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

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

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 261
interterranean ground. When we meet with two such phrases as
the heaven "above the three earths," and the region "below the
three earths," in the Ṛig-Veda, phrases, which cannot be mistaken
or misunderstood, the hypothesis that the Vedic bards were not
acquainted with the nether world at once falls to the ground.
Mr. Wallis seems to think that since rajas is said to be
divided three-fold, like the earth, and since the highest rajas is
mentioned as the seat of waters, there is no scope in the Vedic
division of rajas for a region beneath the earth; for the three
rajas are exhausted by taking them as the rajas of the earth
(pârthivam), the rajas of the sky (divo rajaḥ) and the highest
(paramam) rajas, the seat of waters. But this objection is quite
untenable, inasmuch as six different rajas are also mentioned in
the Ṛig-Veda (I, 164, 6). We can, therefore, suppose that there
were three rajas above the earth and three below it, and so
meet the apparent difficulty pointed out by Wallis. The three
rajas can in some places be also interpreted to mean the earthly
rajas, the one above the earth and the one below it, (X, 82, 4,).
In I, 35, 2, the Savitṛi is described as moving through the dark
rajas (kṛiṣhṇena rajasâ), and in the next verse we are told that
he comes from the distant (parâvat) region, which shows that
the dark rajas and the parâvat region are synonymous, and that
the sun ascends the sky after passing through the dark rajas.
Again the use of the word 'ascend' (ud-yan or ud-âcharat, I, 163,
1; VII, 55, 7), to describe the rising of the sun in the morning from
the ocean, shows, by contrast, that the ocean which the sun is
said to enter at the time of setting (X, 114, 4) is really an ocean
underneath the earth. In I, 117, 5, the sun is described as
sleeping in "the lap of Nir-ṛiti," and "dwelling in darkness";
while in I, 164, 32 and 33, the sun is said to have travelled in the
interior of heaven and earth and finally gone into Nir-ṛiti, or as
Prof. Max Muller renders it, 'the exodus in the west.' Now, in X,

262 , THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
114, 2, there are three Nir-ṛitis mentioned, evidently corres-
ponding to the three earths and three heavens; and in X, 161,
2, the lap of Nir-ṛiti is identified with the region of death.
Purûravas is again said (X, 95, 14) to have gone to the distant
region (param parāvatam) and there made his bed on the lap of
Nir-ṛiti; while the Maruts are described as mounting up to the
firmament from the bottom-less Nir-ṛiti in VII, 58, 1. All these
passages taken together show that Nir-ṛiti, or the land of dis-
solution and death, commenced in the west, that the sun lying in
darkness travelled through the distant region (parāvat) and
eventually rose in the east from the lap of Nir-ṛiti, and that the
whole of this movement was placed not in the upper heaven,
but on the other side of the vault through which the sun travel-
led before he entered into Nir-ṛiti. ` In other words, the Nir-ṛitis
extended below the earth from west to east; and since the
region below the three earths is expressly mentioned in the Ṛig-
Veda, the three Nir-ṛitis must be understood to mean the three
regions below the earth corresponding to the three-fold division
of the earth or of the heaven above it. Zimmer is, therefore,
correct in stating that the sun moved through the rajas below
the earth during night and that the Vedic poets knew of this
nether rajas.
There are other passages in the Ṛig-Veda which fully sup-
port the same view. Thus corresponding to the rajasī, or the
two rajas, we have another expression in the dual, namely,
ubhau ardhau, which literally denotes 'the two halves,' and
when applied to heaven, 'the two celestial hemispheres.' The
expression ardhau occures in II, 27, 15, and the two halves
are there asked to be propitious to the sacrificer. Wallis,
however, interprets ubhau ardhau to mean 'heaven and
earth.' But this is a mistake for there is a passage in the
Ṛig-Veda where we have the phrases pare ardhe (in the
farther half) and upare ardhe (in the nearer half) of heaven
(divaḥ), showing that the heaven alone (and not heaven and

