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

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.

308 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. corresponds with the conception of the Hades in which every thing is turned upside down. Being regarded as an inverted hemisphere, it is rightly described, from the point of view of persons in this world, as a supportless region with bottom up and mouth downwards; and it was this bottomless darkness. (I, 182, 6), or the bottomless and supportless ocean, in which Bhujyu was plunged, and which he crossed without distress by means of the boats graciously provided by the Ashvins. In the Atharva Veda X, 8, 9, a bowl with mouth inclined or downwards (tiryag-bilaḥ), and bottom upwards (ūrdhva-budhnaḥ) is said to hold within it every form of glory; and there seven Ṛiṣhis, who have been this Mighty One's protectors, are described as sitting to- gether.* The verse occurs also in the Bṛih. Arṇ. Up. II, 3, 3, with the variant arvāg-bilaḥ (with its mouth downwards) for tiryag- bilaḥ, with its mouth inclined) of the Atharva Veda. Yâska (Nir. XII, 38) quotes the verse and gives two interpretations of the same, in one of which the seven Ṛiṣhis are taken to represent the seven rays of the sun, and the bowl the vault above; while in the second the bowl is said to represent the human head with its concave cup-like palate in the mouth. But it seems to me more probable that the description refers to the nether world rather than to the vault above or to the concave human palate. The glory referred to is the same as the Hvarenô of the Parsi scriptures. In the Zamyâd Yasht, this Hvarenô or Glory is said to have thrice departed from Yima and was restored to him once by Mithra, once by Thraêtaona who smote Azi Dahâka, and finally by Keresâspa and Atar, who defeated Azi Dahâka. The fight took place in the sea Vouru-Kasha in the bottom of the deep river, and we have seen that this must be taken to mean the world-surrounding Okeanos. The Hvarenô (Sans. svar) or Glory is properly the light, and one who possessed it reigned

• See Atharva Veda, X, 8, 9, — तिर्यग्बिलश्चमस ऊर्ध्वबुध्नस्तस्मिन्यशो निहितं विश्वरूपम् । तदासते ऋषयः सप्त साकं ये अस्य गोपा महतो बभूवुः ॥

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 309 supreme and one who lost it fell down. Thus "when Yima lost his Glory he perished and Azi Dahâka reigned; as when light disappears, the fiend rules supreme."* It may also be noticed that amongst the persons to whom the glory belonged in ancient days are mentioned the seven Amesha Spentas, all of one thought, one speech and one deed. We have thus a very close resemblance between the glory said to have been placed in a bowl with bottom up and guarded by the seven Ṛiṣhis in the Vedas, and the Hvarenô or the glory mentioned in the Avesta, which once belonged to the seven Amesha Spentas, and which thrice went away from Yima and had to be restored to him by fighting with Azi Dahâka, the Avestic representative of the Ahi Vṛitra, in the sea Vouru- Kasha; and this strengthens our view that the bowl with the bottom up and the mouth downwards is the inverted hemi- sphere of the nether world, the seat of darkness and the home of aerial waters. It was this region wherein Bhujyu was plunged and had to be saved by the intervention of the Ashvins. Now if Bhujyu was plunged in this bottomless darkness and ocean for three nights and three days (I, 116, 4), or Rebha was there for ten nights and nine days (I, 116, 24), it is clear that the period represents a continuous darkness of so many days and nights as stated above; and I think, the story of Ṛijrâshva, or the Red-horse, also refers to the same incident, viz., the continuous darkness of the Arctic region. Ṛijrâshva, that is, the Red-horse, is said to have slaughtered 100 or 101 sheep and gave them to the Vṛiki, or the she-wolf, and his own father being angry on that account is said to have deprived him of his sight. But the Ashvins at the prayer of the she-wolf restored to Ṛijrâshva his eye- sight and thus cured him of his blindness. Prof. Max Muller thinks that the sheep may here mean the stars, which may be said to have been slaughtered by the rising sun. But we have

• See S. B. E. Series, Vol. IV, Introd, p. lxiii.

