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

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

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 303 (Vadhrimati) they gave a son called Hiraṇya-hasta (I, 116, 13; VI, 62, 7). The cow of Shayu which had left off bearing they caused to give milk (I, 116, 22); and to Pedu they gave a strong swift dragon-slaying steed impelled by Indra which won him unbounded spoils (I, 116, 6)." Besides these there are many other exploits mentioned in I, 112, 116-119; and the Ashvins are described as having saved, helped, or cured a number of other persons. But the above summary is sufficient for our purpose. It will be seen from it that the Ashvins bear the general character of helping the lame, the blind, the distressed, or the afflicted; and in some places a reference to the decayed powers of the sun is discern- ible on the face of the legends. Taking their clue from this indication, many scholars, and among them Prof. Max Muller, have interpreted all the above legends as referring to the sun in winter and the restoration of his power in spring or summer. Thus Prof. Max Muller tells us that Chyavâna is nothing but the falling sun (chyu, to fall), of which it might well be said that he had sunk in the fiery or dark abyss from which the Ashvins are themselves said to come up in III, 39, 3. The Vedic Ṛishis are again said to have betrayed the secret of the myth of Vandana by comparing the treasure dug for him by the Ashvins to the sun 'dwelling in darkness.' Kali is simi- larly taken to represent the waning moon, and Vishpalâ's iron leg, we are told, is the first quarter or pâda of the new moon, called 'iron' on account of his darkness as compared with the golden colour of the full moon. The blindness of Ṛijrâshva is explained on this theory as meaning the blindness of night or winter; and the blind and the lame Parâvṛij is taken to be the sun after sunset or near the winter solstice. The setting sun thrown out of a boat into waters is similarly understood to be the basis of the legend Bhujyu or Rebha. Vadhrimati, the wife of the eunuch, to whom Hiraṇya-hasta or the gold- hand is said to be restored, is, we are further told, nothing

304 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. but the dawn under a different name. She is called the wife of the eunuch because she was separated from the sun during the night. The cow of Shayu, (derived from shî, to lie down) is again said to be the light of the morning sun, who may well be described as sleeping in the darkness from which he was brought forth by the Ashvins for the sake of Vandana. In short, each and every legend is said to be a story of the sun or the moon in distress. The Ashvins were the saviours of the morning-light, or of the annual sun in his exile and dis- tress at the time of the winter solstice; and when the sun becomes bright and brisk in the morning every day, or vigor- ous and triumphant in the spring, the miracle, we are told, was naturally attributed to the physicians of the gods. This explanation of the different legends connected with the Ashvins is no doubt an advance on that of Yâska, who has explained only one of these legends, viz., that of the quail, on the Dawn theory. But still I do not think that all the facts and incidents in these legends are explained by the Vernal theory as it is at present understood. Thus we cannot ex- plain why the proteges of the Ashvins are described as being delivered from darkness on the theory that every affliction or distress mentioned in the legend refers to mere decrease of the power of the sun in winter. Darkness is distinctly referred to when the treasure dug up for Vandana is compared to the "sun dwelling in darkness" (I, 117, 5), or when Bhu- jyu is said to have been plunged in waters and sunk in bottom- less darkness (anârambhaṇe tamasi), or when Atri is said to have been delivered from darkness (tamas) in VI, 50, 10. The powers of the sun are no doubt decayed in winter, and one can easily understand why the sun in winter should be called lame, old, or distressed. But blindness naturally means darkness or tamas (I, 117, 17); and when express references to darkness (tamas) are found in several pass- -ages, we cannot legitimately hold that the story of curing

