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

308 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
corresponds with the conception of the Hades in which every
thing is turned upside down. Being regarded as an inverted
hemisphere, it is rightly described, from the point of view of
persons in this world, as a supportless region with bottom up and
mouth downwards; and it was this bottomless darkness.
(I, 182, 6), or the bottomless and supportless ocean, in which
Bhujyu was plunged, and which he crossed without distress by
means of the boats graciously provided by the Ashvins. In the
Atharva Veda X, 8, 9, a bowl with mouth inclined or downwards
(tiryag-bilaḥ), and bottom upwards (ūrdhva-budhnaḥ) is said to hold
within it every form of glory; and there seven Ṛiṣhis, who have
been this Mighty One's protectors, are described as sitting to-
gether.* The verse occurs also in the Bṛih. Arṇ. Up. II, 3, 3, with
the variant arvāg-bilaḥ (with its mouth downwards) for tiryag-
bilaḥ, with its mouth inclined) of the Atharva Veda. Yâska (Nir.
XII, 38) quotes the verse and gives two interpretations of the
same, in one of which the seven Ṛiṣhis are taken to represent the
seven rays of the sun, and the bowl the vault above; while in the
second the bowl is said to represent the human head with its
concave cup-like palate in the mouth. But it seems to me more
probable that the description refers to the nether world rather
than to the vault above or to the concave human palate. The
glory referred to is the same as the Hvarenô of the Parsi
scriptures. In the Zamyâd Yasht, this Hvarenô or Glory is said
to have thrice departed from Yima and was restored to him
once by Mithra, once by Thraêtaona who smote Azi Dahâka,
and finally by Keresâspa and Atar, who defeated Azi Dahâka.
The fight took place in the sea Vouru-Kasha in the bottom
of the deep river, and we have seen that this must be taken to
mean the world-surrounding Okeanos. The Hvarenô (Sans. svar)
or Glory is properly the light, and one who possessed it reigned

• See Atharva Veda, X, 8, 9, — तिर्यग्बिलश्चमस ऊर्ध्वबुध्नस्तस्मिन्यशो
  निहितं विश्वरूपम् । तदासते ऋषयः सप्त साकं ये अस्य गोपा महतो बभूवुः ॥

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 309
supreme and one who lost it fell down. Thus "when Yima
lost his Glory he perished and Azi Dahâka reigned; as when
light disappears, the fiend rules supreme."* It may also be
noticed that amongst the persons to whom the glory belonged
in ancient days are mentioned the seven Amesha Spentas, all
of one thought, one speech and one deed. We have thus a
very close resemblance between the glory said to have been
placed in a bowl with bottom up and guarded by the seven
Ṛiṣhis in the Vedas, and the Hvarenô or the glory mentioned
in the Avesta, which once belonged to the seven Amesha
Spentas, and which thrice went away from Yima and had
to be restored to him by fighting with Azi Dahâka, the
Avestic representative of the Ahi Vṛitra, in the sea Vouru-
Kasha; and this strengthens our view that the bowl with the
bottom up and the mouth downwards is the inverted hemi-
sphere of the nether world, the seat of darkness and the home
of aerial waters. It was this region wherein Bhujyu
was plunged and had to be saved by the intervention of the
Ashvins.
Now if Bhujyu was plunged in this bottomless darkness
and ocean for three nights and three days (I, 116, 4), or
Rebha was there for ten nights and nine days (I, 116, 24),
it is clear that the period represents a continuous darkness
of so many days and nights as stated above; and I think,
the story of Ṛijrâshva, or the Red-horse, also refers to
the same incident, viz., the continuous darkness of the
Arctic region. Ṛijrâshva, that is, the Red-horse, is said to have
slaughtered 100 or 101 sheep and gave them to the Vṛiki, or
the she-wolf, and his own father being angry on that account
is said to have deprived him of his sight. But the Ashvins
at the prayer of the she-wolf restored to Ṛijrâshva his eye-
sight and thus cured him of his blindness. Prof. Max Muller
thinks that the sheep may here mean the stars, which may be
said to have been slaughtered by the rising sun. But we have

• See S. B. E. Series, Vol. IV, Introd, p. lxiii.

