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

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 289 the Panjaub or India. But the hypothesis, howsoever tempting it may seem at the first sight, is quite inadequate to explain the seven-fold division of waters in a satisfactory way. It has been pointed out above that the simultaneous release of waters and light can be accounted for only on the theory of the cosmic circulation of aerial waters; and if this is correct, we cannot identify the seven rivers, set free to flow upwards (udañcha) by Indra, with any terrestrial rivers whether in the Panjaub or elsewhere. The Panjaub is, again, as its name indicates, a land of five and not of seven rivers; and it is so described in the Vâjasaneyî Saṁhitâ.* The term pañcha- nada is, therefore, more appropriate in the case of the Panjaub, than sapta sindhavaḥ or the Hapta-hindu of the Avesta. But we might get over the difficulty by supposing that Kubhâ and Sarasvatî, or any other two tributaries of the Indus were included in the group by the Vedic bards, when they spoke of seven rivers. In the Ṛig-Veda (X, 75), about fifteen different rivers are mentioned, including the Gaṅgâ, the Yamunâ, the Kubhâ, the Krumu, the Gomatî, the Rasâ, and the five rivers of the Panjaub; but nowhere do we find what specific rivers were included in the group of seven rivers. This has given rise to a difference of opinion amongst scholars. Thus Sâyaṇa includes the Ganges and the Jamuna in the group, which, according to Prof. Max Muller, is made up by adding the Indus and the Sarasvatî to the five rivers of the Panjaub. On the other hand, Lassen and Ludwig hold that the Kubhâ must be included in the group at the cost of the Sarasvati. This shows that we are not on a safe ground in supposing that the expression "seven rivers" once meant what is, by nature, "the land of five rivers." The expression sapta sindhavaḥ occurs in about a dozen places in the Ṛig-Veda, and in five of these it distinctly denotes the seven rivers set free by

• See Vâj. Saṁ. XXXIV, 11,— पंच नद्यः सरस्वतीमपि यंति सस्रोत- तसः। सरस्वती तु पंचधा सो देशेऽभवत् सरित्॥ Here सो is equal to सा+अटः. 19

290 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. Indra along with the release of cows or the recovery of dawn (I, 32, 12 ; II, 12, 3 and 12 ; IV, 28, 1, &c.); and for reasons given above, we cannot suppose that they represent any terrestrial rivers in these passages. In the remaining cases, there is not a single instance where the expression may be said to decisively denote only the terrestrial rivers; nay, it is more likely that celestial rivers are referred to everywhere by the expression of sapta sindhavaḥ. I do not mean to say that sapta sindhavaḥ, sapta pravataḥ, or sapta sravataḥ can in no case denote any terrestrial rivers. For there are three groups of seven rivers mentioned in the Ṛig-Veda,—the celestial, the terrestrial and the infernal. Thus in X, 64, 8, “thrice three wandering rivers” are mentioned ; while the waters are said “to flow forward triply, seven and seven” in X, 75, 1. It is, therefore, clear that like the Ganges in the Purâṇas, the Vedic bards conceived a group of seven rivers in the heaven, another on the earth, and a third in the nether world, somewhat after the manner of the eleven gods in the heaven, eleven on the earth, and eleven in the waters (I, 139, 11 ; I, 34, 11 ; X, 65, 9). If so, we cannot say that a seven-fold division of the terrestrial rivers was not known to the Vedic bards. But, for reasons given above, we cannot hold that this seven-fold division was suggested by the rivers of the Panjaub ; and then extended to the upper and the lower celestial hemishhere. The Panjaub, as remarked above, is a land of five rivers and not seven ; and though we might raise the number to seven by adding to the group any two insignificant tributaries according to our fancy, yet the artificial character of the device is too apparent to justify us in holding that the expression sapta sindhavaḥ was originally suggested by the rivers of the Panjaub. We must again bear in mind that the seven-fold division of waters does not stand by itself in the Ṛig-Veda; but is only a particular case of a general principle of division adopted therein. Thus we have seven earthly abodes (I, 22, 16), seven mountains (VIII, 96, 2),