310 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. seen that the 350 sheep of Hêlios are taken to represent 350 nights, while the corresponding 350 days are said to be re- presented by his 350 oxen. In short, the Greek legend refers to a year of 350 days and a continuous night of ten days ; and the period of 10 nights mentioned in the legend of Rebha well accords with this conception of the ancient Aryan year, infer- red from the story of Hêlios. This resemblance between the two stories naturally leads us to inquire if any clue cannot be found to the interpretation of the legend of Ṛijrâshva in the story of Hêlios ; and when we examine the subject from this point of view, it is not difficult to discover the similarity be- tween the slaughter of sheep by Ṛijrâshva and the consuming of the oxen of Hêlios by the companion of Odysseus. The wolf, as observed by Prof. Max Muller, is generally understood in the Vedic literature to be a representative of darkness and mischief rather than of light, and therefore the slaughter of 100 sheep for him naturally means the conversion of hundred days into nights, producing thereby a continuous darkness for a hundred nights, of 24 hours each. Ṛijrâshva or the Red-sun may well be spoken of as becoming blind during these hundred continuous nights, and eventually cured of his blindness by the Ashvins, the harbingers of light and dawn. The only objection that may be urged against this interpreta- tion is that hundred days should have been described as oxen or cows and not as sheep. But I think, that such nice distinctions cannot be looked for in every myth, and that if hundred days were really converted into so many nights we can well speak of them as "sheep." The slaughter of 100 or 101 sheep can thus be easily and naturally explained on the theory of long continuous darkness, the maximum length of which, as stated in the previous chapter, was one hundred days, or a hundred periods of 24 hours. In short, the legends of the Ashvins furnish us with evidence of three, ten, or a hundred continuous nights in ancient times; and the incidents which

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 311 lead us to this inference, are, at best, but feebly explain- ed by the Vernal or the Dawn theory as at present under- stood. But the most important of the Ashvins' legends, for our purpose, is the story of Atri Saptavadhri. He is described as having been thrown into a burning abyss and extricated from this perilous position by the Ashvins, who are also said to have delivered him from darkness (tamasah) in VI, 50, 10. In I, 117,24, the Ashvins are represented as giving a son called Hirayṇa-hasta, or the Gold-hand, to Vadhrimatī or the wife of a eunuch; while in V, 78, a hymn, whose seer is Saptavadhri himself, the latter is represented as being shut up in a wooden case, from which he was delivered by the Ashvins. Upon this Prof. Max Muller observes, "If this tree or this wooden case is meant for the night, then, by being kept shut up in it he (Saptavadhri) was separated from his wife, he was to her like a Vadhri (eunuch), and in the morning only when delivered by the Ashvins he became once more the husband of the dawn." But the learned Professor is at a loss to ex- plain why Atri, in his character of the nocturnal sun, should be called not only a Vadhri but Ṣaptavadhri, or a seven-eunuch. Vadhri, as a feminine word, denotes a leather strap, and, as pointed out by Prof. Max Muller, Sâyaṇa is of opinion that the word can be used also in the masculine gender (X, 102, 12). The word Saptavadhri may, therefore, denote the sun caught in a net of seven leather straps. But the different incidents in the legend clearly point out that a seven- eunuch, and not a person caught in seven leather straps, is meant by the epithet Saptavadhri as applied to Atri in this legend. It is stated above that a whole hymn (78) of nine verses in the 5th Maṇḍala of the Ṛig-Veda is ascribed to Atri Sapta- vadhri. The deities addressed in this hymn are the Ashvins whom the poet invokes for assistance in his miserable plight. The first six verses of the hymn are simple and intelligible. In the first three, the Ashvins are invoked to come to the

