Page 500 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

VEDIC MYTHS-THE MATUTINAL DEITIES 281
standing the real meaning of the different divisions. The seven-
fold, nine-fold or ten-fold division of things is thus merely a
different phase of the division of sacrificers into the seven
Hotp.s, the Navagvas and the Dashagvas. Both seem to be the
effects of the same cause. The mother-land of the Aryan race
in ancient times, lying between the North Pole and the Arctic
circle, was probably divided into different zones according to
the number of months for which the sun was seen above the
horizon in each; and the facts, that the Navagvas and the
Dashagvas are said to be the chief or the most prominent of
the Angirases, that saptdshva was the principal designation of
Surya, and that the sons of Aditi who were presented to the
gods were only seven in number, further show that in the anci-
ent Arctic home a year of seven, nine or ten months' sunshine
must have been more prevalent than a year of 8 or 11 months.
It may, however, be noticed that just as the Angirases are said
to be virupas, Aryaman is described in X, 64, 5, as having a
great chariot, and amidst his births of various forms ( l'i~hu­
rupe~hu) he is said to be a seven-fold sacrificer ( sapta-hotri )
showing that though the seven-fold character of Aryaman was
the chief or the principal one, yet there were various other forms
of the deity. In X, 27, 15, seven, eight, nine and ten V£ras or
warriors are said to rise from below, behind, in the front, or on
the back, or, in other words, all round. This verse is differently
interpreted by different scholars; but it seems to me to refer to
the seven-fold, eight-fold, or nine-fold division of the sacrificers,
or the Angirases; who are actually described in III, 53, 7, as
" the Vfras or warriors of the Asura. " It is, therefore, quite
probable that the same Viras are referred to in X, 27, 15. In
VIII, 4, 1, Indra is said to be worshipped by people in the front
( east ), behind ( west ), up ( north ), and down ( south ),
meaning that his worshippers were to be found everywhere; and
if the adjectives " below, behind etc. " in X, 27, 15, be similarly
interpreted the verse would mean that the seven-fold, nine-fold,
or ten-fold division of sacrificers was to be met with in places
all round. In other words, the different places in the Arctic
region had each a group of sacrificers of its own, corresponding
to the months of sunshine in the place. On no other theory
can we account for the different divisions satisfactorily as on