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

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

296 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
Aryan deity, was probably ascribed to Indra in the Vedic my-
thology, when Indra become the principal deity in the Vedic
pantheon. The fact that Tishtrya, and not Verethraghna, is
said to be the releaser of waters and light in the Avesta, lends
some support to this theory. But whichever view we adopt, it
does not affect the conclusion we have come to above regarding
the true explanation of the Vṛitra legend. Clouds and rain
cannot constitute the physical basis of the legend, which is
evidently based on the simple phenomenon of bringing light
to the people who had anxiously waited for it during the
darkness of the long night in the Arctic regions; and it is
a pity that any misconception regarding Vedic cosmography,
or the nature of waters and their cosmic movements, should
have, for sometime at least, stood in the way of the true inter-
pretation of this important legend. Indra may have be-
come a storm-god afterwards; or the conquest over Vṛitra,
originally achieved by some other deity, may have come
to be ascribed to Indra, the rain-god in later times. But
whether the exploits of Vṛitra-han were subsequently ascrib-
ed to Indra, or whether Indra, as the releaser of captive
waters, was afterwards mistaken for the god of rain, like
Tishtrya in the Avesta, one fact stands out boldly amidst
all details, viz., that captive waters were the aerial waters
in the nether world, and that their captivity represented the
annual struggle between light and darkness in the original
home of the Aryans in the Arctic region; and if this fact
was not hitherto discovered, it was because our knowledge
of the ancient man was too meagre to enable us to perceive
it properly.

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VṚITRA TRIUMPHANT.
( WATERS AND THE SUN CONFINED. )

1. Varuṇa's tree. 2. Waters.

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VṚITRA SLAIN.
(WATERS AND THE SUN SET FREE TO MOVE.)
3. Vṛitra, as a Serpent. 4. The Sun.

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CHAPTER X.
VEDIC MYTHS--THE MATUTINAL DEITIES.
Vernal theory and the legends of the Ashvins--The part played
by the Ashvins in the struggle for waters and light--Intelli-
gible only on the Arctic theory--Their exploits and legends--
Saving or rejuvenating, rescuing from the ocean, or restoring
the eye-sight or light, to Chyavâna, Rebha, Bhujyu, Atri
Vandana &c.--All explained at present as referring to the
rescue of the daily dawn or the vernal restoration of the
powers of the winter sun--But the theory fails to explain
references to blindness or darkness in several legends--Nor
does it account for the duration of the distress of the Ashvins'
proteges--Nor for the character of the place of distress
from which the proteges were saved--Bottomless and dark
ocean really means the nether world--A bowl with bottom
up and mouth downwards indicates the inverted hemisphere
of the Hades--Legend of Rijrâshva--The slaughter of a
hundred sheep represents the conversion of a hundred days
into so many nights--The story of Saptavadhri or the seven
eunuchs, praying for safe delivery after ten months of gestation
--Remains unexplained up to the present--The interior of
heaven and earth is conceived in the Veda as the womb in
which the sun moves when above the horizon--Ten months'
gestation thus represents the ten months when the Sun is
above the horizon--Prayer for safe delivery indicates the
perils of the long night--Riddle or paradox of a child becom-
ing invisible as soon as born--The story of the hidden
Agni refers to the same phenomenon--Probable origin of the
Purânic story of Kumâra or Kârttikeya--Superiority of the
Arctic over the vernal theory in explaining the legends of the
Ashvins--The legend of Indra's stealing Sûrya's wheel--
The meaning of dasha-prapitve discussed--Indicates darkness
on the completion of ten months--Vishnu's three strides
--Different opinions about their nature quoted--Vishnu's
strides represent the yearly course of the sun--And his
third invisible step represents the nether world--Vishnu's op-
probrious name, Shipivishta--Represents the dark or the diseased
sun during the long Arctic night--The three abodes of Savitri,
Agni and the Ashvins compared to Vishnu's third step--The

