Orion or the Antiquity of the Vedas (Classic Reprint)

"Orion or the Antiquity of the Vedas" was published in Bombay in 1893. It was the first of five books authored by Bal Gangadhar Tilak ( 23 July 1856 - 1 August 1920) of the other four, three were land mark with the last being a collection of his writings. Of the landmarked is the much renowned "The Artic Home in the Vedas" published in 1903 and the one you really want to read. It began during one of his imprisonments after the fabled Max Muller sent him an early edition of his Rig Veda while he was in prison. Another was "Srimad Bhagavadgeetha Rahasya Or Karma Yoga Sastra" first published circa 1919 with an English copy produced in 1936 and can likely be considered one of his four passions (Ancient Sanskrit, Math & Astronomy, Revival of Ancient Vedic Philosophy, and Indian Independence). This book was also began during one of his lengthy imprisonments and runs 753 pages. The other notable book was the "Full & Authentic Report of the Tilak Trial" published in 1908 (472 pages). All of Tilak's book can be viewed or listened to at the Internet Archive for free but sometimes a book in the hand is better. Tilak was tried three times for Sedition against the Royal British Crown and served two separate sentences. The first for 18 months and the second for 6 years for advocating Indian Independence and a break from the Crown. The British colonial authorities derogatorily called Tilak the "Father of the Indian unrest" His most famous quote was "Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it!" and is well-remembered in India even today. Tilak's father was a Sanskrit scholar and Tilak himself received a collage education in India studying law. He'd later own two newspapers from where he took up the defense of two persons charged in the deaths of others in a bomb attack in their struggle against perceived injustices resulting from colonial rule. Tilak became a member of the Indian National Congress in 1890. He opposed its moderate attitude, especially towards the fight for self-government. He was one of the most eminent radicals at the time and though he did not advocate for open violence he appeared to push the envelope and was credited by Mahat Ma Gandi as being one of the fathers of Indian Independence. The "Orion…" came first, the call and need for Independence got in the way, but from it was born much more as he never forgot his other passions. His was a time when European academics had already been training as India ologists having been attracted to what had been collected early when Europe had opened up trading posts in India in the early 1600s. Finally recognizing the antiquity of India's ancient heritage some were even learning Sanskrit in an effort to contextualize India's vast history. There was however a problem. India had by and large forgotten the meaning of much of the ancient language from the old books. Much of India's extant old books had been collected in 9th Century AD by Sayana. They are his interpretations and commentary which many scholars to this day are forced to deal with, in deciphering the old script. Meanwhile it was understood that Vedic literature went back at least one thousand years before and was spread throughout those dates up to the 9th Century AD. In the in-between and long long before word meanings had largely been forgotten. Indeed, three of the six Vedangas (auxiliary sciences developed to learn the already ancient Vedas) deal with word usage, meanings, and grammar. Panni, a (7th–4th century BC) Grammarian whose work is extent mentions Yaksa, (7th–5th century BC) another grammarian who lived an estimated one to two hundred years before him and whose works are talked about, gives names for 10 more grammarians that lived even before him, some with familiar names used in the Vedas and other associated ancient texts. Meanwhile oral traditions used today, predated what was known of the written material already lost a thousand years before to a much farther date in the past. When learning the Vedas, it's said that each mantra contains four layers of meaning that pertain to the body & mind*, the earth, the sky and what ancient Rishi's* know. In relation to the Vedas, the Orion primarily concerns itself with the sky (sun moon & stars). When the European scholars began to write of the Vedas using Sayana as their guide many of the important scholars pre-contextualized the Vedas using their own past as measurement and concentrated primarily on the earthly layer of meanings in the Vedas to do so. It was Tilak's belief that they were shorting India's ancient past by thousands of years and in some cases misunderstanding Aryan origins and he set out to prove it in the Orion with a vast number of arguments, each which can be crosschecked to determine their veracity. His book reads clear for the laymen in many spots but in others it more attuned to someone with a back ground in math, astronomy and or the Vedas with their associated texts, of which any will help make the book a more interesting read as his arguments are made to academics. Although only 279 pages, it is still hard yet fun book to read. Tilak's latter book, Artic Home for the Vedas, is more suited to the laymen though the audience is still the academic. It also contains many more exciting revelations and additional facts that the times were able to develop. Primarily the Orion makes the case that Vedic Age should be pushed back from the then recognized 2000 BC to 3000 BC to about 6000 to 8000 BC and that at one time the Aryans, Greeks and Parisian's (Ancient Iranians) all shared a similar past, told similar myths and likely existed in close proximity in a land further north from where any of them were known to exist. Additionally he demonstrates that ancient Vedic astronomers had knowledge of the Precession of the Equinox. Tilak's arguments are primarily scientific, with the stars and proper interpretations from the Vedas as his proof. Later in the Artic Home, he'll add in further proofs from the Zoroastrian Avesta and expand his hypothesis in dramatic ways. Western Academics however later pushed back his theories calling them pseudo historical theories. Not however by assailing his work, they can't. It's unassailable. The Vedas are what they are. The stars are what they are, so instead they used the work of others that came in differing forms and for differing reasons. One was internal to India, the Aryan migration theory has been resisted and maligned in order to keep India's past pure and Indian. Others came from Tilak enthusiasts who made claims they could not prove. Then there were the knowledges of Artic and what has since been learned from Tilaks time. The last however is changing back in Tilak's favor as even more is being learned in the study of climatology ancient blood types, the study of comparative languages and some instances archeology, though the gains there are least though they exist. How much record might one expect to find of the past going back that far? Lastly there is the matter of academic pride as many reputations were built on keeping the Vedic age confined and the pride of Britan who opposed and defiled Tilak on more than one front and may well of played a part in the former as it's been said, Britan wanted the Vedic age confined to 1,500 BC the better to hold down their colony, which has been largely been used histories even today, even if others insist on the original 2,500 BC to 3000 BC. Because it makes better sense. Regardless Tilak's theory is winning the day, the world just isn't aware yet. An easier read on the subject is written by S. B. Roy, in his 1976 "Prehistoric Lunar Astronomy, 19000-3100 B.C." Although a book once, it never received an ISBN and cannot be found in print today. It is however available on the Internet Archive, running 136 pages but some of that is wasted space so it's easily printable and I have reviewed it on Good Reads. Roy is well credentialed and once appeared representing India at the starting conferences chaired by Elizabeth Chesley Baity in 1973 at Chapel Hill NC, on formalizing Archeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy as two new sub sciences. (must say, I detected a fatal flaw in Roy's work that may be the reason he's not in print by demoting an important Vedic goddess to the worlds earliest astronomer…Okay for some, but not others…Ochh! Tilak shows that he knew this in Orion, but did not expound on it. Smart.). Another good read from 2003 is a 37 page paper by Subhash Kak, "Babylonian and Indian Astronomy: Early Connections". Kak is an accomplished author and may well have the whole subject bound up in one of his many works. • For more on this see Sri Aurobindo's, 1914-20 "The Secret of the Vedas". Republished in book form in 1976

