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

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 241
abyss, which every morning seemed instinct with light and life.”
And again “a new life flashed up every morning before their
eyes, and the fresh breezes of the dawn reached them like
greetings wafted across the golden threshold of the sky from
the distant lands beyond the mountains, beyond the clouds, be-
yond the dawn, beyond ‘the immortal sea which brought us
hither.’ The dawn seemed to them to open golden gates for the
sun to pass in triumph, and while those gates were open their
eyes and their minds strove in their childish way to pierce be-
yond the finite world. That silent aspect awakened in the
human mind the conception of the Infinite, the Immortal, the
Divine, and the names of dawn became naturally the names
of higher powers.” This is manifestly more poetic than real.
But the learned Professor explains many Vedic myths on the
theory that they are all Dawn-stories in different garbs. Thus
if Saraṇyu, who had twins from Vivasvat, ran off from him
in the form of a mare, and he followed her in the form of a
horse, it is nothing but a story of the Dawn disappearing at
the approach of the Sun and producing the pair of day and
night. The legend of Suryâ’s marriage with Soma, and of
Vṛishâkapâyî, whose oxen (the morning vapours) were swallow-
ed by Indra, or of Aditi giving birth to the Âdityas are again
said to be the stories of the Dawn under different aspects.
Saramâ, crossing the waters to find out the cows stolen by Paṇis,
is similarly the Dawn bringing with her the rays of the morn-
ing, and when Urvashî says that she is gone away and
Purûravas calls himself Vasiṣhṭha or the brightest, it is the
same Dawn flying away from the embrace of the rising Sun.
In short, the Dawn is supposed to have been everything to
the ancient people, and a number of legends are explained
in this way, until at last the monotonous character of these
stories led the learned professor to ask to himself the ques-
tion, “Is everything the Dawn? Is everything the Sun?”—
a question, which he answers by informing us that so far as
16

242 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
his researches were concerned they had led him again and
again to the Dawn and the Sun as the chief burden of the
myths of the Aryan race. The dawn here referred to is the
daily dawn as we see it in the tropical or the temperate zone,
or, in other words, it is the daily conquest of light over dark-
ness that is here represented as filling the minds of the
ancient bards with such awe and fear as to give rise to a variety
of myths. It may be easily perceived how this theory will
be affected by the discovery that Uṣhas, or the goddess of the
dawn in the Ṛig-Veda, does not represent the evanescent dawn
of the tropics, but is really the long continuous dawn of the
Polar or the Circum-Polar regions. If the Arctic theory is
once established, many of these mythological explanations will
have to be entirely re-written. But the task cannot be under-
taken in a work which is devoted solely to the examination of
the evidence in support of that theory.
The Storm theory was originally put forward by the Indian
Nairuktas as a supplement to the Dawn theory, in order to ac-
count for myths to which the latter was obviously inapplicable.
The chief legend explained on this theory is that of Indra and
Vṛitra, and the explanation has been accepted almost without
reserve by all Western scholars. The word Indra is said to be
derived from the same root which yielded indu, that is, the
rain drop; and Vṛitra is one, who covers or encompasses (vṛi,
to cover) the waters of the rain-cloud. The two names being
thus explained, everything else was made to harmonise with
the Storm theory by distorting the phrases, if the same could
not be naturally interpreted in conformity therewith. Thus
when Indra strikes parvata (i. e., a mountain) and delivers
the rivers therefrom, the Nairuktas understood parvata to be
a storm-cloud and the rivers to be the streams of rain. Indra's
wielding the thunderbolt has been similarly interpreted to
mean that he was the god of the thunderstorm, and thunder-
storm implied rain as a matter of course. If the Maruts

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 243
helped Indra in the battle, it was easily explained by the Storm
theory, because a thunderstorm or rain was always accompanied
by stormy weather. But a more difficult point in the legend,
which required explanation, was the hemming in or the captiva-
ting of the waters by Vṛitra or Ahi. In the case of waters in the
clouds it was easy to imagine that they were kept captive in the
cloud by the demon of drought. But the Ṛig-Veda often speaks
of sindhus or streams being released by the slaughter of Vṛitra;
and if the streams or rivers really represented, as conceived by
the advocates of this theory, the rivers of the Panjaub, it was
rather difficult to understand how they could be described as be-
ing hemmed in or kept captive by Vṛitra. But the ingenuity of
Vedic scholars was quite eqral to the occasion, and it was sug-
gested that, as the rivers in India often entirely dried up in sum-
mer, the god of the rainy season, who called them back to life,
could be rightly described as releasing them from the grasp of
Vṛitra. The Indian Nairuktas do not appear to have extended
the theory any further. But in the hands of German mytholo-
gians the Storm theory became almost a rival to the Dawn
theory; and stories, like that of Saraṇyu, have been explained
by them as referring to the movements of dark storm-clouds
hovering in the sky. "Clouds, storms, rains, lightning and
thunder," observes Prof. Kuhn, "were the spectacles that
above all others impressed the imagination of the early Aryans
and busied it most in finding terrestrial objects to compare with
their ever-varying aspects. The beholders were at home on
the earth, and the things on the earth were comparitively
familiar to them; even the coming and going of the celestial
luminaries might often be regarded by them with more com-
posure, because of their regularity; but they could never sur-
cease to feel the liveliest interest in those wonderful meteoric
changes, so lawless and mysterious in their visitations, which
wrought such immediate and palpable effects for good or ill