298 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
legend of Trita A'ptya--Trita, or the third, represents the third
part of the year--The Indo-Germanic origin of the legend--
The Âpas--Their character and nature described--Seven-fold
and ten-fold division of things in the Vedic literature--
Various instances of seven-fold and ten-fold division collected
--This two-fold division probably due to the seven and ten
months' period of sunshine in the Arctic region--The Dâsha-
râjna fight--Represents struggle with the ten-fold division
of darkness--Brihaspati and his lost wife in the Ṛig-Veda--
The ten non-sacrificing kings and Râvana compared--Mythi-
cal element in the Râmâyana probably derived from the Vedic
mythology--Hanumân and Vrishâkapi-- Was Râmâyana
copied from Homer--Both may have a common source--
Conclusion.
THE inadequacy of the Storm theory to explain the legend
of Indra and Vṛitra has been fully set forth in the last chapter; and
we have seen how a number of points therein, hitherto unintelli-
gible, can be explained by the Arctic theory, combined with
the true conception of the circulation of aerial waters in the
upper and the nether world. We shall now take up the legends
that are usually explained on the Vernal theory, and show how,
like the Storm theory, it fails to account satisfactorily for the
different features of these legends. Such legends are to be found
amongst the achievements of the Ashvins, the physicians of
the gods. These achievements are summed up, as it were, in
certain hymns of the Ṛig-Veda (I, 112; 116; 117; 118), each
of which briefly refers to the important exploits of these twin
gods. As in the case of Vṛitra, the character of the Ashvins
and their exploits are explained by different schools of interpre-
ters in different ways. Thus Yâska (Nir. XII, 1) informs us
that the two Ashvins are regarded by some as representing
Heaven and Earth, by others as Day and Night, or as
Sun and Moon; while the Aitihâsikas take them to
be two ancient kings, the performers of holy acts. But as
before, we propose to examine the legends connected
with the Ashvins only according to the naturalistic or the
Nairukta school of interpretation. Even in this school there

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 299
are, however, a number of different views held regarding the
nature and the character of these two gods. Some believe that
the natural basis of the Ashvins must be the morning star,
that being the only morning-light visible before fire, dawn and
sun; while others think that the two stars in the constellation
of Gemini were the original representatives of the twin gods.
The achievements of these gods are, however, generally explained
as referring to the restoration of the powers of the sun decayed
in winter; and an elaborate discussion of the Ashvins' exploits
on this theory will be found in the Contributions to the Science of
Mythology, (Vol. II, pp. 583-605), by Prof. Max Muller, published
a few years ago. It is beyond the scope of this work to
examine each one of the different legends connected with the
Ashvins, as Prof. Max Muller has done. We are concerned
only with those points in the legends which the Vernal or the
Dawn theory fails to explain, and which can be well accounted
for only by the Arctic theory; and these we now proceed to
notice.
Now, in the first place, we must refer to the part played by
the Ashvins in the great struggle or fight for waters and light,
which has been discussed in the previous chapter. The Ashvins
are distinctly mentioned in the sacrificial literature as one of
the deities connected with the Dawn (Ait. Br. II, 15); and we
have seen that a long laudatory song recited by the Hotṛi
before sunrise is specially devoted to them. The daughter
of Sûrya is also described as having ascended their car (I, 116, 17;
119, 5), and the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa, (IV, 7-9), describes a
race run by the gods for obtaining the Âshvina-shastra as a
prize; and the Ashvins, driving in a carriage drawn by
donkeys, are said to have won it in close competition with
Agni, Uṣhas and Indra, who are represented as making
way for the Ashvins, on the understanding that after win-
ning the race the Ashvins would assign to them a share in
the prize. The kindling of the sacrificial fire; the break

