The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c11.3

Language: English

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It is said that we cannot suppose that the Vedic bards were acquainted even with the simplest motions of heavenly bodies. The statement, however, is too general and vague to be criticised and examined. If it is intended to be understood in the sense that the complex machinery of observation which the modern astronomers possess and the results which they have obtained thereby were unknown in early days, then I think there cannot be two opinions on that point. But if by it is meant that the Vedic poets were ignorant of everything except the sun and the dawn, ignorant of the Nakshatras, ignorant of month, *ayanas*, years and so on, then there is no authority or support for such a supposition in the Rigveda. On the contrary, we find that some of the Nakshatras are specifically named, such as *Arjunî* and *Aghâ* in Rig. x. 85. 13, while the same hymn speaks generally of the Nakhatras, and the motions of the moon and the sun as causing the seasons. In Rig. i. 164 we have again several references to the seasons, the year and the number of days contained in it (verse 48) and according to Yâska, perhaps to the *ayanas* (Nirukta 7. 24). I have in a previous chapter referred to the passages in the Rigveda, which mention the Devayâna and the Pitriyâna, the old names of the *ayanas* beginning with the vernal equinox; and there is, therefore, no objection to understand the above verse (i. 164. 48) as alluding to the black or the Pitriyâna. The intercalary month is mentioned in Rig. i 25.

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8. while in i 24. 8 Varuna is said to have constructed a broad path for the sun, which appears evidently to refer to the Zodiacal belt. I am further inclined to think that the path of *rita* (Rig. i. 41. 4) which is mentioned several times in the Rigveda, where the Âdityas are said to be placed (x. 85. 1), and wherein Saramâ discovered the cows of Indra (v. 45. 7, 8) refers to the same broad belt of the Zodiac which the luminaries, as observed by the Vedic bards, never transgressed. It was so to speak their 'right' way, and therefore called *rita*, which though literally derived from *ri* to go, soon came to mean the 'right,' path the *circle* of which exists for ever, or rather exists and ex sts (*varvarti*) in the vault of the heavens (Rig. i. 164. 11). Prof. Ludwig goes further and holds that the Rigveda mentions the inclination of the ecliptic with the equator (i. 110. 2) and the axis of the earth (x. 89. 4). It is now generally admitted that the seven *rikshas* were also known and named at this time. The mention of a hundred physicians in Rig. i. 24. 9 may again be taken to represent the asterism of *Shata-bhishak* or *Shata-tārakā*, presided over by Varuṇa according to the later lists of the Nakshatras in the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa. The fortieth hymn in the fifth Mandala of the Rigveda is still more important in this connection.

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It shows that an eclipse of the sun was then first observed with any pretensions to accuracy by the sage Atri.∗ It is thus that I understand the last verse in the hymn which, after describing the eclipse, says, "Atri alone knew him (the sun) none else could." This observation of the solar eclipse is noticed in the Sānkhyāyana (24. 3) and also in the Tāṇḍya Brāhmaṇa (iv. 5. 2; 6. 14), in the former of which it is said to have occurred three days previous to the *Vishūvan* (the autumnal equinox). The observation thus appears to have attracted considerable attention in those days. It seems to have been a total eclipse of the sun, and the stars became visible during the time, for I so interpret the expression, *bhuvanāni adīdhayuh* in verse 5. In verse 6 we are told that "Atri knew (the eclipsed sun) by turîya brahma," and Sâyaṇa interprets the last two words to mean "the fourth verse or mantra." But the verse wherein these words occur is itself the sixth, and Sâyaṇa has to explain that by "fourth" is to be understood the "fourth, if we count from the sixth. i. e., the tenth verse!" The explanation may be good from the ritualistic point of view, but it appears to me to be quite unsatisfactory otherwise. I would rather interpret turîyeṇa brahmaṇâ to mean "by means of turîya." Turîya is mentioned in modern astronomical works as a name for an instrument called quadrant (Siddhânta Shiromaṇi x.

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15), and though we may not suppose the same instrument to have existed in the old Vedic days, yet there seems to be no objection to hold that it may have meant some instrument of observation. The word brahma is no doubt used to denote a mantra, but it may also mean knowledge or the means of acquiring such knowledge. In Rig. ii. 2. 7 Sâyaṇa has himself interpreted brahma to mean some "act or action;" and I see no reason why we should not understand the phrase turîyeṇa brahmaṇâ in the above hymn to mean "by the action of turîya," or, in other words, "by means of turîya," and thus give to the whole hymn a simple and natural appearance, rather than endeavour to interpret it after the manner of the Red Indians, who believed that Columbus averted the calamity of the eclipse by prayers. The peasants of the Vedic times, some scholars might argue, cannot be considered to be more civilized than the Red Indians; but in so arguing they forget the fact that there must be a Columbus, who would, by his superior capacity, inspire the feelings of awe and reverence for him. When the bards, therefore, tell us that Atri knew of the eclipse by turîya brahma, we can now easily see what it means.