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 291 seven rays or horses of the sun (I, 164, 3), seven hotṛis (VIII, 60, 16), seven regions (dishaḥ) and seven Âdityas (IX, 114, 3), seven dhîtis or devotions (IX, 8, 4), seven sisters or maryâdâḥ, (X, 5, 5-6), and possibly seven and seven gods (X, 55, 3), in the Ṛig-Veda; while in the later Sanskrit literature we have the seven heavens, seven earths, seven mountains, seven oceans and seven nether worlds. This seven-fold division is also found in other Aryan mythologies, as, for instance, in the Avesta, where the earth is said to be divided into seven Kar- shavares (Yt. X, 16 and 64), and in the Greek mythology, which speaks of the seven layers of heaven over one another. It follows, therefore, that the seven-fold division must be traced back almost to the Indo-European period; and if so, we cannot maintain that the seven-fold division of waters, which is only a particular case of the general principle, was suggested by the rivers of the Panjaub, for, in that case, we shall have to make the Panjaub the home of the Aryans before they separ- ated. But if the rivers set free to flow up by Indra are not terrestrial, and if the expression sapta sindhavaḥ was not ori- ginally suggested by the rivers of the Panjaub, it may be asked how we account for the number of rivers and the origin of the phrase Hapta-hindu occurring in the Avesta. The true key to the solution of the question will be found in the simultaneous release of waters and light effected by Indra after conquering Vṛitra. In II, 12, 12, Indra, who caused the seven rivers to flow, is described as sapta-rashmiḥ, or seven-rayed, suggesting that seven rays and seven rivers must have, in some way, been connected. We have also seen that the waters and the sun are said to move at the same time in the Parsi scriptures. If so, what can be more natural than to suppose that the seven suns required seven horses or seven aerial rivers to carry them over the sky, much in the same way as Dîrghatamas is said to have been borne upon waters in I, 158, 6? Again according to the legend of Aditi, there were seven suns or month-gods

292 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. located in seven different regions and producing seven months of sun-shine of different temperatures. But how could the seven suns move in seven different parts of heaven except by the agency of seven different aerial rivers coming up from the nether world, each with its own sun ? In short, when the close connection between waters and light is once established, it is not difficult to perceive why the waters and light are each said to be seven-fold. The seven celestial rivers are expressly mentioned in the Ṛig-Veda (IX, 54, 2), and the flowing forth of the seven rivers and the appearance of the dawn on the horizon are described as simultaneous in many passages, some of which have been already referred to above. Neither the Storm theory, nor the geography of the Panjaub, satisfactorily accounts for the simultaneous happening of these events; and so long as this difficulty is not solved, except by the Arctic theory and the cosmic circulation of aerial waters, we cannot accept the hypothesis of Western scholars referred to above, howso- ever eloquently expounded it may be. As regards the origin of the phrase Hapta-hindu, which is believed to denote India in the Avesta, I think, we can explain it by supposing that the expression sapta sindhavaḥ was an old one, carried by the Aryans with them to their new home, and there applied to new places or countries, just as the 'British colonists now carry the old names of their mother country to their new places of settlement. Hapta-hindu is not the only expression which occurs in the Avesta in the enumeration of the Aryan coun- tries. We have, Vârena, Haêtumant, Rangha and Harahvaiti in the list, which are the Zend equivalents of Varuṇa, Se- tumat, Rasâ and Sarasvatî.* But it is never argued from it

• Darmesteter, in his introduction to Fargard I of the Vendidad, observes that "names, originally belonging to mythical lands, are often, in later times, attached to real ones." If this is true of Varena, Rangha- (Rasâ), and other names, there is no reason why Hapta-hindu should not be similarly explained, especially when it is now clear that the phrase sapta sindhavaḥ denotes celestial rivers in the Vedas.

