The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c12.2

c12.2

We have thus traced back one of the traditions about the old beginnings of the year, mentioned in the Taittirîya Sanhitâ, to the oldest of the Vedic works, and what is still more important, shown that the Vedic traditions are in this respect completely corroborated by the oldest records and traditions of the other two sections of the Aryan race—the Parsis and the Greeks. The traditions of each nation taken singly may not be conclusive, but when, putting all these together, and interpreting one set in the light of another, we find that directly or indirectly all point to the same conclusion, their cumulative effect cannot but be conclusive. Scholars have already discovered the similarity between the traditions of the three nations; but without any clue to the period when all the Aryas lived together, it was impossible to reduce all these traditions into a harmonious whole. The traditions of Orion, and especially its position at the beginning of the equinoctial year, do, however, supply such a clue, and with its help the mystery about the oldest periods of Aryan civilization is considerably cleared up. Thus if Orion is now no longer a hunter of unknown parentage, we need not also indulge in uncertain speculations about the foamy weapon with which Indra killed his enemy, or how the four-eyed dogs came to be stationed at the Chinvat Bridge, or why the Ribhus are said to be awakened by a dog at the end of the year.