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

276 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
and that Homer's earth was really a sphere and that the
underworld was full of aerial waters. We have seen above, how
some Vedic scholars have raised similar difficulties in the inter-
pretation of the Vṛitra myth by supposing that the lower
celestial hemisphere was unknown to the Vedic bards. This
is probably a reflection of the Homeric controversy, but as
pointed out by Dr. Warren,* these baseless assumptions are due
mainly to a prejudice with which many scholars approach the
question of the interpretation of ancient myths. It is assumed
that the early man could not possibly have known anything
about the world, beyond what the rudest savages know at pre-
sent; and plain and explicit statements are sometimes put aside,
distorted, or ignored by scholars, who, had they not been
blinded by prejudice, would certainly have interpreted them in
a different way. It is impossible to do justice to the subject in this
place, and I would refer the reader for further details to
Dr. Warren's instructive work on the subject. Dr. Warren also
states that Euripides, like Homer, held the view that there was
one fountain of all the world's water, and that the same concep-
tion is expressed by Hesiod in his Theogony, where all rivers as
sons, and all fountains and brooks as daughters, are traced back
to Okeanos. Then we have the constant descending movement
of all waters until they reach the world-surrounding Ocean-river
at the equator, beyond which is the underworld, similar to the
movements of aerial waters described in the Avesta. Aristotle,
in his Meteors, is said also to have mentioned "a river in the
air constantly flowing betwixt the heaven and the earth and
made by the ascending and the descending vapours."† It is
again pointed by Grill that the ancient Germans had a similar
world-river, and the descending Ukko's stream and the ascend-
ing Amma's stream in the Finnish mythology are similar-
ly believed to be the traces of a like cosmic water-circulation.

• Paradise Found, p. 333f. † Paradise Found, p. 51, and 256, notes.

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 277
We read of a golden boat also in the Lettish mythology; and
Prof. Max Muller, referring to it, says, "What the golden boat
is that sinks into the sea and is mourned for by the daughter of
the sky, however, doubtful it may be elsewhere, is not to be mis-
taken in the mythology of the Lets. It is the setting sun, which
in the Veda has to be saved by the Ashvins; it is the golden boat
in which Hêlios and Hêracles sail from west to east. Some-
times it is the Sun-daughter herself that is drowned like
Chyavâna in the Veda, and as Chyavâna and similar heroes
had to be saved in the Veda by the Ashvins, the Lets also call
upon the God-sons to row in a boat and save the Sun-daughter."*
In connection with this, it may be here observed that the Ashvins
are described in the Ṛig-Veda as saving their proteges in boats
(I, 116, 3; I, 182, 6), and that though Ashvins' boats are not
described as golden, their chariot is said to be hiraṇyayî or golden
in VIII, 5, 29; while the boats of Pûṣhan, in which he crosses the
aerial ocean (samudra), are actually said to be golden in VI, 58, 3.
In I, 46, 7, the Ashvins are again spoken of as having both a
chariot and a boat, as a sort of double equipment; and their
chariot is said to be samâna yojana, or traversing, without dis-
tinction, both the heaven and the watery regions in I, 30, 18.
The word samâna is meaningless unless there is some difficulty in
traversing over one part of the celestial sphere as distinguished
from the other. The Vedic gods used these boats especially
in crossing the lower world, the home and seat of aerial waters;
and when they appeared above the horizon, they are described
as traversing the upper sphere by means of their chariots.
But sometimes the waters are said to carry them even across
the sky above, just as the chariot is described as going over
the lower world. For instance in the legend of Dîrghatamas,
discussed previously, he is said to be borne on waters for ten

• See Max Muller's Contributions to the Science of Mythology,
  Vol. II, p. 433.

278 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
months and then growing old was about to die or reach the-
ocean, to which the waters were speeding. In other words, this-
means that the sun, who was borne on waters for ten months,
was about to go into the lower watery regions as explained in
the chapter VI. But to proceed with the subject in hand, the-
idea of the cosmic circulation of aerial waters, is not confined to-
the Indian, the Iranian or the Greek mythology. In the Egyp-
tian mythology, Nu-t, the goddess of the sky, is sometimes "re-
presented by a figure in which the band of stars is accompanied
by a band of water"; and Sir Norman Lockyer tells us that "not
only the Sun-gods, but the stars, were also supposed to travel in
boats across the firmament from one horizon to the other." The-
Jewish idea of the firmament in the midst of waters, the waters-
above being afterwards separated from the waters below the-
firmament, is already referred to above. There is, therefore,
nothing strange or surprising if we find in the Vedas and in the-
Avesta more or less clear references to the circulation of aerial
waters through the upper and the lower celestial hemispheres of
the universe. It is an idea which is found in the ancient mythology
of every other nation, and nothing but false prejudice can deter-
us from interpreting the simultaneous movements or the libera-
tion of waters and light, described in the Vedic hymns, on the-
theory of the cosmic circulation of aerial waters.
But even after accepting the theory of the cosmic cir-
culation of celestial waters and the simultaneous release of
waters and dawn, it may be asked how the Arctic theory
comes in, or is in any way required, to explain the Vṛitra-
legend. We may admit that the waters imprisoned by Vṛitra,
by shutting up the passages through the rocky walls that
surround them, may be taken to mean the celestial waters
in the world below the three earths; but still, the struggle
between Indra and Vṛitra may, for aught we know, represent

• See Lockyer's Dawn of Astronomy, p. 35.