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 293 that the Vedic deity, Varuṇa, was so named from the country called Varena by the worshippers of Mazda ; and the same may be said of Rasâ and Sarasvatî. Rasâ and Sarasvatî sometimes denote the terrestrial rivers even in the Ṛig-Veda. But there is ample evidence to show that they were originally the aerial rivers. It is, therefore, more natural to hold that all these were ancient mythological names brought with them by they Aryan settlers to their new home and there applied to new places or objects. There are places in Burma which are named Ayodhya, Mithila, &c., and this is explained on the ground that they were so named by the Indian settlers in Burma after the well-known places in their native land. There is no reason why the same theory should not be applied in the case of Hapta-hindu, especially when we see that the rivers set free by Indra by slaughtering Vṛitra cannot but be celestial. It will be seen from the foregoing discussion that the true nature and movements of waters released by Indra from the grasp of Vṛitra has been misunderstood from the days of the most ancient Nairuktas, or, we might say, even from the days of the Brâhmaṇas. There are passages in the Ṛig-Veda where Pûshan is said to cross the upper celestial hemisphere in boats; but the Ashvins and Sûrya are generally described as travers- ing the heaven in their chariots. This led the ancient Nairuk- tas to believe that the upper celestial hemisphere was not a seat of aerial waters, and that when Indra was described as releasing waters by slaughtering Vṛitra, the waters referred to could not but be the waters imprisoned in the rain-clouds. The seven rivers set free to flow by killing Vṛitra were simi- larly understood to be the rivers of India, like the Ganges, the Jamuna, &c., while the piercing of the mountains was ex- plained away by distorting or straining the meaning of such words as, parvata, giri, &c., as stated above. It was at this stage that the subject was taken in hand by Western scholars,

294 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. who, taking their cue from the Hapta-hindu of the Avesta, eloquently advanced the theory that the seven rivers, set free by Indra, were the rivers of the Panjaub. This explanation, when first started, was regarded as an important historical discovery ; and so it would have been, if it had been a real fact. But, as pointed out above, the Panjaub is, by nature, a land of five rivers and not seven ; and it is so described in the Vâjasaneyî Saṁhitâ. It is also evident that as the seven rivers, set free to flow by Indra, were released simultaneously with the dawn, they could not be the rivers of the Panjaub. We do not mean to say that the Panjaub was not an Aryan settle- ment at the time when the Vedic hymns were sung, for the rivers of the Panjaub are expressly mentioned in the Ṛig-Veda. But the rivers of the Panjaub were not the seven rivers mentioned in the Vedas ; and if so, a new explanation of the Vṛitra legend becomes necessary, and such an explanation is furnished only by the theory of the cosmic circulation of aerial waters or rivers through the lower and the upper world, carry- ing along with them the sun, the moon and the other heav- enly bodies. We can now very well explain how Vṛitra, by stretching his body across, closed the passages in the mountain- ous ranges (parvatas), which, on the analogy of mountains usually seen on the horizon, were believed to lie between the upper and the lower world ; and how the waters, and with them the sun and the dawn, were prevented from coming up from the nether world for a long time in the Arctic home of the ancestors of the Vedic bards. Another oint elucidated by the present theory is the four-fold character of the effects of Indra's conquest over Vṛitra, a point which has been entirely neglected by ancient and modern Nairuktas, not because it was unknown but because they were unable to give any satisfactory explanation of the same, except on the hypothesis that differ- ent effects have been confounded with one other by the poets of the Ṛig-Veda. But the theory of the cosmic circulation of

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 295 aerial waters, a theory which is also found in the mythology of many other nations, now clears up the whole mystery. If Indra is described as the leader or the releaser of waters (apâm netâ, or apâm srashtâ), the waters do not mean the waters in the clouds, but the waters or the watery vapours which fill the universe, and formed the material out of which the latter was created. In other words, the conquest over waters was something grander, something far more marvellous and cosmic in character than the mere breaking up of the clouds in the rainy season; and under these circumstances it was naturally considered to be the greatest of Indra's exploits, when, in- vigorated by a hundred nightly Soma sacrifices, he slew with ice the watery demon of darkness, shattered his hundred autumnal forts, released the waters or the seven rivers up- stream to go along their aerial way and brought out the sun and the dawn, or the cows, from their place of confinement inside the rocky caves, where they had stood still since the date of the war, which, according to a Vedic passage, hitherto misread and misunderstood, commenced in higher latitudes every year on the 40th day of Sharad or autumn and lasted till the end of winter. It is not contended that Indra had never been the god of rain. There are a few passages in the Ṛig- Veda (IV, 26, 2; VIII, 6, 1), where he is expressly mentioned as sending down rain, or is compared to a rain-god. But as Vṛitra-han or the killer of Vṛitra and the releaser of waters and the dawn, it is impossible to identify him with the god of rain. The story of the release of captive waters is an ancient story; for Vṛitra appears as Orthros in the Greek mytho- logy, and Vṛitra-han, as Verethragna, is the god of victory in the Parsi scriptures. Now this Vṛitra-han may not have been originally the same as Indra, for the word Indra does not occur in European Aryan languages, and it has, therefore, been suggested by some comparative mythologians that the con- quest of waters, which was originally the exploit of some other

