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

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 331 Tān. Br. XVIII, 6, 26 ). Shipivishṭa is thus explained as a laudatory appellation by taking shipi equal to 'cattle,' 'sacrifice' or 'rays.' But these etymological devices have failed to invest the word with a good sense in Sanskrit literature; and this fact by itself is sufficient to show that the word shipivishṭa originally was, and has always been, a term of reproach indicating some bodily affliction, though the nature of it was not exactly known. The theological scholars, it is true, have tried to explain the word in a different sense; but this is due to their unwillingness to give opprobrious names to their gods, rather than to any uncertainty about the real meaning of the word. It was thus that the word shipivishṭa, which is originally a bad name (kutsitārthīyam) according to Aupamanyava, was converted into a mysterious (guhya) name for the deity. But this transition of meaning is confined only to the theological literature, and did not pass over into the non-theological works, for the obvious reason that in ordinary language the bad meaning of the word was sufficiently familiar to the people. There can, therefore, be little doubt that, in VII, 100, 5 and 6, shipivishṭa is used in a bad sense as stated by Aupamanyava. These verses have been translated by Muir as follows:—" I, a devoted worshipper, who know the sacred rites, today celebrate this thy name shipivishṭa; I, who am weak, laud thee who art strong and dwellest beyond this lower world (kshayantam asya rajasaḥ parāke). What, Vishṇu, hast thou to blame, that thou declaredest, 'I am Shipivishṭa'? Do not conceal from us this form (vārpas), since thou didst assume another shape in the battle." The phrase "dwelling in the lower world "(rajasah parāke), or "beyond this world," furnishes us with a clue to the real meaning of the passage. It was in the nether world that Vishṇu bore this bad name. And what was the bad name after all? Shipivishṭa, or "enveloped like shepa," meaning that his rays were obscured, or that he was temporarily concealed