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 279
the daily fight between light and darkness, and it may be urged,
that there is no necessity whatever, for bringing in the Arctic
theory to explain the legend. A little reflection will, however, show
that all the incidents in the legend cannot be explained on the theory
of a daily struggle between light and darkness. In X, 62, 2, the
Aṅgirases, who are the assistants of Indra in his conquest of
cows, are said to have defeated Vala at the end of the year
(parivatsare). This shows that the struggle was annual and did
not take place every day. Then we have the passage (VIII, 32,
26), where Arbuda, the watery demon, is said to have been
killed by Indra with ice (hima), and not with a thunderbolt as
usual. In addition to the fact that the struggle was an yearly
one, we must, therefore, hold that the conflict took place
during winter, the season of ice and snow; and this is corrobo-
rated by the statement in the Avesta, that it was during winter
that the waters, and with them the sun, ceased to move on-
wards. Vṛitra's forts are again described as autumnal or shâradîḥ,
showing that the fight must have commenced at the end of
Sharad (autumn) and continued during winter. We have further
seen that there are a hundred night-sacrifices, and the duration
of Tishtrya's fight with Apaosha is described as varying from
one to a hundred nights in the Tîr Yasht. All these incidents can
be explained only by the Arctic theory, or by the theory of the
long autumnal night, and not on the hypothesis of a daily
struggle between light and darkness.
We have come to the conclusion that Indra's fight with
Vṛitra must have commenced in Sharad, and lasted till the
end of Shishira in the watery regions of the nether world.
Fortunately for us this conclusion is remarkably borne out by
an important passage preserved in the Ṛig-Veda, which gives
us, what may be called, the very date of the commencement
of Indra's conflict with Vṛitra, though the true bearing of the
passage has yet remained unexplained owing to the absence

280 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
of the real key to its meaning. In II, 12, 11, we read, "Indra
found Shambara dwelling on the mountains (in) chatvâriṅshyâm
sharadi.'"* Now chatvâriṅshyâm is an ordinal numeral in the
feminine gender and in the locative case, and similarly sharadi
is the locative of sharad (autumn), which also is a word of
feminine gender in Sanskrit. The phrase chatvâriṅshyâm sharadi
is, therefore, capable of two interpretations or constructions,
though the words are simple in themselves. Chatvâriṅshyâm
literally means 'in the fortieth,' and sharadi 'in autumn.' If we
now take chatvâriṅshyâm (in the fortieth) as an adjective qualify-
ing sharadi (in autumn), the meaning of the phrase would be "in
the fortieth autumn" ; while if the two words are taken separa-
tely the meaning would be "on the fortieth, in autumn." Sâyaṇa
and Western scholars have adopted the first construction,
and understand the passage to mean, "Indra found Shambara
dwelling on the mountains in the fortieth autumn, that is, in the
fortieth year"; for the words indicating seasons, like Vasanta
(spring), Sharad (autumn), or Hemanta (winter), are understood
to denote a year, especially when used with a numeral adjective
meaning more than one. This construction is grammatically
correct, for chatvâriṅshyâm and sharadi being both in the feminine
gender and in the locative case, the two words can be taken
together, and understood to mean "in the fortieth autumn
or year." But what are we to understand by the statement,
that Shambara was found in the fortieth year by Indra?
Are we to suppose that Indra was engaged in searching out
the demon for 40 years, and it was only at the end of this
long period that the enemy was, at last, found dwelling
on the mountains? If so, Indra's conflict with Shambara
cannot be daily or yearly, but must be supposed to have
taken place only once in 40 years, an inference, which is

• Ṛig. II, 12, 11,— यः शंबरं पर्वतेषु क्षियंतं चत्वारिंश्यां शरदन्वविं-
  दत् । ओजायमानं यो अहिं जघान दानुं शयानं स जनास इंद्रः ॥

