75 to Muir, are amongst the most beautiful, — if not the most beautiful, — in the entire collection; and the deity, to which they are addressed, is considered by Macdonell to be the most graceful creation of Vedic poetry, there being no more charming figure in the descriptive religious lyrics of any other literature.* In short, Uṣhas, or the Goddess of Dawn, is described in the Ṛig-Veda hymns with more than usual fullness and what is still more important for our purpose is that the physical character of the deity is not, in the least, obscured by the description or the personification in the hymns. Here, therefore, we have a fine opportunity of proving the validity of our theory, by showing, if possible, that the oldest description of the dawn is really Polar in character. A priori it does not look probable that the Vedic poets could have gone into such raptures over the short-lived dawn of the tropical or the temperate zone, or that so much anxiety about the coming dawn should have been evinced, simply because the Vedic bards had no electric light or candles to use during the short night of less than 24 hours. But the dawn-hymns have not, as yet, been examined from this stand-point. It seems to have been tacitly assumed by all interpreters of the Vedas, Eastern and Western, that the Uṣhas of the Ṛig-Veda can be no other than the dawn with which we are familiar in the tropical or the temperate zone. That Yâska and Sâyaṇa thought so is natural enough, but even the Western scholars have taken the same view, probably under the influence of the theory that the plateau of Central Asia was the original home of the Aryan race. Therefore several expressions in the dawn-hymns, which would have otherwise suggested the inquiry regarding the physical or the astronomical character of the Vedic dawn, have been either ignored, or somehow explained away, by scholars, who could certainly have thrown more light on the subject, had they not been under the influence of the assumption mentioned above. It is with passages like these * See Muir’s Original Sanskrit Texts, Vol. V. p. 181; and Macdonell’s Vedic Mythology, p. 46.

76 that we are here chiefly concerned, and we shall presently see that if these are interpreted in a natural way, they fully establish the Polar nature of the Vedic dawn. The first hint, regarding the long duration of the Vedic dawn, is obtained from the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa, IV, 7. Before commencing the Gavâm-ayana sacrifice, there is a long recitation of not less than a thousand verses, to be recited by the Hotṛi priest. This Ashvina-shastra, as it is called, is addressed to Agni, Uṣhas and Ashvins, which deities rule at the end of the night and the commencement of the day. It is the longest recitation to be recited by the Hotṛi and the time for reciting it is after midnight, when “the darkness of the night is about to be relieved by the light of the dawn” (Nir. XII, I; Ashv. Shr. Sutra, VI, 5, 8).* The same period of time is referred to also in the Ṛig-Veda, VII, 67, 2 and 3. The shastra is so long, that the Hotṛi, who has to recite it, is directed to refresh himself by drinking beforehand melted butter after sacrificing thrice a little of it (Ait. Br. IV, 7; Ashv. Shr. Sûtra; VI, 5, 3). “He ought to eat ghee,” observes the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa, “before he commences repeating. Just as in this world a cart or a carriage goes well if smeared (with oil),† thus his repeating proceeds well if he be smeared with ghee (by eating it).” It is evident that if such a recitation has to be finished before the rising of the sun, either the Hotṛi must commence his task soon after midnight when it is dark, or the duration of the dawn must then have been sufficiently long to enable the priest to finish the recitation in time after commencing to recite it on the first appearance of light on the horizon as directed. The first supposition is out of the question, as it is expressly laid down that the shastra, is not to be recited until the darkness of the night is relieved by light. So between the first appearance of light and the rise of the sun, there must have been, in those days, time enough to recite the long laudatory song of not lees than a Nir. XII, 1 † See Haug’s Translation off Ait. Br., p. 270.

77 thousand verses. Nay, in the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ (II, 1, 10, 3) we are told that sometimes the recitation of the shastra though commenced at the proper time, ended long before sunrise, and in that case, the Saṁhitâ requires that a certain animal sacrifice should be performed. Ashvalâyana directs that in such a case the recitation should be continued up to sunrise by reciting other hymns (Ashv. S.S. VI, 5, 8); while Âpastamba (S.S. XIV, 1 and 2), after mentioning the sacrifice referred to in the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, adds that all the ten Maṇḍalas of the Ṛig-Veda may be recited, if necessary, in such a case.* It is evident from this that the actual rising of the sun above the horizon was a phenomenon often delayed beyond expectation, in those days and in several places in the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, (II, 1, 2, 4 )† we are told that the Devas had to perform a prâyaschitta because the sun did not shine as expected. Another indication of the long duration of the dawn is furnished by the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, VIII 2. 20.‡ Seven oblations are here mentioned, one to Uṣhas one to Vyuṣhṭi one to Udeṣhyat, one to Udyat, one to Uditâ one to Suvarga and one to Loka. Five of these are evidently intended for the dawn in its five forms. The Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa (III, 8, 16, 4) explains the first two, viz., to Uṣhas and Vyuṣhṭi, as referring to dawn and sunrise, or rather to night and day, for according to the Brâhmaṇa “Uṣhas is night, and Vyuṣhṭi is day.”§ But * The Sûtras referred to are as follows: Ashv. S. S. VI, 5, 8; Âpastamba XIV, I & 2. The first of two Sûtras is the reproduction of T. S. II, 1, 10, 3. † T. S. II, 1, 2, 4. Cf. also T. S. II, 1, 4, 1. ‡ T. S. VII, 2, 20. § Tait. Br. III, 8, 16, 4.

78 even though we may accept this as correct and we take Uṣhas and Vyuṣhṭi to be the representatives of night and day because the former signalizes the end of the night and the latter the beginning of the day, still we have to account for three oblations, viz. one to the dawn about to rise (Udeṣhyat), one to the rising dawn (Udyat), and one to the dawn that has risen (Uditâ) the first two of which are according to the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa, to be offered before the rising of the sun. Now the dawn in the tropical zone is so short that the three-fold distinction between the dawn that is about to rise, the dawn that is rising, and one that has risen or that is full-blown (vi-uṣhṭi) is a distinction without a difference. We must, therefore, hold that the dawn which admitted such manifold division for the practical purpose of sacrifice, was a long dawn. The three-fold division of the dawn does not seem to be unknown to the poets of the Ṛig-Veda. For, in VIII, 41, 3, Varuṇa’s “dear ones are said to have prospered the three dawns for him,”* and by the phrase tisraḥ dânuchitrâḥ in I, 174, 7, “three dew-lighted” dawns appear to be referred to. There are other passages in the Ṛig-Veda† where the dawn is asked not to delay, or tarry long, lest it might be scorched liked a thief by the sun (V, 79, 9); and in II, 15, 6, the steeds of the dawn are said to be (slow) (ajavasaḥ), showing that the people were sometimes tired to see the dawn lingering long on the horizon. But a still more remarkable statement is found in I, 113, 13, where the poet distinctly asserts,‡ “the Goddess Uṣhas dawned continually or perpetually (shasvat) in former days (purâ);” and the adjective shashvat-tamâ (the most lasting) is applied to the * Ṛig. VIII, 41, 3, — स कषपः परि षस्वजे नयुस्रो मायया दधे स विश्वं परि दर्शतः । तस्य वेनीरनु वरतमुषस्तिस्रो अवर्धयन्नभन्तामन्यके समे ॥ † Ṛig. V, 79, 9, — वय उछा दुहितर दिवो मा चिरं तनुथा अपः । नेत तवा सतेनं यथा रिपुं तपाति सूरो अर्चिषा सुजाते अश्वसून्र्ते ॥ ‡ Ṛig. I, 113, 13, — शश्वत पुरोषा वयुवास देव्यथो अद्येदं वयावो मघोनी ।अथो वयुछादुत्तराननु दयूनजराम्र्ता चरति सवधाभिः ॥

79 dawn in I, 118, 11. Again the very existence and use of two such words as uṣhas and vi-uṣhṭi is, by itself, a proof of the long duration of the dawn; for, if the dawn was brief, there was no practical necessity of speaking of the full-blown state (vi +uṣhṭi) of the dawn as has been done several times in the Ṛig-Veda. The expression, uṣhasah vi-uṣhṭau, occurs very often in the Ṛig-Veda and it has been translated by the phrase, on the flashing forth of the dawn.” But no one seems to have raised the question why two separate words, one of which is derived from the other simply by prefixing the preposition vi, should be used in this connection. Words are made to denote ideas and if uṣhas and vi-uṣhṭi were not required to denote two distinct phenomena, no one, especially in those early days, would have cared to use a phrase, which, for all ordinary purposes, was superfluously cumbrous. But these facts, howsoever suggestive, may not be regarded as conclusive and we shall, therefore, now turn to the more explicit passages in the hymns regarding the duration of the Vedic dawn. The first verse I would quote in this connection is Ṛig-Veda I, 113, 10: — * Kiyâti â yât samayâ bhavâti    yâ vyûṣhuryâshcha nunam vyuchhân | Anu pûrvâḥ kṛipate vâvashâna    pradidhyânâ joṣham anyâbhir eti || The first quarter of the verse is rather difficult. The words are kiyâti ā yat samayâ bhavâti, and Sâyaṇa, whom Wilson follows, understands samayâ to mean “near.” Prof, Max Müller translates samayâ (Gr. Omos, Lat, Simul) by “together,” “at once” while Roth, Grassmann and Aufrecht take samayâ bhavâti as one expression meaning “that which intervenes between the two.”† This has given rise to three different translations of the verse: — * Ṛig. I, 113, 10, — कियात्या यत समया भवाति या वयूषुर्याश्च नूनंव्युछान । अनु पूर्वाः कर्पते वावशाना परदीध्याना जोषमन्याभिरेति ॥ † See Petersberg Lexicon, and Grassmann’s Worterbuch, s. v. Samayâ; and Muir’s O. S. Texts, Vol. V, p. 189.

