வேத இலக்கியத்தில் சூரியனின் ஏழு குதிரைகளும் சப்த சந்த மரபும்: காயத்ரியை மையமாகக் கொண்ட இந்திய அறிவு, மொழி மற்றும் பண்பாட்டுக் குறியீடுகளின் ஆய்வு

Abstract

The Rigveda describes the Sun as travelling across the sky in a chariot drawn by seven horses (Rigveda 1.50.8–9). In the later Indian tradition, these seven horses are said to be called by the names of the seven Vedic metres — Gayatri, Ushnih, Anushtubh, Brihati, Pankti, Trishtubh and Jagati. This study primarily raises a historical-philological question: is this naming tradition truly found in the Rigveda itself, or did it emerge as an explanatory layer in later texts? On the basis of a comparison of the primary texts, the study establishes that the Rigveda mentions only seven unnamed horses/mares of the Sun’s chariot (1.50.8–9; 1.164); that the Atharvaveda (19.21.1) separately lists the seven metres; but that a clear statement directly linking the horses with the metre names is found only in the Vishnu Purana (2.8.7), the Bhagavata Purana (5.21.15) and the commentarial tradition on Mayura’s Suryashataka (Quackenbos, 1917). After clarifying this historical stratification, the study, centred on the Gayatri mantra (Rigveda 3.62.10), examines the phonetic/metrical structure of the seven-metre system, the broader Indo-European context of solar symbolism (Mallory & Adams, 1997; West, 2007), and the cultural symbolism of the number seven. Finally, it offers a typological comparison with the Tamil prosodic tradition — without claiming any direct historical connection.