Page 354 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

MONTHS AND SEASONS 139

restored to Dtrghatamas his eyesight. But the statement need not
surprise us as the achievements of one deity are very often ascribed
to another in the ~ig-Veda. Dirghatamas does not stand alone in
being thus rescued by the Ashvins. Chyavana is spoken of 2 s another
protege of the Ashvins, and they are said to have restored him to
youth. Vandana and a host of others are similarly mentioned as
being saved, rescued, cured, protected or rejuvenated by the Ashvins.
All these achievements are now understood as referring to the
exploit of restoring to the sun his decayed power in the winter.
But with the expression " like the sun dwelling in dark'lesss" before
us, in the legend of Vandana (I, 117, 5 ), we must make these
legends refer not merely to the decayed power of the sun in winter,
but to his actual sinking below the horizon for some time. Bearing
this in mind, let us try to see what inference we can deduce, so far
as the subject in ha11d is concerned, from the legend of Dirghatamas.
The statement in the myth or legend, which is most important
for our purpose, is contained in I, 158, 6. The verse may be literally
translated as follows :-" Dirghatamas, the so'l of Mamata, having
grown decrepit in the tenth yuga becomes a Brahman charioteer
of the waters wending to their goal.*" The only expressions which
require elucidation in this verse are " in the tenth yuga" and
" waters wending to their goal. " Otherwise the story is plain
enough. Dtrghatamas grows old in the tenth yuga, and riding on
waters, as the Mahabbarat story has it, goes along with them to the
place which is the goal of these waters. But scholars are not agreed
as to what yuga means. Some take it to mean a cycle of years,
presumably five as in the Vedanga-Jyoti~ha, and invest Dirgha-
tamas with infirmity at the age of fifty. The Petersburg Lexicon
would interpret yuga, wherever it occurs in the ~ig-Veda, to mean
not, ' a period of time, ' but ' a generation ', or ' the relation of
descent from a common stock '; and it is followed by Grassmann
in this respect. According to these scholars the phrase " in the
tenth yuga " in the above verse would, therefore, signify " in the
tenth generation " whatever that may mean. Indeed, there seems
to be a kind of prejudice against interpreting yuga as meaning ' a
period of time' in the ~ig-Veda, and it is therefore, necessary to
examine the point at some length in this place. That the word yuga
• ~igl, 158, 6~~tllif ~ 5~ ~ ~I ~~ ~ ~
~61"{~:11