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 281
directly opposed to the statement (X, 62, 2) that "Vala was
killed at the end of the year (parivatsare)." Some scholars try
to get out of the difficulty by suggesting that the passage may be
taken as referring to a famine or drought that occurred after
40 years, or that it may represent a forty years' war between the
Aryans protected by Indra, and Shambara, the chief of the
aboriginal races dwelling on the mountains! But both these
explanations are too far-fetched and imaginary to deserve any
serious attention or refutation. The story of Shambara is men-
tioned in a number of places in the Ṛig-Veda, and everywhere it
represents Indra's conflict with Vṛitra.* It is, therefore, prepos-
terous to hold that a forty years' war with the aboriginies. is
referred to in this single passage, especially when the
passage is capable of being interpreted differently without
straining the words used. It is the most ordinary Sanskrit
idiom to use the locative case in mentioning the month,
the day, the season or the year, when a particular incident
is said to have taken place. Thus, even now, we say,
"Kârttike, shukla-pakshe, trayodashyâm," meaning "in the
month of Kârttika, in the bright half, on the thirteenth (tithi
or day)." The feminine ordinal numerals, like chaturthî, ekâ-
dashî, trayodashî, are always used, without any noun, to de-
note the tithi or the day of the month, or the fortnight, as the
case may be. Thus in the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa (I, 1, 9, 10),
we have the expression "yadi saṁvatsare na âdadhyât dvâ-
dashyâm purastât âdadhyât," meaning that "if the sacrificial
fire is not consecrated at the end of the year (saṁvatsare), it
should be consecrated on the twelfth (dvâdashyâm) afterwards."
Here dvâdashyâm is a feminine ordinal in the locative case
used by itself, and means "on the twelfth tithi or day" after
the end of the year mentioned in the preceding sentence.

• See the Nivids, quoted supra (p. 246). Shambara-hatya or the
  fight with Shambara, and go-ishṭi or the struggle for cows are declared
  to be the one and the same in these nivids

282 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
Chatvâriṁshyâm, in the Vedic passage under discussion, may
be similarly taken to denote the fortieth tithi or day, and
sharadi the season at the time, the two words being taken as
independent locatives. The passage would then mean “In-
dra found Shambara dwelling on the mountains on the for-
tieth (scil. tithi or day) in autumn.”
Now Sharad is the fourth season of the year, and the forti-
eth day of Sharad would mean seven months and ten days, or
220 days, after the first day of Vasanta or the spring, which
commenced the year in old times. In short, the passage means
that Indra's fight with Shambara, or the annual conflict between
light and darkness, commenced on the tenth day of the eighth
month of the year, or on the 10th of October, if we take the year
to have then commenced with March, the first month in the
old Roman calendar. In I, 155, 6, Vishṇu, like a rounded
wheel, is said to have set in swift motion his ninety racing
steeds together with the four, and the reference is evidently to
a year of four seasons of ninety days each. If we accept this
division, each season would be of three months' duration, and
Sharad being the third (cf. X, 90, 6), the fortieth day of Sha-
rad would still mean the 10th day of the eighth month of the
year. The passage thus gives the very date of Indra's annual
fight with Vṛitra; and if it had been correctly understood,
much useless speculation about the nature of Vṛitra's legend
would have been avoided. We have seen previously that the
seven Âdityas, or monthly Sun-gods, the sons of Aditi, were
presented by her to the gods in a former yuga, and that she
cast away the eighth, the Mârtâṇḍa, because he was born
in an undeveloped state. In other words, the Sun-god of the
eighth month is here said to have died soon after he was born,
evidently meaning, that the Sun went below the horizon in the
beginning of the eighth month; and by fixing the date of the
commencement of Indra's fight with Vṛitra as the fortieth
day in Sharad, or the 10th day of the eighth month, we arrive

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 283
at the same conclusion. The legend of Aditi and the date of
the commencement of Indra's fight with Shambara, as given
in II, 12, 11, thus corroborate each other in a remarkable way;
and as the current interpretation of the passage does not yield
any intelligible sense, there is no course left for us but to accept
the only other possible interpretation.
According to this interpretation Sharad becomes the last
season of sunshine, and it may be here remarked that the ety-
mological meaning of the word further supports the same view..
For Sharad is derived from shṛî, to wither or waste away,
(Uṇâdi 127), and the word thus primarily signifies the 'season of
decay or withering'; and the decay here referred to is evidently
the decay of the power of the sun, and not the withering of
grass, as suggested by Sâyaṇa in his commentary on III, 32, 9.
Thus we find in the Taittirîya Saṁhitâ, II, 1, 2, 5, that "There
are three lustres or powers of the sun ; one in Vasanta, that is,
in the morning ; one in Grîshma or the mid-day ; and one in
Sharad or the evening."* We cannot suppose that the words,
morning, mid-day and evening, are here used in their primary
sense. The three stages of the day represented by them are
predicated of the yearly sun, and Sharad is said to be
the evening, i.e., the time of decline in his yearly course.
It follows, therefore, that after Sharad there was no period of
sunshine in ancient times; and a Vedic passage, † quoted by
Shabara in his commentary on Jaimini Suttras VI, 7, 40, says,
"The sun is all the seasons; when it is morning (uditi), it is
Vasanta; when the milking time (saṅgava), it is Grîshma;.
*Taitt. Saṁ. II, 1, 2, 5,--त्रीणि वा आदित्यस्य तेजांसि वसंतः प्रातः
ग्रीष्मे मध्यंदिने शरद्यपराह्ने । यावंत्येव तेजांसि तान्येवावरुंधे । Also compare
Taitt. Saṁ. II 1, 4, 2.
† Shabara or Jaimini VI, 7, 40, quotes, आदित्यो वा सर्व ऋतवः
स यदैवोदित्यथ वसंतो यदा संगवोऽथ ग्रीष्मो यदा मध्यंदिनोऽथ वर्षा यदाऽपरा-
ह्नोऽथ शरद् यदास्तमेत्यथ हेंमंतशिशिरौ । I have not been able to trace
the passage; but it clearly states that the last two seasons formed the-
night of the yearly sun.

