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

338 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. ÂPAH. The nature and movement of aerial or celestial waters have been discussed at length in the last chapter and practi- cally there is very little that remains to be said on this point. We have also seen how the nether world or the world of waters was conceived like an inverted hemisphere or tub, so that any- one going there was said to go to the region of endless dark- ness or bottomless waters. A mountainous range was again be- lieved to extend over the borders of this ocean, forming a stony wall as it were between the upper and the lower world; and when the waters were to be freed to flow upwards, it was ne- cessary to pierce through the mountainous range and clear the apertures which were closed by Vṛitra by stretching his body across them. In one place the well or avata, which Brahma- ṇaspati opened, is said to be closed at its mouth with stones (ashmâsyam, II, 24, 4), and in X. 67, 3, the stony barriers (ashmanmayâni nahanâ) of the prison wherein the cows were confined are expressly mentioned. A mountain, parvata, is also said to exist in the belly of Vṛitra (I, 54, 10), and Sham- bara is described as dwelling on the mountains. We have seen how the word parvata occuring in this connection has been misunderstood ever since the days of the Nairuktas, who, though they did a yeoman's service to the cause of Vedic in- terpretation, seem to have sometimes carried their etymologi- cal method too far. The connection of the nether world of waters with mountains and darkness may thus be taken as established, and the legends of Vṛitra, Bhujyu, Saptavadhri, Tṛita, &c. further show that the nether waters formed not only the home of the evil spirits and the scene of fights with them, but that it was the place which Sûrya, Agni, Vishṇu, the Ashvins and Trita had all to visit during a portion of the year. It was the place where Vishṇu slept, or hid himself, when af- flicted with a kind of skin-disease, and where the sacrificial