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

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 327 culminating and the setting of the sun; and Muir quotes a passage from the Râmâyaṇa (IV, 40, 64), which mentions udaya-parvata, or the mountain of sun-rise, and says that on the top of it is the peak Saumanasa, the place where Viṣhṇu's first step was planted. We are then told that his second step was placed on the summit of Meru ; and that " when the sun had circled round Jambudvîpa by the north, he is mostly visible on that lofty peak." It seems, therefore, that according to the Râmâyaṇa the third step of Viṣhṇu was round Jambudvîpa, and was planted after sunset, whatever that may mean. In the Purâṇic literature, Viṣhṇu's three steps appear as the three steps of Vâmana, the fifth incarnation of Viṣhṇu. Bali, the powerful enemy of the gods, was celebrating a sacrifice, when, assuming the form of a dwarf, Viṣhṇu approached him, and begged for three paces of ground. No sooner the request was granted than Viṣhṇu assumed a miraculous form and occupied the whole earth by the first step and the atmosphere and everything above it with the second. Bali, who was the lord of the universe before, was surprised at the metamorphosis of the dwarf; but had to make good his own word by offering his head for the third step of Vâmana. The offer was accepted and Bali was pressed down under the third step into the nether world, and the empire of the earth and heavens above was again restored to Indra from whom it had been snatched away by Bali. Amongst these various interpretations one thing stands out very clear, viz., that Viṣhṇu represents the sun in one form or another. But Vedic scholars are not agreed as to whether Viṣhṇu's strides represent the daily or the yearly course of the sun. We must, therefore, carefully examine the Vedic passages relating to Viṣhṇu, and see if any indication is found therein to decide which of these two views is more probable or correct. Now in I, 155, 6, Viṣhṇu is described as setting in motion, like a revol- ving wheel, ‘his ninety steeds with their four names, evidently