Orion Ch 7

 The ORION

Or research onto

The Antiquity of the Vedas

Chapter VII

Ribhus and Vrishakapi

Tilak explores various hymns of Rgved and interprets them to show the amount of astronomical knowledge Vedic people possessed. Names of nakshatras, planets, references to seasons, the intercalary months and other zodiac phenomena have been mentioned in Rgvedas, though not in the form we know them today. Tilak uses a hymn from Rigveda to show that an eclipse of the sun was observed. He shows with the help of the hymn that Vedic priests were tolerably well acquainted with elementary astronomical facts.

He thus claims that the Vedic rishis were not as ignorant of the broad astronomical facts as they are sometimes represented to be. Even, Prof Ludwig goes further and holds that the Rigveda mentions the inclination of ecliptic with the equator.

He explains in detail the verses which led to the legend of the dog that awakened the Ribhus, after 12 days of rest, (intercalary days) at the end of the year. He further states that Ribhus did not merely represent the rays of the sun but also the three seasons connected with them. But who is this dog? He claims that it is nothing but a constellation of Dog Star which is being referred to. The whole story of Ribhus, as recorded in Rigveda e establishes the fact that when this legend was formed the year commenced with the vernal equinox in Canis major/ dog star. If that be so, the winter solstice would fall on the full moon in Phalguna and then Margashiras would lead the list of nakshatra.

Tilak analyses the hymn of Vrishakapi in the 10th mandala of the Rigveda. He says it is difficult to determine the nature of the deity. Various conjectures have been made as to its character, personality, meaning and origin. Prof. Max Muller compares it with Erikapaeos, an Orphic name of Protogonos … of the Greek. Tilak claims that the identification of Vrishakapi with the Sun is accepted by native and European scholars.

Vrishakapi is a Mriga, and his appearance and disappearance mark the cessation and the recommencement of the sacrifices. The Indian tradition identifies him with the Sun in one form or another and comparison with Greek Erikapaeos points to the same conclusion.

He concludes that the hymn gives us not only a description of the constellation of Orion and Canis (verses 4 and 5), but clearly and expressly defines the position of the sun when he passed to the north of the equator in old times (verse 22), and joined with the legend of the Ribhus we have here unmistakeable and reliable internal evidence of the hymns of the Rigveda to ascertain the period when the traditions incorporated in these hymns were first framed and conceived.