Page 501 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

282 SAMAGRA TILAK - 2 • THE ARCTIC HOME
the Arctic theory, and in the absence of a better explanation we.
may, I think, accept the one stated above.
The ten Kings and Rava-:ta
It has been noticed above that ten gold-like kings ( VIII,
5, 38 ), and ten non-sacrificing kings ( VII, 83, 7 ), are mention-
ed in the ~ig-Veda. But there is an important incident con-
nected with the ten non-sacrificing kings which deserves more
than a passing notice in this place. Sudas, the son of Divodasa
Atithigva, is described as engaged in a fight with the ten non-
worshipping ( ayajyavalz ) kings, and is said to have received
help from Indra and Varuv,a ( VII, 33, 3 - 5; 83, 6 - 8 ). It is
known as the Dasharajna fight, and Vasi~h~ha, as the priest of
SudAs, is said to have secured the assistance of Indra for him.
On this slender basis some scholars have erected a stately edi-
fice of the fight of the Aryan races with the ten non-Aryan or
non-worshipping kings. But it seems to me that the Dasharafiia
fight can be more simply and naturally explained by taking it
to be a different version of Indra's fight with the seven Danus or
demons (X, 120, 6 ). In 49, 8, Indra is called the seven-slayer
( sapta-han ) with reference either to the seven Danus or demons
(X, 120, 6) or to the seven cities of Vritra (I, 174, 2 ), in the
seven-bottomed ocean (VIII, 40, 5 ). Now if Indra is sapta-han
on the seven-fold division, he may be easily conceived as dasha-
han, or the ten-slayer, on the ten-fold method of division. The
word dasha-han does not occur in the ~ig-Veda, but the fight
with the ten kings ( ayajyava{l dasha rajana!z ) practically
amounts to the same thing. It has been stated above that
amongst Indra's enemies we have persons like Dasha-maya and
Dashov,i, who are obvioulsy connected in some way with the
number ten. The ten gold-like kings mentioned above again
seem to represent the ten monthly sun-gods, and the fact that
they are said to be given to the sacrificers further strengthens
this view. One of Indra's proteges is, we further know, describ-
ed as Dasha-dyu, or shining ten-fold. If all these facts are put
together, we are naturally led to the conclusion that like the
seven Da,nus or demons the powers of darkness were some-
time conceived as ten-fold and Indra's helping Sudas in his
fight with the ten non-worshipping kings is nothing more than
the old story of the annual fight between light and darkness