244 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
upon the lives and fortunes of the beholders.'"* For this rea-
son Prof. Kuhn thinks that these meteorological phenomena are
the principal ground-work of all Indo-European mythologies
and superstitions; and in accordance with this creed Prof.
Roth explains Saraṇyu as the dark storm-cloud soaring in the
space in the beginning of all things and takes Vivasvat as
representing the light of heavens.
The third theory, like the first, is solar in origin, and at-
tempts to explain certain Vedic myths on the supposition that
they represent the triumph of spring over snow and winter.
Yâska and other Indian Nairuktas lived in regions where the
contrast between spring and winter was not so marked as in the
countries still further north; and it was probably for this reason
that the Vernal theory was not put forward by them to explain
the Vedic myths. Prof. Max Muller has tried to explain most of
the exploits of the Ashvins by this theory.† If the Ashvins re-
stored Chyavâna to youth, if they protected Atri from the heat
and darkness, if they rescued Vandana from a pit where he was
buried alive, or if they replaced the leg of Vishpalâ, which she
had lost in battle, or restored to Ṛijrâshva his eye sight, it was
simply the Sun-god restored to his former glory after the decay
of his powers in winter. In short the birth of the vernal Sun, his
fight against the army of winter, and his final victory at the
beginning of the spring is, on this theory, the true key to the
explanation of many myths where the Sun-god is represented
as dying, decaying or undergoing some other affliction. As
contrasted with the Dawn theory the physical phenomena, here
referred to, are annual. But both are solar theories, and as
such may be contrasted with the Storm theory which is
meteorological in origin.

• See Max Muller's Lectures on the Science of Language Vol. II,
  p. 566.
  † See Contributions to the Science of Mythology, Vol. II,
  pp. 579-605

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 245
Besides these three theories, the Dawn, the Storm and the
Vernal, Mr. Nârâyaṇa Aiyangâr of Bangalore has recently at-
tempted to explain a number of Vedic myths on the hypothesis
that they refer to Orion and Aldebaran. This may be called
the Astral theory as distinguished from others. But all these theo-
ries cannot be discussed in this place; nor is it necessary to do
so, so far as our purpose is concerned. I wish only to show that
in spite of the various theories started to explain the Vedic
myths, a number of incidents in several important legends have
yet remained unexplained; and mythologists have either ignored
them altogether, or pushed them out of the way as insignificant
or immaterial. If everything could be explained by the Dawn
or the Storm theory, we may indeed hesitate to accept a new
theory for which there would then be very little scope; but when
a number of facts, which have yet remained unexplained, are
satisfactorily and appropriately accounted for only by the Arctic
theory, we shall be perfectly justified in citing these legends as
corroborative evidence in support of our new theory. It is from
this point of view that I mean to examine some of the important
Vedic myths in this and the following chapter, and shall now
begin with the legend of Indra and Vṛitra, or of captive waters,
which is generally believed to have been satisfactorily explained
by the Storm theory.
The struggle between Indra and Vṛitra is represented in the
Vedas as being four-fold in character. First, it is a struggle bet-
ween Indra and Vṛitra, the latter of whom appears also under
the names of Namuchi, Shuṣhṇa, Shambara, Vala, Pipru, Kuyava
and others. This is Vṛitra-tûrya, or the fight or struggle with
Vṛitra. Secondly, it is a fight for the waters, which, either in the
form of sindhus (rivers) or as âpaḥ (simple floods), are often des-
cribed as released or liberated by the slaughter of Vṛitra. This is
ap-tûrya or the struggle for waters; and Indra is called apsu-jit or