80 WILSON, (following Sâyaṇa): For how long a period is it that the dawns have arisen? For how long a period will they rise? Still desirous to bring us light, Uṣhas pursues the function of those that have gone before and shining brightly, proceeds with the others (that are to follow). GRIFFITH, (following Max Müller): — How long a time and they shall be together, — Dawns that have shone and Dawns to shine hereafter? She yearns for former Dawns with eager longing and goes forth gladly shining with the others. MUIR, (following Aufrecht): — How great is the interval that lies between the Dawns which have arisen and those which are yet to rise? Uṣhas yearns longingly after the former Dawns, and gladly goes on shining with the others (that are to come). But in spite of those different renderings, the meaning of the verse, so far as the question before us is concerned, can be easily gathered. There are two sets of dawns, one of, those that have past, and the other of those that are yet to shine. If we adopt Wilson’s and Griffith’s translations, the meaning is that these two classes of dawns, taken together, occupy such a long period of time as to raise the question, — How long they will be together? In other words, the two classes of dawns, taken together, were of such a long duration that men began to question as to when they would terminate, or pass away. If, on the other hand, we adopt Aufrecht’s translation, a, long period appears to have intervened between the past and the coming dawns; or, in other words, there was a long break or hiatus in the regular sequence of these dawns. In the first case, the description is only possible if we suppose that the duration of the dawns was very long, much longer than what we see in the temperate or the tropical zone; while in the second, a long interval between the past and the present dawns must be taken to refer to a long pause, or night, occurring immediately before the second set of dawns commenced their new course, — a phenomenon which is possible only in the Arctic regions. Thus whichever interpretation we adopt — a long dawn, or a long night between the two sets of

81 dawns, — the description is intelligible, only if we take it to refer to the Polar conditions previously mentioned. The Vedic passages, discussed hereafter, seem, however, to support Sâyaṇa’s or Max Müller’s view. A number of dawns is spoken of, some past and some yet to come: and the two groups are said to occupy a very long interval. That seems to be the real meaning of the verse. But without laying much stress on any particular meaning for the present, it is enough for our purpose to show that, even adopting Aufrecht’s rendering, we cannot escape from the necessity of making the description refer to the Polar conditions. The verse in question is the tenth in the hymn, and it may be noticed that in the 13th verse of the same hymn we are told that “in former days, perpetually ‘shashvat’ did the Goddess Uṣhas shine,” clearly indicating that the Dawn, in early days, lasted for a long time. The following verse is, however, still more explicit, and decisive on the point. The seventh Maṇḍala of the Ṛig-Veda contains a number of dawn-hymns. In one of these (VII, 76), the poet, after stating in the first two verses that the Dawns have raised their banner on the horizon with their usual splendor, expressly tells us, (verse 3), that a period of several days elapsed between the first appearance of the dawn on the horizon and the actual rising of the sun that followed it. As the verse* is very important for our purpose, I give below the Pada text with an interlineal word for word translation: —  Tani        it       ahâni    bahulâni    âsan Those   verily    days      many        were   yâ      prâchînam          ud-itâ            suryasya | which    aforetime    on the uprising    of the sun    Yataḥ         pari            jâre-iva               â-charanti from which    after     towards a lover     like, moving on   Uṣhâḥ,    dadṛikṣhe           na punaḥ             yatî-îva || O Dawn    wast seen    not again forsaking  (woman), like * Ṛig. VII, 76. 3. — तानीदहानि बहुलान्यासन या पराचीनमुदिता सूर्यस्य । यतः परि जार इवाचरन्त्युषो दद्र्क्षे न पुनर्यतीव ॥

82 I have followed Sâyaṇa in splitting jâra-iva of Saṁhitâ text into jâre+iva, and not jâraḥ+iva as Shâkala has done in the Pada text; for jâre+iva makes the simile more appropriate than if we were to compare usḥas with jârah. Literally rendered the verse, therefore, means, “Verily, many were those days which were aforetime at the uprising of the sun, and about which, O Dawn! thou wast seen moving on, as towards a lover, and not like one (woman) who forsakes.” I take pari with yataḥ, meaning that the dawn goes after the days. Yataḥ pari, thus construed, means “after which,” or “about which.” Sâyaṇa takes pari with dadṛikṣhe and Griffith renders yataḥ by “since.” But these constructions do not materially alter the meaning of the second half of the verse, though taking pari with yataḥ enables us to take the second line as an adjectival clause, rendering the meaning more plain. In IV, 52, 1, the Dawn is said to shine after her sister (svasuḥ pari), and pari, with an ablative, does not necessarily denote “from” in every case but is used in various senses, as, for instance, in III, 5, 10, where the phrase Bhṛigubhyaḥ pari occurs, and is rendered by Grassmann as equivalent to “for the sake of Bhṛigus,” while Sâyaṇa paraphrases pari by paritaḥ “round about.” In the verse under consideration we can, therefore, take pari with yataḥ and understand the expression as meaning “after, about or around which (days).” It must also be borne in mind that there must be an expression to correspond with jâre in the simile and this we get only if we construe yataḥ pari in the way proposed above. If we now analyze the verse it will be found to be made up of three clauses, one principal and two adjectival. The principal statement asserts that those days were many. The demonstrative “those” (tâni) is them followed by two relative clauses, yâ prâchînam &c., and, yataḥ pari &c. The first of these states that the days referred to in the principal clause were those that “preceded the rising of the sun.” But if the days preceded the rising of the sun, one might think that they were pervaded with darkness. The poet, therefore, further

83 adds, in the second relative clause, that though these days were anterior to the rising of the sun, yet they were such that “the Dawn was seen to move after or about them as after a loner, and not like a woman who forsakes.” In short, the verse states in unmistakable terms (1) that many days (bahulâni ahâni) passed between the appearance of the first morning beams and sunrise, and (2) that these days were faithfully attended by the Dawn, meaning that the whole period was one of continuous Dawn, which never vanished during the time. The words as they stand convey no other meaning but this, and we have now to see how far it is intelligible to us. To the commentators the verse is a perfect puzzle. Thus Sâyaṇa does not understand how the word “days” (ahâni) can be applied to a period of time anterior to sunrise; for, says he, “The word day (ahaḥ) is used only to denote such a period of time as is invested with light of the Dawn.” Then, again he is obviously at a loss to understand how a number of days can be said to have elapsed between the first beams of the dawn and sunrise. These were serious difficulties for Sâyaṇa and the only way to get over them was to force an unnatural sense upon the words, and make them yield some intelligible meaning. This was no difficult task for Sâyaṇa. The word ahâni, which means “days,” was the only stumbling block in his way, and instead of taking it in the sense in which it is ordinarily used, without exception, everywhere in the Ṛig-Veda, he went back to its root-meaning, and interpreted it as equivalent to “light” or “splendor.” Ahan is derived from the root ah (or philologically dah), “to burn,” or “shine,” and Ahanâ meaning “dawn” is derived from the same root. Etymologically ahâni may, therefore, mean splendors; but the question is whether it is so used anywhere, and why we should here give up the ordinary meaning of the word. Sâyaṇa’s answer is given above. It is because the word “day” (ahan) can, according to him, be applied only to a period after sunrise and before sunset. But this reasoning is not

84 sound, because in the Ṛig-Veda VI, 9, 1, ahaḥ is applied to the dark as well as to the bright period of time, for the verse says, “there is a dark day (ahaḥ) and a bright day (ahaḥ).” This shows that the Vedic poets were in the habit of using the word ahaḥ (day) to denote a period of time devoid of the light of the sun.* Sâyaṇa knew this, and in his commentary on I, 185, 4, he expressly says that the word ahaḥ may include night. His real difficulty was different, viz., the impossibility of supposing that a period of several days could have elapsed between the first appearance of light and sunrise, and this difficulty seems to have been experienced even by Western scholars. Thus Prof. Ludwig materially adopts Sâyaṇa’s view and interprets the verse to mean that the splendors of the dawn were numerous, and that they appear either before sunrise, or, if prâchînam be differently interpreted “in the east” at the rising of the sun. Roth and Grassman seem to interpret prâchînam in the same way. Griffith translates ahâni by “mornings” and prâchînam by “aforetime.” His rendering of the verse runs thus: — “Great is, in truth, the number of the mornings, which were aforetime at the sun’s uprising; since thou, O Dawn, hast been beheld repairing as to thy love, as one no more to leave him.” But Griffith does not explain what he understands by the expression, “a number of mornings which were aforetime at the sun’s uprising.” The case is, therefore, reduced to this. The word ahan, of which ahâni (days) is a plural form, can be ordinarily interpreted to mean (1) a period of time between sunrise and sunset; (2) a nycthemeron, as when we speak of 360 days of the year; or (3) a measure of time to mark a period of 24 hours, irrespective of the fact whether the sun is above or below the horizon, as when we speak of the long Arctic night * Ṛig. VI, 9, 1, — वेद्याभिः । वैश्वानरो जायमानो न राजावातिरज्ज्योतिषाग्निस्तमांसि ॥ Also cf. T. S. III, 3, 4, 1.

