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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 unintelligible, 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 interpreters 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 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 |
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decayed-in winter; and an elaborate discussion of the Ashvins’s exploits on this theory will be found in the Contributions to the Science of Mythology (Vol. II, pp. 583-605) by Prof, Max Müller, 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 Müller 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 winning the race the Ashvins would assign to them a share in the prize. The kindling of the sacrificial fire, the break of 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 |
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to Indra, viz. Vṛitrahan and Shata-kratû are applied to them (Vṛtrahantamâ, 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 meaning 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 favorite of Indra, is also said Co 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 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 affliction. 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 character of the Ashvins is hardly explained by the Vernal theory; nor can it be accounted for on the theory of a daily struggle |
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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 protégés 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 released from his decrepit body; 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 renewed 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 Viṣhṇâpû like a lost animal, to the sight of their worshipper Vishvaka, son of Kṛiṣhṇa (I, 116, 23; X, 65, 12). But the story most often referred 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 (antarikṣha), 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 |
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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 splendor ‘like one asleep in the lap of Nir-ṛiti’ or like ‘the sun dwelling in darkness.’ They succoured 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 blindness 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 Ghoṣhâ 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 (Vadhrimatî) 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 discernible on the face of the legends. Taking their clue from this indication, many scholars, and among them Prof. Max Müller, have interpreted all the above legends as referring to the sun in winter and the restoration of his power in spring or summer. Thug, Prof. Max Müller 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 Ashhvins are themselves said to come up in III, 39, 3. |
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The Vedic Ṛiṣhis 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 similarly 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 color 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 but the dawn under a different name. She is called the wife of the eunuch because she was separated from thee 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 saviors of the morning-light, or of the annual sun in his exile and distress at the time of winter solstice; and when the sun becomes bright and brisk in the morning every day, or vigorous 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 explain why the protégés 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 |
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the treasure dug up for Vandana is compared to the “sun dwelling in darkness” (I, 117, 5), or when Bhujyu is said to have been plunged in waters and sunk in bottomless 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 passages, we cannot legitimately hold that the story of curing 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 struggle 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’ protégés is said to have lasted. Thus Rebha, who was overwhelmed 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 parâvat or distant region for three days and three nights. Prof. Max Müller, agreeing with Benfey, takes this period, whether of ten or three days, as representing the time when |
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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 Müller 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 experienced astronomers than the Vedic Ṛiṣhis.” But even supposing 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 protégés 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 then 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, therefore, be the place where the sun goes in winter; and unless we adopt the Arctic theory, we cannot explain how the protégés of the Ashvins are said to have been saved from being drowned in a |
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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,” and in 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 Egyptians 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 Maruts in I, 85, 10 and 11 and there too we must interpret it in the same way. The epithets uchchâ-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. * See Paradise Found, pp. 481-82. |
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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 ire hidden from us have, we are told, “their bottom up and flow downwards (nîchînâḥ).” This description of the region of Varuṇa exactly 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 support. less 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 (ûrdhva-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 together. The verse occurs also in the Bṛih. Arṇ. Up. II, 3, 3, with the variant arvâg-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 Hvareno 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. * See Atharva Veda, X, 8, 9. |
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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. swar) or Glory is properly the light, and one who possessed it reigned 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 Hvareno 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 Vṭitra, in the sea Vouru-Kasha; and this strengthens our view that the bowl with the bottom up and the mouth downwards is the inverted hemisphere 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 * See S. B. E. Series, Vol. IV, Introd., p. lxiii. |
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and thus cured him of his blindness. Prof. Max Müller thinks that the sheep may here mean the stars, which may be said to have been slaughtered by the rising sun. But we have seen that the 350 sheep of Helios are taken to represent 350 nights, while the corresponding 350 days are said to be represented 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, inferred from the story of Helios. 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 Helios; and when we examine the subject from this point of view, it is not difficult to discover the similarity between the slaughter of sheep by Ṛijrâshva and the consuming of the oxen of Helios by the companion of Odysseus. The wolf, as observed by Prof. Max Müller, 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 interpretation 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 34 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 |
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lead us to this inference, are, at best, but feebly explained by the Vernal or the Dawn theory as at present understood. 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 (tamasaḥ) in VI, 50, 10. In I, 117, 24, the Ashvins are represented as giving a son called Hiraṇya-hasta, or the Gold-hand, to Vadhrimati 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 Müller observes, “If this tree or this wooden case is mean 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 explain why Atri, in his character of the nocturnal sun, should be called not only a Vadhri but Saptavadhri, or a seven-eunuch. Vadhri, as a feminine word, denotes a leather strap and as pointed out by Prof. Max Müller, 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 Saptavadhri. 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 sacrifice like two swans; and in the forth, Atri, thrown into a pit, is said to have called on then, like a wailing |
