Page 318 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

LONG DAY AND LONG NIGHT 103
•:and Indra is considered to be a daily and not a yearly struggle, a
'. theory the validity. of which will be examined when we come to the
discussion' of Vedic myths. For the present it is sufficient to note
that the above expressions lose all their propriety, if the darkness,
. in which the various enemies of Indra are said to have flourished,
be taken to be the ordinary darkness of twelve; or, at best,· of
-twenty-four hours' duration. It was, in reality, a long and a ghastly
· or sunless darkness, which taxed all the powers of Indra and his
·associate Gods ·to overcome.
But ·apart from this legendary struggle, there are other verses
i.p. the ~ig-Veda which plainly indicate the existence of a night
longer ' than the longest cis-Arctic night. I'li the first place the
Vedic bards are seen frequently invoking their deities to release
them from dlirknness. ThusinU,27, 14, the poet says, "Aditi, Mitra
and also Varu11a forgive if we have committed any sin against you!
·May I obtain the wide fearless light, 0 Indra ! May not the lorig
darkness coine over us." The expression in the original for ' long
:darkness' is dtrghdl.z tamisra~, and means rather an 'uninterrupted
succession of dark nights ( tamisrd!J )' than simply" 'long darkness'.
But even adopting Max Muller's rendering given above* the
anxiety here manifested for the disappearance of the long dark-
ness is unmeaning, if the darkness never lasted for more than
twenty-four hours. In I, 46, 6, the Ashvins are asked " to vou-
chsafe such strength to the worshipper as may carry him through
darkness"; and in VII, 67, 2 the poet exclaims:-" The fire has
commenced to burn, the ends of darkness have been seen, and
the banner of the Dawn has appeared in the east ! " t The ex-
pression ' ends of darkness ' ( tamasal.z antdl.z ) is very peculiar
and it would be a violation of idiom to take this and other expres-
sions indicating ' long darkness ' to mean nothing more than
long winter nights, as we have them in the temperate or the tropical
zone. As stated previously the longest winter night in these
zones must be, at best, a little short of twenty-four hours, and
even then these long nights prevail only for a fortnight or so. It is,

" Hibbert Lectures, p. 23 r. The verse is :- ~ ~ ~fer ~CiS
~)Cf4~ <ii~: I ;affi!llWi ~RrtU:; +rr orr G.'t~T ~ q~Fd~~~ :. 11
t I.~ig. I, 46, 6,-11ror: ~ =51{1~ ~:1 ~ nm~r~
~.1g. VII, 67, z,---a{~; _fJflrcuiiT at~~ ~lJI<'~~~orffi: I