Page 410 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

VEDIC MYTHS-THE CAPTIVE WATERS 195

of the different chools, " Who was Vritra ? ' A cloud, ' say the
Nairuktas; 'an Asura, son of Tva.b~fi, say the Aitihasilca. The
fall of rain arise from the mingling of the waters and of light.
This is figuratively depicted as a conflict. The hymns and the
Bmhmartas de cribe Vritra as a serpent. By the e pansion of his
body, he blocked up the streams. When he was destroyed the waters
flowed forth.' * The Storm and the Dawn theories thus formed
the basis of the Nairukta school of interpretation, and though
Western scholars have improved upon it, yet the credit of suggesting
this m,ethod of interpretation will always rest with the ancient
Nairuktas, who, as observed by Prof. Max Muller, had carefully
thought out the true character of the Vedic gods several centuries
before the Christian era. Thus the legend of Prajapati loving his
own daughter is explained in the Aitareya Brahma"!la as referring
to the sun running after the dawn or the heaven above ( Ait. Br.
III, 33 ) ; while Kumarila extends this theory to the case of Indra
and Ahalya, which according to him represent the sun and the
night. But though the Nairuktas fully accepted the theory, which
explained the Vedic myths as representing cosmical and physical
phenomena, yet as their knowledge of the physical world was
very limited in those days, they were not able to explain every
Vedic myth or legend by this method. For example, out of the
various legends about the Ashvins, Yaska could explain only one
by the Dawn theory, namely, that of the quail being rescued from
the jaws of the wolf. This defect has now been partially removed
by Western scholars, who, living in the more northern regions are
familiar with the decay in the power of the sun during the cold
season, or the eventual triumph of spring over winter, or the
restoration of the decayed powers of the sun in summer. This
phenomena has, therefore, been used by them to explain the
origin of certain Vedic myths, which have been left unexplained
either by the Dawn or the Storm theory. U pto now we have, thus
three theories for explaining the Vedic myths according to the
Nairukta school of interpretation; and it is necessary to describe
them briefly before we proceed to show how they fail to account

• c:e Tir. II, J 6 :- m<fit vr: I~'!{(~~~ : I "f9T~S~ ~~Ri\[litti.fll i
am"' ~'"'tfu'qe.{ flr'-1i"llr<r~r <~~~ illl<l~ 1 ~'"M'·n~ ~~q111r "ll~fu 1 <li~
~ ;i;{CfO!l: :iiffiil1'19roe.{ I ~ m.1r~~ wcrife . f.'rifJ~~r I ilRll~
SH'i~~ am: I cf. Muir's 0. S. T. Vol. II; p. 175;.