85 of 30 days. Are we then to abandon all these meanings, and understand ahâni to mean “splendors” in the verse under consideration? The only difficulty is to account for the interval of many days between the appearance of the banner of the Dawn on the horizon and the emergence of the sun’s orb over it; and this difficulty vanishes if the description be taken to refer to the dawn in the Polar or Circum-Polar regions. That is the real key to the meaning of this and similar other passages which will be noted hereafter; and in its absence a number of artificial devices have been made use of to make these passages somehow intelligible to us. But now nothing of the kind is necessary. As regards the word “days” it has been observed that we often speak “a night of several days,” or a “night of several months” when describing the Polar phenomena. In expressions like these the word “day” or “month” simply denotes a measure of time equivalent to “twenty-four hours,” or “thirty days;” and there is nothing unusual in the exclamation of the Rig-Vedic poet that “many were the days between the first beams of the dawn and actual sunrise.” We have also seen that, at the Pole, it is quite possible to mark the periods of twenty-four hours by the rotations of the celestial sphere or the circum-polar stars, and these could be or rather must have been termed “days” by the inhabitants of the place. In the first chapter of the Old Testament we were told that God created the heaven and the earth and also light “on the first day,” while the sun was created on the fourth “to divide the day from the night and to rule ‘the day.” Here the word “day” is used to denote a period of time even before the sun was created; and a fortiori, there can be no impropriety in using it to denote a period of time before sunrise. We need not, therefore, affect a hypercritical spirit in examining the Vedic expression in question. If Sâyaṇa did it, it was because he did not know as much about the Polar regions as we now do. We have no such excuse and must, therefore, accept the meaning which follows from the natural construction and reading of the sentence.

86 It is therefore clear that the verse in question (VII, 76, 3) expressly describes a dawn continuously lasting for many days, which is possible only in the Arctic regions. I have discussed the passage at so much length because the history of its interpretation clearly shows how certain passages in the Ṛig-Veda, which are unintelligible to us in spite of their simple diction, have been treated by commentators, who know not what to make of them if read in a natural way. But to proceed with the subject in hand, we have seen that the Polar dawn could be divided into periods of 24 hours owing to the circuits it makes round the horizon. In such a case we can very well speak of these divisions as so many day-long dawns of 24 hours each and state that so many of them are past and so many are yet to come, as has been done in the verse (I, 113, 10) discussed above. We may also say that so many day-long dawns have passed and yet the sun has not risen, as in II, 28, 9, a verse addressed to Varuṇa wherein the poet asks for the following boon from the deity: — Para ṛiṇâ sâvîr adha mat-kritâni     mâ aham râjan anya-kṛitena bhojam | Avyuṣhṭâ in nu bhûyasîr uṣhâsa     â no jîvân Varuṇa tâsu shâdhi || Literally translated this means “Remove far the debts (sins) incurred by me. May I not, O King! be affected by others’ doings. Verily, many dawns (have) not fully (vi) flashed forth. O Varuṇa! direct that we may be alive during them.”* The first part of this verse contains a prayer usually addressed to Gods, and we have nothing to say with respect to it, so far as the subject in hand is concerned. The only expression necessary to be discussed is bhûyasîḥ uṣhâsaḥ avyuṣhṭâḥ in third quarter of the verse. The first two words present no difficulty. They mean “many dawns.” Now avyuṣhṭa is a negative participle from vyuṣhṭa, which again is derived from uṣhta with vi prefixed. I have referred to the * Ṛig. II, 28, 9, — पर रणा सावीरध मत्क्र्तानि माहं राजन्नन्यक्र्तेन भोजम । अव्युष्टा इन नु भूयसीरुषास आ नो जीवान वरुण तासु शाधि ॥

87 distinction between uṣhas and vyuṣhṭi suggested by the threefold or the five-fold division of the dawn. Vyuṣhṭi, according to the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa, means “day,” or rather “the flashing forth of the dawn into sunrise” and the word a+vi+uṣhṭa, therefore, means “not-fully-flashed-forth into sunrise.” But Sâyaṇa and others do not seem to have kept in view this distinction between the meanings of uṣhas and vyuṣhṭi; or if they did, they did not know or had not in their mind the phenomenon of the long continuous dawn in the Arctic regions, a dawn, that lasted for several day-long periods of time before the sun’s orb appeared on the horizon. The expression, bhûyasîḥ uṣhâsaḥ avyuṣhṭâḥ, which literally means “many dawns have not dawned, or fully flashed forth,” was therefore a riddle to these commentators. Every dawn, they saw, was followed by sunrise; and they could not, therefore, understand how “many dawns” could be described as “not-fully-flashed-forth.” An explanation was thus felt to be a necessity and this was obtained by converting, in sense, the past passive participle avyuṣhṭa into a future participle; and the expression in question was translated as meaning, “during the dawns (or days) that have not yet dawned “ or, in other words, “in days to come.” But the interpretation is on the face of it strained and artificial. If future days were intended, the idea could have been more easily and briefly expressed. The poet is evidently speaking of things present, and, taking vi-ushṭa to denote what it literally signifies, we can easily and naturally interpret the expression to mean that though many dawns, meaning many day-long portions of time during which the dawn lasted, have passed, yet it is not vyuṣhṭa, that is the sun’s orb has not yet emerged from below the horizon and that Varuṇa should protect the worshipper under the circumstances. There are many other expressions in the Ṛig-Veda which further strengthen the same view. Thus corresponding to bhûyasîḥ in the above passage, we have the adjective pûrvîḥ (many) used in IV, 19, 8 and VI, 28, 1, to denote the number of dawns, evidently showing that numerically more

88 than one dawn is intended. The dawns are again not un-frequently addressed in the plural number in the Ṛig-Veda, and the fact is well-known to all Vedic scholars. Thus in I, 92, which is a dawn-hymn, the bard opens his song with the characteristically emphatic exclamation “these (etâḥ) are those (tyâḥ) dawns (uṣhasaḥ), which have made their appearance on the horizon,” and the same expression again occurs in VII, 78, 3. Yâska explains the plural number uṣhasaḥ by considering it to be used only honorifically (Nirukta XII, 7); while Sâyaṇa interprets it as referring to the number of divinities that preside over the morn. The Western scholars have not made any improvement on these explanations and Prof. Max Müller is simply content with observing that the Vedic bards, when speaking of the dawn, did sometimes use the plural just as we would use the singular number! But a little reflection will show that neither of these explanations is satisfactory. If the plural is honorific why is it changed into singular only a few lines after in the same hymn? Surely the poet does not mean to address the Dawn respectfully only at the outset and then change his manner of address and assume a familiar tone. This is not however, the only objection to Yâska’s explanation. Various similes are used by the Vedic poets to describe the appearance of the dawns on the horizon and an examination of these similes will convince any one that the plural number, used in reference to the Dawn, cannot be merely honorific. Thus in the second line of I, 92, 1, the Dawns are compared to a number of “warriors” (dhṛiṣhṇavâḥ) and in the third verse of the same hymn they are likened to “women (nârîḥ) active in their occupations.” They are said to appear on the horizon like “waves of waters” (apâm na urmayaḥ) in VI, 64, 1, or like “pillars planted at a sacrifice” (adhvareṣhu svaravaḥ) in IV, 51, 2. We are again told that they work like “men arrayed” (visho na yuktaḥ), or advance like “troops of cattle” (gavam na sargâḥ) in VII, 79, 2, and IV, 51, 8, respectively. They are described as all “alike” (sadṛishiḥ) and are said to be of “one mind” (sañjânante), or “acting