296 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. Aryan deity, was probably ascribed to Indra in the Vedic my- thology, when Indra become the principal deity in the Vedic pantheon. The fact that Tishtrya, and not Verethraghna, is said to be the releaser of waters and light in the Avesta, lends some support to this theory. But whichever view we adopt, it does not affect the conclusion we have come to above regarding the true explanation of the Vṛitra legend. Clouds and rain cannot constitute the physical basis of the legend, which is evidently based on the simple phenomenon of bringing light to the people who had anxiously waited for it during the darkness of the long night in the Arctic regions; and it is a pity that any misconception regarding Vedic cosmography, or the nature of waters and their cosmic movements, should have, for sometime at least, stood in the way of the true inter- pretation of this important legend. Indra may have be- come a storm-god afterwards; or the conquest over Vṛitra, originally achieved by some other deity, may have come to be ascribed to Indra, the rain-god in later times. But whether the exploits of Vṛitra-han were subsequently ascrib- ed to Indra, or whether Indra, as the releaser of captive waters, was afterwards mistaken for the god of rain, like Tishtrya in the Avesta, one fact stands out boldly amidst all details, viz., that captive waters were the aerial waters in the nether world, and that their captivity represented the annual struggle between light and darkness in the original home of the Aryans in the Arctic region; and if this fact was not hitherto discovered, it was because our knowledge of the ancient man was too meagre to enable us to perceive it properly.

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VṚITRA TRIUMPHANT. ( WATERS AND THE SUN CONFINED. )

1. Varuṇa's tree. 2. Waters.

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VṚITRA SLAIN. (WATERS AND THE SUN SET FREE TO MOVE.) 3. Vṛitra, as a Serpent. 4. The Sun.

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CHAPTER X. VEDIC MYTHS--THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. Vernal theory and the legends of the Ashvins--The part played by the Ashvins in the struggle for waters and light--Intelli- gible only on the Arctic theory--Their exploits and legends-- Saving or rejuvenating, rescuing from the ocean, or restoring the eye-sight or light, to Chyavâna, Rebha, Bhujyu, Atri Vandana &c.--All explained at present as referring to the rescue of the daily dawn or the vernal restoration of the powers of the winter sun--But the theory fails to explain references to blindness or darkness in several legends--Nor does it account for the duration of the distress of the Ashvins' proteges--Nor for the character of the place of distress from which the proteges were saved--Bottomless and dark ocean really means the nether world--A bowl with bottom up and mouth downwards indicates the inverted hemisphere of the Hades--Legend of Rijrâshva--The slaughter of a hundred sheep represents the conversion of a hundred days into so many nights--The story of Saptavadhri or the seven eunuchs, praying for safe delivery after ten months of gestation --Remains unexplained up to the present--The interior of heaven and earth is conceived in the Veda as the womb in which the sun moves when above the horizon--Ten months' gestation thus represents the ten months when the Sun is above the horizon--Prayer for safe delivery indicates the perils of the long night--Riddle or paradox of a child becom- ing invisible as soon as born--The story of the hidden Agni refers to the same phenomenon--Probable origin of the Purânic story of Kumâra or Kârttikeya--Superiority of the Arctic over the vernal theory in explaining the legends of the Ashvins--The legend of Indra's stealing Sûrya's wheel-- The meaning of dasha-prapitve discussed--Indicates darkness on the completion of ten months--Vishnu's three strides --Different opinions about their nature quoted--Vishnu's strides represent the yearly course of the sun--And his third invisible step represents the nether world--Vishnu's op- probrious name, Shipivishta--Represents the dark or the diseased sun during the long Arctic night--The three abodes of Savitri, Agni and the Ashvins compared to Vishnu's third step--The

