Page 497 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

278 SAMAGRA TILAK - 2 • THE ARCTIC HOME
logies. But the subject deserves a fuller consideration, and
I propose here to collect certain facts bearing upon it, which
seem to have hitherto attracted but little attention. All that
Y:tska and S:tya~a tell us about the seven-fold division is that
there are seven horses of the sun and seven tongues of flames
of Agni, because the rays of the sun are seven in number; and
the late Mr. S. P. Pandit goes so far as to assert that the seven
rays here referred to may be the prismatic colours with which
we are familiar in the Science of optics, or the seven colours of
the rainbow. All this appears to be very satisfactory at the
first sight, but our complacency is disturbed as soon as we are
told along with the seven rays and horses of the sun, the ).tig-
Veda speaks of ten horses or ten rays of the same luminary.
Yaska and Saya~a get over the difficulty either by ignoring or
by explaining away, in a tortuous manner, all references to the
ten-fold division of this kind. But the places where it is men-
tioned are too many to allow us to lightly set aside the ten-fold
division, which occurs along with the seven-fold one in the ).tig-
Veda; and we must find out why this double division is record-
ed in the ~ig-Veda. But before inquiring into it, we shall
collect all the facts and see how far this double division extends
in the Vedic literature.
We begin with the sun. He is described as seven-horsed
( saptashva) in V, 45, 9, and his chariot is described as seven-
wheeled, or yoked with seven horses, or one seven-named
horse in I, 164, 3, The seven bay steeds ( harita!J) are also
mentioned as drawing the carriage of the sun in I, 50, 8. But
in IX, 63, 9, the sun is said to have yoked ten horses to his
carriage; and the wheel of the year-god is said to be carried by
ten horses in I, 164, 14. In the Atharva Veda XI, 4, 22, the sun's
carriage is, however, said to be eight-wheeled ( a!hta-chakra ).
Indra is called sapta-rashmi in II, 12, 12, and his chariot is
also said to be seven-rayed in VI, 44, 24. But in V, 33, 8, ten
white horses are said to bear him; while in VIII, 24, 23, Indra
is said to be " the tenth new " ( dashamam navam ). In the
Taittiriya Ara~yaka Ill, 11, I, Indra's self is said to be going
about ten-fold ( Indrasya atmanam dashaha charantam ) ; and
corresponding to it, it may be here noticed, we have in the
Bahram Yasht, in the Avesta, ten incarnations of Verethraghna
( Sans. Vritrahan) specifically mentioned. Amongst the