The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c6.40

c6.40

The only passages where *uttarāyaṇa* is mentioned in the Vedic works are those wherein the white and the black paths for the souls of the deceased, the Devayāna and the Pitṛyāna, are described. The words *devayāna* and *pitṛyāna* occur several times in the Rigveda. Agni is said to know both these;‡ while in the Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā 19. 47, these are said to be the two paths to mortals. In the Rigveda x. 18, 1, the path of the god of Death is said to be the reverse of *devayāna*, and in the Rigveda x. 98. 11, Agni is said to know *devayāna* by seasons.§ There is, however, no passage in the Rigveda where *devayāna* is fully defined and we have consequently to refer to the passages in the Bṛihadāraṇyaka and the Chhāndogya Upanishad * for a fuller explanation of these terms. Before the idea was recorded in these works it must undoubtedly have received considerable additions, but nevertheless the original sense cannot be supposed to have been completely lost in these later additions. It is therefore extremely important to see how these two paths are described in the Brāhmaṇas and Upanishads. Bṛih. vi, 2, 15 and Chh. iv. 15.5 state that "flame, day, the increasing moon, the six months when the sun is towards the north, the *devaloka* (Chh. *devapatha*) or the abode (Chh. *patha*) of gods, &c.," † is the way never to return; while "smoke, night, the decreasing moon, and the six months when the sun is towards the south, the *pitṛiloka* or the abode of Pitṛis" is the reverse. In the Bhagavad Gītā viii. 24, 25 we find the same sentiments in modern phraseology, and the question is, what is meant by the phrase "the six months when the sun is towards the north" or, as Yāska and the Gītā have it, "the six months † of the Uttarâyana." Almost all the commentators have interpreted the expression to mean the six months from the winter to the summer solstice.* Bnt notwithstanding their high authority it will be found that their interpretation, though in consonance with the later astronomical views, is directly opposed to the passages in the Vedic works. In the Taittiriya Sanhitâ vi. 5. 3, we are told "the sun, therefore, goes by the south for six months and six by the north." But this does not help us in ascertaining the correct meaning of the phrase "by the north." As it stands it may mean either the solstitial or the equinoctial six months. We must therefore look for another passage, and this we find in the Shatapatha Brâhmana (ii. 1. 3, 1-3), where in describing the two aforesaid paths it lays down in distinct terms that Vasanta, Grishma and Varshâ are the seasons of the Devas; Sharad, Hemanta and Shishira those of the Pitris; the increasing fortnight is of the Devas; the decreasing one of the Pitris; the day is of the Devas; the night of the Pitris; again the first part of the day is of the Deva; the latter of the Pitris.......... When he (the sun) turns to the north, he is amongst the Devas and protects them; when he turns to the south he is amongst the Pitris and protects them."†