284 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
when mid-day (madhyan-dina), it is Varsha; when evening
(aparâhna), it is Sharad; when it sets (astam eti), it is the dual
season of Hemanta and Shishira." If this passage has any
meaning, it shows that the powers of the sun declined in
Sharad, and the end of Sharad (autumn), therefore, represented
his annual succumbing to the powers of darkness; or, in short,
to dual season of Hemanta and Shishira represented the long
night when the sun went below the horizon. It may also be
mentioned that the word himyâ (lit. wintry) is used in the
Ṛig-Veda for night (I, 34, 1), implying that the wintry season
was the season of special darkness.
But it may be urged that we have no authority for holding
that, in ancient days, time was reckoned simply by seasons and
days; and chatvâriṅshyâm sharadi cannot, therefore, be inter-
preted to mean "On the 40th (day) in Sharad." The objec-
tion is not, however, well-founded; for in ancient inscriptions
we find many instances where dates of events are recorded only
by reference to seasons. Thus in the book on the Inscriptions
from the Cave-Temples of Western India, by Dr. Burgess and
Pandit Bhagwânlâl Indrâji, published by the Government
of Bombay in 1881, the date of inscription No. 14 is given
as follows:—"Of king (raño) Vâsiṭhîputa, the illustrious lord
(sâmi-siri) [Puḷumâyi] in the year seventh (7), of Grîshma the
fifth (5) fortnight, and first (1) day." Upon this Dr. Burgess
remarks that "the mention of the 5th fortnight of Grîshma
shows that the year was not divided into six seasons (ṛitu) but
into three, namely, Grîshma, Varshâ and Hemanta." But what
is important for our purpose in this inscription is the method
of giving the date by seasons, fortnights and days, without
any reference to the month. This inscription is followed
in the same book by others, one of which (No. 20) is thus
dated:—"In the twenty-fourth year (24) of the king Vâsi-
ṭhîputa, the illustrious Puḷimâvi, in the third (3) fort-
night of the winter (hemanta) months, on the second (2)

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 285
day"; and another is said to be inscribed "On the tenth day,
in the sixth fortnight of Grîshma, in the eighth year of king
Mâḍhariputta, the lord Sirisena."* Dr. Bhâṇḍârkar, in his
Early History of the Deccan, has ascertained that Mâ-
ḍhariputta reigned in the Mahârâshṭra from about A. D. 190
to 197, and Puḷumâyi was on the throne of the Mahârâshṭra
about 60 years earlier, that is, from A. D. 130 to 154. All
the inscriptions noted above, therefore, belong to the 2nd cen-
tury of the Christian era, that is, a long time before the date
of Ârya Bhaṭṭa or Varâhamihira, whose works seem to have
established, if not introduced, the present system of measuring
time by seasons, months, fortnights and days. It is, therefore,
clear that eighteen hundred years ago, dates of events were
recorded and ascertained by mentioning only the season, the
fortnight and the day of the.fortnight, without any reference to
the month of the year; and we might very well suppose that
several centuries before this period these dates were given by a
still more simple method, namely, by mentioning only the
season and the day of that season. And, as a matter of fact,
we do find this method of measuring time, viz., by seasons
and days, adopted in the Avesta to mark the particular days
of the year. Thus in the Âfrîgân Gâhanbâr (I, 7-12), as
written in some manuscripts mentioned by Westergaard in
his notes on the Âfrîgân, there is a statement of the

• Inscription No. 14 of Kârle inscriptions runs thus :—रञो
  वासिठिपुतस सामिसिरि पुळुमाविस सवछरे सतमे ७ गिम्हपंखे पचमे ५ दिवसे
  पधमे १; (or in Sanskrit — राज्ञो वासिष्ठीपुत्रस्य स्वामिश्री पुळुमाविनः संवत्सरे
  सप्तमे ७, ग्रीष्मपक्षे पंचमे ५, दिवसे प्रथमे १ ).
  Inscription No. 20 of the same section runs thus :—सिधं रञो
  वासिठिपुतस सिरिपुळिमाविस सवछरे चतुविसे २४ हेमतान पंखे ततिये ३
  दिवसे बितिये २; (or in Sanskrit— सिद्धम् । राज्ञो वासिष्ठीपुत्रस्य श्रीपुळिमावेः
  संवत्सरे चतुर्विंशे २४, हेमंतानां पक्षे तृतीये ३, दिवसे द्वितीये २).
  An inscription from the Kânheri cave (p. 60) is as follows :—सिधं
  रञो माढरीपुतस स्वामिसिरिसनेस सवछरे ८ गिप ५ दिव १०; (or in Sanskrit—
  सिद्धम् । राज्ञो माठरिपुत्रस्य स्वामिश्रीसेनस्य संवत्सरे ८, ग्री. प. ५, दिव. १०).