89 harmoniously” IV, 51, 6, and VII, 76, 5. In the last verse the poet again informs us that they “do not strive against each other” (mithaḥ na yatante), though they live jointly in the “same enclosure” (samâne urve). Finally in X, 88, 18, the poet distinctly asks the question, “How many fires, how many suns and how many dawns (uṣhâsaḥ) are there?” If the Dawn were addressed in plural simply out of respect for the deity, where was the necessity of informing us that they do not quarrel though collected in the same place? The expressions “waves of waters,” or “men arrayed” &c., are again too definite to be explained away as honorific. Sâyaṇa seems to have perceived this difficulty and has, probably for the same reason, proposed an explanation slightly different from that of Yâska. But, unfortunately, Sâyaṇa’s explanation does not solve the difficulty, as the question still remains why the deities presiding over the dawn should be more than one in number. The only other explanation put forward, so far as I know, is that the plural number refers to the dawns on successive days during the year, as we perceive them in the temperate or the tropical zone. On this theory there would be 360 dawns in a year, each followed by the rising of the sun every day. This explanation may appear plausible at the first sight. But on a closer examination t will be found that the expressions used in the hymns cannot be made to reconcile with this theory. For, if 360 dawns, all separated by intervals of 24 hours, were intended by the plural number used in the Vedic verses, no poet, with any propriety, would speak of them as he does in I, 92, 1, by using the double pronoun etâḥ and tyâḥ as if he was pointing out to a physical phenomenon before him; nor can we understand how 360 dawns, spread over the whole year, can be described as advancing like “men arrayed” for battle. It is again absurd to describe the 360 dawns of the year as being collected in the “same enclosure” and “not striving against or quarrelling with each other.” We are thus forced to the conclusion that the Ṛig-Veda speaks of a team or a group of dawns, unbroken or uninterrupted by sunlight, so that if we be so minded, we

90 can regard them as constituting a single long continuous dawn. This is in perfect accord with the statement discussed above, viz., that many days passed between the first appearance of light on the horizon and the uprising of the sun (VII, 76, 3). We cannot, therefore, accept the explanation of consecutive dawns, nor that of Yâska, nor of Sâyaṇa regarding the use of the plural number in this case. The fact is that the Vedic dawn represents one long physical phenomenon which can be spoken of in plural by supposing it to be split up into smaller day-long portions. It is thus that we find Uṣhas addressed sometimes in the plural and sometimes in the singular number. There is no other explanation on which we can account for and explain the various descriptions of the dawn found in the different hymns. But to clinch the matter, the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, IV, 3, 11, expressly states that the dawns are thirty sisters, or, in other words, they are thirty in number and that they go round and round in five groups, reaching the same appointed place and having the same banner for all. The whole of this Anuvâka may be said to be practically a dawn-hymn of 15 verses, which are used as Mantras for the laying down of certain emblematical bricks called the “dawn-bricks” on the sacrificial altar. There are sixteen such bricks to be placed on the altar, and the Anuvâka in question gives 15 Mantras, or verses, to be used on the occasion, the 16th being recorded elsewhere. These 15 verses, together with their Brâhmaṇa (T.S.V, 3, 4, 7), are so important for our purpose, that I have appended to this chapter the original passages, with their translation, comparing the version in the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ with that of the Atharva-Veda, in the case of those verses which are found in the latter. The first verse of the section or the Anuvâka, is used for laying down the first dawn-brick and it speaks only of a single dawn first appearing on the horizon. In the second verse we have, however, a couple of dawns mentioned as “dwelling in the same abode.” A third dawn is, spoken in the third verse, followed by the fourth and the fifth dawn. The five dawns are then said to

91 have five sisters each, exclusive of themselves, thus raising the total number of dawns to thirty. These “thirty sisters” (triṁhshat svasâraḥ) are then described as “going round” (pari yanti) in groups of six each, keeping up to the same goal (niṣhkṛitam). Two verses later on, the worshipper asks that he and his follower should be blessed with the same concord as is observed amongst these dawns. We are then told that one of these five principal dawns is the child of Rita, the second upholds the greatness of Waters the third moves in the region of Sûrya, the fourth in that of Fire or Gharma, and the fifth is ruled by Savitṛi, evidently showing that the dawns are not the dawns of consecutive days. The last verse of the Anuvâka sums up the description by stating that the dawn, though it shines forth in various forms, is but one in reality. Throughout the whole Anuvâka there is no mention of the rising of the sun or the appearance of sunlight, and the Brâhmaṇa makes the point clear by stating, “There was a time, when all this was neither day nor night, being in an undistinguishable state. It was then that the Gods perceived these dawns and laid them down, then there was light; therefore, it brightens to him and destroys his darkness for whom these (dawn-bricks) are placed.” The object of this passage is to explain how and why the dawn-bricks came to be laid down with these Mantras, and it gives the ancient story of thirty dawns being perceived by the Gods, not on consecutive days, but during the period of time when it was neither night nor day. This, joined with the express statement at the end of the Anuvâka that in reality it is but one dawn, is sufficient to prove that the thirty dawns mentioned in the Anuvâka were continuous and not consecutive. But, if a still more explicit authority be needed it will be found in the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa, II, 5, 6, 5. This is an old Mantra, and not a portion of the explanatory Brâhmaṇa, and is, therefore, as good an authority as, any of the verses quoted above. It is addressed to the dawns and means, “These very Dawns are those that first shone forth, the Goddesses make five forms; eternal (shashvatîḥ), (they)

92 are not separated (na avapṛijyanti), nor do (they) terminate (na gamanti antam).”* The “five forms” here referred to correspond with the division of 30 dawns into 5 groups of 6 each, made in the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, after the manner of sacrificial ṣhaḷ-ahas, or groups of six days; and we are expressly told that the dawns, which make these 5 forms, are continuous, unseparated, or uninterrupted. In the Ṛig-Veda I, 152, 4, the garment of the lover of the dawns (lit. the maidens, kanînâm jâram) is described as “inseparable” and “wide” (an-avapṛigṇa and vitata), and reading this in the light of the aforesaid Mantra from the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa we are led to conclude that in the Ṛig-Veda itself the dawny garment of the sun, or the garment, which the dawns, as mothers, weave for him (cf. V, 47, 6 ), is considered as “wide” and “continuous.” Translated into common language this means that the dawn described in the Ṛig-Veda was a long and continuous phenomenon. In the Atharva-Veda (VII, 22, 2) the dawns are described as sachetasaḥ and samîchîḥ, which means that they are “harmonious” and “walk together” and not separately. The first expression is found in the Ṛig-Veda, but not the second, though it could be easily inferred, from the fact that the dawns are there described as “collected in the same enclosure.” Griffith renders samîchîḥ by “a closely gathered band” and translates the verse thus: — “The Bright one hath sent forth the Dawns, a closely gathered band, immaculate, unanimous, brightly refulgent in their homes.”† Here all the adjectives of the dawns clearly indicate a group of undivided dawns acting harmoniously; and yet strange to say Griffith, who translates correctly misses the spirit altogether. We have thus sufficient direct authority for holding that it is a “team,” or in Griffith’s words, “a closely gathered band” of thirty continuous dawns that is described in the Vedic * Taitt. Br. II, 5, 6, 5. † Ath. Veda, VII, 22, 2.

93 hymns, and not the evanescent dawn of the temperate or the tropical zone, either single or as a series of consecutive dawns. It is interesting to examine how Sâyaṇa explains the existence of as many as thirty dawns, before we proceed to other authorities. In his commentary on the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ IV, 3, 11, he tells us that the first dawn spoken of in the first verse in the Anuvâka, is the dawn at the beginning of the creation, when everything was undistinguishable according to the Brâhmaṇa. The second dawn in the second verse is said to be the ordinary dawn that we see every day. So far it was all right; but the number of dawns soon outgrew the number of the kinds of dawn known to Sâyaṇa. The third, fourth and fifth verses of the Anuvâka describe three more dawns, and Sâyaṇa was at last forced to explain that though the dawn was one yet by its Yogic or occult powers it assumed these various shapes! But the five dawns multiplied into thirty sisters in the next verse, and Sâyaṇa finally adopted the explanation that thirty separate dawns represented the thirty consecutive dawns of one month. But why only thirty dawns of one month out of 360 dawns of a year should thus be selected in these Mantras is nowhere explained. The explanations, besides being mutually inconsistent, again conflict with the last verse in the Anuvâka with the Brâhmaṇa or the explanation given in the Saṁhitâ itself, and with the passage from the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa quoted above. But Sâyaṇa was writing under a firm belief that the Vedic dawn was the same as he and other Vedic scholars like Yâska perceived it in the tropical zone; and the wonder is, not that he has given us so many contradictory explanations, but that he has been able to suggest so many apparently plausible explanations as the exigencies of the different Mantras required. In the light of advancing knowledge about the nature of the dawn at the North Pole, and the existence of man on earth before the last Glacial epoch We should, therefore, have no hesitation in accepting more intelligible and rationalistic view of the different passages descriptive of the dawns in the Vedic literature. We are

