The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c11.3.2

c11.3.2

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.