Page 291 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

78 SAMAGRA TILAK - 2 • THE ARCTIC HOME
horizon and that Varupa should protect the worshipper under
the circumstances.
There are many other expressions in the Rig-Veda which
further strengthen the same view. Thus corresponding to bhu-
yas£1_z in the above passage, we have the adjective pU,rv£1_z (many)
used in IV, 19, 8 and VI, 28, 1 to denote the number of dawns,
evidently shewing that numerically more than one dawn is in-
tended. The dawns are again not unfrequently addressed in the
plural number in the Rig-Veda, and the fact is well-known to
all scholars. Thus in I, 92, which is a dawn-hymn, the bard opens
his song with the characteristically emphatic exclamation " these
( etdl_z ) are those ( tydl_z ) dawns (uihasal_z ), which have made
their appearance on the horizon, " and the same expression again
occurs in VII, 78, 3. Yaska explains the plural number u~hasal_z
by considering it to be used only honorifically ( Nirukta XII, 7 ) ;
while saya11a interprets it as referring to the number of divinities
that preside over the morn. The Western scholars have not made
any improvement on these explanations and Prof. Max Muller is
simply content with observing that the Vedic bards, when speaking
of the dawn, did sometimes use the plural just as we would use the
singular number ! But a little reflection will show that neither of
these explanations is satisfactory. If the plural is honorific why
is it changed into singular only a few lines after in the same hymn ?
Surely the poet does not mean to address the Dawn respectfully
only at the outset and then change his manner of address and
assume a familiar tone. This is not however, the only objection
to Yaska's explanation. Various similes are used by the Vedic
poets to describe the appearance of the dawns on the horizon
and an examination of these similes will convince any one that
the plural number, used in reference to Dawn, cannot be merely
honorific. Thus in the second line of I, 92, 1, the Dawns are
compared to a number of " warriors " ( dhriih!Javah ) and in the
third verse of the same hymn they are likened to ' women ( naril_z )
active in their occupations.' They are said to appear on the horizon
like 'waves of waters' ( apdm na urmayl_za) in VI, 64, 1, or like
pillars planted at a sacrifice ( adhvare~hu svaravl_za) in IV, 51, 2.
We are again told that they work like 'men arrayed' ( visho na
yuktdh ), or advance like 'troops of cattle' (gdvam na sargdh) in
VII, 79, 2, and IV, 51, 8, respectively. They are described as all
'alike' (sadrishi{z ) and are said to be of 'one mhid' (sanjdnante),