310 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
seen that the 350 sheep of Hêlios are taken to represent 350
nights, while the corresponding 350 days are said to be re-
presented by his 350 oxen. In short, the Greek legend refers to
a year of 350 days and a continuous night of ten days ; and
the period of 10 nights mentioned in the legend of Rebha well
accords with this conception of the ancient Aryan year, infer-
red from the story of Hêlios. This resemblance between the
two stories naturally leads us to inquire if any clue cannot
be found to the interpretation of the legend of Ṛijrâshva in
the story of Hêlios ; and when we examine the subject from
this point of view, it is not difficult to discover the similarity be-
tween the slaughter of sheep by Ṛijrâshva and the consuming
of the oxen of Hêlios by the companion of Odysseus. The
wolf, as observed by Prof. Max Muller, is generally understood
in the Vedic literature to be a representative of darkness and
mischief rather than of light, and therefore the slaughter
of 100 sheep for him naturally means the conversion of
hundred days into nights, producing thereby a continuous
darkness for a hundred nights, of 24 hours each. Ṛijrâshva or
the Red-sun may well be spoken of as becoming blind during
these hundred continuous nights, and eventually cured of his
blindness by the Ashvins, the harbingers of light and dawn.
The only objection that may be urged against this interpreta-
tion is that hundred days should have been described as
oxen or cows and not as sheep. But I think, that such nice
distinctions cannot be looked for in every myth, and that if
hundred days were really converted into so many nights we can
well speak of them as "sheep." The slaughter of 100 or 101
sheep can thus be easily and naturally explained on the theory
of long continuous darkness, the maximum length of which,
as stated in the previous chapter, was one hundred days, or a
hundred periods of 24 hours. In short, the legends of the
Ashvins furnish us with evidence of three, ten, or a hundred
continuous nights in ancient times; and the incidents which

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 311
lead us to this inference, are, at best, but feebly explain-
ed by the Vernal or the Dawn theory as at present under-
stood.
But the most important of the Ashvins' legends, for our
purpose, is the story of Atri Saptavadhri. He is described as
having been thrown into a burning abyss and extricated from
this perilous position by the Ashvins, who are also said to have
delivered him from darkness (tamasah) in VI, 50, 10. In I,
117,24, the Ashvins are represented as giving a son called
Hirayṇa-hasta, or the Gold-hand, to Vadhrimatī or the wife of
a eunuch; while in V, 78, a hymn, whose seer is Saptavadhri
himself, the latter is represented as being shut up in a wooden
case, from which he was delivered by the Ashvins. Upon
this Prof. Max Muller observes, "If this tree or this wooden
case is meant for the night, then, by being kept shut up
in it he (Saptavadhri) was separated from his wife, he was
to her like a Vadhri (eunuch), and in the morning only when
delivered by the Ashvins he became once more the husband
of the dawn." But the learned Professor is at a loss to ex-
plain why Atri, in his character of the nocturnal sun, should be
called not only a Vadhri but Ṣaptavadhri, or a seven-eunuch.
Vadhri, as a feminine word, denotes a leather strap, and,
as pointed out by Prof. Max Muller, Sâyaṇa is of opinion
that the word can be used also in the masculine gender (X, 102,
12). The word Saptavadhri may, therefore, denote the sun
caught in a net of seven leather straps. But the different
incidents in the legend clearly point out that a seven-
eunuch, and not a person caught in seven leather straps, is
meant by the epithet Saptavadhri as applied to Atri in
this legend.
It is stated above that a whole hymn (78) of nine verses
in the 5th Maṇḍala of the Ṛig-Veda is ascribed to Atri Sapta-
vadhri. The deities addressed in this hymn are the Ashvins
whom the poet invokes for assistance in his miserable plight.
The first six verses of the hymn are simple and intelligible.
In the first three, the Ashvins are invoked to come to the

312 THE ARCTIC HOME IN. THE VEDAS.
sacrifice like two swans; and in the fourth, Atri, thrown into a
pit, is said to have called on them, like a wailing woman, for
assistance. The 5th and the 6th verses narrate the story of
Saptavadhri, shut up in a tree or a wooden case, whose sides
are asked to tear asunder like the side of her who bringeth forth
a child. After these six verses come the last three (the
hymn containing only nine verses), which describe the delivery
of a child that was in the womb for 10 months; and Vedic
scholars have not as yet been able to explain what rational
connection these three verses could possibly have with the
preceding six verses of the hymn.* According to Sâyaṇa, these
three verses constitute what is called the Garbhasrâviṇî-
upaniṣhad or the liturgy of child-birth; while Ludwig tries to ex-
plain the concluding stanzas as referring to the delivery of a child,
a subject suggested by the simile of a wailing woman
in the 4th verse, or by the comparison of the side of the
tree with the side of a parturient woman. It seems, how-
ever, extraordinary, if not worse, that a subject, not relevant
except as a simile or by way of comparison, should be described
at such length at the close of the hymn. We must, therefore,
try to find some other explanation, or hold with Sâyaṇa that an
irrelevant matter, viz., the liturgy of child-birth, is here
inserted with no other object but to make up the number
of verses in the hymn. These verses may be literally translated
as follows:—
“7. Just as the wind shakes a pool of lotuses on all
sides, so may your embryo (garbha) move (in your womb),
and come out after being developed for ten months (dasha-
mâsyah).”