312 THE ARCTIC HOME IN. THE VEDAS. sacrifice like two swans; and in the fourth, Atri, thrown into a pit, is said to have called on them, like a wailing woman, for assistance. The 5th and the 6th verses narrate the story of Saptavadhri, shut up in a tree or a wooden case, whose sides are asked to tear asunder like the side of her who bringeth forth a child. After these six verses come the last three (the hymn containing only nine verses), which describe the delivery of a child that was in the womb for 10 months; and Vedic scholars have not as yet been able to explain what rational connection these three verses could possibly have with the preceding six verses of the hymn.* According to Sâyaṇa, these three verses constitute what is called the Garbhasrâviṇî- upaniṣhad or the liturgy of child-birth; while Ludwig tries to ex- plain the concluding stanzas as referring to the delivery of a child, a subject suggested by the simile of a wailing woman in the 4th verse, or by the comparison of the side of the tree with the side of a parturient woman. It seems, how- ever, extraordinary, if not worse, that a subject, not relevant except as a simile or by way of comparison, should be described at such length at the close of the hymn. We must, therefore, try to find some other explanation, or hold with Sâyaṇa that an irrelevant matter, viz., the liturgy of child-birth, is here inserted with no other object but to make up the number of verses in the hymn. These verses may be literally translated as follows:— “7. Just as the wind shakes a pool of lotuses on all sides, so may your embryo (garbha) move (in your womb), and come out after being developed for ten months (dasha- mâsyah).”

• The last five verses of the hymn are as follows:— वि जिहीष्व वनस्पते योनिः सूषन्त्या इव। श्रुतं मे अश्विना हवं सप्तवध्रिं च मुंचतम् ॥ ५॥ भीताय नाधमानाय ऋषये सप्तवध्रये। मायाभिरश्विना युवं वृक्षं सं च वि चाच- थः ॥ ६ ॥ यथा वातः पुष्करिणीं समिंगयति सर्वतः। एवा ते गर्भ एजतु निरैतु दशमास्यः ॥ ७ ॥ यथा वातो यथा वनं यथा समुद्र एजति । एवा त्वं दशमास्य सहावेहि जरायुणा ॥ ८ ॥ दश मासाञ्छशयानः कुमारो अधि मातरि । निरैतु जीवो अक्षतो जीवो जीवंत्या अधि ॥ ९ ॥

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 313 "8. Just as the wind, just as the forest, just as the sea moves, so O ten-monthed (embryo)! come out with the outer cover (jarâyu)." "9. May the child (kumâra), lying in the mother's (womb) for ten months, come out alive and unhurt, alive for the living mother." These three verses, as observed above, immediately follow the verses where the wooden case is said to be shut and open- ed for Saptavadhri, and naturally they must be taken to refer to, or rather as forming a part of the same legend. But nei- ther the Vernal nor the Dawn theory supplies us with any clue whatsoever to the right interpretation of these verses. The words used present no difficulty. A child full-grown in the womb for ten months is evidently intended, and its safe delivery is prayed for. But what could this child be ? The wife of the eunuch Vadhrimatî is already said to have got a child Hiranya- hasta through the favour of the Ashvins. We cannot, therefore, suppose that she prayed for the safe delivery of a child, nor can Saptavadhri be said to have prayed for the safe delivery of his wife, who never bore a child to him. The verses, or rather their connection with the story of Saptavadhri told in the first six verses of the hymn, have, therefore, remained unexplained up to the present day, the only explanations hitherto offered being, as observed above, either utterly unsatisfactory or rather no explanations at all. The whole mystery is, however, cleared up by the light thrown upon the legend by the Arctic theory. The dawn is sometimes spoken of in the Ṛig-Veda as producing the sun (I, 113, 1; VII. 78, 3). But this dawn cannot be said to have borne the child for ten months; nor can we suppose that the word dasha-mâsyaḥ (of ten months), which is found in the 7th and the 8th, and the phrase dasha mâsân found in the 9th verse of the hymn were used without any specific meaning or intention. We must, therefore, look for some other

