Page 145 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

130 SAMA.GRA TILAK- 2. THE ORION

Dikthi~'s commentary on Amara (iii. 3. 130 )' Prof. Max Muller
in one place,* observes that " it is difficult, on seeing the name
of V ri!Jhakapi, not to think of Erikapaeos, an Orphic name of Pro-
togonos and synonymous with Phones, Helios, Priapos, Dionysos '
but says be "the original conception of Vrilfhakapi ("vri~han,
bull, irrigator· Kapi, ape, tremulous ) is not much clearer than
that or Erikapaeos ". However, if the comparison be correct, we
may, I think, take it as confirming the identification of Vri~Jhakapi
with the sun proposed by several scholars, native and European.
In fact, there seems to be a general agreement that Vri!Jhakapi
represents the sun in one form or the other. But this l}IOiie does
not account for all the incidents rec0rded in the hymn: I _would,
therefore, further suggest that Vri~hakapi be understood as repre-
senting the sun at the autumnal equinox, when he may. be rightly
said to shake off the rains inasmuch as the equinox falls at the
end of the rainy season. I have previously shown that the concep-
tion of Vith~u and Shiva can be traced to the Vedic Vit!h:Q.u and
Rudra, and these latter may be taken as the types or the embodi-
ments of the mild and terrible aspects of nature at the vernal
and autumnal equinox. If Vri~hAkapi in later mythology has
therefore come to denote Vi!Jh~u and Shiva, according to Amara,
the meanings are consistent with the supposition that in the Vedas
Vri~hakapi represents the sun at the equinoxes. In the hymn it-
self, Vrithakapi is said to have assumed the form of a yellow
antelope whose head Indri.~i is described to have cut off. This
circumstance serves to guide us in at once fixing the position
of Vri~hakapi in the heavens. It is the same antelope's head that
has given rise to so many myths. When the position of V ri~bakapi
is thus fixed, it would not be difficult to understand the various
incidents described in the hymn. But without further anticipat-
ing what I have to say in the explanation of the hymn, I now

And, again further on m ii. 69 and 70 :-
~ ~ W"T ~~'li~Utfu I
"'filififffil ~ fcf~~~ 'Rf\: II
~r~: ifiq~~ ~ '1m l(Cf ~= 1
~~~~~~ <@Tr'if ~~q~~fu :q I
f!flififitftffi" <~'r ~rtml ~ rn~ 11
• Lectures on the Science of Language Vol. II, p. 539-