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

COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY. 401 . according to the double etymology (novem, nine,or novus, new) were taken for nine Muses, or for gods newly introduced, as after the conquest of a place in contrast with the old gods of the country. But the Celtic tradition of the Maid of Nine Forms is much more explicit, inasmuch as it is distinctly connected with the sun-hero Cuchulainn. The story . is thus narrated by Rhys : Conchobar had a passing fair daughter called Fedelm of the nine forms, for she had so many fair aspects, each of which was more beautiful, as we are told, than the others; and when “Cuchulainn had, at the news of the approach of the enemy from the west, advanced with his father to the frontier of the realm, he suddenly hastened away in the evening to a place of secret meeting, where he knew Fedelm to have a bath got ready for him in order to prepare him for the morrow and his first encounter with the invading army.”* This reminds us of the assistance rendered by the Navagvas and the Dashagvas to Indra by means of Soma sacrifices performed by them and which sacrifices are said to have invigorated Indra and prepared him for his fight with the powers of dark- ness, represented by Vṛitra, Vala, Shambara and other demons. The Maid of Nine Forms is therefore a Celtic paraphrase of the Nine-going sacrificers in the Ṛig-Veda. Prof. Rhys con- siders Fedelm to be a sort of Athene with nine forms of beauty, and refers to the story of Athene weaving a peplos for her favourite Hêrakles, or causing springs of warm water to gush forth from the ground, to supply him at the end of the day with a refreshing bath.† But this comparison does not explain why there should be nine forms of beauty in either case. The mystery is, however, cleared up, if we suppose these legends to refer to the nine months of sunshine at the end of which the setting sun-god is refreshed or invigorated for his struggle with the demons of darkness by the acts or ser- vices of the Nine-going sacrificers or the Maid of Nine Forms.’

• Rhys' Hibbert Lectures, pp. 630-1. † Id. pp. 378-9. 26