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

340 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
to denote the ocean or the sea in European languages. Thus-
Bhartṛihari in his Vairâgya-Shataka (v. 76) says:—" Oh! how
extensive, grand and patient is the body of the ocean! For
here sleeps Keshava (Viṣhṇu); here the clan of his enemies
(Vṛitra and other demons of darkness); here lie also the host
of mountains (the parvata of the Vedas) in search of shelter;
and here too (lies) the Mare's fire (submarine fire) with all the
Saṁvartakas (clouds)." This is intended to be a summary of
the Purâṇic legends regarding the ocean, but it can be easily
seen that every one of them is based upon the Vedic concep-
tion of the nature and movements of aerial waters, which
formed the very material out of which the world was believed
to be created. After this it is needless to explain why Âpaḥ
occupied such an important place in the Vedic pantheon.
Seven-fold Nine-fold and Ten-fold.
It is stated above that the nether waters are divided after
the manner of the heaven and the earth, either into three,
seven or ten divisions. We have also seen that the ancient
sacrificers completed their sacrificial session in seven, nine or
ten months; and that the Navagvas and the Dashagvas are,
therefore, sometimes mentioned together, sometimes separately
and sometimes along with the seven sages or vipras. I have
also breifly referred to the seven-fold division, which generally
obtains not only in the Vedic, but also in other Aryan mytho-
logies. But the subject deserves a fuller consideration, and I
propose here to collect certain facts bearing upon it, which
seem to have hitherto attracted but little attention. All that
Yâska and Sâyaṇa tell us about the seven-fold division is that
there are seven horses of the sun and seven tongues or flames
of Agni, because the rays of the sun are seven in number;
and the late Mr. S. P. Pandit goes so far as to assert that the
seven rays here referred to may be the prismatic colours with
which we are familiar in the Science of optics, or the seven