the foul fiends are consumed. When the first oblation is offered, with solemn invocations, in the morning rite,' the thousand-rayed deity shines forth with un ning this text, that copyists of the Vedas not unfrequently refrain from transcribing it, both in the Samhitá and Bhashya. 1 Or, in the text, with the prayer that commences with the words Súryo jyotih: "That which is in the sun (or light) is ador The last member may be also rendered, 'who may animate or enlighten our intellects.' The verse occurs in the Yajus, III., 35, and in the Sáman, II., 8, 12. Both commentators are agreed to understand, by savitri, the soul, as one with the soul of the world, Brahma: but various meanings are also given. Thus, Sayana has, we meditate on the light which is one with Brahma, his own light, which, from its consuming influence on ignorance and its consequences, is termed bhargas; and is that which is desirable, from its being to be known or worshipped by all (varenya); the property of the supreme being (parameswara), the creator of the world, and the animator, impeller, or urger (savitri), through the internally abiding spirit (antaryámin) of all creatures. Again, yak, although masculine, may, by Vaidik licence, be the relative to the neuter noun bhargas; that light which animates all (dhiyah) acts (karmáni), or illumes all understandings (buddhik). Again, devasya savituk may mean, of the bright or radiant sun, as the progenitor of all, sarvasya prasavituk; and bhargas may be understood as the sphere or orb of light, the consumer of sins, pápánám tápakaṁ tejo-mandalam. Again, bhargas may be interpreted food; and the prayer may only implore the sun to provide sustenance: tasya prasádád annádi-lakshańaṁ phalaṁ dhimahi, tasyádhára-bhutá bhavema, we anticipate from his favour the reward that is characterized by food and the like, that is, may we be supported by him. Mahidhara in his comment on the same text in the Yajus, notices similar varieties of interpretation." In the Introduction to the volume just quoted from, Professor Wilson says, of the Gáyátrí, at p. X.: "The commentators admit some variety of interpretation; but it probably meant, in its original use, a simple invocation of the sun to shed a benignant influence upon the customary offices of worship; and it is still employed by the unphilosophical Hindus with merely that signification. Later notions, and, especially, those of the Vedanta, have operated to attach to the text an import it did not at first possess, and have converted it into a mystical propitiation of the spiritual origin and essence of existence, or Brahma." clouded splendour.* Omkára is Vishnu the mighty, † the substance of the three Vedas, the lord of speech; and, by its enunciation, those Rákshasas are destroyed. The sun is a principal part of Vishnu; and light is his immutable essence, the active manifestation of which is excited by the mystic syllable Om. § Light effused by (the utterance of) Omkára becomes radiant, and burns up entirely the Rákshasas called Mandehas. The performance of the Sandhya (the morning) sacrifice || able,' &c. The whole prayer ¶ is given in Colebrooke's Account of the Religious Ceremonies of the Hindus: Asiatic Researches, Vol. V., p. 351.** अग्निहोत्रे हूयते या समन्त्रा प्रथमा हुतिः । सूर्यो ज्योतिः सहस्रांशुः सूर्यो दीप्यति भास्करः॥ "The first burnt-offering is that which, accompanied by mantras, is offered in the agnihotra. The sun is effulgence, thousand-rayed: the sun shines, producer of radiance.' + Bhagavat. This expression is to render tridháman, 'the triple-gloried'; the glories in question being the Vedas, according to the smaller commentary: त्रिधामा त्रीणि ऋग्यजुःसामरूपाणि धामानि तेजांसि स्वरूपाणि वा यस्य सः । And so, in effect, proposes the larger commentary, after suggesting that Brahmá, Vishnu, and Siva are intended. $ वैष्णवांशः परं सूर्यौ योऽन्तर्ज्योतिरसंप्लवम् । अभिधायक ओंकारस्तस्य संप्रेरकः परः ॥ 'The sun, which is the internal unchanging light, is supremely a portion of Vishnu; and its supreme stimulator is the utterance Om, expressing him.' Upasana, 'service', 'devotion'. ¶ Colebrooke thus renders it: “That which is in the sun, and thus called light or effulgent power, is adorable, and must be worshipped by them who dread successive births and deaths, and who eagerly desire beatitude. The being who may be seen in the solar orb must be contemplated, by the understanding, to obtain exemption from successive births and deaths, and various pains." must never, therefore, be delayed; for he who neglects it is guilty of the murder of the sun. Protected thus by the Brahmans and the (pigmy sages called) Válikhilyas, the sun goes on his course, to give light to the world. 