• The last five verses of the hymn are as follows:— वि जिहीष्व
  वनस्पते योनिः सूषन्त्या इव। श्रुतं मे अश्विना हवं सप्तवध्रिं च मुंचतम् ॥ ५॥
  भीताय नाधमानाय ऋषये सप्तवध्रये। मायाभिरश्विना युवं वृक्षं सं च वि चाच-
  थः ॥ ६ ॥ यथा वातः पुष्करिणीं समिंगयति सर्वतः। एवा ते गर्भ एजतु निरैतु
  दशमास्यः ॥ ७ ॥ यथा वातो यथा वनं यथा समुद्र एजति । एवा त्वं दशमास्य
  सहावेहि जरायुणा ॥ ८ ॥ दश मासाञ्छशयानः कुमारो अधि मातरि । निरैतु
  जीवो अक्षतो जीवो जीवंत्या अधि ॥ ९ ॥

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 313
"8. Just as the wind, just as the forest, just as the sea
moves, so O ten-monthed (embryo)! come out with the outer
cover (jarâyu)."
"9. May the child (kumâra), lying in the mother's (womb)
for ten months, come out alive and unhurt, alive for the living
mother."
These three verses, as observed above, immediately follow
the verses where the wooden case is said to be shut and open-
ed for Saptavadhri, and naturally they must be taken to refer
to, or rather as forming a part of the same legend. But nei-
ther the Vernal nor the Dawn theory supplies us with any clue
whatsoever to the right interpretation of these verses. The
words used present no difficulty. A child full-grown in the womb
for ten months is evidently intended, and its safe delivery is
prayed for. But what could this child be ? The wife of the
eunuch Vadhrimatî is already said to have got a child Hiranya-
hasta through the favour of the Ashvins. We cannot, therefore,
suppose that she prayed for the safe delivery of a child, nor can
Saptavadhri be said to have prayed for the safe delivery of his
wife, who never bore a child to him. The verses, or rather
their connection with the story of Saptavadhri told in the first
six verses of the hymn, have, therefore, remained unexplained up
to the present day, the only explanations hitherto offered being,
as observed above, either utterly unsatisfactory or rather no
explanations at all.
The whole mystery is, however, cleared up by the light
thrown upon the legend by the Arctic theory. The dawn is
sometimes spoken of in the Ṛig-Veda as producing the sun
(I, 113, 1; VII. 78, 3). But this dawn cannot be said to have
borne the child for ten months; nor can we suppose that
the word dasha-mâsyaḥ (of ten months), which is found in the
7th and the 8th, and the phrase dasha mâsân found in the 9th
verse of the hymn were used without any specific meaning
or intention. We must, therefore, look for some other

314 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
explanation, and this is supplied by the fact that the sun is said
to be pre-eminently the son of Dyāvā-pṛithivī, or simply of Dyu
in the Ṛig-Veda. Thus in X, 37, 1, the sun is called divas-putra
or the son of Dyu, and in I, 164, 33, we read, " Dyu is the father,
who begot us, our origin is there ; this great Earth is our parent
mother. The father laid the daughter's embryo (garbham) within
the womb of the two wide bowls (uttānayoḥ chamvoḥ)''. In the
preceding verse, we have, " He (the sun) yet enveloped in his
mother's womb, having various off springs, has gone into the
(region of) Nir-ṛiti"; and further that "he, who had made him,
does not know of him ; surely is he hidden from those who saw
him." In I, 160, 1, we similarly find that "These Heaven and
Earth, bestowers of prosperity and all, the wide sustainers of the
regions, the two bowls of noble birth, the holy ones: between
these two goddesses, the refulgent sun-god travels by fixed
decrees." These passages clearly show (1) that the sun was
conceived as a child of the two bowls, Heaven and Earth, (2)
that the sun moved like an embryo in the womb, i. e., the
interior of heaven and earth, and (3) that after moving in this
way in the womb of the mother for some time, and producing
various offsprings, the sun sank into the land of desolation (Nir-
ṛiti), and became hidden to those that saw him before. Once
the annual course of the sun was conceived in this way, it did not
require any great stretch of imagination to represent the drop-
ping of the sun into Nir-ṛiti as an exit from the womb of his
mother. But what are we to understand by the phrase that
'he moved in the womb for ten months'? The Arctic theory
explains this point satisfactorily. We have seen that Dīr-
ghatamas was borne on waters for ten months, and the Da-
shagvas are said to have completed their sacrificial session
during the same period. The sun can, therefore, be very well
described, while above the horizon for ten months, as mov-
ing in the womb of his mother, or between heaven and earth.

