मैत्रावरुणिः;3646715 said:
For example, Devi Usha has some of the best Rica-s ascribed to her. "Indologically speaking", these Rica-s put other Rica-s to shame because of the amount of intricacy and structure -- it's practically a wet dream for Sanskritists because it shows to them some of the best formulations of Vedic grammar and syntax. Yet, since her lacking of having quantitative hymns makes her "minor", even though such an action is theologically incorrect.
It was not Devi Usha, it was 30 Ushas, sisters, who walked in harmony, one after the other. Ushas (Ushasah - 21 hymns) lost because of wanderings of Aryans, from a place where dawn lasted for 30 days to where dawn was just a one-hour affair.
"The first hint, regarding the long duration of the Vedic dawn, is obtained from the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa, IV, 7. Before commencing the Gavâm-ayana sacrifice, there is a long recitation of not less than a thousand verses, to be recited by the Hotṛi priest. This Ashvina-shastra, as it is called, is addressed to Agni, Uṣhas and Ashvins, which deities rule at the end of the night and the commencement of the day. It is the longest recitation to be recited by the Hotṛi and the time for reciting it is after midnight, when “the darkness of the night is about to be relieved by the light of the dawn” (Nir. XII, I; Ashv. Shr. Sutra, VI, 5, 8).* The same period of time is referred to also in the Ṛig-Veda, VII, 67, 2 and 3. The shastra is so long,
that the Hotṛi, who has to recite it, is directed to refresh himself by drinking beforehand melted butter after sacrificing thrice a little of it (Ait. Br. IV, 7; Ashv. Shr. Sûtra; VI, 5, 3). “He ought to eat ghee,” observes the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa, “before he commences repeating. Just as in this world a cart or a carriage goes well if smeared (with oil),† thus his repeating proceeds well if he be smeared with ghee (by eating it).”
It is evident that if such a recitation has to be finished before the rising of the sun, either the Hotṛi must commence his task soon after midnight when it is dark, or the duration of the dawn must then have been sufficiently long to enable the priest to finish the recitation in time after commencing to recite it on the first appearance of light on the horizon as directed. The first supposition is out of the question, as it is expressly laid down that the shastra, is not to be recited until the darkness of the night is relieved by light. So between the first appearance of light and the rise of the sun, there must have been, in those days, time enough to recite the long laudatory song of not less than a thousand verses. Nay, in the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ (II, 1, 10, 3) we are told that sometimes the recitation of the shastra though commenced at the proper time, ended long before sunrise, and in that case, the Saṁhitâ requires that a certain animal sacrifice should be performed. Ashvalâyana directs that in such a case the recitation should be continued up to sunrise by reciting other hymns (Ashv. S.S. VI, 5, 8); while Âpastamba (S.S. XIV, 1 and 2), after mentioning the sacrifice referred to in the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, adds that all the ten Maṇḍalas of the Ṛig-Veda may be recited, if necessary, in such a case."
Lokamanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak — The Arctic Home in the Vedas — Chapter 5, Vedic Dawns, page 76
"But a still more remarkable statement is found in I, 113, 13, where the poet distinctly asserts, “the Goddess Uṣhas dawned continually or perpetually (shashvat) in former days (purâ);” and the adjective shashvat-tamâ (the most lasting) is applied to the dawn in I, 118, 11.
Ṛig. I, 113, 13, — शश्वत पुरोषा वयुवास देव्यथो अद्येदं वयावो मघोनी । अथो वयुछादुत्तराननु दयूनजराम्र्ता चरति सवधाभिः ॥
(Shâshvat purosha vayuvâsa devyatho adyedam vayâvo maghoni | Atho vyuchhaduttarânanu dyunajaramratâ charati savadhâbhih ||
RigVeda is saying so very plainly, but you are not listening. And Aryans accepted the indigenous religion and became Hindus. That is why the matter pertains to HinduDIR.
