The Vedic fathers of geology

GEOLOGICAL ANTIQUITY OF THE VEDAS. 71

शुकं ते अन्ययजतं त अन्यद्विषुरूपे अहनी यौ रिवाे । (1. 1 11.281

This means in substance, that the YearGod’s one form is bright while the other is sacrificial or dark. But, in another place, the Taittiriya Aranyaka goes still further and says that, “the year has one head and two different mouths,” observing at the same time that, “ all this, is but the season-characteristic.”

एक हिं शिरो नाना खखे। कुत्स्नं तदृत॒लक्षणम्‌। (91. Aran. 1)

And the tradition of one whole year haying been divided into Ahani( nycthemeron ), consisting of one continuous day and night, each of six months’ duration, which in fact was actually witnessed by our Rishis of the RigVeda period, appears to have been preserved not only in the later Vedic works, but also in the Maha-Bharata, the Haegft or the Code of Manu, and the astronomical works like the Strya-Siddhanta :—

वभूव रातिर्दैवसश्च तेषां

संवत्सरेणेव समानरूपः ॥ १३ ॥ (Maha—Bharata.. II. 165 ). South Indian Texts Edition. 1908.

दैवे राञ्यहनीं वर्षं प्रविभागस्तयोः पुनः

अहस्तत्रोदगयनं राः स्यादक्षिणायनम्‌ । ( 18 Smriti. I, 67 ).

मेरौ मेषादिच काद्ध देवाः पर्येति भास्करम्‌ |