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 315
for ten months. After this period, the sun was lost, or went out
of the womb into the land of desolation, there to be shut up as
in a wooden case for two months. The sage Atri, therefore,
rightly invokes the Ashvins for his deliverance from the box
and also for the safe delivery of the child, i. e., himself, from the
womb of his mother after ten months. In the Atharva Veda XI,
5, 1, the sun, as a Brahmachârin, is said to move between heaven
and earth, and in the 12th verse of the same hymn we are told
that "Shouting forth, thundering, red, white he carries a great
penis (bṛihach-chhepas) along the earth." If the sun moving
between heaven and earth is called bṛihach-chhepas he may well
be called Vadhri (eunuch), when sunk into the land of Nir-ṛiti.
But Prof. Max Muller asks us, why he should be called Sapta-
vadhri or a seven-eunuch ? The explanation is simple enough.
The heaven, the earth and the lower regions are all conceived
as divided seven-fold in the Ṛig-Veda, and, when the ocean or
the waters are described as seven-fold (sapta-budhnam arṇavam,
VIII, 40, 5; sapta âpaḥ X, 104, 8), or when we have seven Dânus or
demons, mentioned in X, 120, 6, or when Indra is called saptâ-
han or the seven-slayer (X, 49, 8), or Vritra is said to have
seven forts (I, 63, 7), or when the cowstead (vraja), which the
two Ashvins are said to have opened in X, 40, 8, is described
as saptâsya, the sun, who is bṛihach-chhepas and seven-rayed or
seven-horsed (V, 45, 9) while moving between heaven and earth,
may very well be described as Saptavadhri or seven-eunuch when
sunk into the land of Nir-ṛiti or the nether world of bottomless
darkness from which he is eventually released by the Ashvins. The
last three verses of V, 78, can thus be logically connected with the
story of Saptavadhri mentioned in the immediately preceding
verses, if the period of ten months, during which the child moves in
the mother's womb, is taken to represent the period of ten months'
sunshine followed by the long night of two months; the existence

316 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
of which we have established by independent Vedic evidence.
The point has long remained unexplained, and it is only by the
Arctic theory that it can be now satisfactorily accounted for.
In connection with this subject it is necessary to refer to a
riddle or a paradox, which arises out of it. The sun was
supposed to move in the womb of his mother for ten months
and then to drop into the nether world. In other words, as
soon as he came out of the womb, he was invisible; while in
ordinary cases a child becomes visible as soon as it is brought
into the world after ten months of gestation. Here was an
idea, or rather an apparent contradiction between two ideas,
which the Vedic poets were not slow to seize upon, and evolve
a riddle out of it. Thus we have seen above (I, 164, 32) that
the sun is described as being invisible to one who made him,
evidently meaning his mother. In V, 2, 1, we again meet
with the same riddle; for it says, "Young mother carries in
secret the boy confined; she does not yield him to the father.
People do not see before them his fading face, laid down with the
Arâti."* In I, 72, 2, we further read, "All the clever immortals
did not find the calf though sojourning round about
us. The attentive (gods), wearying themselves, following his
foot-steps, stood at the highest beautiful standing p'ace of
Agni;" and the same idea is expressed in I, 95, 4, which says,
"Who amongst you has understood this secret? The calf has
by itself given birth to its mother. The germ of many, the great
seer moving by his own strength comes forward from the lap of
the active one (apasâm)." It is the story of the hidden Agni,
who is described in X, 124, 1, as having long (jyok) resided in
*See Oldenberg's Vedic Hymns, S. B. E. Series, Vol. XLVI, pp.
366-68. The first two verses of the hymn are:—कुमारं माता युवतिः समु-
ब्धं गुहा बिभर्ति न ददाति पित्रे। अनीकमस्य न मिनज्जनासः पुरः पश्यंति नि-
हितमरतौ ॥ १ ॥ कमेतं त्वं युवते कुमारं पेषी बिभर्षि महिषी जजान । पूर्वीर्हि
गर्भः शरदो ववर्धापश्यं जातं यदसूत माता ॥ २ ॥

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 317
the long darkness (dîrgham tamaḥ), and who eventually comes-
out as the child of waters (apâm napât, I, 143, 1). The epithet
apâm napât as applied to Agni is usually explained as referring
to the lightening produced from the clouds, but this explanation
does not account for the fact of his long residence in darkness.
The puzzle or the riddle is, however, satisfactorily solved by the
Arctic theory, combined with the cosmic circulation of aerial
waters. The sun, who moves in the interior of heaven and
earth for ten months, as in the womb of his mother, naturally
suggested to the Vedic poets the parallel idea of the period of
ten months' gestation; but the wonder was that while a child
is visible to all as soon as it is born, the sun became invisible
just at the time when he came out of the womb. Where did
he go? Was he locked up in a wooden chest or bound down
with leather straps in the region of waters? Why did the
mother not present him to the father after he was safely de-
livered? Was he safely delivered? These questions natural-
ly arise out of the story, and the Vedic poets appear to
take delight in reverting again and again to the same paradox
in different places. And what applies to Sûrya or the sun ap-
plies to Agni as well; for there are many passages in the Ṛig-
Veda where Agni is identified with the sun. Thus Agni is
said to be the light of heaven in the bright sky, waking at
dawn, the head of heaven (III, 2, 14), and he is described as
having been born on the other side of the air in X, 187, 5. In
the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa (VIII, 28), we are further told that
the sun, when setting, enters into Agni and is reproduced from
the latter; and the same identification appears to be alluded
to in the passages from the Ṛig-Veda, where Agni is said to
unite with the light of the sun or to shine in heaven (VIII, 44,
29). The story of concealing the child after ten months of
gestation whether applied to Agni or to Sûrya is thus only
a different version of the story of the disappearance of the
sun from the upper hemisphere after ten months of sunshine.