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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 explain 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, however, 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-mâsyaḥ).” “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).” |
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“9. May the child (kumâra), lying in the mother’s (womb) for ten months, cone 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 opened for Saptavadhri, and naturally they must be taken to refer to, or rather as forming a part of the same legend. But neither 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 Vadhrimati is already said to have got a child Hiraṇya-hasta through the favor 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 explanation, and this is supplied by the fact that the sun is said to be pre-eminently the son of Dyâvâ pṛithivi, 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 |
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great Earth is our parent mother. The father laid the daughter’s embryo (garbham) within the womb of the two wide bowls (uttânayoḥ chamvoḥ).” In the proceeding 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 rafulgent 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 this womb of the mother for some time, and producing various off-springs, 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 dropping 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 Dîrghatamas was borne on waters for ten months, and the Dashagvas 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 moving in the womb of his mother, or between heaven and earth 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 of his mother after ten months. In the Atharva Veda XI, 5, 1, |
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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 (bṛîhach-chhepas) along the earth.” If the sun moving between heaven and earth is called bṛîhach-chhepas he may well be called Vadri (eunuch), when sunk into the land of Nir-ṛiti. But Prof. Max Müller asks us, why he should be called Saptavadhri 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 aṛnavam, 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 sapta-han or the seven-slayer (X, 49, 8), or Vṛitra 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 bṛîhach-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 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 |
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into the world after ten months of gestation. Here, was art 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) wearing themselves, following his foot-steps, stood at the highest beautiful standing place 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 the long darkness (dirgham 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 * See Oldenberg’s Vedic Hymns, S. B. E. Series, Vol. XLVI, pp. 366-68. |
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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 delivered? Was he safely delivered? These questions naturally 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 applies 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. 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 Viṣhṇâpu 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 |
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(skanda) Chili, 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, Kumara 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, temporarily 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 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 legend of Sapta-vadhri and dashame yuge in that of Dîrghatamas 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 sleeping 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 * For a further development of the idea see Mr. Nârâyan Aiyangâr’s Essays on Indo-Aryan Mythology, Part I, 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. |
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of the nether world or from the bottomless 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 corroborates and establishes the new theory. We have already discussed the legends of the seven Âdityas with their still-born brother, and shown 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, where, according too 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 shown 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 |
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the Dashagvas found him and brought him up for man. It is Indra again who makes a path for the sun (X, 111, 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 mentions 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 uncertain an event to be made the basis of a legend like the present, 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 Sûrya’s chariot is described in the Ṛig-Veda as having but one wheel (I, 164, 2), though the wheel is said to be sevenfold; 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, therefore, 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 himself, which he stale 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, therefore, 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 |
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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 luster when he sank below the horizon, or that his luster was temporarily obscured during his struggle with the demons of darkness. It is impossible to explain the expression tamasi kshiyantam (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 obstruction which marred or clouded his luster, 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 of 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: —
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 * See Ṛig. VI, 31, 3, — तवं कुत्सेनाभि शुष्णमिन्द्राशुषं युध्य कुयवं गविष्टौ । दश परपित्वे अध सूर्यस्य मुषायश्चक्रमविवेरपांसि ॥ |
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and mean “the voracious Shuṣhṇa, the bane of the crops.” The second hemistich, however, is not so simple. The last phrase avive-rapâṁsi is split in the Pada text as aviveḥ and rapâṁsi, which means “destroy calamities or mischiefs (rapâṁsi). But Prof. Oldenberg proposes to divide the phrase as aviveḥ and apâṁsi, in conformity with IV, 19, 10, and translates, “Thou hast manifested thy manly works (apâṁsi).”* It is not, however, necessary for our present purpose to examine the relative merits of these two interpretations; and we may, therefore, adopt the older of the two, which translates the phrase as meaning, “Thou hast destroyed calamities or mischiefs (rapâṁsi).” Omitting the first two words, viz., dasha and prapitve, 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 dash 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 harmonize with other passages, where the same legend is described. 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 meaning. * See Oldenberg’s Vedic Hymns, S. B. E. Series, Vol. XLVI, p. 69. |
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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. Oldenberg translates it by “at the time of advancing day,” and quotes Geldner in support thereof. Sâyaṇa in VIII, 4, 3, translates âpitve by “friendship” and prapitve by “having acquired,” (cf. Nir. III, 20). Under these circumstances it is I think, safer to ascertain the meaning of prapitve direct from these 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 declined the phrase dasha prapitve ought to be, by analogy, interpreted 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 * Ṛig. VII, 41, 4, — उतेदानीं भगवन्तः सयामोत परपित्व उत मध्ये अह्नाम । उतोदिता मघवन सूर्यस्य वयं देवानां सुमतौ सयाम ॥ Ṛig. VIII, 1, 29, — मम तवा सूर उदिते मम मध्यन्दिने दिवः । मम परपित्वेपिशर्वरे वसवा सतोमासो अव्र्त्सत ॥ These two passages clearly prove that prapitve, used with reference to the day, denotes decline or the termination thereof. |
