The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c9.20

c9.20

at the time we are speaking of several ideas had already been formed and recognised and even familiarly known. For example, the idea of *Devayâna* and *Pitriyâna* appears to have been well settled at this time, so much so that though the year was afterwards made to commence with the winter solstice, the equinoctial division of the heavens, with all the notions which had already become associated with it, continued to exist, though somewhat restricted in its scope, side by side with the new system. Whether this idea itself is or is not further resolvable into simpler ideas is a different question altogether. Perhaps it may be shown to have grown out of the idea of day and night or light and darkness. There are several passages in the Rigveda (i. 123. 7; 164. 47.) which speak of a black and a white day, and it is very likely that these were the original names of *Devayâna* and *Pitriyâna*; for when new ideas are introduced it is usual to express them in old words with such qualifying adjectives as would distinguish the new idea from the old one. A "black day" might thus mean the Dakshinâyana or the Pitriyâna, as night appeared to increase at the expense of day during the period. When the southern course of the sun thus came to be likened to a dark day or night (Rig. vi. 9. 1) it was naturally regarded as a night of the Devas to distinguish it from the ordinary night; and as no sacrifices were performed during the ordinary night, so no offerings could be made to the Devas during their night (vi. 58. 1). Of course, it must have been a long time before men could develop conceptions like these. There was, indeed, a time when they could hardly account for the fact how the sun found his way from the west back to the east. In the Rigveda x. 72. 7, the sun is said to rise from out of the ocean and a similar idea is found in Homer who describes not only the sun, but even the stars, as "bathed in the waters of the ocean." * In the Rigveda x. 108. 1, Saramâ is said to have crossed really a "long way." The Aitareya Brâhmana iii. 44, which states that the sun never sets in reality, makes a distinct advance upon these notions. But it is difficult to say whether astronomical ideas were developed to such an extent in the days when the year first commenced from the winter solstice. I do not, however, wish to enter here into these details. As previously observed I assume that, at the time we are speaking, the Vedic Aryas had already passed through these stages, and that the ideas of *Devayâna* and *Pitriyâna* were familiarly known and established; and assuming these as established, I intend to examine how legends were built upon them. I have, however, briefly alluded to the probable origin of these ideas inasmuch as it helps us to better appreciate the description of the Devayâna and the Pitriyâna. Ordinarily the Pitriyâna is described (Rig. ix. 113. 8) as the region "where Vaivasvata is the king, which is the undermost (lit. obstructed †) part of the heavens, and where there are eternal waters." The Vaivasvata Yama here spoken of does not, however, appear to have as yet been invested with the terrible character we find given to him in the later literature. Corresponding to Yama in the south we have Indra in the north, each supreme in his own sphere, and dividing the whole world into two parts, one bright and known, and the other watery and mysterious, or, in the language of seasons, first comprising Vasanta, Grīshma and Varshā and the second Sharada, Hemanta and Shishira.