318 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
But what became of the child (Kumâra) which disappeared
in this way? Was he lost for ever or again restored to his
parents? How did the father or even the mother obtain the
child so lost? Some one must bring the child to them, and
this task seems to have been entrusted to the Ṛibhus or the
Ashvins in the Ṛig-Veda. Thus in I, 110, 8, the Ṛibhus are
said to have united the mother with the calf, and in I, 116,
13, the Ashvins are described as giving to Vadhrimati a
child called Hiraṇya-hasta. The story of restoring Vishṇâpu
to Vishvaka (I, 117, 7) and of giving milk to Shayu's cow
probably refer to the same phenomenon of bringing back the
morning sun to the parents; and from this it is but a small
step to the story of Kumâra (lit., a child), one of the names of
Kârttikeya in the Purâṇas. It was this Kumâra, or the once
hidden (guha), or dropped (skanda) Child, rising along with the
seven rivers or mothers (VIII, 96, 1) in the morning, that led
the army of gods or light and walked victoriously along the
Devayâna path. He was the leader of days, or the army of
gods; and as Maruts were the allies of Indra in his conflict
with Vṛitra, Kumâra or the Child, meaning the morning sun,
may, by a turn of the mythological kaleidoscope, be very well
called a son of Rudra, the later representative of the Maruts;
or said to be born of Agni, who dwelt in waters; or described as
the son of seven or six Kṛittikâs. As the morning sun has to
pierce his way up through the apertures of Albûrz, tempo-
rarily closed by Vṛitra, this Kumâra can again be well termed
Krauñcha-dâraṇa, or the piercer of the Krauñcha mountain, an
epithet applied to him in the Purâṇas.* But we are not here
concerned with the growth which Kumâra, or the child of the

1. For a further devlopment of the idea see Mr. Nârâyan Aiyan-
   gâr's Essays on Indo-Aryan Mythology, Part II, pp.57–80. In the light
   of the Arctic theory we may have to modify some of Mr. Aiyangâr's
   views. Thus out of the seven rivers or mothers, which bring on the light
   of the sun, one may be regarded as his real mother and the other six as
   stepmothers.

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 319
morning, attained in later mythology. We took up the legends
of the Ashvins with a view to see if there were any incidents in
them which became intelligible only on the Arctic theory, and
the foregoing examination of the legends shows that we have
not searched in vain. The expression dasha-mâsya in the leg-
end of Sapta-vadhri and dashame yuge in that of Dîrgha-
tamas directly indicate a period of ten months' sunshine, and
we have seen that three, ten, or a hundred continuous nights
are also referred to directly or metaphorically in some of these
legends. We have again such expressions as "the sun sleep-
ing in darkness or in the lap of Nir-ṛiti," which show that
actual and not metaphorical darkness was intended. In short,
the sun, sunk in the nether world of waters and darkness, and
not merely a winter sun, is the burden of all these legends,
and the achievements of the Ashvins refer to the rescue of the
sun from the dark pit of the nether world or from the bottom-
less ocean or darkness. The Vernal and Arctic theories are
both solar in character, and in either case the legends are
interpreted on the supposition that they represent some solar
phenomenon. But the Arctic theory does not stop with the
decay of the sun's power in winter, but goes a step further in
making the long darkness of the circum-polar region, the
natural basis of many important Vedic legends; and the fore-
going discussion of the myths of the Ashvins clearly shows
that a wider basis, like the one supplied by the Arctic theory,
was not only desirable but necessary for a proper explanation
of these legends—a fact, which, in its turn, further corro-
borates and establishes the new theory.

The Sûrya's Wheel.

We have already discussed the legends of the seven Âdi-
tyas with their still-born brother, and shewn that it represents
seven months of sunshine in the ancient Aryan home. But
this is not the only period of sunshine in the Arctic region,

320 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
where, according to latitude, the sun is above the horizon from
6 to 12 months. The sacrificial session of the Navagvas and the
Dashagvas thus lasted for nine or ten months, and amongst the
Ashvins' legends, that of Saptavadhri is just shown to have been
based on the phenomenon of ten months' sunshine. Is there
any legend of Sûrya in the Ṛig-Veda, which refers to this
phenomenon?—is the question we have now to consider. The
statement that ten horses are yoked to the carriage of the sun
has been shewn to point out to a period of ten months'
sunshine; but the legend of Indra's stealing the wheel of the
sun is still more explicit. To understand it properly we must,
however, first see in what relation Indra generally stands to
Sûrya. It has been shown in the last chapter, that Indra is
the chief hero in the fight between the powers of light and
darkness. It is he, who causes the sun to rise with the dawn,
or makes the sun to shine (VIII, 3, 6; VIII, 98, 2) and
mount the sky (I, 7, 3). The sun, it is further stated, (III, 39,
5), was dwelling in darkness, where Indra, accompanied by the
Dashagvas found him and brought him up for man. It is
Indra again who makes a path for the sun (X, III, 3), and
fights with the demons of darkness in order to gain back the
light of the morning. In short, Indra is everywhere described
as a friend and helper of Sûrya, and yet the Ṛig-Veda men-
tions a legend in which Indra is said to have taken away or
stolen the wheel of Sûrya and thus vanquished him (I, 175, 4;
IV, 30, 4; V, 31, 11; X, 43, 5). It has been supposed that the
legend may refer either to the obscuration of the sun by a
storm-cloud, or to his diurnal setting; but the former is too un-
certain an event to be made the basis of a legend like the pre-
sent, nor can a cloud be said to be brought on by Indra, while
we have no authority to assume, as presupposed in the latter
case, that the legend refers to the daily setting of the sun.
We must, therefore, examine the legend a little more closely,
and see if we can explain it in a more intelligible way. Now