286 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
different rewards which a Mazdayasnian receives in the next
life for what he gives as present in this to the Ratu (re-
ligious head); and we have therein such expressions as
"On the 45th (day) of Maidhyô-Zaremya, i. e., on (the day)
Dae of (the month) Ardibehest;" or "On the 60th (day) of
Maidhyôshma, i. e., on (the day) Dae of (the month) Tîr;" and
so on. Here each date is given in two different ways: first, by
mentioning the Gâhanbâr or the season (the year being
divided into six Gâhanbârs), and the day of that season;
and secondly, by mentioning the month and the day of
that month. Strictly speaking there is no necessity to
adopt this double method of marking the days of the year, for
either of them is enough to accurately define the day required.
It is, therefore, highly probable, as remarked by Mr. Ervad
Jamshedji Dadabhai Nadershah, that the method of counting
by seasons and days is the older of the two, and the phrases
containing the names of months and days are later interpola-
tions, made at a time when the older method was superseded
by the latter.* But even supposing that the double phrases
were used originally, we can, so far as our present purpose is
concerned, safely infer from these passages that the method of
marking the days of the year by mentioning the season and
the day thereof was in vogue at the time when the Âfrigân was
written: and if the method is so old, it fully warrants us in in-
terpreting chatvâriṁshyâm sharadi to mean "On the 40th (day)
in Sharad (autumn)." There can be little doubt that the Vedic
bards have recorded in this passage the exact date of the com-
mencement of Indra's fight with Shambara, but in the absence
of the true key to its meaning the passage has been so long un-
fortunately misunderstood and misinterpreted both by Eastern
and Western scholars. The grammatical possibility of connect-
ing chatvâriṁshyâm, as an adjective, with sharadi helped on

• See his essay on "The Zoroastrian months and years with their
  divisions in the Avestic age" in the Cama Memorial Volume, pp. 251–

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 287
this misconception ; and though Vedic scholars were unable to
explain why Shambara, according to their interpretation, should
be described as having been found in the 40th year, yet they
seemed to have accepted the interpretation because no other
meaning appeared possible to them. The alternative construction
proposed by me above is very simple. Instead of taking chatvâriṁ-
shyâm as an adjective qualifying sharadi, I take the two
words as independent locatives, but the change in the meaning
caused thereby is very striking and important ; and so long as
the Arctic theory was unknown, the attention of scholars was not
likely to be drawn to this alternative construction.* But now we
can very well understand why Indra is said to have found Sham-
bara on the 40th (day) of Sharad, and why the forts, which gave
shelter to the demon, are described as shâradîḥ, as well as why
Arbuda or the watery demon is said to be killed by ice (hima). I have
stated before that the forts (puraḥ) of Shambara must be understood
to mean 'days,' and the adjective shâradîḥ only serves to

• A similar phrase is found also in the Atharva Veda (XII, 3, 34
  and 41). The hymn describes the preparation of Brahmaudana, or the
  porridge given as a fee to the Brâhmans, and in the 34th verse it is
  stated that "The treasurer shall fetch it in sixty autumns, (shashṭyâm
  sharatsu nidhîyâ abhîchhât)." But, as remarked by Prof. Bloomfield
  (vide his translation of A.V. with notes in S. B. E. Series, Vol. XLII,
  p. 651), the meaning of the phrase "sixty autumns" is obscure; and
  the only other alternative possible is to take shashṭyâm as the loca-
  tive of shashṭî (feminine form, in long î, of shashṭa) meaning "the
  60th"; and interpret the original phrase to mean "On the 60th (tithi)
  in autumns". "The word shashṭa cannot be used in classical Sanskrit
  as an ordinal numeral according to Pâṇini (V, 2, 58); but the rule does
  not seem to hold strictly in Vedic Sanskrit (See Whitney's Grammar,
  § 487). Even in the post-Vedic literature we meet with such ordinal forms
  as shashṭa ashîta, &c. Thus the colophon of the 60th chapter of the
  Sabhâ and the Udyoga-parvan of the Mahâbhârata (Roy's Cal. Ed.)
  reads thus:--Iti...shashṭaḥ.adhyâyaḥ, shewing that shashṭa was used at
  the time as an ordinal numeral, (See Pet Lex. s. v. shashṭa). The
  Brahmaudana is, according to this interpretation, to be cooked on the
  60th day in autumns, i. e., at the end of Sharad every year.

