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

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 329
chapter that Indra's fight with Shambara commenced on the
fortieth day of Sharad or in the eighth month after the begin-
ning of the year with Vasanta. These eight months of sunshine
and four of darkness may very well be represented by two
visible and one invisible step of Viṣhṇu, and the Purâṇic story
of Viṣhṇu's sleeping for four months in the year further
supports the same view. It may also be noticed that Viṣhṇu
is said to sleep, on his serpent bed in the midst of the ocean ;
and the ocean and the serpent here alluded to are evidently
the waters (âpaḥ) and Ahi or Vṛitra mentioned in the Vṛitra
legend. It is said that the sleep of Viṣhṇu represents the
rainy season of four months ; but this is a later misrepresenta-
tion of the kind we have noticed in the last chapter in regard
to waters. When the exploits of Indra were transferred from
the last season of the year, viz., Hemanta, to Varshâ or the
rainy season, the period, during which Viṣhṇu lay dormant,
must have been naturally misunderstood in the same way and
identified with the rainy season. But originally Viṣhṇu's
sleep and his third step must have been identical ; and as the
third step is said to be invisible, we cannot suppose that it was
planted in the rainy season, which is visible enough. The long
darkness of the winter night in the Arctic region can alone
adequately represent the third step of Viṣhṇu or the period of
his sleep; and the legend about the Phrygian god, who, accord-
ing to Plutarch, was believed to sleep during winter and
resume his activity during summer, has been interpreted
by Prof. Rhys in the same way. The Irish couvade of the
Ultonian heroes also points out to the same conclusion.*
But apart from the sleep of Viṣhṇu which is Purâṇic, we
have a Vedic legend which has the same meaning. In the
Ṛig-Veda (VII, 100, 6), Viṣhṇu is represented as having a
bad name, viz., shipivishṭa. Thus the poet says, "O Viṣhṇu!

• See Rhys' Hibbert Lectures, p. 632. The passage is quoted in
  full in Chap. XII, infra.