300 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
of the dawn, and rise of the sun are again spoken of as
occurring simultaneously with the appearance of the Ashvins
(I, 157, 1; VII, 72, 4); while in X, 61, 4, the time of their
appearance is said to be the early dawn when "darkness still
stands amongst the ruddy cows." Their connection with
the dawn and their appearance in the interval between dawn and
sunrise are thus taken to be clearly established; and whatever
theory we may adopt to explain the character of the Ashvins
on a physical basis, we cannot lose sight of the fact that
they are matutinal deities, bringing on the dawn or the light
of the morning along with them. The two epithets which
are peculiar to Indra, viz., Vṛitrahan, and Shata-kratu, are
applied to them (Vṛitrahantamâ, VIII, 8, 22; Shata-kratû, I, 112,
23); and in I, 182, 2, they are expressly said to possess strongly
the qualities of Indra (Indra-tamâ), and of the Maruts (Marut-
tamâ) the associates of Indra in his struggle with Vṛitra.
Nay, they are said to have protected Indra in his achievements
against Namuchi in X, 131, 4. This leaves no doubt about
their share in the Vṛitra-fight; and equally clear is their
connection with the waters of the ocean. In I, 46, 2, they are
called sindhu-mâtarâ, or having the ocean for their mother, and
their car is described as turning up from the ocean in IV, 43, 5;
while in I, 112, 13, the Ashvins in their car are said to go round
the sun in the distant region (parâvati). We also read that the
Ashvins moved the most sweet sindhu or ocean, evidently mean-
ing that they made the waters of the ocean flow forward
(I, 112, 9); and they are said to have made Rasâ, a celestial
river, swell full with water-floods, urging to victory the car
without the horse (I, 112, 12). They are also the protectors
of the great Atithigva and Divodâsa against Shambara; and
Kutsa, the favourite of Indra, is also said to have been
helped by them (I, 112, 14 and 23). In verse 18 of
the same hymn, the Ashvins are addressed as Aṅgirases,
and said to have triumphed in their hearts and went

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 301
onwards to liberate the flood of milk; while in VIII, 26, 17,
we read that they abide in the sea of heaven (divo arṇave).
Taking all these facts together, we can easily see that the
Ashvins were the helpers of Indra in his struggle for waters
and light; and we now know what that struggle means. It is
the struggle between the powers of light and darkness, and
the Ashvins, in their character as divine physicians, were
naturally the first to help the gods in this distress or afflic-
tion. It is true that Indra was the principal actor or hero in
this fight; but the Ashvins appear to have stood by him,
rendering help whenever necessary, and leading the van in the
march of the matutinal deities after the conquest. This cha-
racter of the Ashvins is hardly explained by the Vernal theory;
nor can it be accounted for on the theory of a daily
struggle between light and darkness, for we have seen that the
dawn, during which the Âshvina-shastra is recited, is not the
evanescent dawn of the tropics. The Arctic theory alone can
satisfactorily interpret the facts stated above; and when they
are interpreted in this way, it is easy to perceive how the
Ashvins are described as having rejuvenated, cured, or rescued
a number of decrepit, blind, lame or distressed proteges of theirs
in the various legends ascribed to them.
The important achievements of the Ashvins have been
summed up by Macdonell in his Vedic Mythology (§ 21) as
follows:—
“The sage Chyavâna, grown old and deserted, they re-
leased from his decrepit body; they prolonged his life, restored
him to youth, rendered him desirable to his wife and made
him the husband of maidens (I, 116, 10 &c). They also re-
newed the youth of the aged Kali, and befriended him when
he had taken a wife (X, 39, 8; I, 112, 15). They brought, on a
car, to the youthful Vimada wives or a wife named Kamadyû
(X, 65, 12), who seems to have been the beautiful spouse of
Purumitra (I, 117, 20). They restored Vishṇâpû, like a lost

302 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
animal, to the sight of their worshipper Vishvaka, son of Kṛi-
shṇa (I, 116, 23; X, 65, 12). But the story most often refer-
red to is that of the rescue of Bhujyu, son of Tugra, who was
abandoned in the midst of ocean (samudre), or in the water-
clouds (udameghe), and who, tossed about in darkness, invoked
the aid of the youthful heroes. In the ocean which is
without support (anârambhaṇe), they took him home in a
hundred-oared (shatâritrâm) ship (I, 116, 5). They rescued
him with animated water-tight ships, which traversed the air
(antariksha), with four ships, with an animated winged boat,
with three flying cars having a hundred feet and six horses.
In one passage Bhujyu is described as clinging to a log in the
midst of water (arṇaso madhye, I, 182, 7). The sage Rebha
stabbed, bound, hidden by the malignant, overwhelmed in
waters for ten nights and nine days, abandoned as dead, was
by the Ashvins revived and drawn out, as Soma juice is raised
with a ladle (I, 116, 24; I, 112, 5). They delivered Vandana
from his calamity and restored him to the light of the sun. In
I, 117, 5, they are also said to have dug up for Vandana some
bright buried gold of new splendour 'like one asleep in the lap
of Nir-ṛiti,' or like 'the sun dwelling in darkness.' They suc-
coured the sage Atri Sapta-Vadhri, who was plunged in a
burning pit by the wiles of a demon, and delivered him from
darkness (I, 116, 8; VI, 50, 10). They rescued from the jaws
of a wolf a quail (vartikâ), who invoked their aid (I, 112, 8).
To Ṛijrâshva, who had been blinded by his cruel father for
killing one hundred and one sheep and giving them to a she-
wolf to devour, they restored his eyesight at the prayer of the
she-wolf (I, 116, 16; 117, 17); and cured Parâvṛij of blind-
ness and lameness (I, 112, 8). When Vishpalâ's leg had been
cut off in the battle like the wing of a bird, the Ashvins gave
her an iron one instead (I, 116, 15). They befriended Gho-
shâ when she was growing old in her father's house by giving
her a husband (I, 117, 7; X, 39, 3). To the wife of a eunuch

