The Arctic Home in the Vedas c9.35.2

c9.35.2

In III, 58, 1, Sûrya is called the son of Dakshinâ, and even if Dakshinâ be here taken to mean the Dawn, yet the question why the Dawn was called *Dakṣiṇā* remains, and the only explanation at present suggested is that *Dakṣiṇā* means ‘skilful’ or ‘expert.’ A better way to explain these phrases is to make them refer to the southerly direction; and after what has been said above such an explanation will seem to be highly probable. It is, of course, necessary to be critical in the interpretation of the Vedic hymns, but I think that we shall be carrying our critical spirit too far, if we say that in no passage in the Rig-Veda *dakṣiṇā* or its derivatives are used to denote the southerly direction (I, 95, 6; II, 42, 3). Herodotus informs us (IV, 42) that certain Phœnician mariners were commanded by Pharoah Neco, king of Egypt, to sail round Lybia (Africa) and return by the Pillars of Hercules (Straits of Gibraltar). The mariners accomplished the voyage and returned in the third year. But Herodotus disbelieves them, because, on their return, they told such (to him incredible) stories, that in rounding Lybia they saw the sun to their right. Herodotus could not believe that the sun would ever appear in the north; but he little thought that what was incredible to him would itself be regarded as indisputable evidence of the authenticity of the account in later days.