The Arctic Home in the Vedas c8.38.2

c8.38.2

These ‘thirty sisters’ (*trimshat svasârah*) are then described as ‘going round’ (*parî yanti*) in groups of six each, keeping up to the same goal (*nishkṛitam*). Two verses later on, the worshipper asks that he and his followers should be blessed with the same concord as is observed amongst these dawns. We are then told that one of these five principal dawns is the child of Ṛita, the second upholds the greatness of Waters, the third moves in the region of Sûrya, the fourth in that of Fire or Dharma, and the fifth is ruled by Savitṛi, evidently showing that the dawns are not the dawns of consecutive days. The last verse of the *Anuvâka* sums up the description by stating that the dawn, though it shines forth in various forms, is but *one* in reality. Throughout the whole *Anuvâka* there is no mention of the rising of the sun or the appearance of sun-light, and the *Brâhmaṇa* makes the point clear by stating “There was a time, when all this was neither day nor night, being in an undistinguishable state. It was then that the Gods perceived these dawns and laid them down, *then* there was light; therefore, it brightens to him and destroys his darkness for whom these (dawn-bricks) are placed.” The object of this passage is to explain how and why the dawn-bricks came to be laid down with these Mantras, and it gives the ancient story of thirty dawns being perceived by the Gods, not on consecutive days, but during the period of time when it was neither night nor day.