Page 155 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

140 SAMAGRA TILAIC. -- 2 • THE ORION
VERSE 14-Indra, satisfied with the prospect of getting the
oblations, descnbes his appetite : " Twenty and fifteen oxen
are being cooked for me; I shall eat them and be fat. Both the
sides of my belly will be filled up. Indra, etc. " The practice of
sacrificing bulls to Indra seems to have been out of date even at
the time of the \tigveda ( cf. i. 164. 43, where it is said to be an
old custom ). But the old custom could not be entirely forgotten
and if real bulls were not offered to Indra, poets supposed that
clouds or stars might answer the same purpose. The number 35
mentioned in the verse may thus refer to the Nak,hatra ( 28 ),
and planets ( 7 ). But this explanation is doubtful and I cannot
suggest a better one.
VERSES 15, 16 and 17-The fifteenth and the sixteenth seem
to be addressed to Indra by Indra17-i, and the seventeenth to Indra~7-t
by Indra. In the fifteenth Indrapt, according to Saya17-a, asked
Indra to sport with her just as a bull, with pointed horns, roars
amongst a number of cows. The next two verses do not appear
to be relevant to .our purpose. We may therefore pass these over,
and resume the thread of the story. Pischel and Geldner suppose
that the 17th and 18th verses are addressed by V ri,hakapayi.
VERSES 18 and 19-IndrApt is now conciliated, and says that
she has not killed VrithAkapi but some one else. The verse thus
means, "0 Indra ! let Vrithakapi get the slain animi:!.l-an
animal which was quite different from V ritMkapi's. Let him at
once have a knife, a fire-place, a new vessel, and a cart-load of
fire-wood (to cook the killed animal). lndra, etc. " Thus by
the intercession of Indra, IndrA11-i was moved, and at last undid
or rather explained away her previous act of decapitation. Pischel
and Geldner translate the verse very nearly as I have done. They,
however, consider it to be addressed by V ~i,hAkapayt and tran-
slate parasvantam by ' wild '. This does not explain what dead
animal is here referred to. It is, I think, more natural to suppose
that the dead animal here spoken of is the same as that described
in verse 5, and one whose head Indra:pl is there said to be ready
to cut off. Indra~7-i now ~ays that this dead animal should be
given to Vri•hakapi, especijlllY as Indra has already got his obla-
tions of bulls. I have alr~ady shown that there were several
legends about the "antelope's head". It. seems that Indra11-i,
referring to some of them, assures· Indra that it was not V ti•hl-