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

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 279
the daily fight between light and darkness, and it may be urged,
that there is no necessity whatever, for bringing in the Arctic
theory to explain the legend. A little reflection will, however, show
that all the incidents in the legend cannot be explained on the theory
of a daily struggle between light and darkness. In X, 62, 2, the
Aṅgirases, who are the assistants of Indra in his conquest of
cows, are said to have defeated Vala at the end of the year
(parivatsare). This shows that the struggle was annual and did
not take place every day. Then we have the passage (VIII, 32,
26), where Arbuda, the watery demon, is said to have been
killed by Indra with ice (hima), and not with a thunderbolt as
usual. In addition to the fact that the struggle was an yearly
one, we must, therefore, hold that the conflict took place
during winter, the season of ice and snow; and this is corrobo-
rated by the statement in the Avesta, that it was during winter
that the waters, and with them the sun, ceased to move on-
wards. Vṛitra's forts are again described as autumnal or shâradîḥ,
showing that the fight must have commenced at the end of
Sharad (autumn) and continued during winter. We have further
seen that there are a hundred night-sacrifices, and the duration
of Tishtrya's fight with Apaosha is described as varying from
one to a hundred nights in the Tîr Yasht. All these incidents can
be explained only by the Arctic theory, or by the theory of the
long autumnal night, and not on the hypothesis of a daily
struggle between light and darkness.
We have come to the conclusion that Indra's fight with
Vṛitra must have commenced in Sharad, and lasted till the
end of Shishira in the watery regions of the nether world.
Fortunately for us this conclusion is remarkably borne out by
an important passage preserved in the Ṛig-Veda, which gives
us, what may be called, the very date of the commencement
of Indra's conflict with Vṛitra, though the true bearing of the
passage has yet remained unexplained owing to the absence