Page 153 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

138 SAMAGRA TILAK - 2 • THE ORION

therefore, cut off his head, in order that an evil-doer may not
enjoy happiness. Indra is in the upper ( portion ) of the universe. '
Here Indr§.J:lt is herself prepared to punish Vrithakapi by sett-
ing the dog at his ear, and cutting off his head. I have in a previ-
ous chapter shown how the figure of M riga's head is to be obtained
in the sky. Taking the three stars in the belt of Orion as the top
of the head, the dog is close by the right ear of Mriga and may
properly be said to bite it. The word varaha also points out the
place where we may expect to find the dog. In ~ig. i. 61.7, var{iha•
is said to be killed by Vitht:lU beyond a mountain, which, in all
probability, is the same story as that of lndra killing Vritra. A
dog chasing varaha is therefore no other than Canis Major follow-
ing the constellation of Orion, or the " antelope's head " repre-
senting Vritra. Sayalla and Yaska and even European scholars
are silent as to who this dog is. The verses, in fact, may be said
to have remained altogether unexplained .hitherto, though the
words. themselves are simple enough and have caused no difficulty.
VERSE 6-This verse presents no difficulty. Thus satisfied,
Indritli speaks 'of herself as the best of women, best in every way.
VERSES 7 and 8-Indra now tries to conciliate her. S&yat:la,
following the Anukramat:li, supposes that the seventh verse is
addressed by Vri~bikapi and the eighth by lndra. The only reason
I can find for such an interpretation is the occurrence of the word
ambti, which means " mother ", and this cannot be supposed to
be used by Indra. But though we avoid one difficulty in this way,
we are launched into another, for the verse speaks of Indrat:li
being pleasing" to me; " and if, Vrithakapi is the speaker " me "
cannot refer to him, as Indrapl is his mother and, consequently,
" me " has to be interpreted to mean " my father, " and this
Sayat:la has done. I prefer taking ambti as an affectionate and
respectful mode of address, as in modern Sanskrit, and the
verse presents, no difficulty. We can then take both the 7th and
8th verse together and give them a natural interpretation. I tran-
slate thus " 0 auspicious lady ! what you say is true ... you are
pleasing to me ... But oh 1 hero-wife, with beautiful arms, pretty
figure, profuse hair, and broad hips, why should you be so angry
with our V rithakapi ? Indra is in the upper (part) of the universe."

• In Rig. x. 99· 6, Indra is sa1d to have killed Trithirshan and
with his aid Trita killed var:lha.