Page 482 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

VEDIC MYTHS-THE MATUTINAL DEITIES 263
fight against Shu~hpa, the Ashu~ha and the Kuyava. "* Here
Ashu.ha and Kuyava are used as adjectives to Shu~hpa and
mean " the voracious Shu~hpa, the bane of the crops. " The
second hemistich, however, is not so simple. The last phrase
avive-rapafnsi is split in the pada text as avive!z and rapoinsi,
which means " destroy calamities or mischiefs ( rapafnsi ). But
Prof. Oldenberg proposes to divide the phrase as avive!z and
apafnsi, in confirmity with IV, 19, 10, and translates, " Thou
hast manifested thy manly works ( apafnsi )."tIt is not, however,
necessary for our present purpose to examine the relative merits
of these two interpretations; and we may, therefore, adopt the
older of the two, which translates the phrase as meaning, " Thou
hast destroyed calamities or mischiefs, ( rapamsi ). " OnUtting the
first two words, viz., dasha and prapitve, the second hemistich
may, therefore, be rendered, " Thou hast stolen the wheel of
Surya and hast destroyed calamities. " We have now to ascertain
the meaning of dash prapitve. Sayana takes dasha as equivalent
.to adasha~ ( lit. bittest, from dafnsh, to bite), and prapitve to mean
" in the battle "-and translates, " Thou bittetst him in the battle. "
But this is evidently a forced meaning and one that does not
harmonise with other passages, where the same legend is describ-
ed. Thus in IV, 16, 12, we are told that Shu~hpa was killed at
ahna!z prapitve, and the last phrase evidently denotes the time
when Shu~hpa was defeated, while in V, 31, 7, Indra is described
as having checked the wiles of Shu~hpa by reaching prapitvam.
By the side of the expression dasha prapitve, we thus have two
more passages in the ].tig-Veda, referring to the same legend,
and in one of which Shu§hpa is said to be killed at the prapitva
of the day ( ahna!z prapitve ), while in the other, the wiles of the
demon are said to be checked by Indra on reaching prapitvam.
The three expressions, dasha prapitve, ahna!z prapitve and prapitvam
yan, must, therefore, be taken to be synonymous and whatever
meaning we assign to prapitve, it must be applicable to all the
three cases. The word prapitve is used several times in the ).tig-
Veda, but scholars are not agreed as to its meaning. Thus
Grassmann gives two meanings of prapitva. The first denoting

" See l,tig. VI. 3 I, 3 ,-~if ~Tf~ ~611!f+h\T~ ~'e.CJ w:rci orfw I ~~
5ffu~ aJ\,J' tJ,ir~ ~f?{al<filr~~ II
t See Oidenberg's Vedic Hymns, S. B. E. Serie~, Vol. XLVI, p. 6g,