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Lexicon, splits it into dasha and pramatim. 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 calamities (or, according to Oldenberg, manifest manly works).” The passage thus becomes intelligible, and we are not required to invent a new meaning for dasha and make Indra bite his enemy on the battle-field. If we compare the phrase dasha-prapitve with ahnaḥ-prapitve occurring in IV, 16, 12, and bear in mind the fact that both are used in connection with the legendary fight with Shuṣhṇa we are naturally led to suppose that dasha-prapitve denotes, in all probability, the time of the contest, as anhaḥ-prapitve does in the other passage, and that dasha-prapitve must be taken as equivalent to dashânam prapitve and translated to mean “On the completion of the ten,” which can be done by taking dasha-prapitve as a compound word. The grammatical construction being thus determined, the only question that remains is to decide whether dasha (ten) means ten days or ten months. A comparison with ahnaḥ prapitve may suggest “days”, but the fight with Shuṣhṇa cannot be regarded to have been fought every ten days. It is either annual or daily; and we are thus led to interpret dasha in the compound dasha-prapitve (or dashânâm when the compound is dissolved) as equivalent to ten months in the same way as the numeral dvâdashasya is interpreted to mean “of the twelfth month,” or dvâdashasya mâsasya in VII, 103, 9, The passage thus denotes the exact time when the wheel of the sun, or the solar orb, was stolen by Indra and utilized as a weapon of attack to demolish the demons of darkness. This was done at the end of ten months, or at the end of the Roman year, or at the close of the sacrificial session of the Dashagvas who with India are said to have found the sun dwelling in darkness. The construction of the passage proposed above is not only natural and simple, but |
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the sense it gives is in harmony with the meaning of similar other passages relating to the fight of Shuṣhṇa, and is far more rational than the current meaning which makes Indra bite his enemy in a rustic and unprecedented manner. It is the Pada text that is responsible for the present unnatural meaning; for if it had not split up the phrase dasha and prapitve its correct meaning might not have become so obscure as at present. But the Pada text is not infallible; and even Yâska and Sâyaṇa have adopted amendments in certain cases (cf. I, 105, 18; X, 29, 1; and Nir V, 21; VI, 28), and the same thing has been done rather more freely by Western scholars. We are not therefore, following an untrodden path in giving up the Pada text, especially when the verse is more naturally and intelligently interpreted by taking dasha-prapitve as one compound word. When the verse is so interpreted we get a complete account of the annual course of the sun in the home of the Aryans in ancient days. It was Indra, who caused the sun to rise after his long fight with Vṛitra; and when the sun had shone for ten months, Indra stole the solar orb and took the sun with him into darkness to fight with the demons. That is the meaning of the whole legend; and when it can be so naturally explained only by the Arctic theory, the necessity of the latter becomes at once established. There are a few more Vedic legends which indicate or suggest the Arctic conditions of climate or calendar, and I propose to briefly examine them in this chapter. One of these legends relates to Viṣhṇu and his three long strides, which are distinctly mentioned in several places in the Ṛig-Veda (I, 22, 17, 18; I, 154, 2). Yâska (Nir. XII, 19) quotes the opinion of two older writers regarding the character of these three steps. One of these, viz. Shâkapûṇi holds that the three steps must be placed on the earth, in the atmosphere and in the sky; while Aurṇavâbha thinks that the three steps must be located, one on the hill where the sun rises (samârohaṇa), another on the meridian sky (Viṣhṇu-pada), and the third on the hill |
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of setting (gaya-shiras). Prof. Max Müller thinks that this three-fold stepping of Viṣhṇu is emblematic of the rising, the culminating and the setting of the sun; and Muir quotes a passage from the Râmâyaṇa (IV, 40, 64), which mentions udaya parvata, or the mountain of sun-rise, and says that on the top of it is the peak Saumanasa, the place where Viṣhṇu’s first step was planted. We are then told that his second step was placed on the summit of Meru; and that “when the sun had circled round Jambudvîpa by the north, he is mostly visible on that lofty peak.” It seems, therefore, that according to the Râmâyaṇa the third step of Viṣhṇu was round Jambudvîpa, and was planted after sunset, whatever that may mean. In the Purâṇic literature, Viṣhṇu’s three steps appear as the three steps of Vâmana, the fifth incarnation of Viṣhṇu. Bali, the powerful enemy of the gods, was celebrating a sacrifice, when, assuming the form of a dwarf, Viṣhṇu approached him, and begged for three paces of ground. No sooner the request was granted than Viṣhṇu assumed a miraculous form and occupied the whole earth by the first step and the atmosphere and everything above it with the second. Bali, who was the lord of the universe before, was surprised at the metamorphosis of the dwarf; but had to make good his own word by offering his head for the third step of Vâmana. The offer was accepted and Bali was pressed down under the third step into the nether world, and the empire of the earth and heavens above was again restored to Indra from whom it had been snatched away by Bali. Amongst these various interpretations one thing stands out very clear, viz., that Viṣhṇu represents the sun in one form or another. But Vedic scholars are not agreed as to whether Viṣhṇu’s strides represent the daily or the yearly course of the sun. We must, therefore, carefully examine the Vedic passages relating to Viṣhṇu, and see if any indication is found therein to decide which of these two views is more probable or correct. Now in I, 155, 6, Viṣhṇu is described as setting in motion, like a revolving wheel, his ninety steeds with their four names, evidently referring to 360 days, divided into four groups or |
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seasons of 90 days each. This is good evidence to hold that the yearly course of the sun must be taken as the basis of the exploits of Viṣhṇu. The Ṛig-Veda further tells us that Viṣhṇu was the intimate friend of Indra (yujyaḥ sakhâ, I, 22, 19), and that he assisted Indra in his fight with Vṛitra. Thus in IV, 18, 11, we are told that “Indra about to kill Vṛitra said ‘O friend Viṣhṇu! stride vastly,’ (also cf. VIII, 12, 27)”; and in 1, 156, 4, Viṣhṇu is said to have opened the cows’ stable with the assistance of his friend, while both Indra and Viṣhṇu are described as having together vanquished Shambara, conquered the host of Varchins and produced the sun, dawn and the fire in VII, 99, 4 and 5. It is evident from these passages that Viṣhṇu was the associate of Indra in his fight with Vṛitra (cf. VIII, 100, 12); and if so, one of the three steps must be placed in regions where this fight was fought, that is, in the nether world. We can now understand why, in I, 155, 5, it is said that two of the three steps of Viṣhṇu are visible to man, but the third is beyond the reach of birds or mortals (also cf. VII, 99, 1). When the third step of Viṣhṇu is located in the nether world, it can well be said to be invisible, or beyond the reach of mortals. We have seen that the abode of Vṛitra is said to be hidden and filled with darkness and waters. If Viṣhṇu helped Indra in his fight with Vṛitra, his third step must be taken to correspond with the home of Vṛitra; in other words, Viṣhṇu’s strides represent the annual course of the sun divided into three parts. During two of these the sun was above the horizon, and hence two of Viṣhṇu’s three strides were said to be visible. But when in the third or the last part of the year the sun went below the horizon producing continuous darkness, Viṣhṇu’s third step was said to be invisible. It was then that he helped Indra to demolish Vṛitra and bring back the dawn, the sun and the sacrifice. It has been shown in the last chapter that Indra’s fight with Shambara commenced on the fortieth day of Sharad or in the eighth month after the beginning of the year with Vasanta. These eight months of sunshine and four of darkness may very well be represented by two visible and one invisible step of Viṣhṇu, and the Purâṇic story |
