The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c9.13

c9.13

Whitney "there is the whole story illustrated in the sky: the innocent and the lovely Rohinî (Aldebaran); the infamous Prajâpati (Orion) in full career after her, but laid sprawling by the three-jointed arrow (the belt of Orion), which shot from the hand of the near avenger (Sirius) is even now to be seen sticking in his body. With this tale coming down to us from the first period of Nakshatras in India who could have the least doubt of its persistent identity from the earliest times to the latest ?"* I subscribe to every word of what is here so forcibly expressed. Of course, we may expect some variations of details as the story got degenerated into Purânic legends; but it is impossible to mistake the general identity. I shall therefore not unnecessarily dwell upon it here.