Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/405

Rh and appearance as a Kirata or hunter—all these can be accounted for by placing Rudra just below the Milky Way or the celestial Ganges at the gates of the Pitriyana and figured as a hunter. In Rig. X 192-2, Samvatsara or the year is said to rise out of the ocean, the place where Vritra was killed (Rig. X 68-12). Prajapati as represented by Orion may also be naturally supposed to commence the year when the Vernal equinox was in Orion. Rudra killed Prajapati (or Samavatsara or Yajna) at the beginning of the year and as Yajna also meant sacrifice, Rudra was later believed to have killed the sacrifice of Daksha. So then Vishnu, representing the happy times of Vasanta, Rudra presiding over storms and Prajapati, the deity of sacrifices— these three principal deities of the Hindu Mythology can be traced to and located in the part of heaven occupied by Orion when the Vernal equinox was there. Later writers have described this Trinity as represented by the three-headed Dattatraya, followed by the Vedas in the forms of dogs, and from what has been written above, there can be no diificulty in identifying this personified Trinity with Orion having three stars in the head and closely followed by the dog (canis) at its foot.

These and other traditions especially those of Ribhus and Vrishakapi strengthen the hypothesis of the traditional year-beginning on the Phalguni full moon. With the Phalguni full moon at the winter solstice, the Vernal equinox was in Mrigashiras; so with the Chitra full moon at the solstice, the Vernal equinox would be in Punarvasu. The presiding deity of Punarvasu is Aditi and we are told that Aditi had been blessed with a boon that all sacrifices must commence and end with