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

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 331
Tān. Br. XVIII, 6, 26 ). Shipivishṭa is thus explained as a
laudatory appellation by taking shipi equal to 'cattle,' 'sacrifice'
or 'rays.' But these etymological devices have failed to invest
the word with a good sense in Sanskrit literature; and this fact
by itself is sufficient to show that the word shipivishṭa originally
was, and has always been, a term of reproach indicating some
bodily affliction, though the nature of it was not exactly known.
The theological scholars, it is true, have tried to explain the
word in a different sense; but this is due to their unwillingness
to give opprobrious names to their gods, rather than to any
uncertainty about the real meaning of the word. It was thus
that the word shipivishṭa, which is originally a bad name
(kutsitārthīyam) according to Aupamanyava, was converted into
a mysterious (guhya) name for the deity. But this transition of
meaning is confined only to the theological literature, and did
not pass over into the non-theological works, for the obvious
reason that in ordinary language the bad meaning of the word
was sufficiently familiar to the people. There can, therefore, be
little doubt that, in VII, 100, 5 and 6, shipivishṭa is used in a bad
sense as stated by Aupamanyava. These verses have been
translated by Muir as follows:—" I, a devoted worshipper, who
know the sacred rites, today celebrate this thy name shipivishṭa;
I, who am weak, laud thee who art strong and dwellest beyond
this lower world (kshayantam asya rajasaḥ parāke). What, Vishṇu,
hast thou to blame, that thou declaredest, 'I am Shipivishṭa'? Do
not conceal from us this form (vārpas), since thou didst assume
another shape in the battle." The phrase "dwelling in the lower
world "(rajasah parāke), or "beyond this world," furnishes us with
a clue to the real meaning of the passage. It was in the nether
world that Vishṇu bore this bad name. And what was the bad
name after all? Shipivishṭa, or "enveloped like shepa," meaning
that his rays were obscured, or that he was temporarily concealed