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

318 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
But what became of the child (Kumâra) which disappeared
in this way? Was he lost for ever or again restored to his
parents? How did the father or even the mother obtain the
child so lost? Some one must bring the child to them, and
this task seems to have been entrusted to the Ṛibhus or the
Ashvins in the Ṛig-Veda. Thus in I, 110, 8, the Ṛibhus are
said to have united the mother with the calf, and in I, 116,
13, the Ashvins are described as giving to Vadhrimati a
child called Hiraṇya-hasta. The story of restoring Vishṇâpu
to Vishvaka (I, 117, 7) and of giving milk to Shayu's cow
probably refer to the same phenomenon of bringing back the
morning sun to the parents; and from this it is but a small
step to the story of Kumâra (lit., a child), one of the names of
Kârttikeya in the Purâṇas. It was this Kumâra, or the once
hidden (guha), or dropped (skanda) Child, rising along with the
seven rivers or mothers (VIII, 96, 1) in the morning, that led
the army of gods or light and walked victoriously along the
Devayâna path. He was the leader of days, or the army of
gods; and as Maruts were the allies of Indra in his conflict
with Vṛitra, Kumâra or the Child, meaning the morning sun,
may, by a turn of the mythological kaleidoscope, be very well
called a son of Rudra, the later representative of the Maruts;
or said to be born of Agni, who dwelt in waters; or described as
the son of seven or six Kṛittikâs. As the morning sun has to
pierce his way up through the apertures of Albûrz, tempo-
rarily closed by Vṛitra, this Kumâra can again be well termed
Krauñcha-dâraṇa, or the piercer of the Krauñcha mountain, an
epithet applied to him in the Purâṇas.* But we are not here
concerned with the growth which Kumâra, or the child of the

1. For a further devlopment of the idea see Mr. Nârâyan Aiyan-
   gâr's Essays on Indo-Aryan Mythology, Part II, pp.57–80. In the light
   of the Arctic theory we may have to modify some of Mr. Aiyangâr's
   views. Thus out of the seven rivers or mothers, which bring on the light
   of the sun, one may be regarded as his real mother and the other six as
   stepmothers.