Page 379 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

;] 64 SAMAGRA TILAK ':- 2 '. THE ARCTIC HOME

quoted above (I, 32, 11 ), we saw how the captive waters were
compared to cows that had been stolen by Pa~i ( niruddhhd!J apa~
Pdt;ina iva gava~ ), but what is once compared in the Veda is
soon identified. As to the Dawn, she is not only compared to
a cow, she is called the cow straight out. Thus when we read,
~ig. V, I, 92, I, these dawns have made a light on the eastern half
of the sky, they brighten their splendour, the bright cows
approach, the mothers' the cows, gava!z, can only be the dawns
themselves, the plural of dawn being constantly in the Veda used
where we should use the singular. In ~ig. V, I, 93, 4, we read that
' Agnishomau deprived Pa~i of his cows and found light for
many. ' Here again the cows are the dawns kept by Pa~i in the
dark stable or cave of the night discovered by Saram! and deliver-
ed every morning by the gods of light. "
" We read in ~ig. V, I, 62, 3, that Brihaspati split the rock
and fourd the cows. "
" Of Indra it is said, II, 19, 3, that he produced the sun
and found the cows; of Brihaspati, II, 24, 3, that he drove out
the cows, that he split the cave by his word, that he hid the
darkness, and lighted up the sky. What can be clearer ? The
Maruts also, II, 34, I, are said to uncover the cows and Agni,
V, 14, 4, is praised for killing the friends, for having overcome
darkness by light and having found the cows, water and
the sun."
" In all these passages we find no iva or na, which would
indicate that the word cow was used metaphorically. The dawns
or days as they proceed from the dark stable, or are rescued
from evil spirits, are spoken of directly as the cows. If they are
spoken of in the plural, we find the same in the case of the
Dawn ( u~has) who is often conceived as many, as in II, 28, 2,
upayane u~hasam gomatinam, ' at the approach of the dawns
with their cows. ' From that it required but a small step to
speak of the one Dawn as the mother of the cows, IV, 52, 2,
mata gavam. "
" Kuhn thought that these cows should be understood as
the red clouds of the morning. But clouds are not always
present at sunrise, nor can it well be said that they are carried
off and kept in prison during the night by the powers of
darkness . .,