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 263
earth) was conceived as divided into two halves (I, 164, 12).
A few verses later on (I, 164, 17), the cow with her calf (the
dawn with the sun) is described as having appeared below the
upper and above the lower realm, i. e., between heaven and
earth, and a question is then asked "To what half (ardham)
has she departed?" which again shows that the (ardham)
here referred to is quite distinct from heaven and earth. In
the Atharva Veda, X, 8, 7 and 13, the 'two halves' are refer-
red to, and the poet asks, "Prajâpati with one half (ardham)
engendered all creation; what sign is there to tell us of the
other half?" Here the other half cannot mean the earth; and
Griffith accordingly explains it as referring to the sun at
night. Another expression used to denote the upper and
the lower world is samudrau, or the two oceans, (X, 136, 5).
These two oceans are said to be one on this side (avara) and
one on the other (para) side in VII, 6, 7; and a yonder ocean
(parâvati samudre) is mentioned in VIII, 12, 17. I have al-
ready quoted above the passages which speak of the bright
arṇaḥ or ocean (V, 45, 10), and of arṇava or an ocean pervaded
with darkness (II, 23, 18). The two words parastât and
avastât are also employed to convey the same idea. They de-
note a region on the nearer side and a region on the farther
side. Thus in VIII, 8, 14, parâvat region is contrasted with
ambara or the heaven above, and in III, 55, 6, the sun is des-
cribed as sleeping in the parâvat region. We have seen above
that Savitṛi is said to come up from the parâvat region,
and that he moves through the dark region before ascending
the sky. The two words parâvat and arvâvat thus separately
denote the same regions that are jointly denoted by the dual
words rajasî, ardhau or samudrau; and when both the upper
and the lower hemispheres were intended the word ubhayataḥ
was employed. Thus in III, 53, 5, we read, "O Maghavan!
O brother Indra! go beyond (parâ) and come hither (â), you
are wanted in both places, (ubhayatra)." The passages where

264 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
Savitṛi is described as going round the night on both sides is
already referred to above.
With these passages before us, we cannot reasonably hold
that the Vedic bards were ignorant of the lower celestial
hemisphere, as supposed by Wallis and some other scholars.
Nor is the hypothesis a priori probable, for I have shown else-
where that the Vedic bards knew enough of astronomy to
calculate the movements of the sun and the moon tolerably
correct for all practical purposes; and the people, who could
do this, could not be supposed to be so ignorant as to believe
that the sky was nailed down to the earth at the celestial hori-
zon, and that when the sun was not seen during the night, he
must be taken to have disappeared somewhere in the upper
regions of the heaven. The passage from the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa
(III, 44), which is quoted by Wallis, and which tells us that the
sun, having reached the end of the day, turns round as it were,
and makes night where there was day before and day on the
other side, and vice versa, is very vague and does not prove that
the sun was believed to return by night through a region, which
is somewhere in the upper heaven. The words used in the
original are avastāt and parastāt; and Dr. Haug correctly trans-
lates parastāt by 'what is on the other side.' Muir and others,
however, interpret parastāt to mean 'upper,' thus giving rise to
the hypothesis that the sun returns during night by a passage
through the upper region of the heaven. But in the face of the
express passages in which regions below and above all the three
earths are unmistakably mentioned, we cannot accept a hy-
pothesis based upon a doubtful translation of a single word. It is a
hypothesis that has its origin either in the preconceived notion
regarding the primitive man, or in a desire to import into the
Vedas the speculations of the Homeric cosmography. The
knowledge of the Vedic bards regarding the nether world may
not have been as exact as that of the modern astronomers, and we,

