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

330 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
what was there to be blamed in thee when thou declaredest ' I
am shipivishṭa ' ?" Yâska records (Nir. V, 7-9) an old tradi-
tion that according to Âupamanyava, Vishṇu has two names
Shipivishṭa and Vishṇu, of which the former has a bad sense
(kutsitârthîyam); and then quotes the aforesaid verse which
he explains in two ways. The first of these two interpreta-
tions accords with that of Aupamanyava; and shipivishṭa is
there explained by Yâska to mean shepaḥ iva nirveshṭitaḥ,
or "enveloped like the private parts," or "with rays obscured "
(apratipanna-rashmiḥ). Yâska, however, suggests an alter-
native interpretation and observes that shipivishṭa may be
taken as a laudatory appellation, meaning "one whose rays
(shipayaḥ) are displayed (âvishṭâḥ)." It is inferred by some
scholars from this passage that the meaning of the word shi-
pivishṭa had already become uncertain in the days of Yâska;
but I do not think it probable, for even in later literature shi-
pivishṭa is an opprobrious appellation meaning either "one
whose hair has fallen off," or "one who is afflicted with an
incurable skin disease." The exact nature of the affliction may
be uncertain; but there can be no doubt that shipivishta has
a bad meaning even in later Sanskrit literature. But in days
when the origin of this phrase, as applied to Vishṇu, was for-
gotten, theologians and scholars naturally tried to divest the
phrase of its opprobrious import by proposing alternative mean-
ings; and Yâska was probably the first Nairukta to formulate
a good meaning for shipivishta by suggesting that shipi may
be taken to mean "rays." That is why the passage from the
Mahâbhârata (Shânti-Parvan, Chap. 342, vv. 69-71), quoted by
Muir, tells us that Yâska was the first to apply the epithet
to Vishṇu; and it is unreasonable to infer from it, as Muir
has done, that the writer of the Mahâbhârata "was not a par-
ticularly good Vedic scholar." In the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, we
are told that Vishṇu was worshipped as Shipivishṭa (II, 2, 12,
4 and 5), and that shipi means cattle or pashavaḥ (II, 5, 5, 2;