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

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 333
the kingdom of Yama. The second deity that traverses or
measures the universe is Agni (VI, 7, 7). He has three stations,
one in samudra or ocean, one in heaven (divi) and one in the
waters or apsu (I, 95, 3). His light is spoken of as three-fold
(III, 26, 7), he has three heads (I, 146, 1) and three seats, powers
or tongues (III, 20, 2; VIII, 39, 8). Now although these three
stations do not seem to be always conceived alike, yet one of
them at any rate can be clearly identified with the third step of
Viṣhṇu; for in X, 1, 3, we are told that the third station of Agni
is known only to Viṣhṇu, while in V, 3, 3, Agni, with the upama
(last or highest) step of Viṣhṇu, is said to guard the sacred cows.
This description agrees well with I, 154, 5 and 6, where swift
moving cows and a spring of honey are said to exist in the place
where the highest step of Viṣhṇu is planted. It has been shown
above that Agni sometimes represents the sun in the Ṛig-Veda,
and that his hiding in the waters and coming out of them as
apāṁ napāt or the child of waters is only a different version of
the sun sinking below the horizon for a long time and then emerg-
ing out of the nether ocean at the end of the long Arctic night.
Viṣhṇu is also the same sun under a different name, and the
third step of Viṣhṇu and the third or the hidden abode of Agni
can, therefore, be easily recognised as identical in character.
The third deity that traverses the universe is the Ashvins to
whom the epithet parijman or 'going round' is applied several
times in the Ṛig-Veda (I, 46, 14; I, 117, 6). The Ashvins
are said to have three stations (VIII, 8, 23), and their chariot,
which is said to go over both the worlds alike (I, 30, 18), has
three wheels one of which is represented as deposited in a
cave or a secret place, like the third step of Viṣhṇu, which
is beyond the ken of mortals (cf. X, 85, 14–16). This coin-
cidence between the third stations of the three different world-
traversing gods cannot be treated as accidental; and if so,
the combined effect of all the passages stated above will be