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 265
therefore, meet with such questions in the Ṛig-Veda (I, 35, 7) as
"Where is Sûrya now (after sunset) and which celestial region
his rays now illumine?" But there is enough explicit evidence
to prove that the Vedic people knew of the existence of a
region below the earth, and if some of their notions about this
underworld were not very distinct, that does not, in the least,
affect the value of this evidence.
If we, therefore, dismiss from our mind the idea that the
lower world was not known to the Vedic people,—an assumption,
which is quite gratuitous, the movements and character of the
celestial waters become at once plain and intelligible. The
ancient Aryans, like the old Hebrews, believed that the subtle
matter, which filled the whole space in the universe, was nothing
but watery vapours; and secondly that the movements of the
sun, the moon and other heavenly bodies were caused by these
vapours which kept on constantly circulating from the nether to
the upper and from the upper to the lower celestial hemi-
sphere. That is the real key to the explanation of many a
Vedic myth; and unless we grasp it thoroughly, we cannot
rightly understand some of the utterances of the Vedic poets.
These waters were sometimes conceived as rivers or streams,
moving in the heaven, and eventually falling into the mouth of
Varuṇa, or the nether ocean (VII, 49, 2; VIII, 69, 12). The
nether world was, so to say, the seat or the home of these
waters, called yahvatîḥ or the eternal (IX, 113, 8); and they
formed the kingdom of Varuṇa and Yama, as well as the
hidden (ninya) abode of Vṛitra. This movement of waters is
very clearly expressed in the Parsi scriptures. In the Vendi-
dad, XXI, 4-5 (15-23), the waters are described as follows,—
"As the sea Vouru-Kasha is the gathering place of waters,
rise up, go up the aerial way and go down on the earth; go
down on the earth and go up the aerial way. Rise up and roll
along! thou in whose rising and growing Ahura Mazda made the

266 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
aerial way. Up! rise up and roll along! thou swift-horsed sun,
above Hara Berezaiti, and produce light for the world, and
mayest thou rise up there, if thou art to abide in Garo-nmânem,
along the path made by Mazda, along the way made by the
gods, the watery way they opened." Here the aerial waters
are said to start from their gathering place, the sea Vouru-Kasha,
go up into heaven and come back again to the sea to be purified
before starting on a second round. Prof. Darmesteter in a note
on this passage observes that "waters and light are believed to
flow from the same spring and in the same bed," and quotes
Bundahish, XX, 4, which says, "just as the light comes in
through Albûrz (Hara Berezaiti, the mountain by which the
earth is surrounded) and goes out through Albûrz, the water also
comes out through Albûrz and goes away through Albûrz."
Now waters are described in the Ṛig-Veda as following the path
of the gods (VII, 47, 3), much in the same way as the waters in
the Avesta are said to follow the path made by Mazda or the
way made by the gods. Like the Avestic waters, the waters
in the Ṛig-Veda have also the sea for their goal, and going by
the aerial way eventually fall into the mouth of Varuṇa. But
the Avesta supplies us with the key which establishes the con-
nection of waters and light in unambiguous terms, for, as
remarked by Prof. Darmesteter, it states clearly that both of
them have the same source, and, in the passage quoted above,
the swift-horsed sun is accordingly asked to go along the watery
way in the skies above. In the Aban Yasht (V, 3), the river
Ardvi Sûra Anâhita is described as running powerfully from
the height Hukairya down to the sea Vouru-Kasha, like the
river Sarasvatî, which is described in the Ṛig-Veda as tearing
the peaks of mountains, and is invoked to descend from the
great mountain in the sky to the sacrifice (V, 43, 11). Both
are aerial rivers, but by coming down upon the earth they are
said to fill up all the terrestrial streams. The terrestrial waters,