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of Viṣhṇu sleeping for four months in the year further supports the same view. It may also be noticed that Viṣhṇu is said to sleep on his serpent-bed in the midst of the ocean; and the ocean and the serpent here alluded to are evidently the waters (âpaḥ) and Ahi or Vṛitra mentioned in the Vṛitra legend. It is said that the sleep of Viṣhṇu represents the rainy season of four months; but this is a later misrepresentation of the kind we have noticed in the last chapter in regard to waters When the exploits of Indra were transferred from the last season of the year, viz., Hemanta to Varshâ or the rainy season, the period, during which Viṣhṇu lay dormant, must have been naturally misunderstood in the same way and identified with the rainy season. But originally Viṣhṇu’s sleep and his third step must have been identical; and as the third step is said to be invisible, we cannot suppose that it was planted in the rainy season, which is visible enough. The long darkness of the winter night in the Arctic region can alone adequately represent the third step of Viṣhṇu or the period of his sleep; and the legend about the Phrygian god, who, according to Plutarch, was believed to sleep during winter and resume his activity during summer, has been interpreted by Prof. Rhys in the same way. The Irish couvade of the Ultonian heroes also points out to the same conclusion.* But apart from the sleep of Viṣhṇu which is Purâṇic, we have a Vedic legend which has the same meaning. In the Ṛig-Veda (VII, 100, 6), Viṣhṇu is represented as having a bad name, viz., shipiviṣhṭa. Thus the poet says, “O Viṣhṇu! what was there to be blamed in thee when thou declaredest ‘I am shipiviṣhṭa’?” Yâska records (Nir. V, 7-9) an old tradition that according to Aupamanyava, Viṣhṇu has two names Shipiviṣhṭa and Viṣhṇu, of which the former has a bad sense (kutsitârthîyam); and then quotes the aforesaid verse which he explains in two ways. The first of these two interpretations accords with that of Aupamanyava; and shipiviṣhṭa is there * See Rhys’ Hibbert Lectures, p. 632. The passage is quoted in full in Chap. XII, infra. |
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explained by Yâska, to mean shepaḥ iva nirveṣhṭitaḥ, or “enveloped like the private parts,” or “with rays obscured” (apratipanna-rashmiḥ). Yâska, however, suggests an alternative interpretation and observes that shipiviṣhṭa may be taken as a laudatory appellation, meaning “one whose rays (shipayaḥ) are displayed (âviṣhṭâḥ).” It is inferred by some scholars from this passage that the meaning of the word shipiviṣhṭa had already become uncertain in the days of Yâska; but I do not think it probable, for even in later literature shipiviṣhṭa is an opprobrious appellation meaning either “one whose hair has fallen off,” or “one who is afflicted with an incurable skin disease.” The exact nature of the affliction may be uncertain; but there can be no doubt that shipiviṣhṭa has a bad meaning even in later Sanskrit literature. But in days when the origin of this phrase, as applied to Viṣhṇu, was forgotten, theologians and scholars naturally tried to divest the phrase of its opprobrious import by proposing alternative meanings; and Yâska was probably the first Nairukta to formulate a good meaning for shipiviṣhṭa by suggesting that shipi may be taken to mean “rays.” That is why the passage from the Mahâbhârata (Shânti-Parvan, Chap. 342, vv. 69-71), quoted by Muir, tells us that Yâska was the first to apply the epithet to Viṣhṇu; and it is unreasonable to infer from it, as Muir has done, that the writer of the Mahâbhârata “was not a particularly good Vedic scholar.” In the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, we are told that Viṣhṇu was worshipped as Shipiviṣhṭa (II, 2, 12, 4 and 5), and that shipi means cattle or pashavaḥ (II, 5, 5, 2; Tân. Br. XVIII, 16, 26). Shipiviṣhṭa is thus explained as a laudatory appellation by taking shipi equal to “cattle,” “sacrifice” or “rays.” But these etymological devices have failed to invest the word with a good sense in Sanskrit literature; and this fact by itself is sufficient to show that the word shipiviṣhṭa originally was, and has always been, a term of reproach indicating some bodily affliction, though the nature of it was not exactly known. The theological scholars, it is true, have tried to explain the word in a different sense; but this is due to their unwillingness to give opprobrious names |
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to their gods, rather than to any uncertainty about the real meaning of the word. It was thus that the word shipiviṣhṭa, which is originally a bad name (kutsitârthiyam) according to Aupamanyava, was converted into a. mysterious (guhya) name for the deity. But this transition of meaning is confined only to the theological literature, and did not pass over into the non-theological works, for the obvious reason that in., ordinary language the bad meaning of the word was sufficiently familiar to the people. There can, therefore, be little doubt that, in VII, 100, 5 and 6, shipiviṣhṭa is used in a bad sense as, stated by Aupamanyava. These verses have been translated by Muir as follows: — “I, a devoted worshipper, who know the sacred rites, today celebrate this thy name shipiviṣhṭa, I, who am weak, laud thee who art-strong and dwellest beyond this lower world (kṣhayantam asya rajasaḥ parâke). What, Viṣhṇu, hast thou to blame, that thou declaredest, ‘I am Shipiviṣhṭa. Do not conceal from us this form (varpas) since thou didst assume another shape in the battle.” The phrase “dwelling in the lower world” (rajasaḥ parâke), or “beyond this world,” furnishes us with a clue to the real meaning of the passage. It was in the nether world that Viṣhṇu bore this bad name. And what was the bad name after all? Shipiviṣhṭa, or “enveloped like shepa,” meaning that his rays were obscured, or that he was temporarily concealed in a dark cover. The poet, therefore, asks Viṣhṇu not to be ashamed of the epithet, because, says he, the form indicated by the bad name is only temporarily assumed, as a dark armor, for the purpose of fighting with the Asuras, and as it was no longer needed, Viṣhṇu is invoked to reveal his true form (varpas) to the worshipper. That is the real meaning of the verses quoted above, and in spite of the attempt of Yâska and other scholars to convert the bad name of Viṣhṇu into a good one by the help of etymological speculations, it is plain that shipiviṣhṭa was a bad name, and that it signified the dark outer appearance of Viṣhṇu in his fight with the demons in the nether world. If the sun is called bṛihach-chhepas when moving in regions above the horizon, he can be very well described |