298 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. legend of Trita A'ptya--Trita, or the third, represents the third part of the year--The Indo-Germanic origin of the legend-- The Âpas--Their character and nature described--Seven-fold and ten-fold division of things in the Vedic literature-- Various instances of seven-fold and ten-fold division collected --This two-fold division probably due to the seven and ten months' period of sunshine in the Arctic region--The Dâsha- râjna fight--Represents struggle with the ten-fold division of darkness--Brihaspati and his lost wife in the Ṛig-Veda-- The ten non-sacrificing kings and Râvana compared--Mythi- cal element in the Râmâyana probably derived from the Vedic mythology--Hanumân and Vrishâkapi-- Was Râmâyana copied from Homer--Both may have a common source-- Conclusion. THE inadequacy of the Storm theory to explain the legend of Indra and Vṛitra has been fully set forth in the last chapter; and we have seen how a number of points therein, hitherto unintelli- gible, can be explained by the Arctic theory, combined with the true conception of the circulation of aerial waters in the upper and the nether world. We shall now take up the legends that are usually explained on the Vernal theory, and show how, like the Storm theory, it fails to account satisfactorily for the different features of these legends. Such legends are to be found amongst the achievements of the Ashvins, the physicians of the gods. These achievements are summed up, as it were, in certain hymns of the Ṛig-Veda (I, 112; 116; 117; 118), each of which briefly refers to the important exploits of these twin gods. As in the case of Vṛitra, the character of the Ashvins and their exploits are explained by different schools of interpre- ters in different ways. Thus Yâska (Nir. XII, 1) informs us that the two Ashvins are regarded by some as representing Heaven and Earth, by others as Day and Night, or as Sun and Moon; while the Aitihâsikas take them to be two ancient kings, the performers of holy acts. But as before, we propose to examine the legends connected with the Ashvins only according to the naturalistic or the Nairukta school of interpretation. Even in this school there

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 299 are, however, a number of different views held regarding the nature and the character of these two gods. Some believe that the natural basis of the Ashvins must be the morning star, that being the only morning-light visible before fire, dawn and sun; while others think that the two stars in the constellation of Gemini were the original representatives of the twin gods. The achievements of these gods are, however, generally explained as referring to the restoration of the powers of the sun decayed in winter; and an elaborate discussion of the Ashvins' exploits on this theory will be found in the Contributions to the Science of Mythology, (Vol. II, pp. 583-605), by Prof. Max Muller, published a few years ago. It is beyond the scope of this work to examine each one of the different legends connected with the Ashvins, as Prof. Max Muller has done. We are concerned only with those points in the legends which the Vernal or the Dawn theory fails to explain, and which can be well accounted for only by the Arctic theory; and these we now proceed to notice. Now, in the first place, we must refer to the part played by the Ashvins in the great struggle or fight for waters and light, which has been discussed in the previous chapter. The Ashvins are distinctly mentioned in the sacrificial literature as one of the deities connected with the Dawn (Ait. Br. II, 15); and we have seen that a long laudatory song recited by the Hotṛi before sunrise is specially devoted to them. The daughter of Sûrya is also described as having ascended their car (I, 116, 17; 119, 5), and the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa, (IV, 7-9), describes a race run by the gods for obtaining the Âshvina-shastra as a prize; and the Ashvins, driving in a carriage drawn by donkeys, are said to have won it in close competition with Agni, Uṣhas and Indra, who are represented as making way for the Ashvins, on the understanding that after win- ning the race the Ashvins would assign to them a share in the prize. The kindling of the sacrificial fire; the break

300 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. of the dawn, and rise of the sun are again spoken of as occurring simultaneously with the appearance of the Ashvins (I, 157, 1; VII, 72, 4); while in X, 61, 4, the time of their appearance is said to be the early dawn when "darkness still stands amongst the ruddy cows." Their connection with the dawn and their appearance in the interval between dawn and sunrise are thus taken to be clearly established; and whatever theory we may adopt to explain the character of the Ashvins on a physical basis, we cannot lose sight of the fact that they are matutinal deities, bringing on the dawn or the light of the morning along with them. The two epithets which are peculiar to Indra, viz., Vṛitrahan, and Shata-kratu, are applied to them (Vṛitrahantamâ, VIII, 8, 22; Shata-kratû, I, 112, 23); and in I, 182, 2, they are expressly said to possess strongly the qualities of Indra (Indra-tamâ), and of the Maruts (Marut- tamâ) the associates of Indra in his struggle with Vṛitra. Nay, they are said to have protected Indra in his achievements against Namuchi in X, 131, 4. This leaves no doubt about their share in the Vṛitra-fight; and equally clear is their connection with the waters of the ocean. In I, 46, 2, they are called sindhu-mâtarâ, or having the ocean for their mother, and their car is described as turning up from the ocean in IV, 43, 5; while in I, 112, 13, the Ashvins in their car are said to go round the sun in the distant region (parâvati). We also read that the Ashvins moved the most sweet sindhu or ocean, evidently mean- ing that they made the waters of the ocean flow forward (I, 112, 9); and they are said to have made Rasâ, a celestial river, swell full with water-floods, urging to victory the car without the horse (I, 112, 12). They are also the protectors of the great Atithigva and Divodâsa against Shambara; and Kutsa, the favourite of Indra, is also said to have been helped by them (I, 112, 14 and 23). In verse 18 of the same hymn, the Ashvins are addressed as Aṅgirases, and said to have triumphed in their hearts and went

