Page 487 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

268 SAMAGRA TlLAK- 2 • THE ARCTIC HOME

helped Indra in his fight with Vptra, his third step must be taken
to correspond with the home of Vritra; in other words, Vi~h~u·s
strides represent the annual course of the sun divided into three
parts. During two of these the sun was above the horizon, and
hence two of Vishnu's three strides were said to be visible. But
when in the third ~r the last part of the year the sun went below
the horizon producing continuous darkness, Vi~h:p.u's third step
was said to be invisible. It was then that he helped lndra to
demolish V!itra and bring back the dawn, the sun and the sacrifice.
It has been shown in the last chapter that Indra's fight with
Shambara commenced on the fortieth day of Sharad or in the
eighth month after the beginning of the year with V asanta. These
eight months of sunshine and four of darkness may very well be
represented by two visible and one invisible step of Vi~hpu,
and the Purapic story of Vi~h:p.u sleeping for four months in the
year further supports the same view. It may also be noticed that
Vi~h:p.u is said to sleep on his serpent-bed in the midst of the
ocean; and the ocean and the serpent here alluded to are evidently
the waters ( dpa~z) and Abi or Vfitra mentioned in the Vritra
legend. It is said that the sleep of Vi~h:p.u represent the rainy
season of four months; but this is a later misrepresentation of
the kind we have noticed in the last chapter in regard to waters.
When tbe exploits of Indra were transferred from the last season
of the year, viz., Hemanta to Varshd or the rainy season, the
period, during which Vi~h:p.u lay dormant, must have been
naturally misunderstood in the same way and identified with
the rainy season. But originally Vi~h:p.u's sleep and his third step
must have been identical; and as the third step i said to be
invisible, we cannot suppose that it was planted in the rainy
season, which is visible enough. The long darkness of the winter
night in the Arctic region can alone adequately represent the
third step of Vi~h:p.u or the period of his sleep; and the legend
about the Phrygin god, who, according to Plutarch, was
believed to sleep during winter and resume his activity during
summer, has been interpreted by Prof. Rhys in the same way.
The Iri h cou\•ade of the Uitonian heroes also points out to the
same conclusion.*

• See Rby's Hibbert Lectures, p . 632. The passage is quoted in full
In Chap. XII, injm.