The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c9.33

c9.33

near it the constellation of Argos (ship) and two dogs—Canis Major and Canis Minor—one on each side to guard both the entrances of the Chinvat Bridge across it. The Rigveda also mentions two dogs of Yama kept to “watch the way.” while the Greeks place a three-headed dog at the gates of hell. In Rig. x. 63. 10 we are further told that the land of the blessed is to be reached by “the celestial ship with a good rudder.”* The words in the original are *daivîm nâvam*. Comparing these with the expression *divyasya shunah* in the Atharva Veda vi. 80. 3, and seeing that a celestial (*divya*) representation of Rudra is described in later works† it seems to me that we must interpret the epithet to mean “celestial” and not simply “divine.” Thus the Vedic works appear to place a celestial *dog* and a celestial *ship* at the entrance of the other world, and these can be easily identified with the Greek constellations of Argo Navis and Canis, if we suppose the Milky Way to be the boundary of Heaven in these days. I do not mean to say that these conceptions had their origin in the appearance of the heavens. On the contrary, a comparison with the non-Aryan legends shows it to be more likely that the heavenly bodies received their names from the pre-existing beliefs, about the other world, amongst the people. Herbert Spencer tells us that amongst the non-Aryan savage races the journey to the next world is believed to lie over land, down a river or across the sea, and that in consequence the practice of burying their dead in boats prevails amongst some of them.‡ The North Americans, we are further told, say that the Milky Way is "the 'Path of Spirits,' 'the Road of the Souls,' where they travel to the land beyond the grave, and where their camp fires may be seen blazing as brighter stars."* This coincidence between the Aryan and the non-Aryan legends makes it highly probable that the figures of the constellations were conceived by the Aryans according to notions of the next world prevailing amongst them at that time. It may be noticed, however, that the non-Aryan races do not connect the idea of time, *e. g.*, of the year and the seasons, with these beliefs, while it is the *chief* characteristic of the Aryan legends. We are, for instance, told that the dog commenced the year (Rig. i. 161. 13) and that the Devayâna comprised the three seasons of Vasantâ, Grîshma and Varshâ (Shat. Br. ii. 1. 3. 1).† It is this feature of the Aryan legends that is most important for the purpose of our enquiry, while the coincidence, above pointed out, confirms, in a remarkable way, the genesis of the Aryan legends here proposed. The chief elements in the traditions of the three Aryan nations may thus be satisfactorily explained.