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as shipiviṣhṭa or enveloped like shepa, “when moving in the nether world” and there is hardly anything therein of which the deity or his worshippers should be ashamed. Later Purâṇic tradition represents Viṣhṇu as sleeping during this period; but whether we take it as sleep or disease it means one and the same thing. It is the story of Viṣhṇu going down to the nether world, dark or diseased, to plant his third step on the head of the Asuras, or in a dark armor to help Indra in his struggle for waters and light, a struggle, which, we have seen, lasted for a long time and resulted in the flowing of waters, the recovery of the dawn and the coming out of the sun in a bright armor after a long and continuous darkness. A comparison with the abodes of other Vedic deities, who are said to traverse the whole universe like Viṣhṇu confirms the same view. One of these deities is Savitri, who in V, 81, 3, is described as measuring the world (rajâṁsi) and in I, 35, 6, we are told “There are three heavens (dyâvaḥ) of Savitri, two of them are near and the third, bearing the brave, is in the world of Yama.” This means that two of Savitṛi’s three abodes are in the upper heaven and one in the nether world or the kingdom of Yama. The second deity that traverses or measures the universe is Agni (VI, 7, 7). He has three stations, one in samudra or ocean, one in heaven (divi) and one in the waters or apsu (I, 95, 3). His light is spoken of as three-fold (III, 26, 7), he has three heads (I, 146, 1) and three seats, powers or tongues (III, 20, 2; VIII, 39, 8). Now although these three stations do not seem to be always conceived alike, yet one of them at any rate can be clearly identified with the third step of Viṣhṇu; for in X, 1, 3, we are told that the third station of Agni is known only to Viṣhṇu, while in V, 3, 3, Agni, with the upama (last or highest) step of Viṣhṇu, is said to guard the sacred cows. This description agrees well with I, 154, 5 and 6, where swift moving cows and a spring of honey are said to exist in the place where the highest step of Viṣhṇu is planted. It has been shown above that Agni sometimes represents the sun |
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in the Ṛig-Veda, and that his hiding in the waters and coming out of them as apâm napât or the child of waters is only a different version of the sun sinking below the horizon for a long time and then emerging out of the nether ocean at the end of the long Arctic night. Viṣhṇu is also the same sun under a different name, and the third step of Viṣhṇu and the third or the hidden abode of Agni can, therefore, be easily recognized as identical in character. The third deity that traverses the universe is the Ashvins to whom the epithet parijman or “going round” is applied several times in the Ṛig-Veda (I, 46, 14; I, 117, 6). The Ashvins are said to have three stations (VIII, 8, 23), and their chariot, which is said to go over both the worlds alike (I, 30, 18), has three wheels one of which is represented as deposited in a cave or a secret place, like the third step of Viṣhṇu, which is beyond the ken of mortals (cf. X, 85, 14-16). This co-incidence between the third stations of the three different world-traversing gods cannot be treated as accidental; and if so, the combined effect of all the passages stated above will be clearly seen to point out to the conclusion that the third or the hidden place, dwelling or abode in each case must be sought for in the nether world, the world of the Pitṛis, of Yama, of waters and darkness. It has been stated above that the year divided into three parts of 4 months each represents the three steps of Viṣhṇu; and that the first two parts were said to be visible as contrasted with the third which was hidden, because in the ancient home of the Aryan people the sun was above the horizon only for about 8 months. If we personify these three parts of the year, we get a legend of three brothers, the first two of whom may be described as arranging to throw the third into a pit of darkness. This is exactly the story of Trita Âptya in the Ṛig-Veda or of Thrâetaona in the Avesta. Thus Sâyaṇa, in his commentary on I, 105, quotes a passage from the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa (III, 2, 8, 10-11) and also a story of the Shâṭyâyanins giving the |
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legend of three brothers called Ekata, Dvita and Trita, or the first, the second and the third, the former two of whom threw the last or Trita into a well from which he was taken out by Bṛihaspati. But in the Ṛig-Veda Ekata is not mentioned anywhere; while Dvita, which grammatically means the second, is met with in two places (V, 18, 2; VIII, 47, 16). Dvita is the seer of the 18th hymn in the fifth Maṇḍala, and in the second verse of the hymn he is said to receive maimed offerings; while in VIII, 47, 16, the dawn is asked to bear away the evil dream to Dvita and Trita. Grammatical analogy points out that Trita must mean the third, and in VI, 44, 23, the word triteṣhu is used as a numeral adjective to rochaneṣhu meaning “in the third region.” As a Vedic deity Trita is called Âptya, meaning “born of or residing in waters” (Sây. on VIII, 47, 15); and he is referred to in several places, being associated with the Maruts and Indra in slaying the demon or the powers of darkness like Vṛitra. Thus in X, 8, 8, Trita, urged by Indra, is said to have fought against and slain the three-headed (tri-shiras) son of Tvaṣhṭṛi and released the cows; while in X, 99, 6, we read that Indra subdued the loud-roaring six-eyed demon and Trita strengthened by the same draught, slew the boar (varâha) with his iron-pointed bolt. But the most important incident in the story of Trita is mentioned in 1, 105. In this hymn Trita is described as having fallen into a kûpa or well, which is also called vavra or a pit in X, 8, 7. Trita then invoked the gods for help and Bṛihaspati hearing his prayers released him from his distress (I, 105, 17). Some of the verses in the hymn are very suggestive; for instance in verse 9, Trita tells us about his “kinship with the seven rays in the heaven. Trita Âptya knows it and he speaks for kinship.” The ruddy Vṛika, or the wolf of darkness, is again described in verse 18 as having perceived Trita going by the way. These references show that Trita was related to the powers of light, but had the misfortune of being thrown into darkness. In IX, 102, 2, Trita’s abode is said to be hidden or secret, a description similar to that of the third step of Viṣhṇu. The same story is |
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found in the Avesta. There Thrâetaona, who bears the patronymic epithet Âthwya (Sans. Âptya), is described as slaying the fiendish serpent Azi Dahâka, who is said to be three-mouthed and six-eyed (Yt. XIX, 36.39; V, 33-34). But what is still more remarkable in the Avestic legend is that Thrâetaona in his expedition against the demon is said to have been accompanied by his two brothers who sought to slay him on the way.* The Avestic legend thus fully corroborates the story of the Shâṭyâyanins quoted by Sâyaṇa and when the two accounts agree so well we cannot lightly set aside the story in the Brâhmaṇa, or hold that it was woven out of stray references in the Ṛig-Veda. But in the absence of the Arctic theory, or the theory of long darkness extending over nearly four months or a third part of the year, European Scholars have been at a loss to understand why the deity should have been named “the Third”; and various ingenious theories have been started to explain how Trita, which ordinarily means the third, came to denote the deity that was thrown into a pit or well in a distant land. Thus Prof. Max Müller thinks that the name of the deity was originally Tṛita (तृत) and not Trita (ञित) and he derives the former from root tṛî (तृ) to cross. Tṛita (तृत) which, by-the-by, is not a regular grammatical form though found in the Âtharva Veda VI, 113, I and 3, would thus mean “the sun crossing the ocean,” being in this respect comparable to taraṇi which means “the sun” in the later Sanskrit literature. In short, according to Prof. Max Müller, Tṛita (तृत) means the “set sun”; and the story of Trita (ञित) is, therefore, only a different version of the daily struggle between light and darkness. But Prof. Max Müller’s theory requires us to assume that this misconception or the corruption of Tṛita (तृत) into Trita (ञित) took place before the Aryan separation, inasmuch as in Old Irish we have the word triath which means the sea, and which is phonetically * See Spiegel, Die Arische Periode, p. 271, quoted by Macdonell in his Vedic Mythology, § 23. Also compare S. B. E. Series, Vol. XXXIII, p. 222, note 2. |
