Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/403

Rh in the Mrigashiras (Orion) The word Agrhaayani (Syn. for Mrigashiras), suggests the same tale. With the Vernal equinox near the asterism of Mrigashiras, the autumnal equinox would be in Mula which was so called because its acronycal rising marked the commencement of the year. Again with the winter solstice occuring on the Phalguni full-moon day, the summer solstice fell on the Bhadrapadi full moon so that the dark half of Bhadrapada was the first fortnight in the Pitriyana, understood as commencing on the summer solstice. On no other hypothesis can the dedication of the dark half of Bhadrapada to the Pitris be satisfactorily explained.

When the Vernal equinox was in Orion it was the beginning of the Devayana and as the constellation is remarkable for its brilliancy and attractiveness, the ancient Aryans may have been naturally influenced not merely to connect their old traditions with it but also to develop them on the same lines. Thus the Devayana and the Pitriyana, as representing the two hemispheres must be joined and the Vernal and the autumnal equinoxes became the natural points of union between the regions of Gods and Yama. The equinoxes were in fact the gates, of heaven and as such it was natural to suppose that they were watched by dogs (Canis Major and Canis Minor). In the later Indian literature we are told that the souls of the deceased have to cross a stream before they reach the region of Yama which we can easily identify with the Milky Way which could then have been appropriately described as separating the regions of Gods and Yama, the Devayana and the Pritriyana or the Northern and the Southern hemisphere.