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

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 329 chapter that Indra's fight with Shambara commenced on the fortieth day of Sharad or in the eighth month after the begin- ning of the year with Vasanta. These eight months of sunshine and four of darkness may very well be represented by two visible and one invisible step of Viṣhṇu, and the Purâṇic story of Viṣhṇu's sleeping for four months in the year further supports the same view. It may also be noticed that Viṣhṇu is said to sleep, on his serpent bed in the midst of the ocean ; and the ocean and the serpent here alluded to are evidently the waters (âpaḥ) and Ahi or Vṛitra mentioned in the Vṛitra legend. It is said that the sleep of Viṣhṇu represents the rainy season of four months ; but this is a later misrepresenta- tion of the kind we have noticed in the last chapter in regard to waters. When the exploits of Indra were transferred from the last season of the year, viz., Hemanta, to Varshâ or the rainy season, the period, during which Viṣhṇu lay dormant, must have been naturally misunderstood in the same way and identified with the rainy season. But originally Viṣhṇu's sleep and his third step must have been identical ; and as the third step is said to be invisible, we cannot suppose that it was planted in the rainy season, which is visible enough. The long darkness of the winter night in the Arctic region can alone adequately represent the third step of Viṣhṇu or the period of his sleep; and the legend about the Phrygian god, who, accord- ing to Plutarch, was believed to sleep during winter and resume his activity during summer, has been interpreted by Prof. Rhys in the same way. The Irish couvade of the Ultonian heroes also points out to the same conclusion.* But apart from the sleep of Viṣhṇu which is Purâṇic, we have a Vedic legend which has the same meaning. In the Ṛig-Veda (VII, 100, 6), Viṣhṇu is represented as having a bad name, viz., shipivishṭa. Thus the poet says, "O Viṣhṇu!

• See Rhys' Hibbert Lectures, p. 632. The passage is quoted in full in Chap. XII, infra.