Page 478 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

:VEDIC MYTHs--:-THE MA.TUTINAL DEITIES 259
setting, enters into Agni and is reproduced from the latter; and
the same identification appears to be alluded to in the passages
from the Rig-Veda, where Agni is said to unite with the light of
the sun or: to shine in heaven ( VIII, 44, 29 ). The story of conceal-
ing the child after ten months ·or gestation whether applied tt>
Agni or to SU.rya is thus only ~ tlifferent version of the story of the
-disappearance of the sun from the tipper hemisphere after ten
months of sunshine. But what became of the child ( Kumdra) which
disappeared in this way ? Was he lost for ever or again restored
.to his parents ? How did the father or even the mother obtain the
child so lost ?. Some one must bring the child to them, and
this task seems to have been entrusted . to the {tibhus or the
Ashvins in the ~g-Veda. Thus in I, 110, 8, the Ribhus are said to
have united the mother with the calf, and in I, 116, 13, the Ashvin,s
·are described as giving to Vadhrimati a child called Hirav.ya-
·hasta. The story of restoring Vi~hv.apu to Vishvaka (I~ 117, 7 ).
and of giving milk to.Shayu's cow probably refer to the same
phenomenon of bringing back the morning sun to the paren,ts;
and froni this it is but a small ·step to the story of· Kutnara
( lit,. a child ), one of the names of Karttikeya in the Purav.as.
It wa~ this Kumara; or the once hidden ( guha ), or dropJij:d
( skanda) Child, rising along with the seven rivers or mothers
( VIII, 96, 1 ) in the morning, that led the army of gods or light
and walked victoriously along the Devayana pa:th. He was . the
leader of days, or the army of gods; and as Maruts were the
allies of Indra in his conflict with .V!itra, Kumara or the Child;
meaning the morning sun, maY, by -a- turn Of the mythological
kaleidoscope, be very well calle:d a: son of Rudra, the later
representative of the Maruts; or said to be born of Agni, who
dwelt in waters; or described aS. the. ·sen .of aeven or six ~ittikas.
As the morning sun has to pierce his way up through the apertures
of Albt1rz, temporarily closed by Vritra, this Kumara, cali/..again
be well termed Krauiicha-darana, or the piercer of the K.J:auD,eht
mountain, an epithet applied to him in the Purav.as.* But: w~_afe
• For a further development of the idea see Mr·. N~r!yan··Aiya'rigat"~
Essays on Indo-Aryaa Mythology, Part-II, pp. 57- So. In the r~·gtit:E>f the
Arctic theory we may have to modify soine of Mr: Aiyanga·r:s 1-:iews:;
'rhus out of the seven rivers or mothers; wh1ch bring on (h~ _ligi:Ui: M
the sun one may be regarded . as his real motl).er, and · the - 9th:~~
$jft as stepmothers. • ..