314 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. explanation, and this is supplied by the fact that the sun is said to be pre-eminently the son of Dyāvā-pṛithivī, or simply of Dyu in the Ṛig-Veda. Thus in X, 37, 1, the sun is called divas-putra or the son of Dyu, and in I, 164, 33, we read, " Dyu is the father, who begot us, our origin is there ; this great Earth is our parent mother. The father laid the daughter's embryo (garbham) within the womb of the two wide bowls (uttānayoḥ chamvoḥ)''. In the preceding verse, we have, " He (the sun) yet enveloped in his mother's womb, having various off springs, has gone into the (region of) Nir-ṛiti"; and further that "he, who had made him, does not know of him ; surely is he hidden from those who saw him." In I, 160, 1, we similarly find that "These Heaven and Earth, bestowers of prosperity and all, the wide sustainers of the regions, the two bowls of noble birth, the holy ones: between these two goddesses, the refulgent sun-god travels by fixed decrees." These passages clearly show (1) that the sun was conceived as a child of the two bowls, Heaven and Earth, (2) that the sun moved like an embryo in the womb, i. e., the interior of heaven and earth, and (3) that after moving in this way in the womb of the mother for some time, and producing various offsprings, the sun sank into the land of desolation (Nir- ṛiti), and became hidden to those that saw him before. Once the annual course of the sun was conceived in this way, it did not require any great stretch of imagination to represent the drop- ping of the sun into Nir-ṛiti as an exit from the womb of his mother. But what are we to understand by the phrase that 'he moved in the womb for ten months'? The Arctic theory explains this point satisfactorily. We have seen that Dīr- ghatamas was borne on waters for ten months, and the Da- shagvas are said to have completed their sacrificial session during the same period. The sun can, therefore, be very well described, while above the horizon for ten months, as mov- ing in the womb of his mother, or between heaven and earth.

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 315 for ten months. After this period, the sun was lost, or went out of the womb into the land of desolation, there to be shut up as in a wooden case for two months. The sage Atri, therefore, rightly invokes the Ashvins for his deliverance from the box and also for the safe delivery of the child, i. e., himself, from the womb of his mother after ten months. In the Atharva Veda XI, 5, 1, the sun, as a Brahmachârin, is said to move between heaven and earth, and in the 12th verse of the same hymn we are told that "Shouting forth, thundering, red, white he carries a great penis (bṛihach-chhepas) along the earth." If the sun moving between heaven and earth is called bṛihach-chhepas he may well be called Vadhri (eunuch), when sunk into the land of Nir-ṛiti. But Prof. Max Muller asks us, why he should be called Sapta- vadhri or a seven-eunuch ? The explanation is simple enough. The heaven, the earth and the lower regions are all conceived as divided seven-fold in the Ṛig-Veda, and, when the ocean or the waters are described as seven-fold (sapta-budhnam arṇavam, VIII, 40, 5; sapta âpaḥ X, 104, 8), or when we have seven Dânus or demons, mentioned in X, 120, 6, or when Indra is called saptâ- han or the seven-slayer (X, 49, 8), or Vritra is said to have seven forts (I, 63, 7), or when the cowstead (vraja), which the two Ashvins are said to have opened in X, 40, 8, is described as saptâsya, the sun, who is bṛihach-chhepas and seven-rayed or seven-horsed (V, 45, 9) while moving between heaven and earth, may very well be described as Saptavadhri or seven-eunuch when sunk into the land of Nir-ṛiti or the nether world of bottomless darkness from which he is eventually released by the Ashvins. The last three verses of V, 78, can thus be logically connected with the story of Saptavadhri mentioned in the immediately preceding verses, if the period of ten months, during which the child moves in the mother's womb, is taken to represent the period of ten months' sunshine followed by the long night of two months; the existence

316 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. of which we have established by independent Vedic evidence. The point has long remained unexplained, and it is only by the Arctic theory that it can be now satisfactorily accounted for. In connection with this subject it is necessary to refer to a riddle or a paradox, which arises out of it. The sun was supposed to move in the womb of his mother for ten months and then to drop into the nether world. In other words, as soon as he came out of the womb, he was invisible; while in ordinary cases a child becomes visible as soon as it is brought into the world after ten months of gestation. Here was an idea, or rather an apparent contradiction between two ideas, which the Vedic poets were not slow to seize upon, and evolve a riddle out of it. Thus we have seen above (I, 164, 32) that the sun is described as being invisible to one who made him, evidently meaning his mother. In V, 2, 1, we again meet with the same riddle; for it says, "Young mother carries in secret the boy confined; she does not yield him to the father. People do not see before them his fading face, laid down with the Arâti."* In I, 72, 2, we further read, "All the clever immortals did not find the calf though sojourning round about us. The attentive (gods), wearying themselves, following his foot-steps, stood at the highest beautiful standing p'ace of Agni;" and the same idea is expressed in I, 95, 4, which says, "Who amongst you has understood this secret? The calf has by itself given birth to its mother. The germ of many, the great seer moving by his own strength comes forward from the lap of the active one (apasâm)." It is the story of the hidden Agni, who is described in X, 124, 1, as having long (jyok) resided in *See Oldenberg's Vedic Hymns, S. B. E. Series, Vol. XLVI, pp. 366-68. The first two verses of the hymn are:—कुमारं माता युवतिः समु- ब्धं गुहा बिभर्ति न ददाति पित्रे। अनीकमस्य न मिनज्जनासः पुरः पश्यंति नि- हितमरतौ ॥ १ ॥ कमेतं त्वं युवते कुमारं पेषी बिभर्षि महिषी जजान । पूर्वीर्हि गर्भः शरदो ववर्धापश्यं जातं यदसूत माता ॥ २ ॥

