The Arctic Home in the Vedas c11.59

c11.59

But whatever the difficulties of interpretation may be, one thing seems to be quite clear from this passage, viz., that Tishtrya was the star by which the year was reckoned. In the Tîr Yasht § 5, springs of water are said to flow at the rising of Tishtrya, who in § 16 is described as ‘mingling his shape with light,’ or ‘moving in light,’ § 46. All these incidents can be satisfactorily explained if we suppose that, after Tishtrya’s fight with Apaosha, lasting for 100 nights at the longest, the aerial waters, which communicated motion to the sun and other heavenly bodies (see Faravardîn Yasht 53-58) and which lay still or stagnant during the time, were set free to move again along the path made by Mazda, bringing on with them the light of the sun and thus commencing the new year after a long winter night in the Arctic region. The simultaneous character of the motion of waters, the commencement of the new year, and the winning of light after Tishtrya’s fight with Apaosha, can be explained only in this way, and not by making the legend refer to the rainy season (See the discussion about ‘waters’ in the next chapter). The Pairika Duz-yairya, or the Bad Year, which Tishtrya is said to break asunder, is, on this theory, the wearisome dark Arctic night.