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equivalent to Greek triton, Sanskrit trita and Zend thrita. Prof. Max Müller himself admits the validity of this objection, and points out that the Old Norse Thridi, a name of Odin, as the mate of Har and Jasnhar, can be accounted for only or, the supposition that tṛita (तृत) was changed by a misapprehension into trita (ञित) long before the Aryan separation. This shows to what straits scholars are reduced in explaining certain myths in the absence of the true key to their meaning. We assume, without the slightest authority, that a misapprehension must have taken place before the Aryan separation, because we cannot explain why a deity was called “the Third,” and why triath in Old Irish was used to denote the sea. But the whole legend can be now very easily and naturally explained by the Arctic theory. The personified third part of the year, called Trita or the Third, is naturally described as going into darkness, or a well or pit, or into the waters of the nether world, for the sun went below the horizon during that period in the home of the ancestors of the Vedic people. The connection of Trita with darkness and waters, or his part in the Vṛitra fight, or the use of the word triath to denote the sea in Old Irish now becomes perfectly plain and intelligible. The nether world is the home of aerial waters and Bṛihaspati, who is said to have released the cows from their place of confinement in a cave in the nether world, is naturally spoken of as rescuing Trita, when he was sunk in the well of waters. Speaking of the abode of Trita, Prof. Max Müller observes that the hiding place of Trita, the vavra, is really the same anârambhaṇam tamas, the endless darkness, from which light and some of its legendary representatives, such as Atri, Vandana and others emerged every day.” I subscribe to every word of this sentence except the last two. It shows how the learned Professor saw, but narrowly missed grasping the truth having nothing else to guide him except the Dawn and the Vernal theory. He had perceived that Trita’s hiding place was in the endless darkness and that the sun rose out of the same dark region; and from this to the Arctic theory was but a small step. But |
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whatever the reason may be, the Professor did not venture to go further, and the result is that an otherwise correct conception of the mythological incidents in Trita’s legend is marred by two ominous words viz., “every day,” at the end of the sentence quoted above. Strike off the last two words, put a full point after “emerged,” and in the light of the Arctic theory we have a correct explanation or the legend of Trita as well as of the origin of the name, Trita or the Third. The nature and movement of aerial or celestial waters have been discussed at length in the last chapter and practically there is very little that remains to be said on this point. We have also seen how the nether world or the world of waters was conceived like an inverted hemisphere or tub, so that anyone going there was said to go to the region of endless darkness or bottomless waters. A mountainous range was again believed to extend over the borders of this ocean, forming a stony wall as it were between the upper and the lower world; and when the waters were to be freed to flow upwards, it was necessary to pierce through the mountainous range and clear the apertures which were closed by Vṛitra by stretching his body across them. In one place the well or avata, which Brahmaṇaspati opened, is said to be closed at its mouth with stones (ashmâsyam, II, 24, 4), and in X, 67, 3, the stony barriers (ashmanmayâni nahanâ) of the prison wherein the cows were confined are expressly mentioned. A mountain, parvata; is also said to exist in the belly of Vṛitra (1, 54, 10), and Shambara is described as dwelling on the mountains. We have seen how the word parvata occurring in this connection has been misunderstood ever since the days of the Nairuktas, who, though they did a yeoman’s service to the cause of Vedic interpretation, seem to have sometimes carried their etymological method too far. The connection of the nether world of waters with mountains and darkness may thus be taken as established, and the legends of Vṛitra, Bhujyu, Saptavadhri, Tṛita, &c., further show that the nether |
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waters formed not only the home of the evil spirits and the scene of fights with them, but that it was the place which Sûrya, Agni, Viṣhṇu, the Ashvins and Trita had all to visit during a portion of the year. It was the place where Viṣhṇu slept, or hid himself, when afflicted with a kind of skin-disease, and where the sacrificial horse, which represented the sun, was harnessed by Trita and first bestrode by Indra (I, 163, 2). It was the place from which the seven aerial rivers rose up with the seven suns to illumine the ancient home of the Aryan race for seven months, and into which they again dropped with the sun after that period. It was the same waters that formed the source of earthly waters by producing rain by their circulation through the upper regions of heaven. These waters were believed to stretch from west to east underneath the three earths, thus forming at once the place of desolation and the place of the birth of the sun and other matutinal deities mentioned in the Ṛig-Veda. It was the place where Vṛitra concealed the cows in a stony stable and where Varuṇa and Yama reigned supreme and the fathers (Pitṛis) lived in comfort and delight. As regards the division of this watery region, we might say that the Vedic bards conceived the nether world as divided in the same way as the earth and the heaven. Thus there were three, seven or ten lower worlds to match with the threefold or ten-fold division of the heaven and the earth. It will thus be seen that a right conception of the nether waters and their movement is quite necessary for understanding the real meaning of many a Vedic and we might even say, the Purâṇic legends, for the latter are generally based either upon the Vedic legends or some one or other incident mentioned in them. If this universal and comprehensive character of the waters be not properly understood many legends will appear dark, confused or mysterious; and I have therefore, summed up in this place the leading characteristics of the goddesses of water as conceived by the Vedic poets and discussed in the foregoing pages. In the post-Vedic literature many of these characteristics are predicated of the |
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sea of salt water on the surface of the earth, much in the same way as the Greek Okeanos, which has been shown to be phonetically identical with the Sanskrit word âshayâna or enveloping, came to denote the ocean or the sea in European languages. Thus Bhartṛihari in his Vairâgya-Shataka (v. 76) says: “Oh! how extensive, grand and patient is the body of the ocean! For here sleeps Keshava (Viṣhṇu) here the clan of his enemies (Vṛitra and other demons of darkness); here lie also the host of mountains (the parvata of the Vedas) in search of shelter; and here too (lies) the Mare’s fire (submarine fire) with all the Saṁvartakas (clouds).” This is intended to be a summary of the Purâṇic legends regarding the ocean, but it can be easily seen that every one of them is based upon the Vedic conception of the nature and movements of aerial waters, which formed the very material out of which the world was believed to be created. After this it is needless to explain why Apaḥ occupied such an important place in the Vedic pantheon. It is stated above that the nether waters are divided after the manner of the heaven and the earth, either into three, seven or ten divisions. We have also seen that the ancient sacrificers completed their sacrificial session in seven, nine or ten months; and that the Navagvas and the Dashagvas are, therefore, sometimes mentioned together, sometimes separately and sometimes along with the seven sages or vipras. I have also briefly referred to the seven-fold division, which generally obtains not only in the Vedic, but also in other Aryan mythologies. But the subject deserves a fuller consideration, and I propose here to collect certain facts bearing upon it, which seem to have hitherto attracted but little attention. All that Yâska and Sâyaṇa tell us about the seven-fold division is that there are seven horses of the sun and seven tongues or flames of Agni, because the rays of the sun are seven in number; and the late Mr. S. P. Pandit goes so far as to assert that the seven rays here referred |