246 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
conquering in the waters, while Vṛitra is described as encom-
passing them (apaḥ pari-shayânam). Thirdly, it is a struggle to re-
gain the cows (go-ishṭi); and there are several passages in the
Ṛig-Veda where the cows are said to have been released by Indra
after having overthrown Vṛitra. Fourthly, it is a fight to regain
the day-light or heaven called (div-ishṭi), or the striving for day ;
and in many places the sun and the dawn are said to be brought
out by Indra after killing Vṛitra.* The following extracts from
Macdonell's Vedic Mythology give the requisite authorities from
the Ṛig-Veda for this four-fold character of the struggle between
Indra and Vṛitra. Speaking of the terrible conflict, he thus sums
up the principal incidents thereof as mentioned in the Ṛig-Veda :-
"Heaven and earth tremble with fear when Indra
strikes Vṛitra with his bolt (I, 80, 11 ; II, 11, 9-10; VI, 17, 9);
even Tvaṣhṭṛi, who forged the bolt, trembles at Indra's anger
(I, 80, 14). Indra shatters Vṛitra with his bolt (I, 32, 5);
and strikes his face with his pointed weapon (I, 52, 15). He
smote Vṛitra, who encompassed the waters (VI, 20, 2), or the
dragon that lay around (pari-shayânam) the waters (IV, 19, 2);
he overcame the dragon lying on the waters (V, 30, 6). He
slew the dragon hidden in the water and obstructing the
waters and the sky (II, 11, 5), and smote Vṛitra, who enclo-
sed the waters, like a tree, with the bolt (II, 14, 2). Thus

• The exploits of Indra are very pithily summed up in the Nivids
  or short sûtras or sentences used in offering oblations to the gods.
  These will be found collected in a separate chapter amongst the Pari-
  shishṭas or supplements to the Ṛig-Veda Saṁhitâ text published in
  Bombay (Tatvavivechaka Press). According to Dr. Haug these Nivids
  are the originals of the Vedic Suktas or hymns. The Nivids, relating
  to Indra's exploits contain the following :—इंद्रो मरुत्वान् सोमस्य पिबतु
  ...। अन्वहन्नासृजदपः । महतामोजसा सह ।...। अप्तूर्ये वृत्रतूर्ये । शंबरहत्ये
  गविष्टौ ।..। परमस्यां परावति ।...। वज्रस्य भर्त्ता । पुरां भेत्ता ।...। अपां स्रष्टा
  अपां नेता । As regards the meaning of Div-ishṭi see Oldenberg's Vedic-
  Hymns (I, 45, 7), S. B. E. Series, Vol. XLVI. p. 44.

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 247
'conquering in the waters (apsu-jit)' is his exclusive attribute
(VIII, 36, 1)."*
As regards the abode of Vṛitra, we have (§ 68, A):—
"Vṛitra has a hidden (ninya) abode, whence the waters,
when released by Indra, escape, overflowing the demon (I, 32,
10). Vṛitra lies on the waters (I, 121, 11; II, 11, 9), or enve-
loped by the waters, at the bottom (budhna) of the rajas or
aerial space (I, 52, 6). He is also described as lying on a
summit (sānu), when Indra made the waters to flow (I, 80, 5).
Vṛitra has fortresses, which Indra shatters when he slays him
(X, 89, 7), and which are ninety-nine in number (VIII, 93, 2;
VII, 19, 5). He is called nadi-vrit, or encompasser of rivers
(I, 52, 2), and in one passage parvata or cloud is described as
being within his belly (I, 54, 10)."
There are again passages (V, 32, 5 & 6) where Indra is
said to have placed Shuṣhṇa, who was anxious to fight, "in
the darkness of the pit," and slaughtered him "in the darkness,
which was unrelieved by the rays of the sun," (asūrye
tamasi). In I, 54, 10, darkness is said to have prevailed in
Vṛitra's hollow side, and in II, 23, 18, Bṛihaspati, with Indra,
is said to have hurled down, the ocean, which was "encom-
passed in darkness," and opened the stall of kine. Finally in
I, 32, 10, Vṛitra's body is said to have sunk in "long dark-
ness," being encompassed with waters. This shows that the
waters of the ocean, which was encompassed by Vṛitra, were
not lighted by the rays of the sun. In other words, the ocean
(arṇaḥ) which Vṛitra is said to have encompassed was different
from the 'bright ocean' (shukram arṇaḥ), which the sun is
said to have ascended in V, 45, 10. Vṛitra's ocean (arṇava)
was enveloped in darkness (tamasā parivṛitam, II, 23, 18),
while the ocean, which the sun ascended, was bright and shin-
ing (shukram). Indra is again described as going to a very

• See Macdonell's Vedic Mythology, in Grundriss der Indo-
  Arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde, § 22 (Indra), pp. 58-61.

