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

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 307 and in I, 85, 11, a well lying obliquely (jimha) is said to have been pushed up by the Ashvins for satisfying the thirst of Gotama. These words and phrases are not properly explained by the commentators, most of whom take them as referring to the clouds. But it seems to me that these phrases more appropriately describe the antepodal region, where every thing is believed to be upside down in relation to the things of this world. Dr. Warren tells us that the Greeks and the Egypt- ians conceived their Hades, or things therein, as turned upside down, and he has even tried to show that the Vedic conception of the nether world corresponds exactly with that of the Greeks and the Egyptians.* The same idea is also found underlying the Hades conception of many other races, and I think Dr. Warren has correctly represented the ancient idea of the antepodal under-world. It was conceived by the ancients as an inverted tub or hemisphere of darkness, full of waters, and the Ashvins had to make an opening in its side and push the waters up so that after ascending the sky they may eventually come down in the form of rain to satisfy the thirst of Gotama. The same feat is attributed to the Ma- ruts in I, 85, 10 and 11, and there too we must interpret it in the same way. The epithets uchchá-budhna (with the bottom up) and jimha-bâra (with its mouth downwards or sidewards), as applied to a well (avata), completely show that something extraordinary, or the reverse of what we usually see, is here intended; and we cannot take them as referring to the clouds, for the well is said to be pushed up (ûrdhvam nunudre) in order to make the waters flow from it hitherward. It may also be observed that in I, 24, 7, the king Varuṇa of hallowed might is said to sustain "erect the Tree's stem, in the bottomless (abudhna) region," and "its rays which are hidden from us have," we are told, "their bottom up and flow downwards (nîchînaḥ)." This description of the region of Varuṇa exactly

• See Paradise Found, pp. 481-82.