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 317 the long darkness (dîrgham tamaḥ), and who eventually comes- out as the child of waters (apâm napât, I, 143, 1). The epithet apâm napât as applied to Agni is usually explained as referring to the lightening produced from the clouds, but this explanation does not account for the fact of his long residence in darkness. The puzzle or the riddle is, however, satisfactorily solved by the Arctic theory, combined with the cosmic circulation of aerial waters. The sun, who moves in the interior of heaven and earth for ten months, as in the womb of his mother, naturally suggested to the Vedic poets the parallel idea of the period of ten months' gestation; but the wonder was that while a child is visible to all as soon as it is born, the sun became invisible just at the time when he came out of the womb. Where did he go? Was he locked up in a wooden chest or bound down with leather straps in the region of waters? Why did the mother not present him to the father after he was safely de- livered? Was he safely delivered? These questions natural- ly arise out of the story, and the Vedic poets appear to take delight in reverting again and again to the same paradox in different places. And what applies to Sûrya or the sun ap- plies to Agni as well; for there are many passages in the Ṛig- Veda where Agni is identified with the sun. Thus Agni is said to be the light of heaven in the bright sky, waking at dawn, the head of heaven (III, 2, 14), and he is described as having been born on the other side of the air in X, 187, 5. In the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa (VIII, 28), we are further told that the sun, when setting, enters into Agni and is reproduced from the latter; and the same identification appears to be alluded to in the passages from the Ṛig-Veda, where Agni is said to unite with the light of the sun or to shine in heaven (VIII, 44, 29). The story of concealing the child after ten months of gestation whether applied to Agni or to Sûrya is thus only a different version of the story of the disappearance of the sun from the upper hemisphere after ten months of sunshine.

318 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. But what became of the child (Kumâra) which disappeared in this way? Was he lost for ever or again restored to his parents? How did the father or even the mother obtain the child so lost? Some one must bring the child to them, and this task seems to have been entrusted to the Ṛibhus or the Ashvins in the Ṛig-Veda. Thus in I, 110, 8, the Ṛibhus are said to have united the mother with the calf, and in I, 116, 13, the Ashvins are described as giving to Vadhrimati a child called Hiraṇya-hasta. The story of restoring Vishṇâpu to Vishvaka (I, 117, 7) and of giving milk to Shayu's cow probably refer to the same phenomenon of bringing back the morning sun to the parents; and from this it is but a small step to the story of Kumâra (lit., a child), one of the names of Kârttikeya in the Purâṇas. It was this Kumâra, or the once hidden (guha), or dropped (skanda) Child, rising along with the seven rivers or mothers (VIII, 96, 1) in the morning, that led the army of gods or light and walked victoriously along the Devayâna path. He was the leader of days, or the army of gods; and as Maruts were the allies of Indra in his conflict with Vṛitra, Kumâra or the Child, meaning the morning sun, may, by a turn of the mythological kaleidoscope, be very well called a son of Rudra, the later representative of the Maruts; or said to be born of Agni, who dwelt in waters; or described as the son of seven or six Kṛittikâs. As the morning sun has to pierce his way up through the apertures of Albûrz, tempo- rarily closed by Vṛitra, this Kumâra can again be well termed Krauñcha-dâraṇa, or the piercer of the Krauñcha mountain, an epithet applied to him in the Purâṇas.* But we are not here concerned with the growth which Kumâra, or the child of the

1. For a further devlopment of the idea see Mr. Nârâyan Aiyan- gâr's Essays on Indo-Aryan Mythology, Part II, pp.57–80. In the light of the Arctic theory we may have to modify some of Mr. Aiyangâr's views. Thus out of the seven rivers or mothers, which bring on the light of the sun, one may be regarded as his real mother and the other six as stepmothers.