248 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
distant (parâvat) region to kill Vṛitra or Namuchi, (I, 53,
7; VIII, 12, 17; VIII, 45, 25). If we combine all these
statements regarding the scene of the struggle between Indra
and Vṛitra, we are led to the conclusion that the fight took
place in a dark, distant and watery region. In VIII, 32, 26,
Indra is said to have killed Arbuda with ice (hima); and in
X, 62, 2, the Aṅgirases, who were the assistants of Indra in
his conquest of the cows, are said to have struck Vala at the
end of the year (parivatsare). There is another statement in
the Ṛig-Veda, which gives us the date of Indra's fight with
Shambara, but we shall discuss it later on. It is stated above
that the number of Vṛitra's forts destroyed by Indra is given
as ninety-nine; but in other passages it is said to be ninety or
one hundred (I, 130, 7; IV, 30, 20). These fortresses or cities
(puraḥ) are described as made of stone or iron (IV, 30, 20; IV,
27, 1), and in some places they are said to be autumnal (shâ-
radiḥ, I, 130, 7; 131, 4; VI, 20, 10). The importance of these
facts, in the interpretation of the legend, will be discussed
later on.
We have seen that the release of cows and the bringing
up of the dawn and the sun are the simultaneous effects of
Indra's conquest of Vṛitra. The following extract from
Macdonell's Vedic Mythology (p. 61) give the necessary au-
thorities on the point:—
"With the liberation of waters is connected the winning
of light, sun and dawn. Indra won light and the divine
waters (III, 34, 8), The god is invoked to slay Vṛitra and
win the light, (VIII, 89, 4). When Indra had slain the dra-
gon Vṛitra with his metallic bolt releasing the waters for man,
he placed the sun visibly in the heavens (I, 51, 4; 52, 8). In-
dra, the dragon-slayer, set in motion the flood of waters of the
sea, generated the sun, and found the cows (II, 19, 3). He
gained the sun and the waters after slaying the demon (III,
34, 8-9). When Indra slew the chief of the dragons and

VEDIC MYTHS--THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 249
released the waters from the mountain, he generated the sun,
the sky and the dawn (I, 32, 4; VI, 30, 5). The cows are also
mentioned along with the sun and the dawn (I, 62, 5; II, 12, 7;
VI, 17, 5), or with the sun alone (I, 7, 3; II, 19, 3; X, 138, 2),
as being found, delivered or won by Indra."
Indra is described in other passages as having released the
streams pent up by the dragon (II, 11, 2,), and he is said to have
won the cows and made the seven rivers flow (I, 32, 12;
II, 12, 12). In II, 15, 6, the streams released by him have been
described as flowing upwards (udañcham). It may be further
noticed that in all these passages the clouds are not referred to
under their ordinary name abhra; but the words used are
parvata, giri, adri, (which primarily mean a mountain), or ūdhas
(udder), utsa (spring) kabandha (cask) or kosha (pail). All these
words have been interpreted by the Nairuktas as meaning a
cloud, and this interpretation has been accepted by Western
scholars. The word go, which generally means a cow, is also
interpreted in some cases to mean the waters released by Indra.
Thus when Indra is said to have released the cows, which were
fast within the stone (VI, 43, 3); or when he is said to have
moved the rock, which encompassed the cows, from its place
(VI, 17, 5), it is understood that the reference is to a cloud-
rock, which imprisons the rain-waters. Maruts are the usual
companions of Indra in this fight; but Viṣṇu, Agni, and
Bṛihaspati are also spoken of as assisting him in the rescue of the
cows from the grip of Vala. Bṛihaspati's conquest of Vala, who
had taken shelter in a rock, is thus taken to be a paraphrase of
Indra's conquest over Vṛitra. In X, 62, 2 and 3, the Aṅgirases
are also described as driving out the cows, piercing Vala and
causing the sun to mount the sky,--exploits, which are usually
attributed to Indra. There are other versions of the same story
to be found in the Ṛig-Veda, but for the purpose in hand, we
need not go beyond what has been stated above.

250 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
Now whosoever reads this description of Indra's fight with
Vṛitra cannot fail to be struck with the fact that there are four
simultaneous effects (Sâkam, in VI, 30, 5) said to have been produced
by the conquest of Indra over Vṛitra, namely, (1) the release of the
cows, (2) the release of the waters, (3) the production of the dawn
and (4) the production of the sun. Let us now see if the Storm
theory satisfactorily explains the simultaneous production of these
results from the destruction of Vṛitra. Vṛitra is a cloud, a storm-
cloud, or a rain-cloud, hovering in the sky, and by smiting it with
his thunder-bolt Indra may well be described as releasing the
waters imprisoned therein. But where are the cows which are
said to be released along with the waters? The Nairuktas inter-
pret cows to mean waters; but in that case, the release of the
waters and the release of the cows cannot be regarded as two
distinct effects. The recovery of the dawn and the sun, along
with the release of waters, is, however, still more difficult to ex-
plain by the Storm theory, or, we might even say, that it cannot
be explained at all. Rain-clouds may temporarily obscure the
sun, but the phenomenon is not one which occurs regularly, and
it is not possible to speak of the production of the light of the sun
as resulting from the breaking up of the clouds, which may only
occasionally obscure the sun. The recovery of the dawn, as a
prize of the conflict between Indra and Vṛitra, simultaneously
with the release of waters, is, similarly, quite inexplicable
by the Storm theory. The rain-clouds usually move in the
heavens, and though we may occasionally find them on the
horizon, it is absurd to say that by striking the clouds Indra
brought out the dawn. I know of no attempt made by any
scholar to explain the four simultaneous effects of Indra's-
fight with Vṛitra by any other theory. The Storm theory
appears to have been suggested by the Nairuktas, because the
release of waters was supposed to be the principal effect of the
conquest, and waters were naturally understood to mean the