94 sure Sâyaṇa himself would have welcomed a theory more comprehensive and reasonable than any advanced by him, if the same could have been suggested to him in his own day. Jyotish or astronomy has always been considered to be the “eye of the Veda,”* and as with the aid of the telescope this eye now commands a wider range than previously, it will be our own fault if we fail to utilize the knowledge so gained to elucidate those portions of our sacred books which are still unintelligible. But to proceed with the subject, it may be urged that it is only the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ that gives us the number of the dawns, and that it would not be proper to mix up these statements with the statements contained in the hymns of the Ṛig-Veda, and draw a conclusion from both taken together. The Taittirîya Saṁhitâ treats of sacrificial rites and the Mantras relating to the dawn-bricks may not be regarded as being originally connected. The fact that only some-of these are found in the Atharva-Veda Saṁhitâ, might lend some support to this view. But a critical study of the Anuvâka, will remove all these doubts. The “thirty sisters” are not mentioned one by one, leaving it to the hearer, or the reader, to make up the total, and ascertain the final number for himself. The sixth verse in the Anuvâka expressly mentions “the thirty sisters” and is, by itself, sufficient to prove that in ancient days the number of dawns was considered to be thirty. But if an authority from the Ṛig-Veda be still needed, we have it in VI, 59, 6, where Dawn is described as having traversed “thirty steps” (triṁshat padâni akramît).† This statement has, as yet, remained unexplained. “A single dawn traversing thirty steps” is but a paraphrase of the statement * Cf. Shikṣhâ, 41-42. † Ṛig. VI, 59, 6, — इन्द्राग्नी अपादियं पूर्वागात पद्वतीभ्यः । हित्वी शिरो जिह्वया वावदच्चरत तरिंशत पदा नयक्रमीत ॥ Ṛig. X, 189, 3, which speaks of thirty realms (triṁshat dhâma), refers very probably to the same fact.

95 that “dawns are thirty sisters, keeping to the same goal in their circuits.” Another verse which has not yet been satisfactorily explained is the Ṛig-Veda I, 123, 8. It says “The dawns, alike today and alike tomorrow, dwell long in the abode of Varuṇa. Blameless, they forthwith go round (pari yanti) thirty yojanas; each its destined course (kratum).”* The first half of the verse presents no difficulty. In the second we are told that the dawns go round thirty yojanas, each following its own “plan,” which is the meaning of kratu, according to the Petersberg Lexicon. But the phrase “thirty yojanas” has not been as yet satisfactorily explained. Griffith following M. Bergaigne understands it to mean thirty regions or spaces, indicating the whole universe; but there is no authority for this meaning. Sâyaṇa, whom Wilson follows, gives an elaborate astronomical explanation. He says that the sun’s rays precede his rising and are visible when the sun is below the horizon by thirty yojanas, or; in other words, the dawn is in advance of the sun by that distance. When dawns are, therefore, said to traverse thirty yojanas, Sâyaṇa understands by it the astronomical phenomenon of the dawn illumining a space of thirty yojanas in advance of the sun, and, that when the dawn, at one place, is over, it is to be found in another place, occupying a space of thirty yojanas in that place. The explanation is very ingenious; and Sâyaṇa also adds that the dawns are spoken of in the plural number in the verse under consideration, because the dawns at different places on the surface of the earth, brought on by the daily motion of the sun, are intended. But unfortunately the explanation cannot stand scientific scrutiny. Sâyaṇa says that the sun travels 5,059 yojanas round the Meru in 24 hours; and as Meru means the earth and the circumference of the earth is now known to be about 24,377 miles, a yojana would be about 4.9, or in round number, about 5 miles. Thirty such yojanas will, therefore, be 150 miles; while the first beams of * Ṛig. I, 123, 8, — सद्र्शीरद्य सद्र्शीरिदु शवो दीर्घं सचन्ते वरुणस्यधाम । अनवद्यास्त्रिंशतं योजनान्येकैका करतुं परियन्ति सद्यः ॥

96 the dawn greet us on the horizon when the sun is not less than 16° below the horizon. Taking one degree equal to 60 miles, 16° would mean 960 miles, a distance far in excess of the thirty yojanas of Sâyaṇa. Another objection to Sâyaṇa’s explanation is that the Vedic bard is evidently speaking of a phenomenon present before him, and not mentally following the astronomical dawns at different places produced by the daily rotation of the earth on its axis. The explanation is again inapplicable to “thirty steps (padâni)” of the dawn expressly mentioned in VI, 59, 6. Therefore, the only alternative left is, to take the phrases “thirty yojanas,” “thirty sisters,” and “thirty steps” as different versions of one and the same fact, viz., the circuits of the dawn along the Polar horizon. The phrase “each its destined course” also becomes intelligible in this case, for though thirty dawns complete thirty rounds, each may well be described as following its own definite course. The words pari yanti in the text literally apply to a circular (pari) motion, (cf. the words pari-ukṣhaṇam, paristaraṇam, &c.); and the same term is used in the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ with reference to “thirty sisters.” The word yojana primarily means “a chariot” (VIII, 72, 6) and then it came to denote “distance to be accomplished with unharnessing the horses,” or what we, in the vernacular, call a “ṭappâ.” Now this ṭappâ, or “the journey to be accomplished without unharnessing the horse,” may be a day’s journey and Prof. Max Müller has in one place interpreted the yojana in this way.* In V, 54, 5, the Maruts are said “to have extended their greatness as far as the sun extends his daily course,” and the word in the original for “daily course” is yojanum. Accepting this meaning, we can interpret the expression “the dawns forth with go round (pari yanti) thirty yojanas” to mean that the dawns complete thirty daily rounds as at the North Pole. That circular motion is here intended is further evident from 111, 61, 3, which says, in distinct terms, “Wending towards the same goal (samânam artham), O Newly-born (Dawn)! * See T. B. E. Series, Vol. XXXII, pp. 177 and 325.

97 turn on like a wheel (ckakramiva â vavṛitsva).”* Although the word navyasi (newly-born) is here in the vocative case, yet the meaning is that the dawn, ever anew or becoming new every day, revolves like a wheel. Now a wheel may either move in a perpendicular plane, like the wheel of a chariot, or in a horizontal plane like the potter’s wheel. But the first of these two motions cannot be predicated of the dawn anywhere on the surface of the earth. The light of the morning is, everywhere, confined to the horizon, as described in the Ṛig-Veda, VII, 80, 1, which speaks of the dawns as “unrolling the two rajasî, which border on each other (samante), and revealing all things.”† No dawn, whether in the rigid, the temperate, or the tropical zone can, therefore, be seen traveling, like the sun, from east to west, over the head of the observer in a perpendicular plane. The only possible wheel-like motion is, therefore, along the horizon and this can be witnessed only in regions near the Pole. A dawn in the temperate or the tropical zone is visible only for a short time on the eastern horizon and is swallowed up, in the same place by the rays of the rising sun. It is only in the Polar regions that we see the morning lights revolving along the horizon for some day-long periods of time, and if the wheel-like motion of the dawn, mentioned in III, 61, 3, has any meaning at all, we must take it to refer to the revolving splendors of the dawn in the Arctic regions previously described. The expressions “reaching the appointed place (niṣh-kṛitam) day by day” (I, 123, 9), and “wending ever and ever to the same goal” (111, 61, 3) are also ill-suited to describe the dawn in latitudes below the Arctic circle, but if we take these expressions to refer to the Polar dawn they become not only intelligible, but peculiarly appropriate, as such a dawn in its daily circuits must come to the point from which it started * Ṛig. III, 61, 3, — उषः परतीची भुवनानि विश्वोर्ध्वा तिष्ठस्यम्र्तस्य केतुः । समानमर्थं चरणीयमाना चक्रमिव नव्यस्या वव्र्त्स्व ॥ † Ṛig. VII, 80, 1, — परति सतोमेभिरुषसं वसिष्ठा गीर्भिर्विप्रासः परथमा अबुध्रन । विवर्तयन्तीं रजसी समन्ते आविष्क्र्ण्वतीं भुवनानि विश्वा ॥ See Wallis’ Cosmology of the Ṛig-Veda, p. 116.