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 321
Sûrya's chariot is described in the Ṛig-Veda as having but one
wheel (I, 164, 2), though the wheel is said to be seven-fold ;
and in the later mythology it is distinctly stated that the chariot
of the sun is eka-chakra or a monocycle. If this wheel is taken
away, the progress of the sun must cease, bringing everything
to a dead lock. It seems, however, that the wheel of the sun
means the sun himself in the present legend. Thus in
I, 175, 4, and IV, 30, 4, the phrase used is sûryam chakram,
evidently meaning that the solar orb itself is conceived as a
wheel. When this wheel is said to be stolen, we must, there-
fore, suppose that the sun himself was taken away, and not that
one of the two wheels of his carriage was stolen, leaving the
carriage to run on one wheel as best as it could. What did
Indra do with this solar wheel, or the sun himslf, which he
stole in this way ? We are told that he used solar rays as his
weapon to kill or burn the demons (VIII, 12, 9). It is, there-
fore, clear that the stealing of the solar wheel and the
conquest over the demons are contemporaneous events. Indra's
fight with the demons is mainly for the purpose of regaining
light, and it may be asked how Indra can be described to have
used the solar orb as a weapon of attack for the purpose of
regaining Sûrya that was lost in darkness ? For it amounts
to saying that the solar orb was used as a weapon in recovering
the sun himself, which was believed to be lost in darkness.
But the difficulty is only apparent and is due to the modern
notions of light or darkness. Sûrya and darkness, according to
the modern notions, cannot be supposed to exist in the same
place ; but the Ṛig-Veda distinctly speaks of " the sun dwelling in
darkness " in two places at least (III, 39, 5 ; I, 117, 5) ; and
this can be explained only on the supposition that the Vedic
bards believed that the sun was deprived of his lustre when
he sank below the horizon, or that his lustre was temporarily
obscured during his struggle with the demons of darkness.
It is impossible to explain the expression tamasi kshiyantam
21

322 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
(dwelling in darkness) on any other theory; and if this
explanation is accepted, it is not difficult to understand
how the solar orb could be said to be utilized by Indra in
vanquishing the demons and regaining the morning light.
In other words, Indra helps the sun in destroying the obs-
truction which marred or clouded his lustre, and when this
obstruction is removed the sun regains his light and rises up
from the nether ocean. Indra is, therefore, correctly described
in IV, 17, 14, as having stopped the wheel öf the sun, and,
turning it round, flung it into the concealing darkness at the
bottom of rajas or in the nether world of darkness. But the
passage important for our purpose is VI, 31, 3. It reads as
follows:—
Tvam Kutsena abhi Shuṣhṇam Indra
Ashuṣhaṁ yudhya Kuyavam gaviṣhṭau ।
Daśha prapitve adha Sūryasya
mushāyas chakram avive rapāṁsi ॥
The first half of the verse presents no difficulty. It
means "O Indra! in the striving for the cows, do you, with
Kutsa, fight against Shuṣhṇa, the Ashuṣha and the Kuyava."*
Here Ashuṣha and Kuyava are used as adjectives to Shuṣhṇa
and mean 'the voracious Shuṣhṇa, the bane of the crops." The
second hemistich, however, is not so simple. The last phrase
avive-rapāṁsi is split in the Pada text as aviveḥ and rapāṁsi,
which means "destroy calamities or mischiefs (rapāṁsi)."
But Prof. Oldenberg proposes to divide the phrase as aviveḥ
and apāṁsi, in confirmity with IV, 19, 10, and translates,
"Thou hast manifested thy manly works (apāṁsi)."† It is not,
however, necessary for our present purpose to examine the re-
lative merits of these two interpretations; and we may, there-
fore, adopt the older of the two, which translates the phrase
as meaning, "Thou hast destroyed calamities or mischiefs,

• See Ṛig. VI, 31, 3,—त्वं कुत्सेनाभि शुष्णमिंद्राशुषं युध्य कुयवं गविष्टौ ।
  दश प्रपित्वे अध सूर्यस्य मुषायश्चक्रमविवेरपांसि ॥
  † See Oldenberg's Vedic Hymns, S.B.E. Series, Vol. XLVI, p. 69.