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 305 the blind refers to the restoration of the decayed powers of the winter sun. The darkness referred to is obviously the real darkness of the night ; and on the theory of the daily strug- gle between light and darkness we shall have to suppose that these wonders were achieved every day. But as a matter of fact they are not said to be performed every day, and Vedic scholars have, therefore, tried to explain the legends on the theory of the yearly exile of the sun in winter. But we now see that in the latter case references to blindness or darkness remain unintelligible ; and as the darkness is often said to be of several days' duration, we are obliged to infer that the legends refer to the long yearly darkness, or, in other words, they have for their physical basis the disappearance of the sun below the horizon during the long night of the Arctic region. The Vernal theory cannot again explain the different periods of time during which the distress experienced by the Ashvins' proteges is said to have lasted. Thus Rebha, who was overwhelm- ed in waters, is said to have remained there for ten nights and nine days (I, 116, 24); while Bhujyu, another worshipper of theirs, is described as having been saved from being drowned in the bottomless sea or darkness, where he lay for three days and three nights (I, 116, 4). In VIII, 5, 8, the Ashvins are again described as having been in the parāvat or distant region for three days and three nights. Prof. Max Muller, agreeing with Benfey, takes this period, whether of ten or three days, as representing the time when the sun at the winter solstice seems bound and to stand still (hence called solstice), till he jumps up and turns back. But ten days is too long a period for the sun to stand still at the winter solstice, and even Prof. Max Muller seems to have felt the difficulty, for immediately after the above explanation he remarks that "whether this time lasted for ten or twelve nights would have been difficult to settle even for more experien- ced astronomers than the Vedic Ṛiṣhis." But even supposing 20

306 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. that the period of ten days may be thus accounted for, the explanation entirely fails in the case of the legend of Dîrghatamas who is said to have grown old in the tenth yuga and rescued by the Ashvins from the torment to which he was subjected by his enemies. I have shown previously that yuga here means a month; and if this is correct, we shall have to suppose that Dîrghatamas, representing the annual course of the sun, stood still at the winter solstice for two months ! The whole difficulty, however, vanishes when we explain the legends on the Arctic theory, for the sun may then be supposed to be below the horizon for any period varying from one to a hundred nights, or even for six months. The third point, left unexplained by the Vernal theory, is the place of distress or suffering from which the proteges are said to have been rescued by the Ashvins. Bhujyu was saved not on land, but in the watery region (apsu) without support (anârambhaṇe) and unillumined (tamasi) by the rays of the sun (I, 182, 6). If we compare this description with that of the ocean said to have been encompassed by Vṛitra, or of the dark ocean which Bṛihaspati is said to have hurled down in II, 23, 18, we can at once recognize them as identical. Both represent the nether world which we have seen is the home of aerial waters, and which has to be crossed in boats by the drowned sun in the Ṛig-Veda or by Hêlios in the Greek mythology. It cannot, there- fore, be the place where the sun goes in winter ; and unless we adopt the Arctic theory, we cannot explain how the proteges of the Ashvins are said to have been saved from being drowned in a dark and bottomless ocean. In VIII, 40, 5, Indra is said to have uncovered the seven-bottomed ocean having a side-opening (jimha-bâram), evidently referring to the fight for waters in the nether world. The same expression (jimha-bâram) is used again in I, 116, 9, where the Ashvins are described as having lifted up a well "with bottom up and opening in the side or downwards;"

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 307 and in I, 85, 11, a well lying obliquely (jimha) is said to have been pushed up by the Ashvins for satisfying the thirst of Gotama. These words and phrases are not properly explained by the commentators, most of whom take them as referring to the clouds. But it seems to me that these phrases more appropriately describe the antepodal region, where every thing is believed to be upside down in relation to the things of this world. Dr. Warren tells us that the Greeks and the Egypt- ians conceived their Hades, or things therein, as turned upside down, and he has even tried to show that the Vedic conception of the nether world corresponds exactly with that of the Greeks and the Egyptians.* The same idea is also found underlying the Hades conception of many other races, and I think Dr. Warren has correctly represented the ancient idea of the antepodal under-world. It was conceived by the ancients as an inverted tub or hemisphere of darkness, full of waters, and the Ashvins had to make an opening in its side and push the waters up so that after ascending the sky they may eventually come down in the form of rain to satisfy the thirst of Gotama. The same feat is attributed to the Ma- ruts in I, 85, 10 and 11, and there too we must interpret it in the same way. The epithets uchchá-budhna (with the bottom up) and jimha-bâra (with its mouth downwards or sidewards), as applied to a well (avata), completely show that something extraordinary, or the reverse of what we usually see, is here intended; and we cannot take them as referring to the clouds, for the well is said to be pushed up (ûrdhvam nunudre) in order to make the waters flow from it hitherward. It may also be observed that in I, 24, 7, the king Varuṇa of hallowed might is said to sustain "erect the Tree's stem, in the bottomless (abudhna) region," and "its rays which are hidden from us have," we are told, "their bottom up and flow downwards (nîchînaḥ)." This description of the region of Varuṇa exactly

• See Paradise Found, pp. 481-82.