Page 363 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

i43 SAMAGRA: TILAK- 2 II :TH.E ARCTIC HOME
(pancha-paddm) Father of twelve forms, they say, is full of·watety
vapours ( pur£~hil}am ) in the farther half(pare arddhe) of the heaven:
These others again say ( that ) He the far-seeing ( vichakshaiJam)
is placed on the six-spoked · ({iha¢-are) and seven-wheeled (car),
in the nearer ( upare sell. ardhe) half of the heaven. "* The adjec,.
tive. ' far-seeing'. is made to qualify 'seven-wheeled' instead of
'He' in the Atharva Veda, ( vichakS.h'?e) being in the locative case
~bile Shailkarachatya in his commentary on the Prashnopani~had
splits upare into two words u and pare taking u as an · expletive.
~ut these readings do not materially alter the meaning of the verse.
The context ·everyWhere clearly indicates that the year-god of
twelve months ( dkr:iti X, 85, 5 ) is here described. The previous
verse in the hymn ( ~ig. I, 164 ) mentions " The twelve-spoked
wheel, in which 720 sons of Agni are established, " a clear reference
to a year of twleve months with 720 days and nights. There is,
therefore, no doubt that the passage contains the description of
the year and the two halves of the verse, which are introduced by
the phrases ' they say ' and ' others say ', give. us two opinions
about the nature of the year-god of twelve forms. Let us now see
what these opinions are. Some say that the year-god is five-footed
( pancha-pddam ), that is divided into five seasons; and the others
say that he has a six-spoked car, or six seasons. It is clear from this
that the number of seasons was held to .be five by some and six by
~thers in early days. Why should there be this difference of opinion ?
The Aitareya Brahma~a I, 1, ( and the faittirtya Sa:rilhita I, 6, 2, 3,)
explains that the two seasons of Hemanta and Shishir together
made a joint season, thereby reducing the number of seasons from
six to five. But this explanation seems to be an afterthought, for in
the Shatapatha Btihama11a, XIII, 6, 1, 10, Var~hd and Sharad
are compounded for (his purpose instead of Hemanta and Shishir.
This shews that in the days of the Taittirlya Samhita and the Brah-

'" ~ig I, I 64, I 2-lfqqf<( mR !i;li%:'.(11't1Rl Wf ~: tf{ <iij~ ~~~.
~ i'Jf:'~ i3tft fcr~ ~ ~ iliJF~ II For ~ A. V. (IX. 9,
I 2, ) reads ~; while ShaQ.karacharya in his gloss on Prashnopani-
shad takes ~and tR: as two different words. Shat).karacharya's explanation
<>f q( a{\Cl is also noteworthy. He translates it by <re1ll'm ~ 1
"in the third heaven, " the seat of the third step of VishQ.u, meaning
ti_Jat the five-footed year-god is then hidden in the remotest part of
.... he heaven.