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 303
(Vadhrimati) they gave a son called Hiraṇya-hasta (I, 116, 13;
VI, 62, 7). The cow of Shayu which had left off bearing they
caused to give milk (I, 116, 22); and to Pedu they gave a
strong swift dragon-slaying steed impelled by Indra which
won him unbounded spoils (I, 116, 6)."
Besides these there are many other exploits mentioned in I,
112, 116-119; and the Ashvins are described as having saved,
helped, or cured a number of other persons. But the above
summary is sufficient for our purpose. It will be seen from it
that the Ashvins bear the general character of helping the
lame, the blind, the distressed, or the afflicted; and in some
places a reference to the decayed powers of the sun is discern-
ible on the face of the legends. Taking their clue from this
indication, many scholars, and among them Prof. Max Muller,
have interpreted all the above legends as referring to the sun
in winter and the restoration of his power in spring or summer.
Thus Prof. Max Muller tells us that Chyavâna is nothing but
the falling sun (chyu, to fall), of which it might well be said
that he had sunk in the fiery or dark abyss from which the
Ashvins are themselves said to come up in III, 39, 3. The
Vedic Ṛishis are again said to have betrayed the secret of the
myth of Vandana by comparing the treasure dug for him by
the Ashvins to the sun 'dwelling in darkness.' Kali is simi-
larly taken to represent the waning moon, and Vishpalâ's iron
leg, we are told, is the first quarter or pâda of the new moon,
called 'iron' on account of his darkness as compared with the
golden colour of the full moon. The blindness of Ṛijrâshva is
explained on this theory as meaning the blindness of night or
winter; and the blind and the lame Parâvṛij is taken to be the
sun after sunset or near the winter solstice. The setting sun
thrown out of a boat into waters is similarly understood to
be the basis of the legend Bhujyu or Rebha. Vadhrimati,
the wife of the eunuch, to whom Hiraṇya-hasta or the gold-
hand is said to be restored, is, we are further told, nothing

304 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
but the dawn under a different name. She is called the wife
of the eunuch because she was separated from the sun during
the night. The cow of Shayu, (derived from shî, to lie down)
is again said to be the light of the morning sun, who may
well be described as sleeping in the darkness from which he
was brought forth by the Ashvins for the sake of Vandana.
In short, each and every legend is said to be a story of the
sun or the moon in distress. The Ashvins were the saviours
of the morning-light, or of the annual sun in his exile and dis-
tress at the time of the winter solstice; and when the sun
becomes bright and brisk in the morning every day, or vigor-
ous and triumphant in the spring, the miracle, we are told,
was naturally attributed to the physicians of the gods.
This explanation of the different legends connected with
the Ashvins is no doubt an advance on that of Yâska, who has
explained only one of these legends, viz., that of the quail, on
the Dawn theory. But still I do not think that all the facts
and incidents in these legends are explained by the Vernal
theory as it is at present understood. Thus we cannot ex-
plain why the proteges of the Ashvins are described as being
delivered from darkness on the theory that every affliction or
distress mentioned in the legend refers to mere decrease of
the power of the sun in winter. Darkness is distinctly referred
to when the treasure dug up for Vandana is compared to
the "sun dwelling in darkness" (I, 117, 5), or when Bhu-
jyu is said to have been plunged in waters and sunk in bottom-
less darkness (anârambhaṇe tamasi), or when Atri is said to
have been delivered from darkness (tamas) in VI, 50, 10.
The powers of the sun are no doubt decayed in winter, and
one can easily understand why the sun in winter should
be called lame, old, or distressed. But blindness naturally
means darkness or tamas (I, 117, 17); and when express
references to darkness (tamas) are found in several pass-
-ages, we cannot legitimately hold that the story of curing

