The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c11.63

c11.63

But why should sacrifices be stopped? What has Vṛiṣhâkapi to do with them? These are very important questions, and I am sure that had they been properly answered, there would have been no difficulty in interpreting the hymn. In verse 3 we are told that Vṛiṣhâkapi spoken of in this hymn, has the form of a yellow antelope. In verse 5 Indrâṇi is prepared to cut off his head, because he offended her, and in the preceding verse (4th) a dog is said to be let loose upon him. These facts—an antelope with the head cut off, and a dog closely following him—are quite sufficient for the purposes of identification. They shew that the whole story is based upon the "antelope's head" we have previously discussed; and had Yâska and Sâyaṇa known that there is a constellation called dog in the heavens by the side of Mṛigashiras, I feel certain that they would not have hesitated to recognize in Vṛiṣhâkapi, the sun as represented by the constellation of Orion. But all traces of the dog, as a constellation, having been lost in the Sanskrit literature, neither Yâska nor Sâyaṇa could find any clue to the true meaning of the hymn. This is not, however, the only place where Yâska has been obliged to invent extraordinary interpretations. Not knowing that the dog represented a star, he has proposed (Nirukta 5. 20), that Vrika should be understood to mean "the moon," while usually it means a wolf or a wild dog, and it appears to me that a similar mistake has been also committed here. Comparative Mythology and Greek Astronomy have, however, thrown further light on the subject, and we must now try to interpret the hymn accordingly. Vrishākapi must, therefore, be taken to represent the sun in Orion.