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 319 morning, attained in later mythology. We took up the legends of the Ashvins with a view to see if there were any incidents in them which became intelligible only on the Arctic theory, and the foregoing examination of the legends shows that we have not searched in vain. The expression dasha-mâsya in the leg- end of Sapta-vadhri and dashame yuge in that of Dîrgha- tamas directly indicate a period of ten months' sunshine, and we have seen that three, ten, or a hundred continuous nights are also referred to directly or metaphorically in some of these legends. We have again such expressions as "the sun sleep- ing in darkness or in the lap of Nir-ṛiti," which show that actual and not metaphorical darkness was intended. In short, the sun, sunk in the nether world of waters and darkness, and not merely a winter sun, is the burden of all these legends, and the achievements of the Ashvins refer to the rescue of the sun from the dark pit of the nether world or from the bottom- less ocean or darkness. The Vernal and Arctic theories are both solar in character, and in either case the legends are interpreted on the supposition that they represent some solar phenomenon. But the Arctic theory does not stop with the decay of the sun's power in winter, but goes a step further in making the long darkness of the circum-polar region, the natural basis of many important Vedic legends; and the fore- going discussion of the myths of the Ashvins clearly shows that a wider basis, like the one supplied by the Arctic theory, was not only desirable but necessary for a proper explanation of these legends—a fact, which, in its turn, further corro- borates and establishes the new theory.

The Sûrya's Wheel.

We have already discussed the legends of the seven Âdi- tyas with their still-born brother, and shewn that it represents seven months of sunshine in the ancient Aryan home. But this is not the only period of sunshine in the Arctic region,

320 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. where, according to latitude, the sun is above the horizon from 6 to 12 months. The sacrificial session of the Navagvas and the Dashagvas thus lasted for nine or ten months, and amongst the Ashvins' legends, that of Saptavadhri is just shown to have been based on the phenomenon of ten months' sunshine. Is there any legend of Sûrya in the Ṛig-Veda, which refers to this phenomenon?—is the question we have now to consider. The statement that ten horses are yoked to the carriage of the sun has been shewn to point out to a period of ten months' sunshine; but the legend of Indra's stealing the wheel of the sun is still more explicit. To understand it properly we must, however, first see in what relation Indra generally stands to Sûrya. It has been shown in the last chapter, that Indra is the chief hero in the fight between the powers of light and darkness. It is he, who causes the sun to rise with the dawn, or makes the sun to shine (VIII, 3, 6; VIII, 98, 2) and mount the sky (I, 7, 3). The sun, it is further stated, (III, 39, 5), was dwelling in darkness, where Indra, accompanied by the Dashagvas found him and brought him up for man. It is Indra again who makes a path for the sun (X, III, 3), and fights with the demons of darkness in order to gain back the light of the morning. In short, Indra is everywhere described as a friend and helper of Sûrya, and yet the Ṛig-Veda men- tions a legend in which Indra is said to have taken away or stolen the wheel of Sûrya and thus vanquished him (I, 175, 4; IV, 30, 4; V, 31, 11; X, 43, 5). It has been supposed that the legend may refer either to the obscuration of the sun by a storm-cloud, or to his diurnal setting; but the former is too un- certain an event to be made the basis of a legend like the pre- sent, nor can a cloud be said to be brought on by Indra, while we have no authority to assume, as presupposed in the latter case, that the legend refers to the daily setting of the sun. We must, therefore, examine the legend a little more closely, and see if we can explain it in a more intelligible way. Now

