Page 31 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

18 SAMAGRA TILAK - 2 • THE ORION

doubtedly have received considerable additions, but neverthe- ..
less the original sense cannot be supposed to have been com-
pletely lost in these later additions. It is therefore extremely impor-
tant to see how these two paths are described in the Biihmanas
and Upanishads~ Bfih. 2, 15 and Chh. iv. 15.5 state that " flame,
day, ftae increasing moon, the six months when the sun is towards
the North, the devaloka ( Chh. devapatha) or the abode ( Chh.
patha ) of gods, etc. "* is the way never to return; while
"smoke, night, the decreasing moon and the six months when tm;
sun is towards the south, the pitriloka or the abode of Pitris " is
the reverse. In the Bhagavad GitA vii. 24, 25 we fin,d-the · same
sentiments in modern phraseology ·and the question .is, what is
meant by the phrase t. the six months when the sun is towards the
north " or, as Yaska and Gita have it, " the six monthst of the
Uttari.yapa. " Almost all the commentators have interpreted
the expression to mean the six months from the winter to the
summer solstice.t But notwithstanding their high authority it
will be found that their interpretation, though in consonance
with the later astronomical views, is directly opposed to the pass-
ages in the Vedic works. In th'e Taittirtya Sa!JlhitA vi. 5. 3, we
are told " the sun, therefore, goes by the south for six months
and six by the north. " But this does not help us in ascertaining
the correct meaning of the phrase " by the north. " As it stands
it may mean either the solstitial ·to equinoctial six months.
We must therefore look for another passage and this we find in
the Shatapatha BrAhmapa ( ii. 1. 3, 1-3 ), where in describing
the two aforesaid paths it lays down in distinct terms that Vasanta,
Gri~hma and Var~hA are the seasons of the Devas; Sharad, He-

• ~"{~~~~~~~ v;Rf~~-:ii
... 6 .. fhr~: 1 ~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~­
~ 1tftl' ~: fti~lifif(_ ... Brihad!r vi. 2. 1 s. Instead of "six months
when sun goes north and south," Y4ska and Mah4nii use the words
~and ~ while in Chh. we have ~ instead of ~lifi in
Brihad. In Kaus. i. 3, it is called mrw:r.
t atill'ilflfd<t: ~: ~Jfffif ~\17-JIIIf( 11 Gil! viii. 2-f.
t Shankar4cbii.rya is not explicit; yet h1s rererence to the death of
of Bhi~hma shows that he takes the same Yiew. Xnandgiri on Prashno-
pani~had i. <), s:.ys ;;"lrsn~-;R-f111f~ I