Page 402 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

THE COWS' WALK 187
Ati-ratra, to be again followed by the Gavam-ayanam, thus formed
the complete yearly round of sacrifices performed by the prime-
val ancestors of the Vedic people; and each of these sacrifices
had originally the same place in the yearly round as is indicated
by the root-meaning of its name.* But when the year of ten
months was converted into one of twelve to suit the altered
conditions of the new home, the Gavam-ayanam expanded into
a performance of 360 days, and the elastic nature of the greater
portion of the performance, as pointed out above, permitted
the change to be easily carried out. But though the annual Sattra
expanded in this way, encroaching upon the night-sacrifices
of the long night, which were no longer needed, the Ati-ratra
was retained as an introductory sacrifice and was incorporated
in the ceremonies of the Sattra itself. Thus the two Ati-ratra
sacrifices, which were originally performed, as shown by the
etymology, at the two termini of the long night, came to be con-
verted into the introductory and concluding sacrifices of the
annual Sattra; and if the word Ati-ratra had not been retained,
we could not have got any clue to reveal to us the story of its
changing fortune. But the night-sacrifices, the Ratri-kratus or
Ratri-sattras, which were performed during the long night between
the two Ati-rdtras, were no longer needed and their nature came
to be soon misunderstood, until at last the Mimati1sakas finally
made room for them in the class of daily Soma sacrifices, partly
under Ahinas and partly under Sattras, by means of the equation
that rdtri (night) is equal to aho-rdtre ( day and night ) in the
sacrificial literature. How this change was carried out is a ques-
tion beyond the scope of this book; but I may here state that,
in my opinion, it was the authors of Brahma~as, or the Brahma-
vadins who preceded them, that had to perform the difficult task
of adapting the ancient sacrificial calendar to the changed condi-
tions of their new home,. somewhat after the manner of Numa's
reform of the ancient Roman calendar. The sacrifice was the main

* The time here assigned to the Ratri-sattras appears to have been
known to the Shrauta Sutras, or in the Lltyllyana Shrauta Sutra VIII,
z, r6, we have, tr~ 91 flcr~ u~ ~Jii'frof ~~11~:, meaning that
"After the year (annual sacrificial session) is over, the Soma should
be purchased during the Ratri-sattt·as," evidently shewing that the Ratri-
oattras, came at the end of the yearly Satlms.