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 251
waters, which we see every day. But in spite of the efforts of
the Nairuktas and Western scholars, the simultaneous winning
of light and waters still remains unexplained. Macdonell
(Ved. Myth. p. 61) referring to this difficulty observes, " There
appears to be a confusion between the notion of the restoration
of the sun after the darkness of the thunderstorm, and the re-
covery of the sun from the darkness of the night at dawn.
The latter trait in the Indra myth is most probably only an
extension of the former." If this means anything, it is only
a confession of the inability of Vedic scholars to explain the
four simultaneous effects of Indra's conquest over Vṛitra by
the storm theory; and, strange to say, they seem to attribute
their failure, not to their own ignorance or inability, but to the
alleged confusion of ideas on the part of the Vedic bards.
These are not, however, the only points, in which the Storm
theory fails to explain the legend of Indra and Vṛitra. It
has been pointed out above that Vṛitra was killed in distant
regions, in which ghastly darkness reigned, and which abound-
ed in waters; while in X, 73, 7, Indra by killing Namuchi,
alias Vṛitra, is said to have cleared the gates of the Deva-
yâna path, evidently meaning that Vṛitra was killed at the
gates of the path leading to the region of the gods. Even in
the Avesta, the fight between Apaosha and Tishtrya is said to
have taken place in the sea of Vouru-Kasha, and Tishtrya is
described as moving along the path made by Mazda after his
fight with Apaosha. Vṛitra's abode is similarly described as
'hidden' and 'enveloped by water' at the bottom of rajas
(I, 52, 6). None of these conditions is satisfied by making
the storm-cloud, the scene of the battle between Indra and
Vṛitra; for a cloud cannot be said to be the ocean of waters,
nor can it be described as lying in a distant (parâvat) region,
or at the threshold of the Devayâna or the path of the gods.
In the Ṛig-Veda parâvat is usually contrasted with arâvat,
and it means a distant region on the other side, as contrasted

252 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
with the region on this or the nearer side. The Devayāna is
similarly contrasted with the Pitṛiyāna, and means the north-
ern celestial hemisphere. The clouds over the head of the ob-
server cannot be said to be either in the distant region, or
at the gate of the Devayāna; nor can we speak of them as en-
veloped by sun-less darkness. It is, therefore, highly impro-
bable that the rain-clouds could have been the scene of battle
between Indra and Vṛitra. It was the sea on the other side, the
dark ocean as contrasted with the bright ocean (shukram arṇaḥ)
which the sun mounts in the morning, where the battle was
fought according to the passages referred to above; and the
description is appropriate only in the case of the nether
world, the celestial hemisphere that lies underneath, and not
in the case of clouds moving in the sky above. I do not mean to
say that Indra may not have been the god of rain or thunder-
storm, but as Vṛitrahan, or the killer of Vṛitra, it is impossible
to identify him with the god of rain, if the description of
the fight found in the Vedic passages is not to be ignored or
set aside.
The third objection to the current interpretation of the
Vṛitra myth, is that it does not satisfactorily explain the pass-
ages, which give the time of Indra's fight with the demon. On
the Storm theory, the fight must be placed in the rainy season
or Varshā; but the forts of Vṛitra, which Indra is said to have
destroyed and thus acquired the epithet purabhid or purandara,
are described in the Ṛig-Veda as autumnal or shāradīḥ i.e.,
belonging or pertaining to Sharad, the season which follows
Varshā. The discrepancy may be accounted for, by supposing
that Varshā and Sharad, were once included under one sea-
son which was named not Varshā but Sharad. But the ex-
planation is opposed to another passage in the Ṛig-Veda (X,
62, 2), which says that Vala was killed at the end of the year
(parivatsare), unless we again suppose that the year com-
menced with Sharad in those days. Nor can we explain how