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 321 Sûrya's chariot is described in the Ṛig-Veda as having but one wheel (I, 164, 2), though the wheel is said to be seven-fold ; and in the later mythology it is distinctly stated that the chariot of the sun is eka-chakra or a monocycle. If this wheel is taken away, the progress of the sun must cease, bringing everything to a dead lock. It seems, however, that the wheel of the sun means the sun himself in the present legend. Thus in I, 175, 4, and IV, 30, 4, the phrase used is sûryam chakram, evidently meaning that the solar orb itself is conceived as a wheel. When this wheel is said to be stolen, we must, there- fore, suppose that the sun himself was taken away, and not that one of the two wheels of his carriage was stolen, leaving the carriage to run on one wheel as best as it could. What did Indra do with this solar wheel, or the sun himslf, which he stole in this way ? We are told that he used solar rays as his weapon to kill or burn the demons (VIII, 12, 9). It is, there- fore, clear that the stealing of the solar wheel and the conquest over the demons are contemporaneous events. Indra's fight with the demons is mainly for the purpose of regaining light, and it may be asked how Indra can be described to have used the solar orb as a weapon of attack for the purpose of regaining Sûrya that was lost in darkness ? For it amounts to saying that the solar orb was used as a weapon in recovering the sun himself, which was believed to be lost in darkness. But the difficulty is only apparent and is due to the modern notions of light or darkness. Sûrya and darkness, according to the modern notions, cannot be supposed to exist in the same place ; but the Ṛig-Veda distinctly speaks of " the sun dwelling in darkness " in two places at least (III, 39, 5 ; I, 117, 5) ; and this can be explained only on the supposition that the Vedic bards believed that the sun was deprived of his lustre when he sank below the horizon, or that his lustre was temporarily obscured during his struggle with the demons of darkness. It is impossible to explain the expression tamasi kshiyantam 21

322 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. (dwelling in darkness) on any other theory; and if this explanation is accepted, it is not difficult to understand how the solar orb could be said to be utilized by Indra in vanquishing the demons and regaining the morning light. In other words, Indra helps the sun in destroying the obs- truction which marred or clouded his lustre, and when this obstruction is removed the sun regains his light and rises up from the nether ocean. Indra is, therefore, correctly described in IV, 17, 14, as having stopped the wheel öf the sun, and, turning it round, flung it into the concealing darkness at the bottom of rajas or in the nether world of darkness. But the passage important for our purpose is VI, 31, 3. It reads as follows:— Tvam Kutsena abhi Shuṣhṇam Indra Ashuṣhaṁ yudhya Kuyavam gaviṣhṭau । Daśha prapitve adha Sūryasya mushāyas chakram avive rapāṁsi ॥ The first half of the verse presents no difficulty. It means "O Indra! in the striving for the cows, do you, with Kutsa, fight against Shuṣhṇa, the Ashuṣha and the Kuyava."* Here Ashuṣha and Kuyava are used as adjectives to Shuṣhṇa and mean 'the voracious Shuṣhṇa, the bane of the crops." The second hemistich, however, is not so simple. The last phrase avive-rapāṁsi is split in the Pada text as aviveḥ and rapāṁsi, which means "destroy calamities or mischiefs (rapāṁsi)." But Prof. Oldenberg proposes to divide the phrase as aviveḥ and apāṁsi, in confirmity with IV, 19, 10, and translates, "Thou hast manifested thy manly works (apāṁsi)."† It is not, however, necessary for our present purpose to examine the re- lative merits of these two interpretations; and we may, there- fore, adopt the older of the two, which translates the phrase as meaning, "Thou hast destroyed calamities or mischiefs,

• See Ṛig. VI, 31, 3,—त्वं कुत्सेनाभि शुष्णमिंद्राशुषं युध्य कुयवं गविष्टौ । दश प्रपित्वे अध सूर्यस्य मुषायश्चक्रमविवेरपांसि ॥ † See Oldenberg's Vedic Hymns, S.B.E. Series, Vol. XLVI, p. 69.