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS 267
nay, all things of a liquid nature on the earth, e.g., the plant-sap,
the blood, &c., were thus supposed to be produced from the
aerial waters above by the agency of clouds and rain. The
Parsi scriptures further tell us that between the earth and the
region of infinite light ( the parame vyoman of the Ṛig-Veda),
there are three intermediate regions, the star region, which has
the seeds of waters and plants, the moon region, and the sun
region, the last being the highest (Yt. XII, 29-32). When the
Ṛig-Veda, therefore, speaks of the highest rajas as being the seat
of waters, it is not to be understood, as supposed by Wallis, that
there are no nether waters, for it is the nether waters that come
up from the lower world and moving in the uppermost region of
the heaven produce terrestrial waters by giving rise to rain and
clouds. Thus Ardvi Sûra Anâhita is said to run through the
starry region (cf. Yt. VIII, 47), and has to be worshipped with
sacrifice in order that her waters may not all run up into the
region of the sun, thereby producing a drought on the surface of
the earth, (Yt. V, 85 and 90). In the Ṛig-Veda, the Sarasvatî
is similarly described as filling the earthly region and the wide
atmospheric space (VI, 61, 11), and is besought to come swelling
with streams, and along with the waters. But the most striking
resemblance between Ardvi Sûra Anâhita and Sarasvatî is that
while the latter is described as Vṛitra-slayer or Vṛitra-ghnî in Ṛig.
VI, 61, 7, Ardvi Sûra Anâhita is described in the Aban Yasht
(V, 33 and 34) as granting to Thrâetaona, the heir of the valiant
Âthwya clan (Vedic Trita Âptya), who offered up a sacrifice to
her, a boon that he would be able to overcome Azi Dahâk, the
three-mouthed, three-headed and six-eyed monster. This is
virtually the same story which is found in the Ṛig-Veda X, 8,
8, where Trita Âptya, knowing his paternal weapons and urged
by Indra, is said to have fought against and slew the three-
headed son of Tvaṣhṭṛi and released the cows. This clearly
establishes the connection between waters, as represented by

268 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
Ardvi Sûra Anâhita or Sarasvatî, and the slaughter of Vṛitra.
Many Vedic scholars have tried to identify Sarasvatî with the
river of that name in the Panjaub ; but as the latter is an insigni-
ficant stream, the identification has not been generally accepted.
The above comparison now shows that the mighty Sarasvatî, like
Ardvi Sûra Anâhita, is an aerial stream, which rises up from the
nether store-house of waters, travels over the sky and again falls
back into the lower ocean. A portion of these waters is brought
down upon the earth in the form of rain by the sacrifices offered
to the river, and along with it come the seeds of all the plants
growing upon the surface of the earth. Thus in the Vendidad,
V, 19 (56), the tree of all the seeds is described as growing in
the middle of the sea Vouru-Kasha, and the seeds are then said
to be brought up by the aerial rivers and sent down by them to
the earth by means of rain, an idea similar to that found in the
Ṛig-Veda, I, 23, 20, where the sacrificer informs us that Soma
has told him that all medicines (medicinal herbs) are contained
in the waters. We have thus a complete account of the cosmic
circulation of the aerial waters and the production of the terres-
trial waters and plants therefrom. The nether world or the
lower celestial hemisphere is the home of these waters, and it is
expressly said to be bounded on all sides by a mountainous range
like that of Hara Berezaiti. When the aerial waters are allowed
to come up through this mountain, they travel over the upper
hemisphere and again fall into the sea Vouru-Kasha, or the lower
ocean, producing, during their course, rains which fertilise the
earth and make the plants grow upon its surface. But instead
of descending down in the form of rain, these aerial waters were,
it was apprehended, apt to turn away into the region of the sun
and deprive us of rain. It was, therefore, necessary to worship
them with sacrifices and invoke their blessings.

