The Arctic Home in the Vedas c2.18

c2.18

Dawn-hymns the most beautiful in the Rig-Veda —The Deity fully described, unobscured by personification —First hints about the long duration of dawn —Recitation of a thousand verses, or even the whole Rig-Veda, while the dawn lasts —Three or five-fold divison of the dawn —Both imply a long dawn —The same inferred from the two words Uṣhas and Vyuṣhṭi —Three Rig-Vedic passages about long dawns, hitherto misunderstood, discussed —Long interval of several days between the first appearance of light and sunrise —Expressly mentioned in the Rig-Veda, VII, 76, 3 —Sâyaṇa’s explanation artificial and unsatisfactory —Existence of many dawns before sunrise —Reason why dawn is addressed in the plural in the Rig-Veda —The plural address not honorific —Nor denotes dawns of consecutive days —Proves a team of continuous dawns —The last view confirmed by the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, IV, 3, 11 —Dawns as 30 sisters —Direct authority from the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa for holding that they were continuous or unseparated —Sâyaṇa’s explanation of 30 dawns examined —Thirty dawns described as thirty steps of a single dawn —Rotatory motion of the dawn, like a wheel, directly mentioned in the Rig-Veda —Their reaching the same appointed place day by day —All indicate a team of thirty closely-gathered dawns —Results summed up —Establish the Polar character of the Vedic dawns —Possible variation in the duration of the Vedic dawn —The legend of Indra shattering the Dawn’s car explained —Direct passages showing that the dawns so described were the events of a former age —The Vedic Dawns Polar in character. 80