Page 490 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

VEDIC MYTHS- THE MATUTINAL DEITIES 271
when moving in regions above the horizon, he can be very well
described as shipivi~h{a or "enveloped like shepa," when moving
in the nether world; and there is hardly anything therein
of which the deity or his worshippers should be ashamed. Later
Punt~ic tradition represents Vi~h~u as sleeping during this period;
but whether we take it as sleep or disease it means one and the
same thing. It is the story of Vi~h~u going down to the nether
world, dark or diseased, to plant his third step on the head of the
Asuras, or in a dark armour to help Indra in his struggle for
waters and light, a struggle, which, we have seen, lasted for a
long time and resulted in the flowing of waters, the recovery of
the dawn and the coming out of the sun in a bright armour
after a long and continuous darkness.
A comparison with the abodes of other Vedic deitie~
who are said to traverse the whole universe like Vi~h~u con-
firms the same view. One of these deities is Savitri, who in V,
81~ 3, is described as measuring the world ( rajamsi) and in I,
35, 6, we are told " There are three heavens ( dyava[l ) of
Savit#, two of them are near and the third, bearing the brave,
is in the world of Yama. " This means that two of Savitri's three
abodes are in the upper heaven and one in the nether world or
the kingdom of Yama. The second deity that traverses or mea-
sures the universe is Agni (VI, 7, 7 ). He has three stations, one
in samudra or ocean, one in heaven ( divi ) and one in the waters
or apsu ( I, 95, 3 ). His light is spoken of as three-fold ( III,
26, 7 ), he has three heads (I, 146, 1 ) and three seats, powers
or tongues (III, 20, 2; VIII, 39, 8 ). Now although these three
stations do not seem to be always conceived alike, yet one of
them at any rate can be clearly identified with the third step of
Vi~h~u; for in X, 1, 3, we are told that the third station of
Agni is known only to Vi~httu, while in V, 3, 3, Agni, with the
upama ( last or highest ) step of Vi~h~u, is said to guard the
sacred cows. This description agrees well with I, 154, 5 and 6,
where swift moving cows and a spring of honey are said to exist
in the place where the highest step of Vi~h~u is planted. It
has been shown above that Agni sometimes represents the sun
in the ~ig-Veda, and that his hiding in the waters and coming
out of them as apdm napat or the child of waters is only a
different version of the sun sinking below the horizon for a
long time and then emerging out of the nether ocean at the end