Page 325 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

110 SAMAGRA TfLAK- 2 • THE ARCTIC HOME
denote the extent duration, or length of days and nights, and
virupe would naturally denote the varying lengths of days and
night in addition to their colour which can be only two-fold,
dark or bright. Taking our clue from Madhava, we may, there-
fore, interpret the first half of the verse as meaning ' The twin
pair assume variou ( mind ) lengths ( vapum~hi ) ; of the two
one shines and the other is dark. "
But though tne first half may be thus interpreted, another
difficulty arises, as soon as we take up the third quarter of the
verse. It says, " Two sisters are they, the. dark ( shyavi) anq
the bright ( aru-1h£ ). " Now the question is whether the two
sisters ( svasarau ) here mentioned are the same as, or different
from, the twin pair ( yamya ) mentioned in the. first half of the
verse. If we take them as identical, the third pada or quarter
of the verse becomes at once superfluous. If we take them as
different, we must explain how and where the two pairs differ.
The commentators have not been able to solve the difficulty, and
they have, therefore, adopted the . course of regarding the twins
( yamyc1, ) and the sisters ( svasarau) as identical, even at the risk
of tautology. It will surely be admitted that this is not a satisfac-
tory course, and that we ought to find a better explanation, if
we can. This is not again the only place where two distinct
couples of Day and Night are mentioned. There is another
word in the ~ig-Veda which denotes a pair of Day and Night.
It is Ahan£, which doe not mean 'two days' but Day and Night,
for, in VI, 9, I, we are expressly told that 'there is a dark
aha!z (day) and a bright ahafr (day). " Ahan£, therefore
means a couple of Day and Night, and we have seen that
U~hdsa-naktd also means a couple of Day and Night. Are the
two couples same or different ?· If Ahan£ be regarded as synony-
mous with u.,hdsa-nakta or Aho-ratre, then the two couple~
would be identical; otherwise different. Fortunately, :{ljg. IV,
55, 3, furnishes us with the means of solving this difficulty.
There u,hdsa-nakta and Ahant are separately invoked to grant
protection to the worshipper a11d the separate invocation clearly
proves that the two couples are two separate dual deities, though
each of them represent a couple of Day and Night.* Prof. Max

• ~ig. IV, 55, 3,- ~ ~"'T off ~~ ~ '3'tflffiiR!il Cfi(dl+i<%:'""t I
See Max Muller's Lectures on the Science of Lapguage, Vol .. II, p. 534·