rius, thence to Pisces; going successively from one sign of the Zodiac to another. After he has passed through these, the sun attains his equinoctial movement (the vernal equinox), when he makes the day and night of equal duration. Thenceforward the length of the night decreases, and the day becomes longer, until the sun reaches the end of Gemini, when he pursues a different direction, and, entering Cancer, begins his declension to the south. As the circumference of a potter's wheel revolves most rapidly, so the sun travels rapidly on his southern journey: he flies along his path with the velocity of wind, and traverses a total, 9 crores and 45 lakhs, or 9.45.00.000; according to the Váyu,* Linga, † and Matsya : Puráñas. * एवं पुष्करमध्येन यदा सर्पति भास्करः । + Prior Section, LIV., 10-13: एवं पुष्करमध्ये तु यदा सर्पति वारिपः ॥ The passage in the Matsya-purána scarcely differs from that in the Linga-puráña, with the exception of its beginning, which runs thus : एवं च पुरमध्ये तु यदा भवति भास्करः ॥ त्रिंशद्भागं तु मेदिन्यां मुहर्तेन स गच्छति । Some MSS, have, however, instead of च पुरमध्ये तु, पुष्करमध्येन. great distance in a short time.* In twelve Muhurtas he passes through thirteen lunar asterisms and a half during the day; and, during the night, he passes through the same distance, only in eighteen Muhúrtas.† As the centre of the potter's wheel revolves more slowly (than the circumference), so the sun, in his northern path, again revolves with less rapidity, and moves over a less space of the earth in a longer time; until, at the end of his northern route, the day is again eighteen Muhurtas, and the night, twelve; the sun passing through half the lunar mansions, by day and by night, in those periods, respectively. As the lump of clay on the centre of the potter's wheel moves most slowly, so the polar-star, which is in the centre of the zodiacal wheel, revolves very tardily, and ever remains in the centre, as the clay continues in the centre of the wheel of the potter. * अतिवेगितया कालं वायुवेगबलाञ्चलन् । 'From having the impetus and power of wind, he moves with exceeding swiftness through time, i. e., space. He traverses, therefore, an immense interval in a short time.' I follow the smaller commentary in explaining kála, 'time', by 'space'. * शीघ्रो द्वादशभिः शैघ्यान्मुहूर्तेर्दक्षिणायने । From this it appears-which is unnoticed in the translation-that the sun is spoken of when on his 'southern path'. : तस्माद्दीर्घेण कालेन भूमिमल्यां तु गच्छति । The text, it is observable, gives, with unimportant omissions, the substance of these verses, rather than a close rendering of them, The relative length of the day or night depends upon the greater or less velocity with which the sun revolves through the degrees between the two points of the horizon.* In the solstitial period, in which his diurnal path is quickest, his nocturnal is slowest; and, in that in which he moves quick by night, he travels slowly by day. The extent of his journey is, in either case, the same; for, in the course of the day and night, he passes through all the signs of the Zodiac, or six by night, and the same number by day. The length and shortness of the day are measured by the extent of the signs; and the duration of day and night, by the period which the sun takes to pass through them.1 1 This passage, which is somewhat at variance with the general doctrine that the length of the day depends upon the velocity of the sun's course, and which has not been noticed in any other Pauráńik text, is defended, by the commentator, upon the authority of the Jyotihśástra or astronomical writings. According to them, he asserts, the signs of the Zodiac are of different extent: Aquarius, Pisces, and Aries are the shortest; Taurus, Capricornus, and Gemini are something longer; Leo and Scorpio, longer still; and the remaining four, the longest of all. According to the six which the sun traverses, the day or night will be the longer or shorter. The text is, राशिप्रमाणजनिता दीर्घस्वात्मता दिने । उभयोः काष्ठयोर्मध्ये भ्रमतो मण्डलानि तु दिवा नक्तं च सूर्यस्य मन्दा शीघ्रा च वै गतिः ॥ 