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 253
Arbuda is said to be killed with hima (ice) by Indra. Again, as
previously stated, the dawn could not be considered as a prize of
the conflict, nor could the fight be said to have been fought in
darkness, if we choose the rainy season as the time for the
battle of Indra with Vṛitra. It will thus be seen that the Storm
theory does not satisfactorily explain the statements regarding
the time of the struggle between Indra and Vṛitra.
The fourth objection against the Storm theory, as applied
to the story of Vṛitra, is that many words like parvata, giri, or
adri, which do not signify a cloud, either primarily or second-
arily, have to be interpreted as referring figuratively to the rain-
cloud. This sounds harsh in many a passage where Indra or
Bṛihaspati is described as piercing a mountain or breaking open
a stone-cave and liberating the waters or the cows confined there-
in. In the absence of any other theory, we had to interpret
these passages by the Storm theory, as the Nairuktas have done,
by assigning to any and every word, used to denote the prison-
house of waters or the cows, the meaning of a rain-cloud mov-
ing in the sky. But though we could thus temporarily get over
the difficulty, the fact, that we had to strain the words used, or
to assign unnatural meanings to them, was always a drawback,
which detracted from the value of our interpretation. It was
probably for this reason that Prof. Oldenberg was led to suggest
that Indra's piercing the mountain and liberating the waters there-
from should be understood to refer not to the rain-cloud, but to
the actual striking of the mountains with the thunder-bolt and
making the rivers flow forth from them. But, as observed by
Max Muller, “the rivers do not gush out of rocks even when
they have been struck by lightning”; and so Prof. Oldenberg’s
explanation, though it gets us out of one difficulty, lands us on
another, which, to say the least, is equally puzzling. If we, there-
fore, cannot suggest a better explanation, we might as well accept
the device of the Nairuktas and interpret parvata or whatever

254 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
other word or words may be found used to denote the place of
the confinement of the waters, as meaning a cloud, and explain
the legend of Vṛitra by the Storm theory as best as we can.
It will be found from the feregoing discussion regarding the
Storm theory as applied to the legend of Indra and Vṛitra, that
it explains neither the simultaneous effects of Indra's conquest
over Vṛitra, nor the statements regarding the seat of the battle
between them, nor those regarding the time when it took place,
nor again does it allow us to take the words, used in certain
Vedic passages, in their natural sense ; and yet we find that the
theory has been accepted as the basis of the legend from the
times of the Nairuktas upto the present. Why should it be
so?—is a question, which would naturally occur to any one,
who examines the subject. It is true that the Storm theory
fully explains the release of waters as a result of the fight ; but
the release of waters is not the only consequence, which we
have to account for. There are four simultaneous effects of
the war, the release of the waters, the release of the cows, the
recovery of the dawn and the production of the sun. The Storm
theory explains the first two and the Dawn theory the last
two of these ; but the whole set of four is explained by neither,
nor could the theories be so combined as to explain all the
four effects, unless, like Prof. Macdonell, we suppose that the
Vedic bards have confused the two entirely different ideas, viz.,
the restoration of the sunlight after thunderstorm, and the re-
covery of light from the darkness of night. Of the two theories,
the Storm and the Dawn, the ancient Nairuktas, therefore, seem
to have adopted that which adequately accounted for the release of
the waters and which suited better with their notion of Indra as a
thunder-god, on the principle that half a loaf is better than none,
and have ignored the remaining incidents in the legend as inex-
plicable, unimportant, or immaterial. The same theory has also
been adopted by Western scholars, and it is the only theory in the

field at present. But it is so manifestly inadequate that if a
better theory could be found which will explain most of, if not
all, the incidents in the legend, no one would hesitate to aban-
don the Storm theory in favour of the latter.
It is, in my opinion, a mistake to suppose that the strug-
gle between Indra and Vritra originally represented the con-
flict between the thunder-god and the rain-cloud. It is really
a struggle between the powers of light and darkness, and we
find traces of it in the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa (IV, 5), where
Indra alone of all gods is described as having undertaken
the task of driving out Asuras from the darkness of the night.
That Indra is the god of light is also evident from many other
passages in the Ṛig-Veda, where, without any reference to the
Vṛitra fight, Indra is said to have found the light (III, 34, 4;
VIII, 15, 5; X, 43, 4) in the darkness (I, 100, 8; IV, 16, 4), or
to have produced the dawn as well as the sun (II, 12, 7; 21, 4;
III, 31, 15), or opened the darkness with the dawn and the
sun (I, 62, 5). It was he, who made the sun to shine (VIII, 3,
6), and mount in the sky (I, 7, 3), or prepared a path for
the sun (X, 111, 3), or found the sun in 'the darkness in
which he resided' (III, 39, 5). It is evident from these pass-
ages that Indra is the winner of light and the sun, and this
character of his was well understood by scholars, for Indra as
apavaryan, or the recoverer (fr. apa-vṛi) of light, is compared
by Max Muller with Apollon in the Greek mythology. But
scholars have found it difficult to explain why this character
of Indra should be mentioned in conjunction with other exploits,
such as the conquest of Vṛitra and the liberation of the waters.
In fact that is the real difficulty in the explanation of the
legend either by the Storm or by the Dawn theory. Indra
liberated the waters and brought about the dawn by killing
Vṛitra,—is undoubtedly the burden of the whole story; but no
explanation has yet been found by which the simultaneous re-
covery of light and waters could satisfactorily be accounted

