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

280 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
of the real key to its meaning. In II, 12, 11, we read, "Indra
found Shambara dwelling on the mountains (in) chatvâriṅshyâm
sharadi.'"* Now chatvâriṅshyâm is an ordinal numeral in the
feminine gender and in the locative case, and similarly sharadi
is the locative of sharad (autumn), which also is a word of
feminine gender in Sanskrit. The phrase chatvâriṅshyâm sharadi
is, therefore, capable of two interpretations or constructions,
though the words are simple in themselves. Chatvâriṅshyâm
literally means 'in the fortieth,' and sharadi 'in autumn.' If we
now take chatvâriṅshyâm (in the fortieth) as an adjective qualify-
ing sharadi (in autumn), the meaning of the phrase would be "in
the fortieth autumn" ; while if the two words are taken separa-
tely the meaning would be "on the fortieth, in autumn." Sâyaṇa
and Western scholars have adopted the first construction,
and understand the passage to mean, "Indra found Shambara
dwelling on the mountains in the fortieth autumn, that is, in the
fortieth year"; for the words indicating seasons, like Vasanta
(spring), Sharad (autumn), or Hemanta (winter), are understood
to denote a year, especially when used with a numeral adjective
meaning more than one. This construction is grammatically
correct, for chatvâriṅshyâm and sharadi being both in the feminine
gender and in the locative case, the two words can be taken
together, and understood to mean "in the fortieth autumn
or year." But what are we to understand by the statement,
that Shambara was found in the fortieth year by Indra?
Are we to suppose that Indra was engaged in searching out
the demon for 40 years, and it was only at the end of this
long period that the enemy was, at last, found dwelling
on the mountains? If so, Indra's conflict with Shambara
cannot be daily or yearly, but must be supposed to have
taken place only once in 40 years, an inference, which is

• Ṛig. II, 12, 11,— यः शंबरं पर्वतेषु क्षियंतं चत्वारिंश्यां शरदन्वविं-
  दत् । ओजायमानं यो अहिं जघान दानुं शयानं स जनास इंद्रः ॥