Page 94 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

THE ANTELOPE'S HEAD 81
.. and the Pit~iylina. Ordinarily the PitriyAna is described ( ~ig

ix. 113, 8) as the region ' where Vaivasvata is the king, which is
the undermost (lit. obstructed•) part of the heavens, and where
there are eternal waters.' The Vaivasvata Yama here spoken of
does not, however, appear to have as yet been invested with the
terrible character we find given to him in the later literature.
Corresponding to Yama in the south we have lndra in the north,
each supreme in hi own sphere, and dividing the whole world
into two part one bright and known, and the other watery and
mysterious, or, in the language of seasons, first comprising Vasanta,
Grt~hma and Var~ha and the second Sharad, Hemanta and Shishira.
Now when the vernal equinox was in Orion or Mrigashiras
it was the beginning of the Devayana, and as the constellation is
remarkable for its brilliancy and attractiveness the ancient Aryans
may have been naturally influenced not merely to connect their
old traditions with it, but also to develop them on the same lines.
Thus the Devayana and the Pitr:yana, as representing the two
hemispheres must be joined, and the vernal and the autumnal
equinoxes became the natural points of union between the regions
of gods and Yama. The equinoxes were, in fact, the gates of heaven,
and as such it was natural to suppose that they were watched by
dogs. In the ~igveda i. 48. 15 the dawn is spoken of as illuminat-
ing-the ' gates of heaven, ' and in i. 13. 6, and ii .. 3. 5 the gates-
deities are invoked· to keep the gates open. We have a similar
invocation in the Vajasaneyi SaJllhita 21. 49. This shows that the
idea of the • gates of heaven ' was not unknown in Vedic times
and the arrangement of the gates on the sacrificial _ground, which
is prepared on the model of the annu~l passage of the sun, shows
that these gates divided the whole hemisphere into two parts.
Macrobius records a tradition that ' the ancients designated the
signs of Cancer and Capricorn as the gates of the sun, at which
having arrived, the luminary seemed to retrace his path in the
zone which he never leaves. 't Now Macrobius could not but
speak in the language of the twelve zodiacal portions, and if fNe
• ~I<R)I:Itt f.':'l': in· the original. I think ~J'I'{JI:fif means, 'when the
Yi<:W Ol the heavens is obstrUded, the portion or the heayenS Whh·h
is turnc,l away', Cf. A it. Br. iv. q, where anu'<r.f uf the ye:tr is spoken of.
t ~Iacrob. Comment. in Sumn. Saip. Lib. I, cap 15. l ta'.;e the
(luotation from ~arricn 's Origin :tn<l Progress of Astronomy,· p. 51.
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