Page 353 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

138 SAMAGRA TILAK- 2 • THE ARCTIC HOME
can be satisfactorily explained only by supposing that the Ail.girases
were not merely ' nine-going' or' ten-going' but virupas or' various-
going,' and that they completed their sacrifices within the number
of months for which the sun was above the horizon at the place
where these sacrifices were performed. It follows, therefore, that
in ancient times the sacrificial session lasted from seven to ten
months; and the number of sacrificers ( Rotris) corresponded
with the number of the months, each doing his duty by rotation
somewhat after the manner of the Egyptian priests previously
referred to. These sacrifices were over when the long night com-
menced, during which Indra fought with Vala and vanquished
him by the end of the year ( parivatsare, X, 62, 2 ). The word pari-
vatsare (at the end of the year) is very suggestive and shows that
the year closed with the long night.
Another reference to a period of ten months' sun-shine is
found in the legend of D!rghatamas whom the Ashvins are said
to have saved or rescued from a pit, into which he was thrown
after being made blind and infirm. I have devoted a separate chapter
later on to the discussion of Vedic legends. But I take up here the
legend of Dlrghatamas because we have therein an express state-
ment as to the life of Dirghatamas, which remarkably corroborates
the conclusion we have arrived at from the consideration of the
story of the Dashagvas. The story of Dirghatamas is narra£ed in
the Mahabharata, Adiparvan, Chap. 104. He is said to be the son
of Mamata by Utathya, and born blind through the curse of Bri-
haspati his uncle. He was, however, married and had several sons
by Pradve~hi. The wife and the sons eventually became tired of
feeding the blind Dirghatamas ( so called because he was born
blind ), and the sons abandoned him afloat on a worn-out raft in
the Ganges. He drifted on the waters for a long time and distance,
when at last the king Bali picked him up. Dirghatamas then had
several sons born to him from a dasi or a female slave, and also
from the wife of Bali, the sons of Bali's wife becoming kings of
different provinces. In the ~ig-Veda Dirghatmas is one of the
proteges of the Ashvins, and about 25 hymns in the first Ma~9ala
are ascribed to him. He is called Mamateya, or the son of Mamata
in I, 152, 6, and Uchathya's offspring in I, 158, 4. In the latter
hymn he invokes the Ashvins for the purpose of rescuing him from
the ordeals of fire and water to which he was subjected by the Dasa
Traitana. In I, 147, 3 and IV, 4, 13, Agni is, however, said to have