Page 449 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

230 SAMAGRA. TILAK - 2 • THE ARCTIC HOME

the four, and the reference is evidently to a year of four seasons
of ninety days each. If we accept this division, each season would
be of three months' duration, and Sharad being the third. ( cf. X,
90, 6 ), the fortieth day of Sharad would still mean the lOth day of
the eighth month of the year. The passage thus gives the very
date oflndra's annual fight with V#tra; and if it had been correctly
understood, much useless speculation about the nature of V#tra's
legend would have been avoided. We have seen previously that
the seven Adityas, or monthly Sun-gods, the sons of Aditi, were
presented by her to the gods in a former yuga, and that she cast
away the eighth, Marta!l9a, because he was born in an undeveloped
state. In other words, the Sun-god of the eighth month is here
said to have died soon after he was born, evidently meaning, that
the Sun went below the horizon in the beginning of the eighth
month, and by fixing the date of the commencement of Indra's
fight with Vritra as the fortieth day in Sharad, or the lOth day
of the eighth month, we arrive at the same conclusion. The
legend of Aditi and the date of· the commencement of Indra's
fight with Shambara, as given in II, 12, ll. thus corroborate each
other in a remarkable way; and as the current interpretation of
~e passage does not yield any intelligible sense, there is no course
left for us but to accept the only other possible interpretation.
According to this interpretation Sharad becomes the last
season of sunshine, and it may be here remarked that the ety-
mological meaning of the word further supports the same view.
For Sharad is derived from shri, to wither or waste away, ( Un~di
127 ), and the word thus primarily signifies the ' season of decay
or withering '; and the decay here referred to is evidently the
decay of the power of the sun, and not the withering of grass,
as suggested by saya9-a in his commentary on III, 32, 9. Thus we
find in the Taittirtya Samhita, II, 1, 2, 5, that " There are three
lustres or powers of the sun; one in Vasanta, that is in the
morning; one in Gr£~hma or the midday; and one in Sharad or
the evening. "* We cannot suppose that the words, morning, mid-
day and evening, are here used in their primary sense. The three
stages of the day represented by them are predicated of the yearly
sun, and Sharad is said to be the evening, i. e., the time of decline

• Taitt. Sam. II, I, 2, s-'l'trur err aJ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~-4~
'l.l~ I~ ~"ftffi ffi~~~ I Also compare Taitt. Sam II, I, 4, 2.