वेदों की प्राचीनता एवं काल-निर्णय / ओरायन (लोकमान्य बाल गंगाधर तिलक - खगोलीय वैदिक शोध)

CHAPTER X. VEDIC MYTHS--THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. Vernal theory and the legends of the Ashvins--The part played by the Ashvins in the struggle for waters and light--Intelli- gible only on the Arctic theory--Their exploits and legends-- Saving or rejuvenating, rescuing from the ocean, or restoring the eye-sight or light, to Chyavâna, Rebha, Bhujyu, Atri Vandana &c.--All explained at present as referring to the rescue of the daily dawn or the vernal restoration of the powers of the winter sun--But the theory fails to explain references to blindness or darkness in several legends--Nor does it account for the duration of the distress of the Ashvins' proteges--Nor for the character of the place of distress from which the proteges were saved--Bottomless and dark ocean really means the nether world--A bowl with bottom up and mouth downwards indicates the inverted hemisphere of the Hades--Legend of Rijrâshva--The slaughter of a hundred sheep represents the conversion of a hundred days into so many nights--The story of Saptavadhri or the seven eunuchs, praying for safe delivery after ten months of gestation --Remains unexplained up to the present--The interior of heaven and earth is conceived in the Veda as the womb in which the sun moves when above the horizon--Ten months' gestation thus represents the ten months when the Sun is above the horizon--Prayer for safe delivery indicates the perils of the long night--Riddle or paradox of a child becom- ing invisible as soon as born--The story of the hidden Agni refers to the same phenomenon--Probable origin of the Purânic story of Kumâra or Kârttikeya--Superiority of the Arctic over the vernal theory in explaining the legends of the Ashvins--The legend of Indra's stealing Sûrya's wheel-- The meaning of dasha-prapitve discussed--Indicates darkness on the completion of ten months--Vishnu's three strides --Different opinions about their nature quoted--Vishnu's strides represent the yearly course of the sun--And his third invisible step represents the nether world--Vishnu's op- probrious name, Shipivishta--Represents the dark or the diseased sun during the long Arctic night--The three abodes of Savitri, Agni and the Ashvins compared to Vishnu's third step--The