '
is yojanum. Accepting this meaning, we can interpret the expre-
ssion ' the dawns forthwith go round (pari yanti ) thirty yojanas'
to mean that the dawns complete thirty daily rounds as at the North
Pole. That circular motion is here intended is further evident from
III, 61, 3, which says, in distinct terms, "Wending towards the
same zoal ( samanam artham ), the same goal ( samdnam artham ),
0 Newly-born ( Dawn ) ! turn on like a wheel ( chakramiva a
va~·ritsva )."t Although the word navyasi ( newly-born ) is here
in the vocative case, yet the meaning is that the dawn, ever anew
or becoming new every day, revolves like a wheel. Now a wheel

" SeeS. B. E. Series, Vol. XXXII, pp. rn and 325·
t ~ig. III, 6r, 3-'3!1': ~:;ft ~ fcr~<lt ~~w ~g: I
~'ilif~ "'~lffifl "'ifi~ iM'WT ~ II