Page 91 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

7.8 SAMAGRA TILAK- 2 • THB ORION

The Rohini is no other than Aldebaran. Rudra .is ~e presiding
deity of &drA, and we may therefore suppose Rudra to be re-
presented by the star in the right shoulder of Orion (a). But the
Aitareya BrAhma~a ( iii. 33 ) identifies Rudra with Sirius or what
is now called the Mpga-vy!ldha. The Milky Way does qot appeac
to have received a specific name in these old days, and the three
sections of the Aryan race-the Pllrsis, the Greeks, and the Indians-
have no common word to denote the same. Yet it is impossi~le
to suppose that this broad stream of stars could have been unno-
ticed, and I shall show further oil that it was not. Greek astronomy .-{
places two dogs in this part of· the heavens-canis Major and
Canis Minor--one on each side of the Milky Way, and it has been
doubted whether the claims of these dogs to primitive antiquity
are well founded. In what follows, I hope to show that they· are.
In the meanwhile, I may here refer to the testimony of Plutarch
to prove that some, at least of the actually existing figures of
constellations in the heavens are Greek ttansformations of others
which had been.placed there before by the Egyptians; for this
writer who in his treatise De /side et Osiride makes the priests
of Egypt say that the souls of Gods shine in the heavens and are
stars, adds that ' the constellation of Isis is called, by the Greeks,
Canis; that of Horns, Orion, and that of Typhon, Ursa.' • This
statem~nt is very important, inasmuch as it shows that the names
of at least three constellations, Orion, Cams and Ursa, are not of
Egyptian or Chaldean origin. Of these Ursa Major (Greek Arktos)
has been already identified with sapta rik~has or simply the rik1has
of the Vedas and the Haptoiringa of the Parsis, thus partly con-
firming the above-mentioned statement of Plutarch; and it can be
shown, that his observation is equally good in respect of the other
two constellations, or t~at Canis, Orion and Ursa are all of Aryan
origin. At present I use Plutarch's statement oil.ly so far as to justi.;.
fy us in presuming the three constellations to be of Aryan origin,

• De Isidc et Osiride. I take the quotation from Narrien's Origin
and Progress of Astronomy, p. 44· Narrien further observes that this
assertion of Plutarch seems to be confirmed by the discovery of a sculp~
tured planisphere on the ceiling of the Temple of Denderah where. • iri
the place ot Canis Major is traced a cow .the animal consecrated to
Isis' and • instead of Orion is the figure of man which is suppes·ed to
be intended for the son of Osiris.'