256 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
for. We have seen that by the Storm theory we can account
for the release of waters, but not the recovery of the dawn;
while if the legend is taken to represent a struggle between
light and darkness, as implied by the Dawn theory, we can
account for the recovery of the dawn and the sun, but not for
the release of waters. Under these circumstances it is neces-
sary to examine the nature and character of waters as des-
cribed in the Vedas, before we accept or reject either or both
of the above-mentioned theories.
It has been noticed above that the passages, where waters
are said to be released by Indra after killing Vṛitra do not refer
expressly to the rain-cloud. The words parvata, giri, and the
like are used to denote the place where the waters were con-
fined, and āpaḥ, or sindhus, to denote the waters themselves.
Now āpaḥ, or waters generally, are mentioned in a number of
places in the Ṛig-Veda, and the word in many places denotes the
celestial or aerial waters. Thus we are told that they follow
the path of the gods, and are to be found beside the sun, who
is with them (I, 23, 17). In VII, 49, 2, we have an express state-
ment that there are waters, which are celestial (divyāḥ, āpaḥ),
and also those that flow in earthly channels (khanitrimāḥ), thus
clearly distinguishing between terrestrial and celestial waters.
In the same verse they are said to have the sea or the ocean
for the goal; and in VIII, 69, 12, the seven rivers are said to flow
into the jaws of Varuṇa as into a surging abyss. Varuṇa again
is described as the god, who, like Indra, makes the rivers flow (II,
28, 4); and we have seen that the sage Dīrghatamas is said to
have been borne on the waters wending to their goal (I, 158, 6).
But it is needless to cite more authorities on this point, for scho-
lars are agreed that both celestial and terrestrial waters are
mentioned in the Ṛig-Veda. The nature, the character, or the
movements of celestial waters appear, however, to be very im-
perfectly understood; and this is the sole reason why scholars

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 257
have not yet been able to connect the release of the waters
with the recovery of the dawn in the Vṛitra legend. It seems
to have been supposed that when the Ṛig-Veda speaks of the
celestial waters (divyâḥ âpaḥ) only the rain-waters are intended.
But this is a mistake ; for, in passages which speak of the crea-
tion of the world ( X, 82, 6 ; 129, 3 ), the world is said to have
once consisted of nothing but undifferentiated waters. In short,
the Ṛig-Veda, like the Hebrew Testament, expressly states that
the world was originally full of waters, and that there were the
waters in the firmament above and waters below. The Shata-
patha Brâhmaṇa (XI, 1, 6, 1), the Aitareya Upaniṣhad (I, 1,)
and Manu (I, 9), all say that the world was created from
watery vapours. There can, therefore, be no doubt that the
idea of celestial waters was well-known to the ancestors of the
Vedic bards in early days ; and as the celestial waters were
conceived to be the material out of which the universe was
created, it is probable that the Vedic bards understood by that
phrase what the modern scientists now understand by ' ether '
or ' the nebulous mass of matter ' that fills all the space in
the universe. We need not, however, go so far. It is enough
for our purpose to know that the celestial waters (divyâḥ âpaḥ),
or the watery vapours (purîsham), are mentioned in the Ṛig-
Veda, and that the Vedic bards considered the space or the
region above, below, and around them to be full of these
celestial vapours which are said to be co-eval with the world
in X, 30, 10.
It is, however, alleged by Wallis in his Cosmology of the
Ṛig-Veda (p. 115) that the Vedic bards were not acquainted
with the regions below the earth, and that every thing, which
is described in the Vedas as occurring in the atmosphere, in-
cluding the movements of the sun during night and day, must
be placed in the regions of the sky, which were over the head
of these bards. This view appears to be adopted by Macdonell
in his Vedic Mythology; and if it be correct, we shall have to
17

