Page 351 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

136 SAMAGRA TILAK - 2 • THE ARCTIC HOME
that in the ~ig-Veda V, 45, 7 and 11, the Dashagvas and the
Navagvas are said to have completed their sacrifices in ten months.
Sltya~a's explanation is therefore, fully warranted by these texts, and
very probably it is based on some traditional information about
the Dashagvas. Prof. Lignana of Rome,* suggests that the numerals
navan and dashan in these names should be taken as referring to
the period of gestation, as the words nava-mahya and dasha-mahya
occur in the Vendidad, V, 45, ( 136 ), in the same sense. Thus
interpreted Navagva would mean ' born of nine months, ' and
Dashagva ' born of ten months '. But this explanation is highly
improbable, inasmuch as we cannot first suppose that a number of
persons were born prematurely in early times, and secondly that
it was specially such persons that attained almost divine honours.
The usual period of gestation is 280 days or ten lunar months
( V, 78, 9 ), and those that were born a month earlier cannot be
ordinarily expected to live long or to perform feats which would
secure them divine honours. The reference to the Vendidad proves
nothing, for there the case of a still-born child after a gestation of
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 months is under consideration, and
Ahura Mazda enjoins that the house where such as a still-born
child is brought forth should be cleaned and sanctified in a special
way. Prof. Lignana's explanation again conflicts with the Vedic
texts which say that the Dashagvas were ten in number (III, 39, 5)
or that the Navagvas sacrificed only for ten months ( V, 47, 5 ).
Sltyat}a's explanation is, therefore, the only one entitled to our
acceptance. I may here mention that the ~ig-Veda ( V, 47, 7 and
11 ) speaks of ten months' sacrifice only in connection with the
Navagvas, and does not mention any sacrifice of nine months.
But the etymology of the names now helps us in assigning the ten
1llonths' sacrifice w the Dashagvas and the nine months' to the
Navagvas. For navan i11 Navagva is only a numerical variation for
dashan, in Dashagva, and it follow, therefore, that what the
Dashagvas did by tens, the Navagvas did by nines.

«i~"'l I ~ g ~#r~: ~~ ~: 1 Again in his gloss on X, 62, 6
be states :- 6'!{lij6r.fliJT~ ;rc.7{ ~ ~ llR'ij' ~ ~~ ~
~ ~ I Q;qi{f}I(WI<I"'!lmi( I alfl+t~~'!•'!!.l cy<f!q"ffi;: I
• See his Essay in the P10ceedings of the 7th International Con·
gress of the Orientalists, pp. 59-68.