The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c10.55

Language: English

c10.55.1

And now it may be asked that if the Eastern and the Western legends and traditions of Orion are so strikingly similar, if not identical, if the dress and the form of the constellation are shewn to have been the same amongst the different sections of the Aryan race, and if the constellations at the feet and in front of Orion—Canis Major and Canis Minor, Kuon and Prokuon,* Shvan and Prashvan, the Dog—the Foredog—are Aryan both in name and traditions; in short, if the figure, the costume, the attendants and the history of Orion are already recognised as Aryan is it not highly probable that the name, Orion, should itself be a transformation or corruption of an ancient Aryan word? Orion is an old Greek name. Homer in the fifth book of Odyssey speaks of the bold Orion and the traditional coincidences, mentioned above, fully establish the probability of Plutarch's statement that the word is not borrowed from a non-Aryan source. Two of the three names, mentioned by Plutarch Canis (Kuon) and Ursa (Arktos) have again been phonetically identified with Sanskrit shvan and ṛikṣhas, and we may, therefore, legitimately expect to find Orion similarly traced back to an Aryan original. The task, however, is not so easy as it appears to be at the first sight. The Greek mythology does not give us any help in the solution of this question. It tells us that a hunter by name Orion was transformed after his death into this constellation which consequently came to be called after him.

c10.55.2

But this is surely no satisfactory explanation Who is the hunter that was so transformed? There are many mythological proper names in Greek which can be traced back to their Aryan originals, and why should Orion be not similarly derived? The story obviously points to the Vedic legends of Rudra, who is said to be still chasing Prajāpati in the heavens. The Vedic legend has fully preserved all the three elements in the story—the hunter Rudra, the dog and the antelope's head, while the Greeks appear to have retained only the hunter and the dog with nothing to hunt! But that does not preclude us from discovering the identity of these legends and the question is whether we can suggest a Sanskrit word which will give us Orion according to the already established phonetic rules. I know of no name of Rudra from which Orion can be so derived. But if we look to the names of the constellation of Mrigashiras, we may, I think, in the absence of any better suggestion provisionally derive Orion from Sanskrit Āgayaṇa the original of Agrahāyaṇa; The intial long ā in Sanskrit may be represented by omega in Greek as in Sk. āma, Gk. ōmos, Sk. āshu, Gr. kus, and the last word ayana may become ion in Greek. It is not, however, so easy to account for the dropping of g before r in the body of the word. Comparison of Sk. grivan which Gk. laos and of Sk. ghrāna with Gk.

c10.55.3

ris, rinos, shews that the change may take place initially, but scholars whom I have consulted think that there is no instance in which it takes place medially between Greek and Sanskrit, though such changes are not rare between other languages as in Old Irish *ār*, Cymric *ear*, which K Brugmann ‡ derives from* *agra*. Also compare Gk *dakru*, Goth. *tagr*, Old Irish *dēr*, English *tear*; Latin *exagmen*, *examen*, O Ir. *ām*, from the root *aj*. I do not feel myself competent to decide the question, and hence must remain content with simply throwing out the suggestion for what it is worth. I have shewn that traditional coincidences clearly establish the possibility of the Aryan origin of Orion, and if I have not hit upon the correct word that does not affect my argument. My case does not, in fact, rest on phonetic coincidences. I rely principally upon certain statements in the Vedic works, which indicate that the vernal equinox was once in Orion, and I wanted to shew—and I think I have shewn it—that there is sufficient evidence in the Greek and Parsi legends to corroborate the statment in the Vedic works about the Phalguni full-moon being once the first night of the year. We can now give a reasonable explanation of how Fravarshinam came to be the first month in the primitive Parsi calendar and why Dathusho should have been dedicated to Din (creator) †