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 305
the blind refers to the restoration of the decayed powers of the
winter sun. The darkness referred to is obviously the real
darkness of the night ; and on the theory of the daily strug-
gle between light and darkness we shall have to suppose that
these wonders were achieved every day. But as a matter of
fact they are not said to be performed every day, and Vedic
scholars have, therefore, tried to explain the legends on the
theory of the yearly exile of the sun in winter. But we now
see that in the latter case references to blindness or darkness
remain unintelligible ; and as the darkness is often said to be
of several days' duration, we are obliged to infer that the legends
refer to the long yearly darkness, or, in other words, they have
for their physical basis the disappearance of the sun below the
horizon during the long night of the Arctic region.
The Vernal theory cannot again explain the different periods
of time during which the distress experienced by the Ashvins'
proteges is said to have lasted. Thus Rebha, who was overwhelm-
ed in waters, is said to have remained there for ten nights and
nine days (I, 116, 24); while Bhujyu, another worshipper of theirs,
is described as having been saved from being drowned in the
bottomless sea or darkness, where he lay for three days and
three nights (I, 116, 4). In VIII, 5, 8, the Ashvins are again
described as having been in the parāvat or distant region for three
days and three nights. Prof. Max Muller, agreeing with Benfey,
takes this period, whether of ten or three days, as representing
the time when the sun at the winter solstice seems bound and to
stand still (hence called solstice), till he jumps up and turns
back. But ten days is too long a period for the sun to stand still
at the winter solstice, and even Prof. Max Muller seems to have
felt the difficulty, for immediately after the above explanation
he remarks that "whether this time lasted for ten or twelve
nights would have been difficult to settle even for more experien-
ced astronomers than the Vedic Ṛiṣhis." But even supposing
20

306 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
that the period of ten days may be thus accounted for, the
explanation entirely fails in the case of the legend of Dîrghatamas
who is said to have grown old in the tenth yuga and rescued by
the Ashvins from the torment to which he was subjected by his
enemies. I have shown previously that yuga here means a
month; and if this is correct, we shall have to suppose that
Dîrghatamas, representing the annual course of the sun, stood
still at the winter solstice for two months ! The whole difficulty,
however, vanishes when we explain the legends on the Arctic
theory, for the sun may then be supposed to be below the horizon
for any period varying from one to a hundred nights, or even for
six months.
The third point, left unexplained by the Vernal theory, is
the place of distress or suffering from which the proteges are
said to have been rescued by the Ashvins. Bhujyu was saved
not on land, but in the watery region (apsu) without support
(anârambhaṇe) and unillumined (tamasi) by the rays of the sun
(I, 182, 6). If we compare this description with that of the
ocean said to have been encompassed by Vṛitra, or of the dark
ocean which Bṛihaspati is said to have hurled down in II, 23, 18,
we can at once recognize them as identical. Both represent the
nether world which we have seen is the home of aerial waters,
and which has to be crossed in boats by the drowned sun in the
Ṛig-Veda or by Hêlios in the Greek mythology. It cannot, there-
fore, be the place where the sun goes in winter ; and unless we
adopt the Arctic theory, we cannot explain how the proteges of
the Ashvins are said to have been saved from being drowned in a
dark and bottomless ocean. In VIII, 40, 5, Indra is said to have
uncovered the seven-bottomed ocean having a side-opening
(jimha-bâram), evidently referring to the fight for waters in the
nether world. The same expression (jimha-bâram) is used again in
I, 116, 9, where the Ashvins are described as having lifted up a
well "with bottom up and opening in the side or downwards;"