The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c11.86

c11.86

The practice of sacrificing bulls to Indra seems to have been out of date even at the time of the Rigveda (cf. i. 164. 43, where it is said to be an old custom). But the old custom could not be entirely forgotten, and if real bulls were not offered to Indra, poets supposed that clouds or stars might answer the same purpose. The number 35 mentioned in the verse may thus refer to the Nakshatras (28), and planets (7). But this explanation is doubtful and I cannot suggest a better one.