Page 485 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

266 SAMAGRA TILAK - 2 • THE ARCTIC HOME
an untrodden path in giving up the Pada text, especially when
the verse is more naturally and intelligently interpreted by taking
dasha-prapitve as one compound word. When the verse is so
interpreted we get a complete account of the annual course of
the sun in the home of the Aryans in ancient days. It was Indra,
who caused the sun to rise after his long fight with Vfitra; and
when the sun had shone for ten months, Indra stole the solar
orb and to~k the sun with him into darkness to fight with the
demons. That is the meaning of the whole legend; and when it
can be so naturally explained only by the Arctic theory, the nece-
ssity of the latter becomes at once established.
Vishnu's Three Strides

There are a few more Vedic legends which indicate or sugg-
est the Arctic conditions of climate or calendar, and I propose
to briefly examine them in this chapter. One of these legends
relates to Vi~hi}U and his three long strides, which are distinctly
mentioned in several places in the ~ig-Veda ( I, 22, 17, 18; I,
154, 2 ). Yaska ( Nir. XII, 19) quotes the opinion of two older
writers regarding the character of these three steps. One of these
viz. Shakapfq1i holds that the three steps must be placed on the
earth, in the atmosphere and in the sky; while Aurtlavabha thinks
that the three steps must be located, one on the hill where the
sun rises ( samaroha1Ja ), another on the meridian sky ( Vi.~h1JU·
pada) and the third on the hill of setting ( gaya-shiras ), Prof. Max
Muller thinks that this three-fold stepping of Vi~htlu is emblematic
of the rising, the culminating and the setting of the sun; and
Muir quotes a passage from the Ramaya!la (IV, 40, 64, ), which
mentions udaya parvata, or the mountain of sun-rise, and says
that on the top of it is the peak Saumanasa, the place where
Vi~htlu's first step was planted. We are then told that his second
step was placed on the summit of Meru; and that " when the sun
had circled round Jambudvipa by the north, he is mostly visible
on that lofty peak. " It seems, therefore, that according to the
Ramayava the third step of Vi~h!lu was round Jambudvipa,
and was planted after sunset, whatever that may mean. In the
Pural)ic literature, Vi~h!lu's three steps appear as the three steps
of Vamana, the fifth incarnation of Vi§h!lu. Bali, the powerful
enemy of the gods, was celebrating a sacrifice, when, assuming
the form of a dwarf, Vi~h!lu approached him, and begged for