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 269
It is impossible to grasp the real meaning of the Vṛitra
legend, without first realising the true nature and importance of
the movements of the aerial waters as conceived by the ances-
tors of the Indo-Iranian people. As observed by Dramesteter,
celestial waters and light were believed to flow from the same
spring or source, and they both ran a parallel course. It was
these aerial waters that made the heavenly bodies move in the
sky, just as a boat or any other object is carried down by the
current of a stream or river. If the waters, therefore, ceased
to flow, the consequences were serious; for the sun, the moon,
the stars, would then all cease to rise, and the world would be
plunged in darkness. We can now fully understand the magni-
tude of the mischief worked by Vṛitra by stopping the flow of
these waters. In his hidden home, at the bottom of rajas, that
is, in the lower hemisphere, he encompassed the waters in such
a way as to stop their flow upwards through the mountain, and
Indra’s victory over Vṛitra meant that he released these waters
from the clutches of Vṛitra and made them flow up again.
When the waters were thus released, they naturally brought
with them, the dawn, the sun and the cows, i.e., either days or
the rays of the morning; and the victory was thus naturally
described as four-fold in character. Now we can also understand
the part played by parvatas, or mountains, in the legend. It was
the mountain Albûrz, or Hara Berezaiti; and as Vṛitra, by
stretching his body across, closed all the apertures in his moun-
tainous range, through which the sun and the waters came up,
Indra had to uncover or open these passages by killing Vṛitra.
Thus the Bundahish (V, 5) mentions 180 apertures in the east
and 180 in the west through Albûrz; and the sun is said to
come and go through them every day, and all the movements
of the moon, the constellations and the planets are also said to
be closely connected with these apertures. The same idea is
also expressed in the later Sanskrit literature when the sun is

270 . THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
said to rise above the mountain in the east and set below the
mountain in the west. The mountain on which Indra is said to
have found Shambara (II, 12, 11), and the rock of Vala wherein
the cows were said to have been imprisoned by the demon (IV,
3, 11 ; I, 71, 2) and which was burst open by Aṅgirases, also re-
present the same mountainous range, which separated the upper
from the lower celestial hemisphere, or the bright from the
dark ocean. This explanation of the Vṛitra legend may sound
strange to many scholars, but it should be borne in mind that
the co-relation between the flow of water and the rising of the
dawn and the sun, here described, is not speculative. If the
Vedic works do not express it in unambiguous terms, the defi-
ciency is fully made up by the Parsi scriptures. Thus in Khor-
shed Yasht (VI, 2 and 3,) we are told that "When the sun rises
up, then the earth becomes clean, the running waters become
clean. ... ... ...Should the sun not rise up, then the Daevas would
destroy all the things that are in the seven Karshvares." The
passages in the Farvardîn Yasht are still more explicit. This
Yasht is devoted to the praise of the Fravashis, which corres-
pond to the Pitṛis of the Ṛig-Veda. These ancient fathers are often
described, even in the Ṛig-Veda, as taking part, along with the
gods, in the production of the cosmical phenomena. Thus the
Pitṛis are said to have adorned the sky with stars, and placed
darkness in the night and light in the day (X, 68, 11), or to have
found the hidden light and generated the dawn (VII, 76, 4 ; X,
107, 1). The Fravashis in the Parsi scriptures are said to have
achieved the same or similar exploits. They are described (Yt.
XIII, 53 and 54) as having "shown the beautiful paths to the
waters, which had stood before for a long time in the same
place, without flowing"; and the waters are then said to have
commenced to flow "along the path made by Mazda, along the
way made by the gods, the watery way appointed to them."
Immediately after (Yt. XIII, 57), the Fravashis are said to

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 271
have similarly showed " the paths to the stars, the moon, the sun
and the endless lights, that had stood before, for a long time, in
the same place, without moving forward, through the oppression
of the Daevas and the assaults of the Daevas." Here we have
the co-relation between the flowing of waters and the moving
forward of the sun distinctly enunciated. It was the Fravashis,
who caused to move onwards the waters and the sun, both of
which " had stood still for a long time in the same place." Prof.
Darmesteter adds a note saying that it was 'in winter' that
this cessation of motion occurred, (Cf. Vend. V, 10-12; VIII,
4-10, cited and discussed infra). The Fravashis are further
described (Yt. XIII, 78) as "destroying the malice of the fiend
Angra Mainyu (the Avestic representative of Vṛitra), so that the
waters did not stop flowing, nor did the plants stop growing." In
Yasna LXV (Sp. LXIV), 6, the Fravashis, who had "borne the
waters up stream from the nearest ones," are invoked to come
to the worshipper; and a little further on the waters are asked
to "rest still within their places while the Zaota (Sans. Hotâ)
shall offer," evidently meaning that it is the sacrifice offered by
the invoking priest that eventually secures the release or the flow
of waters. There are other references to the flowing of waters
(Yt. X, 61) in the Parsi scriptures, but those cited above are
sufficient to prove our point. The main difficulty in the rational
explanation of the Vṛitra legend was to connect the flow of waters
with the rising of the dawn, and the passages from the Farvardin
Yasht quoted above furnish us with a clue by which this connec-
tion can be satisfactorily established.
There are two passages in the Vendidad, which give us the
period during which these aerial waters ceased to flow, and it
is necessary to quote them here, inasmuch as they throw
further light on the circulation of aerial waters. It has been
stated above that according to Prof. Darmesteter these waters
ceased to flow during winter; but the point is made perfectly

