Page 433 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

214 SAMAGRA TILAK- 2 • THE ARCTIC HOME
There are other passages in the ~ig-Veda which fully support
the same view. Thus corresponding to the rajasf, or the two rajas.
we have another expression in the dual, namely, ubhau ardhau•
which literally denotes ' the two halves, ' and when applied to
heaven. 'the two celestial hemispheres. ' The expression ardhau
occurs in II, 27, 15, and the two halves are there asked to be
propitious to the sacrificer. Wallis, however, interprets uhhau
ardhau to mean ' heaven and earth.' But this is a mistake for there
is a passage in the ~ig-Veda where we have the phrases pare ardhe
( in the farther half) and upare ardhe ( in the nearer half) of
heaven ( diva!z ), showing that the heaven alone ( and not heaven
and earth) was conceived as divided into two halves (I, 164, 12 ).
A few verses later on (I, 164, 17 ), the cow with her calf (the
dawn with the sun ) is described as having appeared below the
upper and above the lower realn1, i. e., between heaven and earth
and a question is then asked " To what half ( ardham ) has
she departed?" which again shows that the ( ardham) here referred
to is quite distinct from heaven and earth. In the Atharva Veda,
X, 8, 7 and 13, the ' two halves ' are referred to, and the poet asks,
" Prajapati with one half ( ardham) engendered all creation; what
sign is there to tell us of the other half?" Here the other half cannot
mean the earth; and Griffith accordingly explains it as referring
to the sun at night. Another expression used to denote the upper
and the lower world is samudrau or the two oceans, (X, 136, 5).
These two oceans are said to be one on this side ( avara) and one
on the other (para) side in VII, 6, 7; and a yonder ocean (pardvati
samudre) is mentioned in VIII, 12, 17. I have already quoted above
the passages which speak of the bright ar')a{z or ocean ( V, 45, 10 ).
and of ar')Ova or an ocean pervaded with darkness (II, 23, 18 ).
The two words parastat and avastat are also employed to convey
the same idea. They denote a region on the nearer side and a region
on the farther side. Thus in VIII, 8, 14, paravat region is
contrasted with ambara or the heaven above, and in III, 55, 6,
the sun is described as sleeping in the paravat region. We have
seen above that Savit~ is said to come up from the para vat region,
and that he moves through the dark region before ascending the
sky. The two words paravat and arvavat thus separately denote
the same regions that are jointly denoted by the dual words rajasf,
ardhau or samudrau; and when both the upper and the lower
hemispheres were intended the word uhhayatal_t was employed.