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to may be the prismatic colors with which we are familiar in the Science of optics, or the seven colors of the rainbow. All this appears to be very satisfactory at the first sight, but our complacency is disturbed as soon as we are told that along with the seven rays and horses of the sun, the Ṛig-Veda speaks of ten horses or ten rays of the same luminary. Yâska and Sâyaṇa get over the difficulty either by ignoring or by explaining away, in a tortuous manner, all references to the ten-fold division of this kind. But the places where it is mentioned are too many to allow us to lightly set aside the ten-fold division, which occurs along with the seven-fold one in the Ṛig-Veda; and we must find out why this double division is recorded in the Ṛig-Veda But before inquiring into it, we shall collect all the facts and see how far this double division extends in the Vedic literature.. We begin with the sun. He is described as seven-horsed (saptâshva) in V, 45, 9, and his chariot is described as seven wheeled, or yoked with seven horses, or one seven-named horse in I, 164, 3. The seven bay steeds (haritaḥ) are also mentioned as drawing the carriage of the sun in I, 50, 8. But in IX, 63, 9, the sun is said to have yoked ten horses to his carriage; and the wheel of the year-god is said to be carried by ten horses in I, 164, 14. In the Atharva Veda XI, 4, 22, the sun’s carriage is, however, said to be eight-wheeled (ashtâ-chakra). Indra is called sapta-rashmi in II, 12, 12, and his chariot, is also said to be seven-rayed in VI, 44, 24. But in V, 33, 8, ten white horses are said to bear him; while in VIII, 24, 23, Indra is said to be “the tenth new” (dashamam navam). In the Taittirîya Âraṇyaka III, 11, 1, Indra’s self is said to be going about ten-fold (Indrasya âtmânam dashadhâ charantam); and corresponding to it, it may be here noticed, we have in. the Bahrâm Yasht, in the Avesta, ten incarnations of Vere-thraghna (Sans. Vṛitrahan) specifically mentioned. Amongst the protégés of Indra we again have one called Dasha-dyu, or one shining ten-fold (I, 33, 14; VI, 26, 4); while Dashoṇi, a being with ten arms or helpers, and Dasha-mâya, or a |
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ten-wiled person, are mentioned amongst those whom Indra forced to submit to Dyotana in VI, 20, 8. Dashoṇya and Dashashipra are also mentioned to have been by the side of Indra when he drank Soma with Syûmarashmi in VIII, 52, 2. The chariot of Soma and Pûshan is described as five-rayed and seven-wheeled in II, 40, 3. But Soma is said to have ten rays (rashmayaḥ) in IX, 97, 23. Agni is described as sapta-rashmi or seven-rayed in I, 146, 1, and his rays are expressly said to be seven in II, 5, 2. His horses are similarly described as seven-tongued in III, 6, 2. But in I, 141, 2, Agni is said to be dasha-pramati, and his ten secret dwellings are mentioned in X, 51, 3. The adjective navamam or the ninth is also applied to the youngest (naviṣhṭhâya) Agni in V, 27, 3, much in the same way as dashamam is applied to the new (nava) Indra in VIII, 24, 23. Seven dhîtis, prayers or devotions of sacrificial priests, are mentioned in IX, 8, 4. But in I, 144, 5, their number is said to be ten. Foods are said to be seven in III, 4, 7. But in I, 122, 13, the food is described as divided ten-fold. In the Shatapatha Brâhmaṇa I, 8, 1, 34, haviḥ, or sacrificial oblation, is, however described as made in ten ways. Seven vipras (III, 7, 7,), or seven sacrificers (hotâraḥ), are mentioned in several places (III, 10, 4; IV, 2, 15; X, 63, 7). But in III, 39, 5, the number of the Dashagvas is expressly stated to be ten. Ten sacrificers (hotâraḥ) are also mentioned in the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa II, 2, 1, 1, and II, 2, 4, 1. Bṛihaspati, the first-born sacrificer, is described as seven-mouthed or saptâsya in IV, 50, 4, and the same verse occurs in the Atharva Veda (XX, 88, 4). But in the Atharva Veda IV, 6, I the first Brâhmaṇa Bṛihaspati is said to be dashâsya, or ten-mouthed, and dasha-shirsha or ten-headed. Seven heads of the Brâhmaṇa are not expressly mentioned in the Ṛig-Veda, but in X, 67, 1, “our-father,” meaning the father of the Aṅgirases, is said to have acquired seven-headed (sapta-shîrṣhṇî) devotion or intelligence (dhî). Seven divisions of the earth are mentioned in I, 22, 16. |
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But the earths are said to be ten (dashâvani) in X, 94, 7, (also cf. I, 52, 11). The cows’ stable which the Ashvins opened is said to be saptâsya or seven-mouthed in X, 40, 8. But a ten-fold cows’ stable (dashavraja) is mentioned in VIII, 8, 20; 49, 10; 50, 9. In X, 93, 4, Aryaman, Mitra, Varuṇa Rudra, Maruts, Pûṣhan and Bhaga are mentioned as seven kings. But ten god-like (hiraṇyasaṇdṛisha) kings are referred to in VIII, 5, 38, and ten non-sacrificing (avajyavaḥ) kings are mentioned in VII, 83, 7. The Atharva Veda, XI, 8, 10, further tells us that there were only ten ancient gods. These references will make it clear that if the horses of the sun are mentioned as seven in one place, they are said to be ten in another; and so there are seven devotions and ten devotions; seven earths and ten earths; seven cowpens and ten cowpens, and so on. This double division may not be equally explicit in all cases; but, on the whole, there can be no doubt that the several objects mentioned in the above passages are conceived as divided in a double manner, once as seven-fold and once as ten-fold. To this double division may be added the three-fold division of the heaven, the earth and the nether world or Nir-ṛiti; and the eleven-fold division of gods in the heaven, the earth and waters mentioned previously. In the Atharva Veda XI, 7, 14, nine earths, nine oceans and nine skies are also mentioned, and the same division again occurs in the Atharvashiras Upanishad, 6. Now it is, evident that the theory started by Yâska cannot explain all these different methods of division. We: might say that the three-fold division was suggested by the heaven, the earth and the lower world. But how are we to account far all kinds of division from seven to eleven? So far as I am aware there is no attempt made to explain the principle of division underlying these different classifications. But now the analogy of the seven priests, the Navagvas and the Dashagvas, suggests to us the probable reason of the different methods of division noticed above. The fact that the horses of the sun are once said to be seven and once ten, seems naturally to |