272 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
clear in Fargards V and VIII of the Vendidad, where Ahura
Mazda declares how the corpse of a person dying during winter
is to be dealt with, until it is finally disposed of according to the
usual rites at the end of the season. Thus in Fargard V, 10 (34),
Ahura Mazda is asked, "If the summer is passed and the winter
has come, what shall the worshipper of Mazda do?" To which
Ahura Mazda answers, "In every house, in every borough they
shall raise three Katas for the dead, large enough not to strike
the skull, or the feet or the hands of the man; ... and they shall
let the lifeless body lie there for two nights, three nights or a month
long, until the birds begin to fly, the plants to grow, the floods
to flow, and the wind to dry up the waters from off the earth.
And as soon as the birds begin to fly, and the plants to grow,
and the floods to flow, and the wind to dry up the waters from
off the earth, then the worshipper of Mazda shall lay down the
dead (on the Dakhma), his eyes towards the sun." I have
referred to this passage previously, but as the theory of the circu-
lation of aerial waters was not then explained, the discussion of
the passage had to be postponed. We now clearly see what is
meant by the phrases like 'floods to flow' and 'plants to grow.'
They are the same phrases, which are used in the Farvardin Yasht
and are there connected with the moving forward of the sun and
the moon, that had stood still, or without moving, in the same
place for a long time. In other words, the waters, as well as the
sun, ceased to move during winter; and the worshipper of Mazda
is ordered not to dispose of the corpse until the floods began to
flow and the sun to move, be it for two nights, three nights, or a month
long. The Mazda-worshippers believed that the corpse was cleansed
by its exposure to the sun, and dead bodies could not, therefore,
be disposed of during night. The passage from the Vendidad, above
referred to, therefore, clearly indicates that the season of winter
was once marked by long darkness extending over two nights,

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 273
three nights, or a month; and that during the period, the
floods ceased to flow and the plants to grow. It was during such
a winter that the difficulty of disposing the corpse arose, and
Ahura Mazda is asked what the faithful should do in such cases.
The question has no meaning otherwise, for, if in the ancient
home of the Mazdayasnians the sun shone every day during winter,
as he does with us in the tropical regions, there would have
been no difficulty in the disposal of the corpse by exposing it to
the sun the next morning; and it would be absurd to ask the
faithful to keep the uncleanly dead body in his house for two
nights, three nights, or a month long, until the winter passed
away. The passage from Fargard V quoted above makes no
mention of darkness, though it can be easily inferred from the
statement that the body is, at last, to be taken out and laid
down on the Dakhma with its eyes towards the sun, evidently
meaning that this ceremony was impossible to be performed
during the time the dead body was kept up in the house. But
Fargard VIII, 4 (11), where the same subject is again taken up,
mentions darkness distinctly. Thus Ahura Mazda is asked "If
in the house of the worshipper of Mazda a dog or a man happens
to die, and it is raining, or snowing, or blowing, or the darkness
is coming on, when the flocks and the men lose their way,
what shall the worshipper of Mazda do?" To this Ahura Mazda
gives the same reply as in Fargard V. The faithful is directed,
VIII, 9, (21), to dig a grave in the house, and there "let the life-
less body lie for two nights, three nights, or a month long, until
the birds begin to fly, the plants to grow, the floods to flow,
and the wind to dry up the waters from off the earth." Here
in the question asked to Ahura Mazda darkness is distinctly
mentioned along with snowing and blowing; and in the Far-
vardin Yasht we have seen that the flowing of waters and the
moving of the sun are described as taking place at the same
time. The passage from Tir Yasht, where the appointed time
18

