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

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 307
and in I, 85, 11, a well lying obliquely (jimha) is said to
have been pushed up by the Ashvins for satisfying the thirst
of Gotama. These words and phrases are not properly
explained by the commentators, most of whom take them as
referring to the clouds. But it seems to me that these phrases
more appropriately describe the antepodal region, where every
thing is believed to be upside down in relation to the things
of this world. Dr. Warren tells us that the Greeks and the Egypt-
ians conceived their Hades, or things therein, as turned upside
down, and he has even tried to show that the Vedic conception
of the nether world corresponds exactly with that of the
Greeks and the Egyptians.* The same idea is also found
underlying the Hades conception of many other races, and
I think Dr. Warren has correctly represented the ancient
idea of the antepodal under-world. It was conceived by the
ancients as an inverted tub or hemisphere of darkness, full
of waters, and the Ashvins had to make an opening in its
side and push the waters up so that after ascending the sky
they may eventually come down in the form of rain to satisfy
the thirst of Gotama. The same feat is attributed to the Ma-
ruts in I, 85, 10 and 11, and there too we must interpret it in the
same way. The epithets uchchá-budhna (with the bottom up)
and jimha-bâra (with its mouth downwards or sidewards), as
applied to a well (avata), completely show that something
extraordinary, or the reverse of what we usually see, is here
intended; and we cannot take them as referring to the clouds,
for the well is said to be pushed up (ûrdhvam nunudre) in order
to make the waters flow from it hitherward. It may also be
observed that in I, 24, 7, the king Varuṇa of hallowed might is
said to sustain "erect the Tree's stem, in the bottomless
(abudhna) region," and "its rays which are hidden from us
have," we are told, "their bottom up and flow downwards
(nîchînaḥ)." This description of the region of Varuṇa exactly

• See Paradise Found, pp. 481-82.