Page 489 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

270 SAMAGRA TILAK - 2 • THE ARCTIC HOME
ture; and this fact by itself is sufficient to show that the word
shipivi~h~a originally was, and has always been, a term of
reproach indicating some bodily affliction, though the nature
of it was not exactly known. The theological scholars, it is
true, have tried to explain the word in a different sense; but
this is due to their unwillingness to give opprobrious . names
to .their gods, rather than to any uncertainty about the real
meaning of the word. It was thus that the word shipivi~h~a.
which is originally a bad name ( kutsit arth£yam ) according to
Aupamanyava, was converted into a mysterious ( guhya ) name
for the deity. But this transition of meaning is confined otily to
the theological literature, and did not pass over into the non-
-theological works, for the obvious reason that in ordinary
language the bad meaning of the word was sufficiently familiar
to the people. There can, therefore, be little doubt that, in VII,
100, 5 and 6, shipivi~h~a is used in a bad sense as stated by
Aupamanyava. These verses have been translated by Muir as
follows :- " I, a devoted worshipper, who know the sacred
rites, today celebrate this thy name shipivi~h~a, I, who ·am weak,
laud thee who art strong and dwellest beyond this lower world
( k~hayantam asya rajasai.J parake ). What, Vi~hrtu, hast thou to
blame, that thou declaredest, ' I am Shipivi~h~a. Do not conceal
from us this form ( varpas ) since thou didst assume another sliape
in the battle." The phrase" dwelling in the lower world " ( rajasai.J
parake ), or" beyond this world ", furnishes us with a clue to the
real meaning of the passage. It was in the nether world that Vi~hllu
bore this bad name. And what was the bad name after all ?
Shipivi-~h~a, or "enveloped like shepa," meaning that his rays were
obscured, or that he was temporarily concealed in a dark cover.
The poet, therefore, asks Vi~hllu not to be ashamed of the epithet,
because, says he, the form indicated by the bad name is otily
temporarily assumed, as a dark armour, for the purpose of
fighting with the Asuras, and as it was no longer needed, Vi~hllu
is invoked to reveal his true form ( varpas) to the worshipper.
That is the real meaning of the verses quoted above, and in
spite of the attempt of Yaska and other scholars to convert the
bad name of Vi~hllu into a good one by the help of etymological
speculations, it is plain that shipivi~h~a was a bad name, and that
it signified the dark outer appearance of Vi~hllu in his fight with
the demons in ;the nether world. If the sun is called brihach-chhepas