Page 371 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

156 SAMAGRA TILAK- 2' • THE ARCTIC HOME
sunlight is described to be three-fold in VII, 101, 2, and S§.y~qta
there quotes the Taittiriya Samhita (II, 1, 2, 5 ), which says that.
the sun has three lights; the morning light being the Vasanta, the
Iriidday the Gri~hma, and the evening the Sharad. The verse,
therefore, obviously refers to the three-fold courses of waters in
the heaven and the three-fold light of the sun and all this is said to
come to an end with the ten of Vivasvat. The sun and the sacrifice
are then preserved as seed to be re-generated some time after,-a
process symbolised in the Pravargya ceremony. The idea of the
sun dropping from heaven is very common in the sacrificial litera·
ture. Thus in the Aitareya Brahma9a (IV, 18) we read, "The
gods, being afraid of his ( sun's) falling beyond them being turned
upside down, supported him by placing above him the highest
worlds ";* and the same idea is met with in the Ta9~ya Brahma9a
(IV, 5, 9, 11 ). The words " falling beyond " ( pardchas atipatat)
are very important, insasmuch as they show that the sun dropped
into regions that were on the yonder side. One of the Ashvin's
protege is also called Chyavana, which word Prof. Max Muller
derives from chyu to drop. The Ashvins are said to have restored
him to youth, which, being divested of its legendary form, means
the rehabilitation of the sun that had dropped into the nether world.
The Pravargya ceremony, which preserves the seed of the sacrifice,
is, therefore, only one phase of the story of the dropping sun in
the sacrificial literature and the verses employed in this ceremony,
if interpreted in the spirit of that ceremony, appear, as stated above
to indicate an older year of five seasons and ten months.
But the Mantras used in the Pravargya ceremony are not so
explicit as one might expect such kind of evidence to be. Therefore,
instead of attempting to give more evidence of the same kind,-
and there are many such facts in the Vedic sacrificial literature,-
I proceed to give the direct statements about the duration of the
annual Sattras from the well-known Vedic works. These statements
have nothing of the legendary character about them and are, there-
fore, absolutely certain and reliable. It has been stated before that
institution of sacrifice is an old one, and found amongst both the
Asiatic and the European branches of the Aryan race. It was, in
fact the main ritual of the religion of these people and naturally

. • Ait. BrAh. VI, I 8-~ !!~S~~~ lf{"ij: ~~: 11{·
~Rl1~tt•'~Cf"l I Also cf. Tal).dya Bnlh. IV, 5, 9, 1 r.