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

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 349
very likely that the mythical element in the Râmâyaṇa was de-
rived from the story of the restoration of the dawn or Brahma-
jâya to man as represented by the first sacrificer Bṛihaspati, or
the fight of Indra with Vṛitra for the recovery of light. Whether
we can go further than this cannot be decided without further
research. Prof. Max Muller, in his Lectures on the Science
of Language, has shown that many names in the Iliad can be
traced back to the Vedas. For instance he derives Helen from
Saramâ, Paris from Paṇis, and Briesis from Bṛisaya. But even
then all the personages mentioned in the Iliad cannot be ex-
plained in this way. One thing, however, seems certain, that the
story of the restoration of the Dawn-wife to her husband was an
ancient inheritance both with the Greeks and the Indians ; and
we need not, therefore, be surprised if we discover a few strik-
ing coincidences between the Iliad on the one hand and the Râ-
mâyaṇa on the other ; for a common mythical element appears to
have been interwoven with the main story, of course with a differ-
ent local colouring, in each case. The question whether the Râmâ-
yaṇa was copied from Homer is, therefore, entirely meaningless.
The fact seems to be that both Homer and Vâlmîki have uti-
lised a common mythological stock, and any resemblances be-
tween their work only go to prove the theory of their common
origin. It has been pointed out by Prof. Weber that in the
Buddhistic Dasharatha Jâtaka, Sîtâ is represented as the sister
and not as the wife of Râma, and the learned Professor tells us
that this must be an ancient version of the story, for a marriage
with one's sister must be considered to be as primeval as
Adam himself. The late Mr. Telang was of opinion that the
Buddhists must have deliberately misrepresented the story of
the Brahmanical epic, and such a perversion is not improbable.
But on the theory that certain features of the Vedic dawn-myths
were probably interwoven with the main historic story
of the epic, we may explain the Buddhistic account by