'Of the sun, whirling its circles between the two points of the horizon by day and by night, the progress is slow and rapid.' + मन्दाहि यस्मिन्नयने शीघ्रा नक्तं तदा गतिः । शीघ्रा दिवा यदा चास्य तदा मन्दा गतिर्निशि ॥ I have added this line. Apparently, Professor Wilson thought it would be somewhat superfluous to translate it. In his northern declination, the sun moves quickest by night, and slowest by day; in his southern declination, the reverse is the case. The night is called Ushá, and the day is denominated Vyushti, and the interval between them is called Sandhya.* On the occurrence of the awful Sandhya, the terrific fiends† termed Mandehas attempt to devour the sun: for Brahmᇠdenounced this curse upon them, that, without the power to perish, they should die every day (and revive by night); and, therefore, a fierce contest occurs (daily) between them and the The apparent contradiction may, however, be reconciled by understanding the sun's slow motion, and the length of a sign, to be equivalent terms. That is, Usha is a part of the night; Vyushti, of the day. So read all my MSS. The smaller commentary remarks: 391 gfa | z1fadı 391: 1 aegjfeftfa yâ: | But the compound in the latter half of the stanza seems to show that we are to read Ushá, not Ushas. Hence, probably, either the commentary- unless only loose-is corrupted, or else the text that accompanies it. Ushovyushtyok, which yields Ushas, is, however, a lection found in parallel passages of other Puráñas. The Translator's "Vyushta", which I have altered, is here impossible, unless we assume that we have, in some MSS., that and Vyushti—the word embedded in the compound-in the same stanza. The ensuing gloss on Ushas is taken from Professor Wilson's Translation of the Rig-veda, Vol. I., p. 78, second foot-note: "The dawn; daughter of the personified heaven, or its deity, Dyudevatáyá duhitá. Rosen translates the name Aurora; but it seems preferable to keep the original denomination; as, except in regard to time, there is nothing in common between the two. In the Vishnu-puráňa, indeed, Ushá, a word of similar derivation as Ushas, is called night; and the dawn is Vyushtá [sic: for Vyushťa]. Several passages seem to indicate that Usha or Ushas is the time immediately preceding daybreak." † Rakshasa. In the original, Prajapati. sun.' At this season, pious Brahmans scatter water, purified by the mystical Omkára, and consecrated by the Gáyatri;±* and by this water, as by a thunderbolt, The same story occurs in the Váyu, † with the addition that the Mandehas are three crores in number. It seems to be an ancient legend, imperfectly preserved in some of the Puránas. ' The sacred syllable Om has been already described (Vol.I., p. 1, note). The Gáyatri, or holiest verse of the Vedas, not to be uttered to ears profane,. is a short prayer to the sun, identified as the supreme, and occurs in the tenth hymn of the fourth section of the third Ashtaka of the Samhita of the Rig-veda: तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् । 'We meditate on that excellent light of the divine sun: may he illuminate our minds.' + Such is the fear entertained of profa ओंकारब्रह्मसंयुक्तं गायत्र्या चाभिमन्त्रितम् । † Professor Wilson, in his Translation of the Rig-veda, Vol. III., p. 110, gives another rendering of this verse: "We meditate on that desirable light of the divine Savitri, who influences our pious rites." To this he adds the following comment: "This is the celebrated verse of the Vedas which forms part of the daily devotions of the Brahmans, and was first made known to English readers by Sir W. Jones's translation of a paraphrastic interpretation. He renders it: 'Let us adore the supremacy of that divine sun, the godhead who illuminates all, who recreates all, from whom all proceed, to whom all must return, whom we invoke to direct our understandings aright in our progress toward his holy seat' (Works, 8vo., Vol. XIII., p. 367). The text has merely Tat savitur varenyam bhargo devasya dhimahi, dhiyo yo nak prachodayát. |