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 323 (Arapāṁsi)." Omitting the first two words, viz., dasha and pra- pitve, the second hemistich may, therefore, be rendered, "Thou hast stolen the wheel of Sûrya and hast destroyed calamities." We have now to ascertain the meaning of dasha prapitve. Sâyaṇa takes dasha as equivalent to adashaḥ (lit., bittest, from daṁsh, to bite), and prapitve to mean "in the battle" —and translates, "Thou bittest him in the battle." But this is evidently a forced meaning, and one that does not harmonise with other passages, where the same legend is describ- ed. Thus in IV, 16, 12, we are told that Shuṣhṇa was killed at ahnaḥ prapitve, and the last phrase evidently denotes the time when Shuṣhṇa was defeated; while in V, 31, 7, Indra is described as having checked the wiles of Shuṣhṇa by reaching prapitvam. By the side of the expression dasha prapitve, we thus have two more passages in the Ṛig-Veda, referring to the same legend, and in one of which Shuṣhṇa is said to be killed at the prapitva of the day (ahnaḥ prapitve), while in the other, the wiles of the demon are said to be checked by Indra on reaching prapitvam. The three expressions, dasha prapitve, ahnaḥ prapitve, and Prapitvam yan, must, therefore, be taken to be synonymous; and whatever meaning we assign to prapitve, it must be applicable to all the three cases. The word prapitve is used several times in the Ṛig-Veda, but scholars are not agreed as to its mean- ing. Thus Grassmann gives two meanings of prapitva. The first denoting "advance," and the second "the beginning of the day." According to him ahnaḥ prapitve means "in the morning" (IV, 16, 12). But he would render prapitvam yan simply by "advancing." In VI, 31, 3, he would also take prapitve as meaning "in the morning." The word prapitve also occurs in I, 189, 7, and there Prof. Olden- berg translates it by "at the time of the advancing day," and quotes Geldner in support thereof. Sâyaṇa in VIII, 4, 3, translates âpitve by 'friendship' and prapitve by 'having ac- quired,' (cf. Nir. III, 20). Under these circumstances it is, I

324 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS. think, safer to ascertain the meaning of prapitve direct from those Vedic passages where it occurs in contrast with other words. Thus in VII, 41, 4, (Vâj. Sam, XXXIV, 37) and VIII, 1, 29, we find prapitve very distinctly contrasted with madhye (the middle) and uditâ (the beginning) of the day; and in both these places prapitve can mean nothing but 'the decline or the end of the day.'* Mahîdhara, on Vâj. Sam. XXXIV, 37, explains prapitve as equivalent to prapatane or astamaye, meaning "the decline, fall, or end of the day." Adopting this meaning, the phrase ahnaḥ prapitve ni barhîḥ, in IV, 16, 12, would then mean that Shuṣhṇa was killed 'when the day had declined.' Now if Shuṣhṇa was killed when the day had de- clined the phrase dasha prapitve ought to be, by analogy, inter- preted in the same way. But it is difficult to do so, so long as dasha is separated from prapitve, as is done in the Pada text. I propose, therefore, that dasha-prapitve be taken as one word, and interpreted to mean "at the decline of the ten," meaning that Shuṣhṇa was killed at the end or completion of ten (months). In I, 141, 2, the phrase dasha-pramatim is taken as a compound word in the Pada text, but Oldenberg, following the Petersberg Lexicon, splits it into dasha and pra- matim. I propose to deal exactly in the reverse way with the phrase dasha prapitve in the passage under consideration, and translate the verse thus:—"O Indra! in the striving for cows do thou, with Kutsa, fight against Shuṣhṇa, the Ashuṣha and Kuyava. On the decline (or the completion) of the ten (scil. months), thou stolest the wheel of Sûrya and didst destroy cala- mities (or, according to Oldenberg, manifest manly works)." The passage thus becomes intelligible, and we are not required

• Ṛig. VII, 41, 4,—उतेदानीं भगवंतः स्यामोत प्रपित्व उत मध्ये अह्नां । उतोदिता मघवन्सूर्यस्य वयं देवानां सुमतौ स्याम ॥ Ṛig. VIII, 1, 29—मम त्वा सूर उदिते मम मध्यंदिने दिवः। मम प्रपित्वे अपिशर्वरे वसवा स्तोमासो अवृत्सत ॥ These two passages clearly prove that prapitve, used with reference to the day, denotes decline or the termination thereof.