288 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
strengthen the same view. The disappearance of the sun below
the horizon in the-beginning of the 8th month in autumn, follow-
ed by a long twilight, a continuous dark night of about 100 days,
and a long dawn of 30 days in the Arctic regions, is the basis of
the legend, and every incident therein can be naturally and
intelligibly explained only on this theory.
There is one more incident in the Vṛitra legend which re-
quires to be considered before we close its examination. We have
seen that water and light are described as having been simultane-
ously liberated by Indra after slaughtering Vṛitra. These waters
are sometimes spoken of as streams or rivers (II, 15, 3 ; II, 2),
which flow upwards or udañcha (II, 15, 6), and are said to be seven
in number (I, 32, 12; II, 12, 12). ‘The theory of the cosmic cir-
culation of aerial waters explains why these waters are described
as flowing upwards simultaneously with the dawn, for as the sun
was believed to be carried in the sky by aerial currents, the light
of the sun appeared above the horizon when the aerial rivers
began to flow up from the nether world where they had been
blocked before by Vṛitra. The waters or the rivers were, therefore,
aptly described as flowing upwards and bringing the light of the
sun with them. But we have still to answer the question why the
rivers or waters are described as seven in number, and it is alleged
that the Storm theory supplies us with a satisfactory reply to this
question. Thus it has been suggested by Western scholars that the
seven rivers, here referred to, are the seven rivers of the Panjaub
which are flooded during the rainy season by waters released by
Indra from the clutches of the demon who confines them in the
storm-cloud. The rivers of the Panjaub may therefore, it is urged,
be well described as being set free to flow (sartave) by
Indra himself, and in support of this explanation we are refer-
red to the Ṛig-Veda X, 75, and to the phrase hapta-hindu oc-
curring in Fargard I of the Vendidad, where it is said to denote

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 289
the Panjaub or India. But the hypothesis, howsoever tempting
it may seem at the first sight, is quite inadequate to explain
the seven-fold division of waters in a satisfactory way.
It has been pointed out above that the simultaneous release of
waters and light can be accounted for only on the theory
of the cosmic circulation of aerial waters; and if this is correct,
we cannot identify the seven rivers, set free to flow upwards
(udañcha) by Indra, with any terrestrial rivers whether in the
Panjaub or elsewhere. The Panjaub is, again, as its name
indicates, a land of five and not of seven rivers; and it is
so described in the Vâjasaneyî Saṁhitâ.* The term pañcha-
nada is, therefore, more appropriate in the case of the
Panjaub, than sapta sindhavaḥ or the Hapta-hindu of the
Avesta. But we might get over the difficulty by supposing
that Kubhâ and Sarasvatî, or any other two tributaries of the
Indus were included in the group by the Vedic bards, when
they spoke of seven rivers. In the Ṛig-Veda (X, 75), about
fifteen different rivers are mentioned, including the Gaṅgâ,
the Yamunâ, the Kubhâ, the Krumu, the Gomatî, the Rasâ,
and the five rivers of the Panjaub; but nowhere do we find
what specific rivers were included in the group of seven rivers.
This has given rise to a difference of opinion amongst scholars.
Thus Sâyaṇa includes the Ganges and the Jamuna in the
group, which, according to Prof. Max Muller, is made up by
adding the Indus and the Sarasvatî to the five rivers of the
Panjaub. On the other hand, Lassen and Ludwig hold that the
Kubhâ must be included in the group at the cost of the Sarasvati.
This shows that we are not on a safe ground in supposing
that the expression "seven rivers" once meant what is, by
nature, "the land of five rivers." The expression sapta
sindhavaḥ occurs in about a dozen places in the Ṛig-Veda, and
in five of these it distinctly denotes the seven rivers set free by

• See Vâj. Saṁ. XXXIV, 11,— पंच नद्यः सरस्वतीमपि यंति सस्रोत-
  तसः। सरस्वती तु पंचधा सो देशेऽभवत् सरित्॥ Here सो is equal to सा+अटः.
  19

290 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
Indra along with the release of cows or the recovery of dawn (I,
32, 12 ; II, 12, 3 and 12 ; IV, 28, 1, &c.); and for reasons given
above, we cannot suppose that they represent any terrestrial
rivers in these passages. In the remaining cases, there is not a
single instance where the expression may be said to decisively
denote only the terrestrial rivers; nay, it is more likely that
celestial rivers are referred to everywhere by the expression of
sapta sindhavaḥ. I do not mean to say that sapta sindhavaḥ,
sapta pravataḥ, or sapta sravataḥ can in no case denote any
terrestrial rivers. For there are three groups of seven rivers
mentioned in the Ṛig-Veda,—the celestial, the terrestrial and
the infernal. Thus in X, 64, 8, “thrice three wandering rivers”
are mentioned ; while the waters are said “to flow forward
triply, seven and seven” in X, 75, 1. It is, therefore, clear
that like the Ganges in the Purâṇas, the Vedic bards conceived
a group of seven rivers in the heaven, another on the earth,
and a third in the nether world, somewhat after the manner
of the eleven gods in the heaven, eleven on the earth, and eleven
in the waters (I, 139, 11 ; I, 34, 11 ; X, 65, 9). If so, we cannot
say that a seven-fold division of the terrestrial rivers was not
known to the Vedic bards. But, for reasons given above, we
cannot hold that this seven-fold division was suggested by
the rivers of the Panjaub ; and then extended to the upper and
the lower celestial hemishhere. The Panjaub, as remarked
above, is a land of five rivers and not seven ; and though we
might raise the number to seven by adding to the group any
two insignificant tributaries according to our fancy, yet the
artificial character of the device is too apparent to justify us
in holding that the expression sapta sindhavaḥ was originally
suggested by the rivers of the Panjaub. We must again bear
in mind that the seven-fold division of waters does not stand
by itself in the Ṛig-Veda; but is only a particular case of a
general principle of division adopted therein. Thus we have
seven earthly abodes (I, 22, 16), seven mountains (VIII, 96, 2),

