Page 304 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

THE VEDIC DAWNS 89

might be somewhat shorter than what we may expect it to be at
present when the climate is severely cold. It is more probable,
however, that the dawn described in the ~ig-Veda is not exactly
such a dawn as may be seen by an observer stationed precisely
at the North Pole. As observed previously, the Noth Pole is a
point, and if men lived near the Pole in early days, they must have
lived somewhat to the south of this point. Within this tract it is
quite possible to have 30 day-long dawns revolving like a wheel,
after the long Arctic night of four or five momhs; and, so far as
astronomy is concerned, there is, therefore, nothing improbable
in the description of the Dawn found in the Vedic literature. We
must also bear in mind that the Vedic Dawn often tarried longer
on the horizon, and the worshippers asked her not to delay lest
the sun might search her like an enemy ( V, 79, 9 ). This shows
that though 30 days was the usual duration of the Dawn it was
sometimes exceeded, and people grew impatient to see the light
of the sun. It was in cases like these, that Indra, the God who
created the dawns and was their friend, was obliged to break the
car of the dawn and bring the sun above the horizon (II, 15, 6;
X, 73, 6 ). * There are other places in which the same legend
is referred to ( IV, 30, 8 ), and the obscuration of the Dawn by a
thunderstorm is, at present, supposed to be the basis of this myth.
But the explanation, like others of its kind, is on the face of it
unsatisfactory. That a thunderstorm should occur just at the time
of the dawn would be a mere accident, and it is improbable that
it could have been made the basis of a legend. Again, it is not
the obscuration, but the delaying of the Dawn, or its tarrying
longer on the horizon than usual, that is referred to in the legend,
and we can better account for it on the Polar theory, because
the duration of dawn, though usually of 30 days, might have varied
at different places according to latitude and climatic conditions,
and Indra's bolt was thus needed to check these freaks of the
Dawn and make way for the rising sun. There are other legends
connected with the Dawn and the matutinal deities on which
the Polar theory throws quite a new light; but these will be taken
up in the chapter on Vedic myths, after the whole direct evidence
in support of the theory is examined.
" ~ig. II, 15, 6,-~ ~: 6 fm I ~ig. IV 30, 8,-~ ~
Cf~ ~ tiT~'I: II~~~~ ~:II