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

VEDIC MYTHS--THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 249
released the waters from the mountain, he generated the sun,
the sky and the dawn (I, 32, 4; VI, 30, 5). The cows are also
mentioned along with the sun and the dawn (I, 62, 5; II, 12, 7;
VI, 17, 5), or with the sun alone (I, 7, 3; II, 19, 3; X, 138, 2),
as being found, delivered or won by Indra."
Indra is described in other passages as having released the
streams pent up by the dragon (II, 11, 2,), and he is said to have
won the cows and made the seven rivers flow (I, 32, 12;
II, 12, 12). In II, 15, 6, the streams released by him have been
described as flowing upwards (udañcham). It may be further
noticed that in all these passages the clouds are not referred to
under their ordinary name abhra; but the words used are
parvata, giri, adri, (which primarily mean a mountain), or ūdhas
(udder), utsa (spring) kabandha (cask) or kosha (pail). All these
words have been interpreted by the Nairuktas as meaning a
cloud, and this interpretation has been accepted by Western
scholars. The word go, which generally means a cow, is also
interpreted in some cases to mean the waters released by Indra.
Thus when Indra is said to have released the cows, which were
fast within the stone (VI, 43, 3); or when he is said to have
moved the rock, which encompassed the cows, from its place
(VI, 17, 5), it is understood that the reference is to a cloud-
rock, which imprisons the rain-waters. Maruts are the usual
companions of Indra in this fight; but Viṣṇu, Agni, and
Bṛihaspati are also spoken of as assisting him in the rescue of the
cows from the grip of Vala. Bṛihaspati's conquest of Vala, who
had taken shelter in a rock, is thus taken to be a paraphrase of
Indra's conquest over Vṛitra. In X, 62, 2 and 3, the Aṅgirases
are also described as driving out the cows, piercing Vala and
causing the sun to mount the sky,--exploits, which are usually
attributed to Indra. There are other versions of the same story
to be found in the Ṛig-Veda, but for the purpose in hand, we
need not go beyond what has been stated above.