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 301 onwards to liberate the flood of milk; while in VIII, 26, 17, we read that they abide in the sea of heaven (divo arṇave). Taking all these facts together, we can easily see that the Ashvins were the helpers of Indra in his struggle for waters and light; and we now know what that struggle means. It is the struggle between the powers of light and darkness, and the Ashvins, in their character as divine physicians, were naturally the first to help the gods in this distress or afflic- tion. It is true that Indra was the principal actor or hero in this fight; but the Ashvins appear to have stood by him, rendering help whenever necessary, and leading the van in the march of the matutinal deities after the conquest. This cha- racter of the Ashvins is hardly explained by the Vernal theory; nor can it be accounted for on the theory of a daily struggle between light and darkness, for we have seen that the dawn, during which the Âshvina-shastra is recited, is not the evanescent dawn of the tropics. The Arctic theory alone can satisfactorily interpret the facts stated above; and when they are interpreted in this way, it is easy to perceive how the Ashvins are described as having rejuvenated, cured, or rescued a number of decrepit, blind, lame or distressed proteges of theirs in the various legends ascribed to them. The important achievements of the Ashvins have been summed up by Macdonell in his Vedic Mythology (§ 21) as follows:— “The sage Chyavâna, grown old and deserted, they re- leased from his decrepit body; they prolonged his life, restored him to youth, rendered him desirable to his wife and made him the husband of maidens (I, 116, 10 &c). They also re- newed the youth of the aged Kali, and befriended him when he had taken a wife (X, 39, 8; I, 112, 15). They brought, on a car, to the youthful Vimada wives or a wife named Kamadyû (X, 65, 12), who seems to have been the beautiful spouse of Purumitra (I, 117, 20). They restored Vishṇâpû, like a lost

302 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. animal, to the sight of their worshipper Vishvaka, son of Kṛi- shṇa (I, 116, 23; X, 65, 12). But the story most often refer- red to is that of the rescue of Bhujyu, son of Tugra, who was abandoned in the midst of ocean (samudre), or in the water- clouds (udameghe), and who, tossed about in darkness, invoked the aid of the youthful heroes. In the ocean which is without support (anârambhaṇe), they took him home in a hundred-oared (shatâritrâm) ship (I, 116, 5). They rescued him with animated water-tight ships, which traversed the air (antariksha), with four ships, with an animated winged boat, with three flying cars having a hundred feet and six horses. In one passage Bhujyu is described as clinging to a log in the midst of water (arṇaso madhye, I, 182, 7). The sage Rebha stabbed, bound, hidden by the malignant, overwhelmed in waters for ten nights and nine days, abandoned as dead, was by the Ashvins revived and drawn out, as Soma juice is raised with a ladle (I, 116, 24; I, 112, 5). They delivered Vandana from his calamity and restored him to the light of the sun. In I, 117, 5, they are also said to have dug up for Vandana some bright buried gold of new splendour 'like one asleep in the lap of Nir-ṛiti,' or like 'the sun dwelling in darkness.' They suc- coured the sage Atri Sapta-Vadhri, who was plunged in a burning pit by the wiles of a demon, and delivered him from darkness (I, 116, 8; VI, 50, 10). They rescued from the jaws of a wolf a quail (vartikâ), who invoked their aid (I, 112, 8). To Ṛijrâshva, who had been blinded by his cruel father for killing one hundred and one sheep and giving them to a she- wolf to devour, they restored his eyesight at the prayer of the she-wolf (I, 116, 16; 117, 17); and cured Parâvṛij of blind- ness and lameness (I, 112, 8). When Vishpalâ's leg had been cut off in the battle like the wing of a bird, the Ashvins gave her an iron one instead (I, 116, 15). They befriended Gho- shâ when she was growing old in her father's house by giving her a husband (I, 117, 7; X, 39, 3). To the wife of a eunuch