Page 422 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

VEDIC MYTHS-THE CAPTIVE WATERS 203
and the dawn, (I, 62, 5; II, 12, 7; VI, 17, 5 ), or with the sun
alone (I, 7, 3; II, 19, 3; X, 138, 2 ), as being found, delivered or
won by Indra. "
Indra is described in other passages as having released
the streams pent up by the dragon ( II, 11, 2 ), and he is said
to have won the cows and made the seven rivers flow ( I, 32,
12; II, 12, 12 ). In II, 15, 6 the streams released by him have
been described as flowing upwards ( udancham ). It may be
further noticed that in all these passages the clouds are not
referred to under their ordinary name abhra; but the words
used are parvata, giri, adri, ( which primarily mean a mountain)
or udhas ( udder ), utsa ( spring ), kabandha ( cask ) or kosha
( pail). All these words have been interpreted by the Nairuktas
as meaning a cloud, and this interpretation has been accepted
by Western scholars. The word go, which generally means cow,
is also interpreted in some cases to mean the waters released
by Indra. · Thus when Indra is said to have released the cows,
which were fast within the stone (VI, 43, 3 ), or when he is said
to have moved the rock, which encompassed the cows, from its
place (VI, 17, 5 ), it is understood that the reference is to a
cloudrock, which imprisons the rain-waters. Maruts are the
usual companions of Indra in this fight; but Vi~hp.u, Agni, and
B#haspati are also spoken of as assisting him in the rescue of
the cows from the grip of Vala. Brihaspati's conquest of Vala
who had taken shelter in a rock, is thus taken to be a paraphrase
of Indra's conquest over Vritra. In X, 62, 2 and 3 the Angira-
ses are also described as driving out the cows, piercing Vala
and causing the sun to mount the sky-exploits, which are
usually attributed to Indra. There are other versions of the same
story to be found in ~ig-Veda, but for the purpose in hand, we
need not go beyond what has been stated above.
Now whosoever reads this description of Indra's fight
with Vritra cannot fail to be struck with the fact that there are
four simultaneous effects ( Sakam, in VI, 40, 5 ), said to have
been produced by the conquest of Indra over Vritra, namely,
( 1 ) the release of the cows, ( 2 ) the release of the waters, ( 3 )
the production of the dawn and ( 4 ) the production of the sun.
Let us now see if the Storm theory satisfactorily explains the
simultaneous production of these results from the destruction