The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c11.64

c11.64

But even supposing that Vrishākapi thus represents the sun in Orion, why should the sacrifices be stopped on his account? The identification of Vrishākapi with Orion at once furnishes us with a solution of this question. We have already seen that the dog is said to commence the new year in Rig i. 161. 13; and since Canis and Orion are close to each other, Orion may also be said to have commenced the year. The Devayāna, therefore, extended in those days from the heliacal to the acronycal rising of Orion; that is, when Orion rose with the sun, it was the vernal equinox, the beginning of the Devayāna, and six months after, when it rose at the beginning of night, it was the autumnal equinox, the end of the Devayāna. Now all Deva-ceremonies and sacrifices could be begun and performed only during the Devayāna,* or, as we find it in later traditions, only in the Uttarāyana. The acronycal rising of Orion was thus a signal to stop such ceremonies, and oblations could properly be said to have been spoilt by the appearance of this constellation at the beginning of night.† But above all the burden of the song "Indra is uttara of all," becomes specially appropriate in this case. The word uttara does not here mean superior, but " upper " implying that Indra is in the upper or the northern portion of the universe, though the sun or Vrishâkapi may go down. I would therefore translate the first verse thus :—" Where my friend Vrishâkapi rejoiced in the wealth of the Aryans, they gave up sacrificing and did not respect Indra. Indra is (however) in the upper (i. e., northern) part of the universe."*