Page 105 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

92 SAMAG.RA TILAK - 2 • TNE ORION

theory leaves it entirely unexplained. lndra is here said to have
killed Namuchi with a weapon which was neither dry nor moist-
the watery froth. This is evidently based upon ~ig. viii. 14. 13,
where Indra is described as ' cutting the head of Namuchi with the
foam of waters ', and the same incident is again referred to in ~g.
x. 61. 8. Therefore, even if we reject later speculations with respect
to ' why foam or froth should have been used, ' and decline to
solVe the question by assuming a compact • between Indra and
Namuchi, yet we have to account for the fact that in the ~igveda
itself Indra is said to have used the foamy weapon to destroy his
enemy. What could this foamy weapon be ? If Namuchi was killed
at the gates of the Devayana and his head still lies there, the watery
foam coul4 be no other than the broad belt of the M~ Way which
crossed the heavens at the same part. The blue vault of the heavens
is often compared to an ocean in the later Sanskrit literature,t
and the stars are said to be the patches of foam upon its surface.
Thus is the Mahimna Stotra, which is cor.sidered to be at least
seven or eight hundred years old, the author describes ( verse 17 )
the heavenly form of Rudra ( i. e. Rudra as represented in the sky ),
and tells us that the stream of waters on his head has ' the beauty
of its foamy appearance enhanced by a number of stars. ':t
This is a description of the Ganges on the head of the celestial
• Prof. Bloomfield has discussed this legend in a recent number
of the Journal of the American Oriental Socit ty (Vol. XV Number
I I. ), tut he glves no explanation of the compact between Indra and
Namuchi. In my opinion it is impossible to hold that the c.ompact
could have been the original basis of the legend. It is evidently a later
invention to e:otplain what were then deemed otherwise inexplicable
incidents in the legend, and until these incidents are explained in a
natural w~y, the legend cannot be said to be properly understood
t Cf. ~lhitya Darpa1;1a 10, where under~ we have,
~~ if~~i'MT"~ mu if~orWTr: 1
t ~lit ~~tal<i~i/'1~:
JfilrV 00 ~: ~ ~: ~ ~ I
~iliR Qle~ ~ ~ft'­
~~,~~<1<1~:11
The conception of Shivaembod!ed in this verse is really a grand
one. The poet asks his readers to imagine how great must ShiYa be,
the celestial strt:ilm on whose head encircles tbe Universe I The Milky
Way which girdles the celestial sphere cannot b~ better described.