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 291
seven rays or horses of the sun (I, 164, 3), seven hotṛis (VIII,
60, 16), seven regions (dishaḥ) and seven Âdityas (IX, 114, 3), seven
dhîtis or devotions (IX, 8, 4), seven sisters or maryâdâḥ,
(X, 5, 5-6), and possibly seven and seven gods (X, 55, 3),
in the Ṛig-Veda; while in the later Sanskrit literature we
have the seven heavens, seven earths, seven mountains, seven
oceans and seven nether worlds. This seven-fold division is
also found in other Aryan mythologies, as, for instance, in the
Avesta, where the earth is said to be divided into seven Kar-
shavares (Yt. X, 16 and 64), and in the Greek mythology, which
speaks of the seven layers of heaven over one another. It
follows, therefore, that the seven-fold division must be traced
back almost to the Indo-European period; and if so, we cannot
maintain that the seven-fold division of waters, which is only
a particular case of the general principle, was suggested by the
rivers of the Panjaub, for, in that case, we shall have to
make the Panjaub the home of the Aryans before they separ-
ated. But if the rivers set free to flow up by Indra are not
terrestrial, and if the expression sapta sindhavaḥ was not ori-
ginally suggested by the rivers of the Panjaub, it may be asked
how we account for the number of rivers and the origin of the
phrase Hapta-hindu occurring in the Avesta. The true key to
the solution of the question will be found in the simultaneous
release of waters and light effected by Indra after conquering
Vṛitra. In II, 12, 12, Indra, who caused the seven rivers to
flow, is described as sapta-rashmiḥ, or seven-rayed, suggesting
that seven rays and seven rivers must have, in some way, been
connected. We have also seen that the waters and the sun
are said to move at the same time in the Parsi scriptures. If
so, what can be more natural than to suppose that the seven
suns required seven horses or seven aerial rivers to carry them
over the sky, much in the same way as Dîrghatamas is said to
have been borne upon waters in I, 158, 6? Again according
to the legend of Aditi, there were seven suns or month-gods

292 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
located in seven different regions and producing seven
months of sun-shine of different temperatures. But how could
the seven suns move in seven different parts of heaven except
by the agency of seven different aerial rivers coming up from
the nether world, each with its own sun ? In short, when the
close connection between waters and light is once established,
it is not difficult to perceive why the waters and light are each
said to be seven-fold. The seven celestial rivers are expressly
mentioned in the Ṛig-Veda (IX, 54, 2), and the flowing forth
of the seven rivers and the appearance of the dawn on the
horizon are described as simultaneous in many passages, some
of which have been already referred to above. Neither the
Storm theory, nor the geography of the Panjaub, satisfactorily
accounts for the simultaneous happening of these events; and so
long as this difficulty is not solved, except by the Arctic theory
and the cosmic circulation of aerial waters, we cannot accept
the hypothesis of Western scholars referred to above, howso-
ever eloquently expounded it may be. As regards the origin
of the phrase Hapta-hindu, which is believed to denote India
in the Avesta, I think, we can explain it by supposing that
the expression sapta sindhavaḥ was an old one, carried by
the Aryans with them to their new home, and there applied to
new places or countries, just as the 'British colonists now carry
the old names of their mother country to their new places of
settlement. Hapta-hindu is not the only expression which
occurs in the Avesta in the enumeration of the Aryan coun-
tries. We have, Vârena, Haêtumant, Rangha and Harahvaiti
in the list, which are the Zend equivalents of Varuṇa, Se-
tumat, Rasâ and Sarasvatî.* But it is never argued from it

• Darmesteter, in his introduction to Fargard I of the Vendidad,
  observes that "names, originally belonging to mythical lands, are often,
  in later times, attached to real ones." If this is true of Varena, Rangha-
  (Rasâ), and other names, there is no reason why Hapta-hindu should not
  be similarly explained, especially when it is now clear that the phrase
  sapta sindhavaḥ denotes celestial rivers in the Vedas.

