Page 156 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

J!.IBHUS AND V~l~HAKAPI 141
kapi in the form of the antelope which she killed, but some one
else ( literally parasvantam-representing another than Vri,ha-
kapi, as Saya~a takes it. ) Thereon Indra, having thus saved
V ri~hakapi by his intercession, observes, " Thus. cio I go seeing
and discriminating between a dasa and an arya; I ~ake my drink
from those that prepare Soma juice and cook the oblations; and
thus behold or protect the intelligent sacrificers. " In another
word, Indra is glad that he has saved an Arya, and triumphantly
declare that he is always careful to distinguish between an Arya
and a Dasa, the latter of whom he would punish and kill, e. g.,
Vritra, who is said to be a DAsa. Vri~hAkapi being thus saved
Indra. in the following verses, bids him a farewell, wishing for
a safe journey and speedy return. These verses are very important
for our present purpose, and I shall therefore examiLe them singly.
VERSE 20---In this verse Indra asks Vrithakapi to go to his
house ( astam) and then return afterwards to the house (grihas),
of Indra. But the question is where is Vri~hakapi's house and
where is that of Indra ? The words in the original are dhanva
krintatra an·d nedtyas. Vri~hikapi .i.s asked to go to dhanva,
which is also krintatra. SAyapa takts c· ·,anva to mean a desert and
krint11tra in the sense that " the trees therein are cut off. " But
this meaning does not quite suit the context. What is meant by
saying that Vri~M.kapi, who is admittedly the sun in a different
form, should go to a forest ? Where is that forest, and what does
it imply 'l Dhttnva is a word that occurs several times in the
\ljgveda. In ~ig. i. 35. 8 it is said to consist of three yojanas
and is contrasted with the earth. SAyapa there understands it to
mean " sky or heavens; " and I see no reason why we should
not interpret the word in the same way in the verse. Dhanva
therefore means " sky " or " heavens. " But is it the vault above
with three stages 'l No, the poet qualifies the idea by krintatra,
meaning" cut off". It is thus evidently the portion of the heavens
which is cut off. In other words, the idea here denoted is the same
as that expressed by the phrase avarodhanam divah-" where
heavens are closed ", or " where the view is obstructed, " in
~ig. ix. 113. 8 Dhanva, which is krintatra. • thus denotes the
innermost part of the celestial sphere, the southern hemisphere

• The only other place where lr.'n',llr,, is used in the ~igveda is
v. 27. 33, which Yd;ka and Sdya1;1a toth interpret to mean that "waters