Page 394 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

THE COWS' WALK 179
if not in the Rig-Veda at least in the Sama-Veda which reads
sahasra-manyu for sahasra-mu~hka in ~ig-Veda VI, 46, 3. This shows
that the Vedic bards considered shata (a hundred) and sahasra
( a thousand ) as interchangeable numerals in orne places and if
the numeral shata in shata-kratu had been of the same character, we
should naturally have met with a paraphrase of the epithet as
sahasra-kratu somewhere in the Vedic Literature. But although
the epithet shata-kratu, a applied to Jndra, occur about sixty
times in the Rig-Veda and several times in other Vedic works
nowhere do we find it paraphrased as sahasra-kratu, which shews
that the vedic bards did not feel themselves at liberty to alter or
paraphrase it as they liked. The adjective amita-kratu is applied to
Indra in I, 102, 6; but as amita does not necessarily mean more than
' one hundred ', it does not follow that on this account we should
give up the ordinary meaning of shata in shata-kratu. If the word
kratu ha,d nowhere been used in the ~ig-Veda to denote a sacrifice,
we may have been justified in interpreting shata-kratu in the way
suggested by Western scholars. But, as observed by Dr. Haug,
when Va~ish~ha prayed to Indra (VII, 32, 26) " Carry, 0 Indra !
our sacrficial performance ( kratum ) through, just as a father
does to his sons ( by assisting them ). Teach us, 0 thou, who art
invoked by many that we may, in thi turn ( of the night ) reach
alive the ( sphere of) light (jyotis ),"* the prayer in all probability
refers to the sacrificial performance ( kratu ) held for the purpose
of enabling the sacrificers to safely reach the other end of the night.
In fact, it refers to the Ati-rti tra sacrifice and the Aitareya
Brahmat:~a ( IV, 10 ) quote and interprets it in the same way.
Sfi.yapa in his commentary on the Aitareya Bnlhma~a, though not
in the ~ig-Veda BM~hya, also take the same view; and as the
Ati-rdtra sacrifice is referred to expressly by its name in the Rig-
Veda (VII, 103, 7) it is not at all unlikely that a verse referring to
this Soma sacrifice should occur in other hymns. Hence if there
are passages where kratu can be taken to mean ' a sacrifice ' there
is no reason why the epithet shata-kratu be not understood to

" See Dr. Haug's Ait. Br. (IV, r6 ), Trans. Vol. II, p. 274, and the
translator's note thereon. Dr. Haug thinks that the verse ( ~ig. VII, 32,
26) evidently refers to the Ati-nitm feast, for which occasion it was in
all likelihood composed by Vasi,htha. The verse is :-~ ;njj Of a{f ~\:
liffiT ~)~PH I~ uTc anm~~~ ~r~fof "'I9T ~O;rft 11.