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 293
that the Vedic deity, Varuṇa, was so named from the country
called Varena by the worshippers of Mazda ; and the same
may be said of Rasâ and Sarasvatî. Rasâ and Sarasvatî
sometimes denote the terrestrial rivers even in the Ṛig-Veda.
But there is ample evidence to show that they were originally
the aerial rivers. It is, therefore, more natural to hold that
all these were ancient mythological names brought with them
by they Aryan settlers to their new home and there applied to
new places or objects. There are places in Burma which are
named Ayodhya, Mithila, &c., and this is explained on the
ground that they were so named by the Indian settlers in
Burma after the well-known places in their native land.
There is no reason why the same theory should not be applied
in the case of Hapta-hindu, especially when we see that the
rivers set free by Indra by slaughtering Vṛitra cannot but
be celestial.
It will be seen from the foregoing discussion that the true
nature and movements of waters released by Indra from the
grasp of Vṛitra has been misunderstood from the days of the
most ancient Nairuktas, or, we might say, even from the days
of the Brâhmaṇas. There are passages in the Ṛig-Veda where
Pûshan is said to cross the upper celestial hemisphere in boats;
but the Ashvins and Sûrya are generally described as travers-
ing the heaven in their chariots. This led the ancient Nairuk-
tas to believe that the upper celestial hemisphere was not a
seat of aerial waters, and that when Indra was described as
releasing waters by slaughtering Vṛitra, the waters referred to
could not but be the waters imprisoned in the rain-clouds.
The seven rivers set free to flow by killing Vṛitra were simi-
larly understood to be the rivers of India, like the Ganges, the
Jamuna, &c., while the piercing of the mountains was ex-
plained away by distorting or straining the meaning of such
words as, parvata, giri, &c., as stated above. It was at this
stage that the subject was taken in hand by Western scholars,

294 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
who, taking their cue from the Hapta-hindu of the Avesta,
eloquently advanced the theory that the seven rivers, set free
by Indra, were the rivers of the Panjaub. This explanation,
when first started, was regarded as an important historical
discovery ; and so it would have been, if it had been a real
fact. But, as pointed out above, the Panjaub is, by nature, a
land of five rivers and not seven ; and it is so described in the
Vâjasaneyî Saṁhitâ. It is also evident that as the seven rivers,
set free to flow by Indra, were released simultaneously with
the dawn, they could not be the rivers of the Panjaub. We
do not mean to say that the Panjaub was not an Aryan settle-
ment at the time when the Vedic hymns were sung, for the
rivers of the Panjaub are expressly mentioned in the Ṛig-Veda.
But the rivers of the Panjaub were not the seven rivers
mentioned in the Vedas ; and if so, a new explanation of the
Vṛitra legend becomes necessary, and such an explanation is
furnished only by the theory of the cosmic circulation of aerial
waters or rivers through the lower and the upper world, carry-
ing along with them the sun, the moon and the other heav-
enly bodies. We can now very well explain how Vṛitra, by
stretching his body across, closed the passages in the mountain-
ous ranges (parvatas), which, on the analogy of mountains
usually seen on the horizon, were believed to lie between the
upper and the lower world ; and how the waters, and with
them the sun and the dawn, were prevented from coming up
from the nether world for a long time in the Arctic home of
the ancestors of the Vedic bards. Another oint elucidated by
the present theory is the four-fold character of the effects of
Indra's conquest over Vṛitra, a point which has been entirely
neglected by ancient and modern Nairuktas, not because it was
unknown but because they were unable to give any satisfactory
explanation of the same, except on the hypothesis that differ-
ent effects have been confounded with one other by the poets
of the Ṛig-Veda. But the theory of the cosmic circulation of

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 295
aerial waters, a theory which is also found in the mythology
of many other nations, now clears up the whole mystery. If
Indra is described as the leader or the releaser of waters (apâm
netâ, or apâm srashtâ), the waters do not mean the waters
in the clouds, but the waters or the watery vapours which fill
the universe, and formed the material out of which the latter
was created. In other words, the conquest over waters was
something grander, something far more marvellous and cosmic
in character than the mere breaking up of the clouds in the
rainy season; and under these circumstances it was naturally
considered to be the greatest of Indra's exploits, when, in-
vigorated by a hundred nightly Soma sacrifices, he slew with
ice the watery demon of darkness, shattered his hundred
autumnal forts, released the waters or the seven rivers up-
stream to go along their aerial way and brought out the sun
and the dawn, or the cows, from their place of confinement
inside the rocky caves, where they had stood still since the
date of the war, which, according to a Vedic passage, hitherto
misread and misunderstood, commenced in higher latitudes
every year on the 40th day of Sharad or autumn and lasted till
the end of winter. It is not contended that Indra had never
been the god of rain. There are a few passages in the Ṛig-
Veda (IV, 26, 2; VIII, 6, 1), where he is expressly mentioned
as sending down rain, or is compared to a rain-god. But
as Vṛitra-han or the killer of Vṛitra and the releaser of waters
and the dawn, it is impossible to identify him with the god
of rain. The story of the release of captive waters is an
ancient story; for Vṛitra appears as Orthros in the Greek mytho-
logy, and Vṛitra-han, as Verethragna, is the god of victory in
the Parsi scriptures. Now this Vṛitra-han may not have
been originally the same as Indra, for the word Indra does not
occur in European Aryan languages, and it has, therefore, been
suggested by some comparative mythologians that the con-
quest of waters, which was originally the exploit of some other