The Arctic Home in the Vedas c12.56

c12.56

when mid-day (madhyan-dina), it is Varshâ; when evening (aparâhna), it is Sharad; when it sets (astam eti), it is the dual season of Hemanta and Shishira.” If this passage has any meaning, it shows that the powers of the sun declined in Sharad, and the end of Sharad (autumn), therefore, represented his annual succumbing to the powers of darkness; or, in short, the dual season of Hemanta and Shishira represented the long night when the sun went below the horizon. It may also be mentioned that the word himyâ (lit. wintry) is used in the Rig-Veda for night (I, 34, 1), implying that the wintry season was the season of special darkness.