98 every twenty-four hours. All these passages taken together, therefore, point only to one conclusion and that is that both the Ṛig-Veda and the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ describe a long and continuous dawn divided into thirty dawn-days, or periods of twenty four hours each, a characteristic found only in the Polar dawn. There are a number of other passages where the dawn is spoken of in the plural, especially in the case of matutinal deities, who are said to follow or come after not a single dawn but dawns in the plural (I, 6, 3; I, 180, 1; V, 76, 1; VII, 9, 1; VII, 63, 3). These passages have been hitherto understood as describing the appearance of the deities after the consecutive dawns of the year. But now a new light is thrown upon them by the conclusion established above from the examination of the different passages about the dawn in the Ṛig-Veda, the Taittirîya and the Atharva Veda Saṁhitâ. It may, however, be mentioned that I do not mean to say that in the whole of the Ṛig-Veda not a single reference can be found to the dawn of the tropical or the temperate zone. The Veda which mentions a year of 360 days is sure to mention the evanescent dawn which accompanies these days in regions to the south of the Arctic circle. A greater part of the description of the dawn is again of such a character that we can apply it either to the long Polar dawn, or to the short-lived dawn of the tropics. Thus both may be said to awaken every living being (I, 92, 9,) or disclose the treasures concealed by darkness (I, 123, 4). Similarly when dawns of different days are said to depart and come, a new sister succeeding each day to the sister previously vanished (I, 124, 9), we my either suppose that the consecutive dawns of different days are intended, or that a number of day-long dawns, which succeed one another after every 24 hours at the Pole, were in the mind of the poet. These passages do not, therefore, in any way affect the conclusion we have arrived at above by the consideration of the special characteristics of the dawns mentioned in the hymns. What we mean to prove is that Uṣhas, or the Goddess of the first appearance of which formed the subject of so many

99 beautiful hymns in the Vedic literature, is not the evanescent dawn of the tropics but the long continuous and revolving dawn of the pole; and if we have succeeded in proving this from the passages discussed above, it matters little if a pass age or more are found elsewhere in the Ṛig-Veda, describing the ordinary tropical dawn. The Vedic Ṛiṣhis who sang the present hymns, must have been familiar with the tropical dawn if they now and then added a 13th month to secure the correspondence of the lunar and the solar year. But the deity of the Dawn was an ancient deity, the attributes of which had become known to the Ṛiṣhis by orally preserved traditions, about the primeval home; and the dawn-hymns, as we now possess them, faithfully describe these characteristics. How these old characteristics of the Goddess of Dawn were preserved for centuries is a question to which I shall revert after examining the whole of the Vedic evidence bearing on the Polar theory. For the present we may assume that these reminiscences of the old home were preserved much in the same way as we have preserved the hymns, accent for accent and letter for letter, for the last three or four thousand years. It will be seen from foregoing discussion that if the dawn-hymns in the Ṛig-Veda be read and studied in the light of modern scientific discoveries and with the aid of passages in the Atharva Veda and the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ and Brâhmaṇa they clearly establish the following results: (1) The Rig-Vedic dawn was so long that several days elapsed between the first appearance of light on the horizon and the sunrise which followed it, (VII, 76, 3); or, as described in 11, 28, 9, many dawns appeared one after another before they ripened into sunrise. (2) The Dawn was addressed in the plural number not honorifically, nor as representing the consecutive dawns of the Year, but because it was made up of thirty parts (I; 123, 8; VI, 59, 6; T.S., IV, 3, 11, 6). (3) Many dawns lived in the same place, acted harmoniously and never quarreled with each other, IV, 51, 7-9; VII, 76, 5; A.V. VII, 22, 2).

100 (4) The thirty parts of the dawn were continuous and inseparable, forming “a closely gathered band,” or “a group of dawns,” (I, 152, 4; T. Br. II, 5, 6, 5; A.V. VII, 22, 2). (5) These thirty dawns, or thirty parts of one dawn revolved round and round like a wheel, reaching the same goal every day, each dawn or part following its own destined course, (I, 123, 8, 9; III, 61, 3; T.S. IV, 3, 11, 6). These characteristics it is needless to say are possessed only by the dawn at or near the Pole. The last or the fifth especially is to be found only in lands very near the North Pole and not everywhere in the Arctic regions. We may, therefore, safely conclude that the Vedic Goddess of Dawn is Polar in origin. But it may be urged that while the Polar-dawn lasts from 45 to 60 days, the Vedic dawn is described only as made up of thirty day-long parts, and that the discrepancy must be accounted for before we accept the conclusion that the Vedic dawn is Polar in character. The discrepancy is not, however, a serious one. We have seen that the duration of the dawn depends upon the powers of refraction and reflection of the atmosphere; and that these again vary according to the temperature of the place, or other meteorological conditions. It is, therefore, not unlikely that the duration of the dawn at the Pole, when the climate there was mild and genial, might be somewhat shorter than what we may expect it to be at present when the climate is severely cold. It is more probable, however, that the dawn described in the Ṛig-Veda is not exactly such a dawn as may be seen by an observer stationed precisely at the North Pole. As observed previously, the North Pole is a point, and if men lived near the Pole in early days, they must have lived somewhat to the south of this point. Within this tract it is quite possible to have 30 day-long dawns revolving, like a wheel, after the long Arctic night of four or five months; and, so far as astronomy is concerned, there is, therefore, nothing improbable in the description of the Dawn found in the Vedic literature. We must also bear in mind that the Vedic Dawn often tarried longer on the horizon, and the worshippers asked

101 her not to delay lest the sun might search her like an enemy (V, 79, 9). This shows that though 30 days was the usual duration of the Dawn it was sometimes exceeded, and people grew impatient to see the light of the sun. It was in cases likes these, that Indra, the God who created the dawns and was their friend, was obliged to break the car of the dawn and bring the sun above the horizon (II, 15, 6; X, 73, 6).* There are other places in which the same legend is referred to (IV, 30, 8), and the obscuration of the Dawn by a thunderstorm is, at present, supposed to be the basis of this myth. But the explanation, like others of its kind, is on the face of it unsatisfactory. That a thunderstorm should occur just at the time of the dawn would be a mere accident, and it is improbable that it could have been made the basis of a legend. Again, it is not the obscuration, but the delaying of the Dawn, or its tarrying longer on the horizon than usual, that is referred to in the legend, and we can better account for it on the Polar theory, because the duration of dawn, though usually of 30 days, might have varied at different places according to latitude and climatic conditions, and Indra’s bolt was thus needed to check these freaks of the Dawn and make way for the rising sun. There are other legends connected with the Dawn and the matutinal deities on which the Polar theory throws quite a new light; but these will be taken up in the chapter on Vedic myths, after the whole direct evidence in support of the theory is examined. But if the Vedic dawn is Polar in origin, the ancestors of the Vedic bards must have witnessed it, not in. the Post-Glacial, but in the Pre-Glacial era; and it may be finally asked why a reference to this early age is not found in the hymns before us? Fortunately the hymns do preserve a few indications of the time when these long dawns appeared. Thus, in I, 113, 13, we are told that the Goddess Dawn shone perpetually * Ṛig. II, 15, 6, — सोदञ्चं सिन्धुमरिणान महित्वा वज्रेणान उषसः सं पिपेष । अजवसो जविनीभिर्विव्र्श्चन सो... ॥ Ṛig. IV, 30, 8, — एतद घेद उत वीर्यम इन्द्र चकर्थ पौंस्यम । सत्रियं यद दुर्हणायुवं वधीर दुहितरं दिवः ॥

102 in former days (purâ) and here the word purâ does not mean the foregone days of this kalpa, but rather refers to a by-gone age, or purâ kalpa as in the passage from the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ (I, 5, 7, 5 ), quoted and discussed in the next chapter. The word prathamâ, in the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, IV, 3, 11, 1 and the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa, II, 5, 6, 5, does not again mean simply “first in order,” but refers to “ancient times,” as when Indra’s “first” or “oldest” exploits are mentioned in 1, 32, 1, or when certain practices are said to be “first” or “old” in X, 90, 16. It is probable that it was this import of the word prathamâ that led Sâyaṇa to propose that the first dawn, mentioned in the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ IV, 3, 11, represented the dawn at the beginning of the creation. The Vedic poets could not but have been conscious that the Mantras they used to lay down the dawn-bricks were inapplicable to the dawn as they saw it, and the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ (V, 3, 4, 7), which explains the Mantras, clearly states that this story or the description of the dawns is a tradition of old times when the Gods perceived the thirty dawns. It is not, therefore, correct to say that there are no references in the Vedic hymns to the time when these long dawns were visible. We shall revert to the point later on, when further evidence on the subject will be noticed and discussed. The object of the present chapter was to examine the duration of the Vedic dawn, the Goddess of the morning, the subject of so many beautiful hymns in the Ṛig-Veda, and to show that the deity is invested with Polar characteristics. The evidence in support of this view has been fully discussed; and we shall, therefore, now take up the other Polar and Circum-Polar tests previously mentioned, anti see whether we can find out further evidence from the Ṛig-Veda to strengthen our conclusions.