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 323
(Arapāṁsi)." Omitting the first two words, viz., dasha and pra-
pitve, the second hemistich may, therefore, be rendered, "Thou
hast stolen the wheel of Sûrya and hast destroyed calamities."
We have now to ascertain the meaning of dasha prapitve.
Sâyaṇa takes dasha as equivalent to adashaḥ (lit., bittest,
from daṁsh, to bite), and prapitve to mean "in the battle"
—and translates, "Thou bittest him in the battle." But
this is evidently a forced meaning, and one that does not
harmonise with other passages, where the same legend is describ-
ed. Thus in IV, 16, 12, we are told that Shuṣhṇa was
killed at ahnaḥ prapitve, and the last phrase evidently denotes
the time when Shuṣhṇa was defeated; while in V, 31, 7,
Indra is described as having checked the wiles of Shuṣhṇa
by reaching prapitvam. By the side of the expression dasha
prapitve, we thus have two more passages in the Ṛig-Veda,
referring to the same legend, and in one of which Shuṣhṇa
is said to be killed at the prapitva of the day (ahnaḥ
prapitve), while in the other, the wiles of the demon are said
to be checked by Indra on reaching prapitvam. The three
expressions, dasha prapitve, ahnaḥ prapitve, and Prapitvam yan,
must, therefore, be taken to be synonymous; and whatever
meaning we assign to prapitve, it must be applicable to all
the three cases. The word prapitve is used several times in
the Ṛig-Veda, but scholars are not agreed as to its mean-
ing. Thus Grassmann gives two meanings of prapitva. The
first denoting "advance," and the second "the beginning
of the day." According to him ahnaḥ prapitve means "in
the morning" (IV, 16, 12). But he would render prapitvam
yan simply by "advancing." In VI, 31, 3, he would also
take prapitve as meaning "in the morning." The word
prapitve also occurs in I, 189, 7, and there Prof. Olden-
berg translates it by "at the time of the advancing day,"
and quotes Geldner in support thereof. Sâyaṇa in VIII, 4, 3,
translates âpitve by 'friendship' and prapitve by 'having ac-
quired,' (cf. Nir. III, 20). Under these circumstances it is, I

324 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
think, safer to ascertain the meaning of prapitve direct from
those Vedic passages where it occurs in contrast with other
words. Thus in VII, 41, 4, (Vâj. Sam, XXXIV, 37) and VIII,
1, 29, we find prapitve very distinctly contrasted with madhye
(the middle) and uditâ (the beginning) of the day; and in
both these places prapitve can mean nothing but 'the decline
or the end of the day.'* Mahîdhara, on Vâj. Sam. XXXIV,
37, explains prapitve as equivalent to prapatane or astamaye,
meaning "the decline, fall, or end of the day." Adopting this
meaning, the phrase ahnaḥ prapitve ni barhîḥ, in IV, 16, 12,
would then mean that Shuṣhṇa was killed 'when the day had
declined.' Now if Shuṣhṇa was killed when the day had de-
clined the phrase dasha prapitve ought to be, by analogy, inter-
preted in the same way. But it is difficult to do so, so long as
dasha is separated from prapitve, as is done in the Pada text.
I propose, therefore, that dasha-prapitve be taken as one
word, and interpreted to mean "at the decline of the ten,"
meaning that Shuṣhṇa was killed at the end or completion of
ten (months). In I, 141, 2, the phrase dasha-pramatim is
taken as a compound word in the Pada text, but Oldenberg,
following the Petersberg Lexicon, splits it into dasha and pra-
matim. I propose to deal exactly in the reverse way with the
phrase dasha prapitve in the passage under consideration, and
translate the verse thus:—"O Indra! in the striving for cows
do thou, with Kutsa, fight against Shuṣhṇa, the Ashuṣha and
Kuyava. On the decline (or the completion) of the ten (scil.
months), thou stolest the wheel of Sûrya and didst destroy cala-
mities (or, according to Oldenberg, manifest manly works)."
The passage thus becomes intelligible, and we are not required

• Ṛig. VII, 41, 4,—उतेदानीं भगवंतः स्यामोत प्रपित्व उत मध्ये अह्नां ।
  उतोदिता मघवन्सूर्यस्य वयं देवानां सुमतौ स्याम ॥ Ṛig. VIII, 1, 29—मम
  त्वा सूर उदिते मम मध्यंदिने दिवः। मम प्रपित्वे अपिशर्वरे वसवा स्तोमासो
  अवृत्सत ॥ These two passages clearly prove that prapitve, used with
  reference to the day, denotes decline or the termination thereof.

