Page 93 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

80 SAMAG.RA TILAK - 2 • THE ORION
.... C'
associated with it, continued to exist, though somewhat restricted
in its scope, side by side with the new system. Whether this idea
itself is or is not further resolvabie into simpler ideas is a different
question altogether. Perhaps it may be shown to have grown out
of the idea of day and night or light and darkness. There are several
passages in the ~igveda ( i. 123. 7; 164. 47) which speak of a
black and a white day, and it is very likely that these were the
original names of Devayana and Pitriyana; for when new id~as
11re introduced it is usual to express them in old words with such
qualifying adjectives as would distinguish the new idea from the
old one. A ' black day' might thus-·mean the Dak,hinAyana of
the Pitriyana, as night appeared to increase at the expense or
day during the period. When the southern course of the S\Hl thu~
.came to be likened to a qark day or night ( ~ig. vi. 9. 1 ) it was
, naturally regarded as a night of the Devas to distinguish it from
the ordinary night; and as no sacrifices were performed during
the ordinary night, so no offerings could be made to the Devas
during their night ( vi. 58, 1 ). Of course, it must have been a long
time before men· could develop conceptions like these. There was,
jndeed, a time when they could hardly account for the fact how
~he sun found his way from the west back to the east. In the ~igveda
~- 72, 7' the sun is said to rise from out of the ocean and a similar
idea is found in Homer who describes not only the sun, but even
the stars, as ' bathed in the waters of the ocean. '* In the ~igveda
x. 108, 1 Sarama is said to have crossed really a ' long way. '
The Aitarya Brahmapa iii. 44, which states that the sun never sets
in reality, makes a distinct advance upon these notions. But it is
difficult to say whether astronomical ideas were developed to such
an extent in the days when the year first commenced from the
winter solstice. I do not, however; wish to enter here into these
details. As previously observed I assume that, at the time we are
speaking, the Vedie Aryas had already passed thtough these stages
and that the ideas of Devayana and Pitriyana were familiarly known
and established; and assuming these as established, I intend to
examine how legends were built upon them. I have, however,
briefly alluded to the probable origin of these ideas inasmuch as
it helps us to better appreciate the description of the DevayAna

• Lewis, H ist. Survey of the Astr. of the Ancients, p. 6 Iliad v. 6
vii. 422.