Page 328 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

LONG DAY AND LONG NIGHT II3

But the long night and the long day though of equal duration
do not follow each other in close succession. The long night
occurs about the time when the sun is at the winter solstice, and
the long day when he is at the summer solstice; and these two
solstitial points are separated by 180° being opposite to each
other in the ecuptic. This character of Ahan£ eems to have been
traditionally known in the rime of the A"'ral}yakas; Thus the
Taittirtya Arru;tyaka, I, 2, 3, in discussing the personified year,*
first says that the Year has one head, and two different mouths,
and then remarks that all this is ' season-characteristic ' which
the commentator explains by stating that the Year-God is said
to have two mouths beacause it has two Ayanas, the northern
and the southern, which include the seasons. But the tatement
important for our purpose is the one which follows next. The
Araqyaka continues " To the right and the left ide of the Year-
God ( are ) the bright and the dark ( day ) '; and the follow-
ing verse refer to it :- ' Thy one ( form ) is bright, thy another
sacrificial ( dark ), two Ahans of different forms, thou art like
Dyau. Thou, 0 Self-dependent ! protectest all magic powers,
0 Pu~han ! let thy bounty be here auspicious. ' t The verse, or
the Mantra, here referred to is :Rig. VI, 58, 1. Pu~han is there
compared to Dyau and is aid to have two forms, dark and
bright, like the Ahan£. These dark and bright forms of Ahan£ are
said to constitute the right and left side of the Year-God, that
is, the two opposite parts of the body of the personified year.
In other words the passage clearly states that the dark and the
bright part of Ahant do not follow each other closely, but are
ituated on the diametrically opposite side of the year. Th.is
can only be the case if the couple of Day and Night, represented
by Ahan£, be taken to denote the long night and the long day
in the Arctic regions. There the long night is matched by the long
day and while the one occurs when the sun is at the winter-sol-
stice, the other occurs when he is at the summer-solstice. The two

* Taitt. Ara"Q.I, 2, 3-u;<fi ft ~I ifTifT ~I~ ~!';j1'1~1

t Tai tt. A"ra'(lyaka, I, 2 , ~- ~Wr ~~ I ·~: lff4m: 1
~ <19ft~' I '@ii 6- ~ 6- ~~ ~~ ~fR9lffi I i'Er'lff fu <w:!T
"'fflfu ~~ ~~ ff ~~I ~~of I '1 ~ <i tro<r: I~ : ~<ffiR
~ lf'~~Ol ~ ~11:.1
A 8