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refer to seven months’ and ten months’ period of sunshine previously described; and if so, this helps us in understanding the real meaning of the different divisions. The seven-fold, nine-fold or ten-fold division of things is thus merely a different phase of the division of sacrificers into the seven Hotris, the Navagvas and the Dashagvas. Both seem to be the effects of the same cause. The mother-land of the Aryan race in, ancient times, lying between the North Pole and the Arctic circle, was probably divided into different zones according to the number of months for which the sun was seen above the horizon in each; and the facts, that the Navagvas and the Dashagvas are said to be the chief or the most prominent of the Aṅgirases, that saptâshva was the principal designation of Sûrya, and that the sons of Aditi who were presented to the gods were only seven in number, further show that in the ancient Arctic home a year of seven, nine, or ten months’ sunshine must have been more prevalent than a year of 8 or 11 months. It may, however, be noticed that just as the Aṅgirases are said to be virûpas, Aryaman is described in X, 64, 5, as having a great chariot, and amidst his births of various forms (viṣhu-rûpeṣhu) he is said to be a seven-fold sacrificer (sapta-hotṛi), showing that though-the seven-fold character of Aryaman was the chief or the principal one, yet there were various other forms of the deity. In X, 27, 15, seven, eight, nine and ten Vîras or warriors are said to rise from below, behind, in the front, or on the back, or, in other words, all round. This verse is differently interpreted by different scholars; but it seems to me to refer to the seven-fold, eight-fold, or nine-fold division of the sacrificers, or the Aṅgirases, who are actually described in III, 53, 7, as “the Vîras or warriors of the Asura.” It is, therefore, quite probable that the same Vîras are referred to in X, 27, 15. In VIII, 4, 1, Indra is said to be worshipped by people in the front (east), behind (west), up (north), and down (south), meaning that his worshippers were to be found everywhere; and if the adjectives “below, behind &c” in X, 27, 15, be similarly interpreted the verse would mean that the seven-fold, eight-fold, nine-fold, |
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or ten-fold division of sacrificers was to be met with in places all round. In other words, the different places in the Arctic region had each a group of sacrificers of its own, corresponding to the months of sunshine in the place. On no other theory can we account for the different divisions satisfactorily as on the Arctic theory, and in the absence of a better explanation we may, I think, accept the one stated above. It has been noticed above that ten gold-like kings (VIII, 3, 38), and ten non-sacrificing kings (VII, 83, 7), are mentioned in the Ṛig-Veda. But there is an important incident connected with the ten non-sacrificing kings which deserves more than a passing notice in this place. Sudâs, the son of Divodâsa Atithigva, is described as engaged in a fight with the ten non-worshipping (ayajyavaḥ) kings, and is said to have received help from Indra and Varuṇa (VII, 33, 3-5; 83, 6-8). It is known as the Dasharâjña fight, and Vasiṣhṭha, as the priest of Sudâs, is said to have secured the assistance of Indra for him. On this slender basis some scholars have erected a stately edifice of the fight of the Aryan races with the ten non-Aryan or non-worshipping kings. But it seems to me that the Dasharâjña fight can be more simply and naturally explained by taking it to be a different version of Indra’s fight with the seven Dânus or demons (X, 120, 6). In X, 49, 8, Indra is called the seven-slayer (sapta-han) with reference either to the seven Dânus or demons (X, 120, 6,) or to the seven cities of Vṛitra (I, 174, 2), in the seven-bottomed ocean (VIII, 40, 5). Now if Indra is sapta-han on the seven-fold, division, he may be easily conceived as dasha-han, or the ten-slayer, on the ten-fold method of division. The word dasha-han does not occur in the Ṛig-Veda, but the fight with the ten kings (ayajyavaḥ dasha râjânah) practically amounts to the same thing. It has been stated above that amongst Indra’s enemies we have persons like Dasha-mâya and Dashoṇi, who are obviously connected in some way with the number ten. The ten gold-like kings mentioned above again seem to represent the ten monthly sun-gods, and the fact that they are said to |
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be given to the sacrificers further strengthens this view. One of Indra’s protégés is, we further know, described as Dasha-dyu, or shining ten-fold. If all these facts are put together, we are naturally led to the conclusion that like the seven Dânus or demons, the powers of darkness were sometime conceived as ten-fold, and Indra’s helping Sudâs in his fight with the ten non-worshipping kings is nothing more than the old story of the annual fight between light and darkness as conceived by the inhabitants of a place where a summer of ten months was followed by a long winter night of two months, or, in other words which formed the land of the Dashagvas. But our interest in this remarkable fight does not come to an end with this explanation. For when we remember the fact that the word king was not confined to the warrior class in the Ṛig-Veda, and that in one place (I, 139, 7) it seems to be actually applied to the Aṅgirases, the expressions “ten golden kings” and “ten sacrificers” or “ten-fold Aṅgirases,” or “the ten Dashagvas sacrificing for ten months” become synonymous phrases. Now Bṛihaspati was the chief of the Aṅgirases, and as such may naturally be considered to be the representative of them all; and we have seen that he is represented once as seven-mouthed and seven headed, and once as ten-mouthed and ten-headed (Ṛig. IV, 50, 4; A.V. IV, 6, 1). This Bṛihaspati is connected with the story of Saramâ and Paṇis, and is said to have helped Indra in recovering the cows, or is sometimes described as having performed the feat himself (I, 83, 4; X, 108, 6-11). Bṛihaspati is also represented in X, 109, as having lost his wife, who was restored to him by the gods. This is obviously the story of the restoration of the dawn to man, as represented by the chief sacrificer Bṛihaspati. In the Taittirîya Âraṇyaka I, 12, 3-4, Indra is described as the lover of Ahalyâ (Ahalyâyai jâraḥ), and the myth has been explained as referring to the dawn and the sun, by an old orthodox scholar like Kumârila. Ahalyâ in the later literature is the wife of the Ṛiṣhi Gotama (lit. rich in cows); but it is not difficult to perceive that the story of Ahalyâ (which Prof. Max. Müller derives from ahan, a day), was originally |
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a dawn-story, or a different version of the legend of Brahma-jâyâ narrated in X, 109. These facts are very suggestive and call to mind some of the incidents in the story of the Râmâyaṇa. It is quite outside the scope of this book to fully enter into the question of the historical basis of this well-known Indian epic. We are concerned with Vedic myths and Vedic mythology, and if we refer to the Râmâyaṇa we do so simply to point out such resemblances as are too striking to be left unnoticed. The main story in the Râmâyaṇa is narrated in such detail that, on the face of it, it bears the stamp of a historic origin. But even then we have to explain why Râma’s adversary was conceived as a ten-headed monster or an unnatural being, and why Râma’s father was called Dasharatha or ten-carred. A ten-headed monster cannot ordinarily be regarded as a historical fact, and it seems not unlikely that some of the incidents of Vedic myths may have been skillfully interwoven with the main story of the epic by its author. We have seen above that some of the Indra’s enemies are described as Dashoṇi or Dashamâya, and that in the Dâsharâjña fight there were ten non-sacrificing or demoniac kings opposed to Sudâs. These ten non-sacrificing kings may well be conceived as a single king with ten heads and spoken of as a ten-headed monster, much in the same way as Bṛihaspaṭi, the chief of the ten Aṅgirases, is said to be ten-headed or ten-mouthed. The fact that the brother of this ten-headed monster slept continuously for six months in a year also indicates his Arctic origin. Prof. Rhys, in his Hibbert Lectures, quotes Plutarch to the effect that the Paphlagonians regarded their gods as shut up in a prison during winter and let loose in summer, and interprets the legend as indicating the temporary ascendancy of the powers of darkness over those of light during the continuous night of the Arctic region. If we adopt this view, we can easily explain how all the gods were said to be thrown into prison by Ṛâvaṇa until they were released by Râma. Another fact in the Râmâyaṇa which is supposed to require explanation is the conception of the monkey-god Hanûmân. The |
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