This book was written by Bal Gangadhar Tilak in 1893, and remains the starting point for those mystified about the meaning of the Rg Veda. The Rg Veda is an amazing document, it may be interpreted on many levels. Interpretation on philosophical or spiritual grounds widely vary and are open to great variations of meaning. The approach Tilak takes in this book is astronomical. Through extensive analysis and interpretation of key passages in the Rg Veda, Tilak presents a convincing case that the Veda is also an astronomical and astrological text. The correct placement of the constellations was of utmost importance in Vedic sacrifice. The year-long sacrifice required the correct time of the year on which it could begin. Tilak's conclusion was at the time of the Veda the year-long sacrifice commenced at the Vernal Equinox at the constellation of Orion. He also explains how this commencement date changed with time. Tilak also explains how ascertaining the commencement of thee sacrifices matter and was not simply an academic exercise. After death there are two paths the soul could travel: The Path of the Gods and the Path of the Fathers. The first was the entrance of heaven and the latter was a path in which the soul is condemned to another life. The Vernal Equinox was determined to point to the Path of the Gods, so this point was a very important space in the zodiac. Tilak avoids interpreting the Rg Veda in purely astrological terms, although he could have easily done so. His analysis is strictly astronomical and focused on the stellar constellations. The only drawback is in the scanning of this old edition. There were errors in the scanning of the original edition which left several omissions in several sentences. This missing parts of most parts can be easily deduced; others cannot. Still, Tilak's interpretation is not the final word on the meaning of the Rg Veda, but a good start. The astronomical interpretation is a good springboard for the other philosophical and religious aspects of this great text.

Very poor printing, many places words aren’t printed properly, many places extra ink makes it difficult to read

Very well researched book based on astronomical positions described in the Vedas that concludes with the age of Vedas being at least as old as 6000-4000 BC or earlier.

Poor production - nearly unreadable. Looks like typesetters, who don't speak english as a first language, just grabbed handfuls of letters and symbols and put them in line to be run through the printer.