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

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 327
culminating and the setting of the sun; and Muir quotes a passage
from the Râmâyaṇa (IV, 40, 64), which mentions udaya-parvata,
or the mountain of sun-rise, and says that on the top of it is
the peak Saumanasa, the place where Viṣhṇu's first step was
planted. We are then told that his second step was placed on
the summit of Meru ; and that " when the sun had circled round
Jambudvîpa by the north, he is mostly visible on that lofty peak."
It seems, therefore, that according to the Râmâyaṇa the third
step of Viṣhṇu was round Jambudvîpa, and was planted after
sunset, whatever that may mean. In the Purâṇic literature,
Viṣhṇu's three steps appear as the three steps of Vâmana, the
fifth incarnation of Viṣhṇu. Bali, the powerful enemy of the
gods, was celebrating a sacrifice, when, assuming the form of a
dwarf, Viṣhṇu approached him, and begged for three paces of
ground. No sooner the request was granted than Viṣhṇu
assumed a miraculous form and occupied the whole earth by
the first step and the atmosphere and everything above it with
the second. Bali, who was the lord of the universe before,
was surprised at the metamorphosis of the dwarf; but had to
make good his own word by offering his head for the third step of
Vâmana. The offer was accepted and Bali was pressed down
under the third step into the nether world, and the empire of
the earth and heavens above was again restored to Indra from
whom it had been snatched away by Bali. Amongst these
various interpretations one thing stands out very clear, viz.,
that Viṣhṇu represents the sun in one form or another. But
Vedic scholars are not agreed as to whether Viṣhṇu's strides
represent the daily or the yearly course of the sun. We must,
therefore, carefully examine the Vedic passages relating to
Viṣhṇu, and see if any indication is found therein to decide
which of these two views is more probable or correct. Now in
I, 155, 6, Viṣhṇu is described as setting in motion, like a revol-
ving wheel, ‘his ninety steeds with their four names, evidently