274 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
for the appearance of Tishtrya after conquering Apaosha in the
watery regions is described as one night, two nights, fifty, or
one hundred nights, has already been referred to in the last
chapter. From all these passages taken together, it inevitably
follows that it was during winter that the water ceased to
flow, and the sun to move, and that the period of stagnation
lasted from one night to a hundred nights. It was a period of
long darkness, when the sun was not seen above the horizon ;
and if a man died during the period, his corpse had to be kept in
the house until the waters again commenced to flow, and the
sun appeared on the horizon along with them. I have pointed
out previously how the Hindu belief that it is inauspicious to die
in the Dakshiṇâyana must be traced to this primeval practice
of keeping the dead body undisposed of during the long Arctic
night. The word Kata which is used for 'grave' in the Parsi
scriptures occurs once in the Ṛig-Veda, I, 106, 6, where the sage
Kutsa, lying in Kâṭa is described as invoking the Vṛitra-slaying
Indra for his protection; and I think that we have here, at least,
an indirect reference to the practice of keeping dead bodies in a
Kâṭa, until Vṛitra was killed, and the waters and the sun made
free to run their usual course. We are, however, concerned here
only with the circulation of the celestial waters ; and from the
Avestic passages quoted above, it is clear that the aerial waters
ceased to flow during winter for several days or rather nights,
and that, since light sprang from the same source as waters, the
sun also ceased to move during the period and stood still in the
watery regions, until the Fravashis, who helped the gods in
their struggle for waters or in their conflict with powers of
darkness, made the waters and the sun move onwards to take
their usual course in the upper celestial hemisphere. We can
now understand why Indra is described as moving by his
might the stream upwards (udañcha) in II, 15, 6, and how the
rivers are said to be set free to move on (sartave) by killing

VEDIC MYTHS—THE CAPTIVE WATERS. 275
Vṛitra (I, 32, 12), or how in I, 80, 5, Indra is said to have made
the lights of heaven shine forth without obstruction and set the
waters (apaḥ) free to flow (sarmaṇa). There are many other
passages in the Ṛig-Veda, where the flowing of waters and the
appearance of the sun or the dawn are spoken of as taking place
simultaneously, as may be seen from the quotations from
Macdonell's Vedic Mythology given above. All these passages
become intelligible only when interpreted on the theory of the
cosmic circulation of aerial waters through the upper and the
lower celestial hemispheres. But as the theory was little understood
or studied in this connection, the Vedic scholars, ancient and
modern, have hitherto failed to interpret the Vṛitra legend in a
rational and intelligible way, especially the four simultaneous
effects of the conquest of Indra over Vṛitra mentioned therein.
The cosmic circulation of aerial waters described above,
is not peculiar to the Indo-Iranian mythology. Dr. Warren, in
his Paradise Found, states that a similar circulation of aerial
waters is mentioned in the works of Homer. Homer describes
the sun as returning to the flowing of the ocean, or sinking into
it, and again rising from it and mounting the sky. All rivers
and every sea and all fountains and even deep wells are again
said to arise from the deep flowing ocean, which was believed
to encircle the earth.* Hêlios or the sun is further described
as sailing from west to east in a golden boat or cup, evidently
meaning that the underworld was supposed to be full of waters.
But Homeric scholars seem to have raised unnecessary
difficulties in the proper interpretation of these passages
by assuming that Homer conceived the earth to be flat and
that as the Hades was a region of complete darkness, the sun
could not be said to go there even after his setting. Dr. Warren
has, however, shown that the assumption is entirely groundless,

• See Dr. Warren's Paradise Found, 10th Edition (1893), Part
  V, Chap. V, pp. 250-260.

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.