103 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER V THE THIRTY DAWNS The following are the passages from the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ referred to on page 90: — TAITTIRÎYA SAṂHITÂ, KÂNDA IV, PRAPÂTHAKA 3, ANUVÂKA, 11 VERSE 1, — This verse, with slight modifications, occurs twice in the Atharva-Veda Saṁhitâ (III, 10, 4; VIII, 9, 11). It runs thus: — VERSES 2, 3 and 4, — The Atharva-Veda reading (VIII, 9, 112-14) is slightly different: —

104 VERSE 8, — This verse is also found in the Atharva-Veda (III, 10, 12); but the reading of the second half is as follows: — VERSE 11, — Compare A.V., VIII, 9, 15. For A.V. reads The rest is the same in both. VERSE 13, — Compare A.V. III, 10, 1. For A.V. reads And for A.V. has Compare also Ṛig. IV, 57, 7, where the second line is found as in A.V.

105 TAITTIRÎYA SAṂHITÂ KÂNDA V, PRAPÂTHAKA 3, ANUVÂKA 4, SECTION 7 TRANSLATION AND NOTES Taitt. Saṁhitâ IV. 3, 11 1. This verily, is She that dawned first; (she) moves entered into her (i.e. above the horizon). The bride, the new-come mother, is born. The three great ones follow her. 1. She that dawned first: evidently meaning the first of a series of thirty dawns, mentioned in the following verses. In verse 13 we are told that it is the dawn which commences the year. The thirty dawns are, therefore, the dawns at the beginning of the year, and the first of them is mentioned in the first verse. Sâyaṇa, however, says that the dawn at the beginning of the creation is here intended. But the explanation does not suit the context, and Sâyaṇa has himself given different explanations afterwards. Entered into her: according to Sâyaṇa asyâm (into her) means “into the earth;” compare Ṛig. III, 61, 7, where the sun, the speeder of the dawns, is said to have “entered into the mighty earth and heaven.” According to A.V. reading the meaning, would be “entered into the other (dawns),” showing that the first dawn is a member of a larger group. The three great ones: Sûrya, Vâyu and Agni according to Sâyaṇa. The three typical deities or Devatâs mentioned by Yâska (VII, 5) are Agni, Vâyu or Indra, and Sûrya. In Rig VII, 33, 7, the three Gharmas (fires) are said to attend the dawn, (trayo Gharmâsa ushasam sachante); and in VII, 7, 8, 3, the dawns are said to have created Sûrya, Yajña (Sacrifice) and Agni. Also compare A. V. IX, 1, 8, and Bloomfield’s note thereon in S. B. E. Series, Vol. XLII, p. 590. Though the three may be variously named, the reference is evidently to the rise of the sun and the commencement of sacrifices or the kindling of sacrificial fires after the first dawn (Cf. Ṛig. I, 113, 9).

106 2. Possessed of song, decorating (themselves), and moving together in a common abode, the Two Dawns, the (two wives of the sun, unwasting, rich in seed, move about displaying their banner and knowing well (their way). 3. The Three Maidens have come along the path of Rita; the three fires (Gharmas) with light, have followed. One (of these maidens) protects the progeny, one the vigor, and one the ordinance of the pious. 4. That, which (was) the Fourth, acting as Ṛiṣhis, the 2. Possessed of songs: Sâyaṇa thus interprets chchandas-vatî; but the Pet. Lex. translates the word by “lovely.” I have followed Sâyaṇa because the A.V. reading chchandas-pakṣhe, “having chchandas for the two wings,” supports Sâyaṇa’s meaning. That the morning atmosphere resounded with the recitation of hymns and songs may be seen, amongst others, from Ṛig. III, 61, 1 and 6. The phrase madye-chchandasaḥ in verse 6 below, denotes the same idea. But the word chchandas may perhaps be understood to mean “shine” in all these places; Cf. Ṛig. VIII, 7, 36, where the phrase, chchando na sûro archiṣhâ is translated by Max Müller to mean “like the shine by the splendor of the sun,” (See S. B. E. Series, Vol. XXXII, pp. 393, 399) Decorating, moving together-in the same place, gives of the sun, un-wasting etc. : These and others are the usual epithets of the Dawn found in the Ṛig-Veda, Cf. Ṛig. I, 92, 4; VII, 76, 5; IV, 5, 13; I, 113, 13. The Two Dawns: Uṣhasâ does not here mean Uṣhâsâ-naktâ or “Day and Night,” as supposed by Mr. Griffith, but denotes two dawns as such, the third, the fourth &c. being mentioned in the following verses. Sâyaṇa says that the first dawn is the dawn which appeared at the beginning of the creation and the second the diurnal one, as we see it. But Sâyaṇa had to abandon this explanation later on. The couple of Dawns obviously includes the first Dawn mentioned in the first verse, which, with its successor, now forms a couple. Since groups of two, three, five or thirty dawns are mentioned as moving together, they cannot be the dawns of consecutive days, that is, separated by sunlight, as with us in the tropical or the temperate zone. 3. The Three Maidens: the number of Dawns is now increased to three; but Sâyaṇa gives no explanation of the number. 4. The Fourth: Sâyaṇa now says that the single Deity of Dawn appears as many different dawns through yogic powers!

107 107 two wings of the sacrifice, has become the four-fold Stoma (Chatu-ṣhṭoma). Using Gâyatri, Triṣhṭup, Jagatî, Anuṣhṭup the great song, they brought this light. 5. The creator did it with the Five, that he created five-and-five sisters to them (each). Their five courses (kratavaḥ), assuming various forms, move on in combination (prayavena) 6. The Thirty Sisters, bearing the same banner, move on to the appointed place (niṣh-kṛitam). They, the wise, create the seasons. Refulgent, knowing (their way), they go round (pari yanti) amidst-songs (madhye-chchandasaḥ). Acting as Ṛiṣhis ... four fold stoma: The group of four Dawns appears to be here compared to the Chatu-ṣhṭoma or the four-fold song. (For a description of the four-fold Stoma see Ait. Br. III, 42, Haug’s Trans. p. 237). Gâyatrî &c are the metres used. The light brought on by the Dawns is the reward of this stoma. Sâyaṇa interprets suvas to mean “heaven” but compare Ṛig. III, 61, 4, where the adjective, svear jananâ, “creating light,” is applied to the Dawn. 5. Did it with the Five: after the number of Dawns was increased to five, the creation proceeded by fives; compare verse 11 below. Their five courses: I construe tâsâm pañcha kratavaḥ prayaveṅa yanti. Sâyaṇa understands kratavaḥ to mean sacrificial rites performed on the appearance of the dawn; but compare Ṛig. I, 123, 8 which says “The blameless Dawns (plu.) go round thirty yojanas each her own kratu (destined course),” (supra p. 103) kratavaḥ in the present verse must be similarly interpreted. In combination: We have thirty Dawns divided into five groups of six each; compare Taitt. Br. II, 5, 6, 5 quoted above (p. 100), which says tâ devyaḥ kurvate paṇcha rûpâ “the Goddesses (Dawns) make five forms.” Five groups of thirty Dawns, each group having its own destined course are here described; but as each group is made of six Dawns, the five courses are again said to assume different forms, meaning that the members of each group have again their own courses Within the larger course chalked out for the groups. 6. Thirty Sisters: Sâyaṇa in his commentary on the preceding verse says that the thirty Dawns mentioned are the thirty dawns of a month. But Sâyaṇa does not explain why one month out of twelve, or only 30 out of 360 dawns should be thus selected. The explanation is again unsuited to the context, (See supra p. 101

108 7. Through the sky, the illumined Goddess of Night accepts the ordinances of the sun. The cattle, of various forms, (begin to) look up as they rise on the lap of the mother. 8. The Ekâṣhṭakâ, glowing with holy fervor (tapas), gave birth to a child, the great Indra. Through him the Gods and T. S. V. 3, 4, 7, quoted below.) The Dawns are called sisters also in the Ṛig-Veda, (Cf. I, 124, 8 and 9). Appointed place: niṣh kṛitam (Nir. XII, 7), used in reference to the course of the Dawns also in Ṛig. I, 123, 9. It is appropriate only if the Dawns returned to the same point in their daily rounds, (See supra p. 106). Go round amidst-songs: pari yanti, “go round” is also the phrase used in Ṛig. I, 123, 8 Madhye chchandasaḥ is interpreted by Sâyaṇa to mean “about the sun, which is always surrounded by songs.” But we need not go so far, for Madhye chchandasaḥ may be more simply taken to mean “amidst-songs” that are usually sung at the dawn (Ṛig. VII, 80, 1). 7. Through the sky: I take nabhas as an accusative of space. Sâyaṇa appears to take it as an adjective equivalent to nabhasthasya and qualifying sûryasya. In either case the meaning is the same, viz. that the night was gradually changing into day-light. The cattle: morning rays or splendors usually spoken of as cows. In Ṛig. I, 92, 12, the Dawn is described as spreading cattle (pashûn) before her; and in I, 124, 5, we are told that she fills the lap of both parents heaven and earth. I construe, with Sâyaṇa, nânâ-rûpa pashavaḥ vi pashyanti, taking vi pashyanti intransitively, and nânâ-rûpa as an adjective. The same phrase is found used in reference to a woman’s children in the Atharva Veda, XIV, 2, 25. For the intransitative use of vi pushyanti, See Ṛig. X, 725, 4. 8. The Ekâṣhṭaka: The birth of Indra is evidently the birth of the sun after the expiry of thirty dawns. Sâyaṇa, quoting Âpasthamba Gṛihya Sutra (VIII, 21, 10), interprets Ekâṣhṭakâ to mean the 8th day of the dark half of the month of Mâgha (January-February); and in the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, VII, 4, 8, quoted and explained by me in Chapter III of Orion, it seems to have same meaning, (See Orion p. 45), Ekâṣhṭakâ was the first day, or the consort, of the Year, when the sun turned towards the north from the winter solstice; and the commencement of all annual sattras is therefore, directed to be made on the Ekâṣhṭakâ day. This meaning was, however, settled when the vernal equinox had receded from the asterism of Mṛiga (Orion) to that of the Kṛittikâs (Pleiades). But in earlier days Ekâṣhṭakâ seems to have meant the last of the dawns which preceded the rise of the sun after the long darkness, and

