Page 491 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

272 SAMAGRA TILAK- 2 • THE ARCTIC HOME
of the long Arctic night. Vi~h~u is also the same sun under
a different name, and the third step of Vi~h9u and the third
or the hidden abode of Agni can, therefore, be easily
recognised as identical in character. The third deity that tra-
verses the universe is the Ashvins to whom the epithet parijman
or ' going round ' is applied several times in the ~ig-Veda (I,
46, 14; I, 117, 6 ), The Ashvins are said to have three stations
( VIII, 8, 23 ), and their chariot, which is said to go over both
the words alike (I, 30, 18 ), has three wheels one of which is
r~presented as deposited in a cave or a secret place, like the
third step of Vi~h~u, which is beyond the ken of mortals ( cf.
X, 85, 14- 16 ). This co-incidence between the third stations of
the three different world-traversing gods cannot be treated as
accidental; and if so, the combined effect of all the passages
tated above will be clearly seen to point out to the conclusion,
that the third or the hidden place, dwelling or abode in each
.case must be sought for in the nether world, the world of the Pitfis,
of Yam a, of waters and darkness.
"
Trita Aptya
It has been stated above that the year divided into three
parts of 4 months each represents the three steps of Vish9u;
and that the first two parts were said to be visible as contrasted
with the third which was hidden, because in the ancient home
of the Aryan people the sun was above the horizon only for
about 8 months. If we personify these three parts of the year
we get a legend of three brothers, the first two of whom may
be described as arranging to throw the third into a pit of dark-
ness. This is exactly the story of Trita Aptya in the ~ig-Veda
or of Thraetaona in the A vesta. Thus Saya9a, in his commen-
tary on I, 105, quotes a passage from the Taittirtya Bxihma9a
( II, 2, 8, 10- 11 ) and also a story of the Sha~yayanins giving
legend of three brothers called Ekata, Dvita and Trita, or
the first, the second and the third, the former two of whom
threw the last or Trita into a well from which he was taken
out by Bfihaspati. But in the ~ig-Veda Ekata is not mentioned
anywhere; while Dvita, which grammatically means the second,
is met with in two places (V, 18, 2; VIII, 47, 16 ). Dvita is the
seer of the 18th hymn in the fifth Ma9~ala, and in the second
verse of the hymn he is said to receive maimed offerings; while