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 325
to invent a new meaning for dasha and make Indra bite his
enemy on the battle-field. If we compare the phrase dasha-
prapitve with ahnaḥ prapitve occurring in IV, 16, 12, and bear
in mind the fact that both are used in connection with the
legendary fight with Shuṣhṇa, we are naturally led to suppose
that dasha-prapitve denotes, in all probability, the time of the
contest, as ahnaḥ prapitve does in the other passage, and that
dasha prapitve must be taken as equivalent to dashânâm prapitve
and translated to mean “On the completion of the ten,” which
can be done only by taking dasha-prapitve as a compound word.
The grammatical construction being thus determined, the only
question that remains is to decide whether dasha (ten) means
ten days or ten months. A comparison with ahnaḥ prapitve may
suggest “days,” but the fight with Shuṣhṇa cannot be regarded
to have been fought every ten days. It is either annual or daily;
and we are thus led to interpret dasha in the compound dasha-
prapitve (or dashânâm when the compound is dissolved) as
equivalent to ten months in the same way as the numeral
dvâdashasya is interpreted to mean “of the twelfth month,” or
dvâdashasya mâsasya in VII, 103, 9. The passage thus denotes
the exact time when the wheel of the sun, or the solar orb, was
stolen by Indra and utilized as a weapon of attack to demolish
the demons of darkness. This was done at the end of ten months,
or at the end of the old Roman year, or at the close of the
sacrificial session of the Dashagvas who with Indra are said to
have found the sun dwelling in darkness. The construction
of the passage proposed above is not only natural and
simple, but the sense it gives is in harmony with the mean-
ing of similar other passages relating to the fight of
Shuṣhṇa, and is far more rational than the current meaning
which makes Indra bite his enemy in a rustic and unpre-
cedented manner. It is the Pada text that is responsible
for the present unnatural meaning; for if it had not split

326 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
up the phrase into dasha and prapitve, its correct meaning
might not have become so obscure as at present. But
the Pada text is not infallible; and even Yâska and Sâyaṇa
have adopted amendments in certain cases (cf. I, 105, 18; X,
29, 1; and Nir. V, 21; VI, 28), and the same thing has been
done rather more freely by Western scholars. We are not,
therefore, following an untrodden path in giving up the Pada
text, especially when the verse is more naturally and intelligently
interpreted by taking dasha-prapitve as one compound word.
When the verse is so interpreted we get a complete account of
the annual course of the sun in the home of the Aryans in an-
cient days. It was Indra, who caused the sun to rise after his
long fight with Vṛitra; and when the sun had shone for ten
months, Indra stole the solar orb and took the sun with him into
darkness to fight with the demons. That is the meaning of the
whole legend; and when it can be so naturally explained only by
the Arctic theory, the necessity of the latter becomes at once
established.
Vishnu's three strides.
There are a few more Vedic legends which indicate or
suggest the Arctic conditions of climate or calendar, and I
propose to briefly examine them in this chapter. One of these
legends relates to Viṣhṇu and his three long strides, which are
distinctly mentioned in several places in the Ṛig-Veda (I, 22,
17-18; I, 154, 2). Yâska (Nir. XII, 19) quotes the opinion
of two older writers regarding the character of these three
steps. One of these, viz., Shâkapûṇi, holds that the three steps
must be placed on the earth, in the atmosphere, and in the
sky; while Aurṇavâbha thinks that the three steps must be
located, one on the hill where the sun rises (samârohaṇa),
another on the meridian sky (Viṣhṇu-pada), and the third on the
hill of setting (gaya-shiras.) Prof. Max Muller thinks that this
three-fold stepping of Viṣhṇu is emblematic of the rising, the

VEDIC MYTHS—THE MATUTINAL DEITIES. 327
culminating and the setting of the sun; and Muir quotes a passage
from the Râmâyaṇa (IV, 40, 64), which mentions udaya-parvata,
or the mountain of sun-rise, and says that on the top of it is
the peak Saumanasa, the place where Viṣhṇu's first step was
planted. We are then told that his second step was placed on
the summit of Meru ; and that " when the sun had circled round
Jambudvîpa by the north, he is mostly visible on that lofty peak."
It seems, therefore, that according to the Râmâyaṇa the third
step of Viṣhṇu was round Jambudvîpa, and was planted after
sunset, whatever that may mean. In the Purâṇic literature,
Viṣhṇu's three steps appear as the three steps of Vâmana, the
fifth incarnation of Viṣhṇu. Bali, the powerful enemy of the
gods, was celebrating a sacrifice, when, assuming the form of a
dwarf, Viṣhṇu approached him, and begged for three paces of
ground. No sooner the request was granted than Viṣhṇu
assumed a miraculous form and occupied the whole earth by
the first step and the atmosphere and everything above it with
the second. Bali, who was the lord of the universe before,
was surprised at the metamorphosis of the dwarf; but had to
make good his own word by offering his head for the third step of
Vâmana. The offer was accepted and Bali was pressed down
under the third step into the nether world, and the empire of
the earth and heavens above was again restored to Indra from
whom it had been snatched away by Bali. Amongst these
various interpretations one thing stands out very clear, viz.,
that Viṣhṇu represents the sun in one form or another. But
Vedic scholars are not agreed as to whether Viṣhṇu's strides
represent the daily or the yearly course of the sun. We must,
therefore, carefully examine the Vedic passages relating to
Viṣhṇu, and see if any indication is found therein to decide
which of these two views is more probable or correct. Now in
I, 155, 6, Viṣhṇu is described as setting in motion, like a revol-
ving wheel, ‘his ninety steeds with their four names, evidently