1 Fifteen twinklings of the eye (Nimeshas) make a Káshthá; thirty Káshthás, a Kalá; thirty Kalás, a Muhúrta (forty-eight minutes); and thirty Muhúrtas, a day and night. The portions of the day are longer or shorter, as has been explained; but the Sandhya is always the same in increase or decrease, being only one Muhúrta. From the period that a line may be drawn across the sun (or that half his orb is visible) to the expiration of three Muhúrtas (two hours and twentyfour minutes), that interval is called Prátah* (morning), forming a fifth portion of the day. The next portion, or three Muhúrtas from morning, is termed Sangava (forenoon); the three next Muhúrtas constitute midday; the afternoon comprises the next three Muhúrtas; the three Muhúrtas following are considered as the 1 But this comprehends the two Sandhyás, 'morning and evening twilight.' Two Nádís, or half a Muhúrta, before sunrise, constitute the morning Sandhyá; and the same interval after sunset, the evening. Sandhya, meaning 'junction,' is so termed, as it is the juncture or interval between darkness and light; as in the Váyu and Matsya: लोकालोकं तु संधत्ते यस्मात्सूर्यः परिभ्रमन् । * Prátastana is a variant of several of my MSS. This is the reading of the Matsya-purána. The Váyu-puráňa has: लोकालोकं तु संधत्ते यस्मात्सूर्यपरिग्रहम् । तस्मात्संध्येति तामाहुरुषाव्यथ्योर्यदन्तरम् ॥ || evening: and the fifteen Muhúrtas of the day are thus classed in five portions of three each. But the day consists of fifteen Muhúrtas only at the equinoxes; increasing or diminishing, in number, in the northern and southern declinations of the sun, when the day encroaches on the night, or the night upon the day. The equinoxes occur in the seasons of spring and autumn, when the sun enters the signs of Aries and Libra. When the sun enters Capricorn (the winter solstice), his northern progress commences; and his southern, when he enters Cancer (the summer solstice).* Fifteen days of thirty Muhúrtas each are called a Paksha (a lunar fortnight); two of these make a month; and two months, a solar season; three seasons, a northern or southern declination (Ayana); and those two compose a year. Years, made up of four kinds of months,1 are distinguished into five kinds; and an aggregate of all the varieties of time is termed a Yuga (or cycle). The years are, severally, called Samvatsara, The four months are named in the Váyu, † and are: 1. the Saura or solar-sidereal, consisting of the sun's passage through a sign of the Zodiac; 2. the Saumya or Chándra or lunar month, comprehending thirty lunations or Tithis, and reckoned, most usually, from new moon to new moon, though, sometimes, from full moon to full moon; 3. the Sávana or solar month, containing thirty days of sunrise and sunset; and, 4. the Nákshatra or lunar-asterismal month, which is the moon's revolution through the twenty-eight lunar mansions. * Compare with this paragraph, Vol. I., pp. 47, etc. + सौरसौम्यं तु विज्ञेयं नाक्षत्रं सावनं तथा । Parivatsara, Idwatsara, Anuvatsara, and Vatsara. This is the time called a Yuga.1 1 The five years forming this Yuga or cycle differ only in denomination, being composed of the months above described, with such Malamásas or intercalary months as may be necessary to complete the period, according to Vriddha Garga. The cycle comprehends, therefore, sixty solar-sidereal months of 1800 days; sixty-one solar months, or 1830 days; sixty-two lunar months, or 1860 lunations; and sixty-seven lunar-asterismal months, or 1809 such days. Colonel Warren, in his Kála Sankalitá, considers these years to be, severally, cycles. "In the cycle of sixty," he observes, "are contained five cycles of twelve years, each supposed equal to one year of the planet [Jupiter]. I only mention this cycle because I found it mentioned in some books; but I know of no nation or tribe that reckons time after that account. The names of the five cycles, or Yugas, are as follows: 1. Samvatsara, 2. Parivatsara, 3. Idwatsara, 4. Anuvatsara, 5. Udravatsara. The name of each year is determined from the Nakshatra in which Brihaspati sets and rises heliacally; and they follow in the order of the lunar months." Kála Sankalitá, pp. 212, 213. It may be reasonably doubted, however, if this view be correct; and the only connexion between the cycle of five years and that of Brihaspati may be the multiplication of the former by the latter (5 × 12), so as to form the cycle of sixty years; a cycle based, the commentator remarks, upon the conjunction (Yuga) of the sun and moon in every sixtieth year. The original and properly Indian cycle, however, is that of five years, as Bentley remarks: "The astronomers of this period [1181 B. C.] framed a cycle of five years, for civil and religious purposes." Ancient and Modern Hindu Astronomy.* It is, in fact, as Mr. Colebrooke states, the cycle of the Vedas, described in the Jyotisha or astronomical sections, and specified, in the institutes of Paráśara, as the basis * A Historical View of the Hindu Astronomy, &c., London edition, p. 11. |