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

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 271
have similarly showed " the paths to the stars, the moon, the sun
and the endless lights, that had stood before, for a long time, in
the same place, without moving forward, through the oppression
of the Daevas and the assaults of the Daevas." Here we have
the co-relation between the flowing of waters and the moving
forward of the sun distinctly enunciated. It was the Fravashis,
who caused to move onwards the waters and the sun, both of
which " had stood still for a long time in the same place." Prof.
Darmesteter adds a note saying that it was 'in winter' that
this cessation of motion occurred, (Cf. Vend. V, 10-12; VIII,
4-10, cited and discussed infra). The Fravashis are further
described (Yt. XIII, 78) as "destroying the malice of the fiend
Angra Mainyu (the Avestic representative of Vṛitra), so that the
waters did not stop flowing, nor did the plants stop growing." In
Yasna LXV (Sp. LXIV), 6, the Fravashis, who had "borne the
waters up stream from the nearest ones," are invoked to come
to the worshipper; and a little further on the waters are asked
to "rest still within their places while the Zaota (Sans. Hotâ)
shall offer," evidently meaning that it is the sacrifice offered by
the invoking priest that eventually secures the release or the flow
of waters. There are other references to the flowing of waters
(Yt. X, 61) in the Parsi scriptures, but those cited above are
sufficient to prove our point. The main difficulty in the rational
explanation of the Vṛitra legend was to connect the flow of waters
with the rising of the dawn, and the passages from the Farvardin
Yasht quoted above furnish us with a clue by which this connec-
tion can be satisfactorily established.
There are two passages in the Vendidad, which give us the
period during which these aerial waters ceased to flow, and it
is necessary to quote them here, inasmuch as they throw
further light on the circulation of aerial waters. It has been
stated above that according to Prof. Darmesteter these waters
ceased to flow during winter; but the point is made perfectly