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

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS 267
nay, all things of a liquid nature on the earth, e.g., the plant-sap,
the blood, &c., were thus supposed to be produced from the
aerial waters above by the agency of clouds and rain. The
Parsi scriptures further tell us that between the earth and the
region of infinite light ( the parame vyoman of the Ṛig-Veda),
there are three intermediate regions, the star region, which has
the seeds of waters and plants, the moon region, and the sun
region, the last being the highest (Yt. XII, 29-32). When the
Ṛig-Veda, therefore, speaks of the highest rajas as being the seat
of waters, it is not to be understood, as supposed by Wallis, that
there are no nether waters, for it is the nether waters that come
up from the lower world and moving in the uppermost region of
the heaven produce terrestrial waters by giving rise to rain and
clouds. Thus Ardvi Sûra Anâhita is said to run through the
starry region (cf. Yt. VIII, 47), and has to be worshipped with
sacrifice in order that her waters may not all run up into the
region of the sun, thereby producing a drought on the surface of
the earth, (Yt. V, 85 and 90). In the Ṛig-Veda, the Sarasvatî
is similarly described as filling the earthly region and the wide
atmospheric space (VI, 61, 11), and is besought to come swelling
with streams, and along with the waters. But the most striking
resemblance between Ardvi Sûra Anâhita and Sarasvatî is that
while the latter is described as Vṛitra-slayer or Vṛitra-ghnî in Ṛig.
VI, 61, 7, Ardvi Sûra Anâhita is described in the Aban Yasht
(V, 33 and 34) as granting to Thrâetaona, the heir of the valiant
Âthwya clan (Vedic Trita Âptya), who offered up a sacrifice to
her, a boon that he would be able to overcome Azi Dahâk, the
three-mouthed, three-headed and six-eyed monster. This is
virtually the same story which is found in the Ṛig-Veda X, 8,
8, where Trita Âptya, knowing his paternal weapons and urged
by Indra, is said to have fought against and slew the three-
headed son of Tvaṣhṭṛi and released the cows. This clearly
establishes the connection between waters, as represented by