109 have subdued their enemies; by his powers (he) has become the slayer of the Asuras. 9. You have made a companion (lit. the after-born) for me, who was (before) without a companion. Truth-teller (as thou art), I desire this, that I may have his good will, just as you do not transgress each the other. 10. The All-knowing has my good will, has got a hold (on it), has secured a place (therein). May I have his good will just as you do not transgress each the other. 11. Five milkings answer to the five dawns; the five seasons to the five-named cow. The five sky-regions, made by the fifteen, have a common head, directed to one world. thus commenced the year, which began with the period of sunshine; the word eka in Ekâṣhṭakâ perhaps denotes the first month, the last dawn probably falling on the 8th day of the first lunar month of the year. A companion for me: that is, Indra or the sun, whose birth is mentioned in the previous verse; and the poet now prays that his new friend, the after-born follower or companion, should be favorable to him. It should be noted that the birth of the sun is described after the lapse of thirty dawns, during which the poet had no companion. Truth-teller: Sâyaṇa seems to take satyam vadantî as a vocative plural; but it is not in strict accordance with grammar. In the pada text, it is evidently a feminine form of nom. sing., and I have translated accordingly, though not without some difficulty. In Ṛig. III, 61, 2, the dawn is called sûnṛitâ îrayantî which expresses the same idea. Just as you do not transgress each the other: compare the Ṛig-Veda VII, 76, 5, where we are told that the Dawns, though collected in the same place, do not strive against or quarrel with each other. 10. The All-knowing: Sâyaṇa takes Vishva-Vedâḥ to mean the Dawn; but it obviously refers to the companion (anujâm) mentioned in the preceding verse. The worshipper asks for a reciprocity of good will. The All-knowing (Indra) has his good will; let him, he prays, have now the All-knowing’s good will. The adjective vishva vedâḥ is applied in the Ṛig-Veda to Indra or Agni several times, Cf. Ṛig. VI, 47, 12; I, 147, 3. 11. Five milkings: Sâyaṇa refers to Taitt. Brâh. II, 2, 9, 6-9, where darkness, light, the two twilights, and day are said to be the five milkings (dohâḥ) of Prajâpati. The idea seems to be that all the five-fold groups in the creation proceeded from the five-fold dawn-groups. Five-caned Cow: the earth, according to Sâyaṇa, who says that the earth has five different names in the five seasons, e.g. pushpa-vati

110 12. The first dawn (is) the child Rita, one upholds the greatness of Waters, one moves in the regions of Sûrya, one (in those) of Gharma (fire), and Savitṛi rules one. 13. That, which dawned first, has become a cow in Yama’s realm. Rich in milk, may she milk for us each succeeding year. 14. The chief of the bright, the omniform, the brindled, the fire-bannered has come, with light, in the sky. Working well towards a common goal, bearing (signs of) old age, (yet) O unwasting! O Dawn! thou hast come. 15. The wife of the seasons, this first has come, the leader of days, the mother of children. Though one, O Dawn! thou shinest manifoldly; though unwasting, thou causest all the rest to grow old (decay). (blossomy) in Vasanta (spring), tâpa-vatî (heated) in Grîṣhma (Summer), vṛiṣhṭi-vatî (showery) in Varṣhâ (Rains), jala-prasâda-vatî (clear-watered) in Sharad (Autumn), and shaitya-vatî (cold) in Hemanta-Shishira (Winter). The seasons are taken as five by combining Hemanta and Shishira into one. The fifteen: The fifteen-fold Stoma, called pañcha-dasha (See Haug’s Trans. Ait. Br. p. 238). 13. Each succeeding year: This shows that the dawn here described is the first dawn of the year. In Ṛig. I, 33, 10, light (cows) is said to be milked from darkness. 14. Working-well towards a common goal: compare Ṛig. III, 61, 3, where, the Dawn “wending to one and the same goal” is asked to “turn on like a wheel.” Bearing (signs of) old age: I construe jarâm bibhratî and yet ajare. Sâyaṇa takes svapasya-rnânâ (working well) as an independent adjective; and connects bibhratî with artham, and jarâm with âgâḥ. The meaning would then be “Working well, having a common end, O unwasting Dawn! thou least reached old age.” But it does not make any appreciable change in the general sense of the verse. 15. Though one ... shinest manyfoldly: shows that only one continuous dawn, though made up of many parts, is described in this hymn. Leader of days, mother of children — the epithets ahnâm netrî and gavâm mâtâ are also found used in the Ṛig-Veda, VII, 77, 2.

111 Taitt. Saṁhitâ V, 3, 4, 7. It was un-distinguished,* neither day nor night. The Gods perceived these dawn-bricks (for the laying of which the 15 verses given above are to be used). They laid them. Then it shone forth.† Therefore for whom these are laid, it shines forth to him, destroys (his) darkness. REMARKS It has been previously mentioned that the fifteen verses, quoted above, are used or recited as Mantras at the time of laying down certain emblematical bricks, called Vyuṣhtî-iṣhṭakâs or dawn-bricks, on the sacrificial altar. But as the Mantras, or verses, used for sacrificial purposes are often taken from different Vedic hymns, these verses are likely to be regarded as unconnected with each other. The account of the thirty dawns, contained therein, however, shows that these verses must have originally formed an entire or one homogeneous hymn. Again if the Mantras had been selected from different hymns, one for each dawn-brick, there would naturally be 16 verses in all, as 16 dawn-bricks are to be laid on the altar. The very fact, that the Anuvâka contains only 15 verses (leaving the sacrificer to select the 16th from elsewhere), therefore, further supports the same view. It is true that some of these verses are found in the Atharva-Veda, either detached or in connection with other subjects. But that does not prevent us from treating the passage in the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, as containing a connected account of thirty dawns divided into five groups of six each. The question is not, however, very material, inasmuch as verses 5 and 6, whether * It was undistinguished: This paragraph, which is found later on in the Saṁhitâ, explains how the dawn-bricks came to be laid with the fifteen verses given above. The portions of the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, which contain such explanations are called Brâhmaṇa. † Then it shone forth: This shows that aid the thirty Dawns were understood to have preceded the rise of the sun, I have already quoted (supra p. 100) a passage from Taitt. Brâh. (II, 5, 6, 5) which says that these dawns were continuous and unseparated.

112 they formed part of an entire hymn or not, are by themselves sufficient to prove the point at issue, viz., that the Vedic Goddess of Dawn constituted a group of thirty sisters. The Ṛig-Veda speaks of “thirty steps” traversed by the Dawn, (VI, 59, 6), or of Dawns going round “thirty yojanas” (I, 123, 8); but both these statements have, as yet, remained totally unexplained, or have been but imperfectly explained by Indian and Western scholars alike. But now that we know that the Vedic Dawns were thirty in number, both the aforesaid statements become at once easily comprehensible. The only other point necessary to be decided, so far as the subject in hand is concerned, is whether these thirty dawns were the dawns of thirty consecutive days, or whether they formed a “closely-gathered band” of thirty continuous dawns; and on reading the two aforesaid passages from the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, the one from the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa, II, 5, 6, 5, and other authorities cited in the foregoing chapter, I do not think, there can be any doubt that the Goddess of Dawn, worshipped by the Vedic bards, was originally a group of thirty continuous dawns. It is not contended that the ancestors of the Vedic bards were unacquainted with ordinary dawns, for, even in the circumpolar regions there are, during certain parts of the year, successions of ordinary days and nights and with them of ordinary dawns. But so far as the Vedic Goddess of morning is concerned, there is enough evidence to show that it was no other than the continuous and revolving Dawn at the end of the long night in those regions, the Dawn that lasted for thirty periods of 24 hours each, which is possible only within a few degrees round about the North Pole.