Page 496 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

VEDIC MYTHS-THE MATUTINAL DEITIES 277

will thus be seen that a right conception of the nether waters
and their movement is quite necessary for understanding
the real meaning of many a Vedic and we might even say
Purli~ic legends, for the latter are generally based either upon
the Vedic legends or some one or other incident mentioned
in them. If this universal and comprehensive character of the
waters be not properly understood many legends will appear
dark, confused or mysterious; and I have therefore, summed
up in this place the leading characteristics of the goddesses
of water as conceived by the Vedic poets and discussed in the
foregoing pages. In the post-Vedic literature many of these
characteristics are predicated of the sea of salt water on the
surface of the earth much in the same way as the Greek
Okeanos, which has been shewn to be phonetically identical
with the Sanskrit word ashayana or enveloping, came to denote
the ocean or the sea in European languages. Thus Bha'!'trihari
in his Vairligya-Shataka ( v. 76) says : " Oh ! how extensive.
grand and patient is the body of the ocean ! For here sleeps
Keshava ( Vi~b~u ) here the clan of his enemies ( Vptra and
other demons of darkness ) ; here lie also the host of moun-
tains ( the paravata of the Vedas ) in search of shelter; and
here too ( lies ) the Mare's fire ( submarine fire ) with all the
Samvartakas ( clouds )." This is intended to be a summary
1
of the Pura~ic legends regarding the ocean, but it can be easily
seen that every one of them is based upon the Vedic conception
of the nature and movements of aerial waters, which formed
the very material out of which the world was believed to~ be
created. After this it is needless to explain why ipa~ occupied
such an important place in the Vedic pantheon.
Seven-fold, Nine-fold and Ten-fold
It is stated above that the nether waters are divided after
the manner of the heaven and the earth, either into three,
seven or ten divisions. We have also seen that the ancient
sacrificers completed their sacrificial session in seven, nine
or ten months : and that the Navagavas and the Dashagvas are
therefore, sometimes mentioned together, sometimes separately
and sometimes along with the seven sages or vipras. I have
also briefly referred to the seven-fold division, which generally
obtains not only in the Vedic, but also in other Aryan mytlio-