258 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
place all the waters in the upper heaven. But I do not think
that Wallis has correctly interpreted the passages quoted by
Prof. Zimmer in support of his theory that a rajas (region)
exists below the earth; and we cannot, therefore, accept Wallis'
conclusions, which are evidently based upon prepossessions
derived most probably from the Homeric controversy. Prof.
Zimmer refers to three passages (VI, 9, 1 ; VII, 80, 1; V, 81, 4)
to prove that a rajas beneath the earth was known to the Vedic
people. The first of these passages is the well-known verse
regarding the bright and the dark day. It says, " the bright day
and the dark day, both roll the two rajas by the well-known
paths." Here the two rajas are evidently the upper and the
lower celestial hemisphere ; but Wallis asks us to compare this
verse with I, 185, 1, where day and night are said "to revolve
like two wheels," that is, to circle round from east to west, the
one rising as the other goes down, and observes that " we are in
no way obliged to consider that the progress of either is continued
below the earth." I am unable to understand how we can draw
such an inference from these passages. In VI, 9, 1, quoted by
Zimmer, two rajas or atmospheres are mentioned, and the bright
and the dark day are said to roll along both these rajas or regions.
But if we hold with Wallis that the progress of either begins in
the east and stops in the west, without going below the earth, the
whole movement becomes confined to one rajas or region and
does not extend over the two. Zimmer's interpretation is, there-
fore, not only more probable, but the only one that explains
the use of rajasî (in the dual), or the two regions, in the verse.
The next passage (VII, 80, 1) is also misunderstood by Wallis.
It describes the dawn as "unrolling the two regions (rajasî),
which border on each other (samante), revealing all things."
Now the dawn always appears on the horizon and the two rajas,
which it unrolls and which are said to border on each other,
must meet on this horizon. They can, therefore, only represent

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 259
the lower and the upper celestial sphere. But Wallis would have
us believe that both these rajasī are above the earth, and that
narrowing down together towards east and west they meet on
the horizon like two arched curves over one's head ! The arti-
ficial character of this explanation is self-evident, and I see no
reason why we should adopt it in preference to the simple and
natural explanation of Zimmer, unless we start with a precon-
ceived notion that references to the regions below the earth
ought not to be and cannot be found in the Ṛig-Veda. The third
passage pointed out by Zimmer is V, 81, 4, which says “O
Savitṛi ! Thou goest round (pariyase) the night, on both sides
(ubhayataḥ).” Here Wallis proposes to translate pariyase by ‘en-
compassest’; but pariyase ordinarily means ‘goest round,’ and
there is no reason why the idea of motion usually implied by
it should be here abandoned. It will thus be seen that the con-
clusion of Wallis is based upon the distortion of passages which
Zimmer interprets in a simpler and a more natural way ; and
that Zimmer’s view is more in accordance with the natural
meaning of these texts. But if an express passage be still need-
ed to prove conclusively that the region below the earth was
known to the Vedic bards, we refer to VII, 104, 11, where the
bard prays for the destruction of his enemies and says, “Let
him (enemy) go down below the three earths, (tisraḥ pṛithivīḥ
adhaḥ).” Here the region below the three earths is expressly
mentioned; and since the enemy is to be condemned to it, it
must be a region of torment and pain like the Hades. In X, 152,
4, we read, “One, who injures us, let him be sent to the nether
darkness (adharam tamaḥ),” and, comparing this with the last
passage, it is evident that the region below the earth was concei-
ved as dark. In III, 53, 21, we have, “Let him, who hates us, fall
downwards (adharaḥ),” and in II, 12, 4, the brood of the Dasyu,
whom Indra killed, is said to be “sent to the unknown nether
world (adharam guhākaḥ).” These passages directly show that

260 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
region below the earth was not only known to the Vedic bards,
but was conceived as filled with darkness, and made the scene of
Indra's fight with Vṛitra. It may, however, be alleged that
"below the three earths" may simply mean underneath the sur-
face of the earth. But, in that case, it was not necessary to
speak of all the three earths; and since we are told that the region
is below all the three earths, it can refer only to the nether
world. This is further proved by the passage which describes
what is above the three earths. The expression, corresponding
to tisraḥ pṛithivīḥ adhaḥ or "the region below the three earths,"
will be tisraḥ pṛithivīḥ upari or "the region above the three
earths," and as a matter of fact this expression is also found in
the Ṛig-Veda. Thus in I, 34, 8, we are told that "the Ashvins,
moving above the three earths (tisraḥ pṛithivīḥ upari), protect the
vault or the top of heaven (divo nākam) through days and
nights"; and Ashvins are said to have come on their car from a
distant region (parāvat) in the preceding verse of the same
hymn. The phrase divo nākam occurs several times in the
Ṛig-Veda and means the top or the vault of the heaven. Thus
in IV, 13, 5, the sun is said to guard (pāti) the vault of the
heaven (divo nākam); and as regards the three-fold division
of the earth it is mentioned in several places in the Ṛig-Veda
(I, 102, 8; IV, 53, 5; VII, 87, 5), and also in the Avesta (Yt.
XIII, 3; Yasna, XI, 7). In IV, 53, 5, this three-fold division
is further extended to antarikṣha, rajas, rochana and dyu or heaven.
This shows what we are to understand by 'three earths.' It is
the one and the same earth, regarded as three-fold; and
since the Ashvins are described as protecting the vault of
heaven by moving "above the three earths,' it is clear that
in contrast with the vault above, a nether region, as far below
the three earths as the heaven is above them, must have been
conceived and denoted by the phrase "below the three earths,"
and that the latter expression did not merely mean an