Page 504 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

VEDIC MYTHS-THE MATUTINAL DEITIES 285
cal element in the Ramayap.a was derived from the story of
the restoration of the dawn or Brahmajaya to man as represent-
ed by the first sacrificer Brihaspati, or the fight of Indra with
Vritra for the recovery of light. Whether we can go further
than this cannot be decided without further research. Prof.
Max Muller, in his Lectures on the Science of Language, has
shown that many names in the Iliad can be traced back to the
Vedas. For instance, he derives Helen from Sarama, Paris from
Pap.is, and Briesis from Brisaya. But even then all the per-
sonages mentioned in the Iliad cannot be explained in this way.
One thing, however, seems certain, that the story of the restora-
tion of the Dawn-wife to her husband was an ancient inheri-
tance both with the Greeks and the Indians; and we need not,
therefore, be surprised if we discover a few striking coinciden-
ces between the Iliad on the one hand and the RamayaJ?a on the
other; for a common mythical element appears to have been
interwoven with the main story, of course with a different local
colouring, in each case. The question whether the Ramayat?-a
was copied from Homer is, therefore, entirely meaningless. The
fact seems to be that both Homer and Valmiki have utilised a
common mythological stock, and any resemblances between
their work only go to prove the theory of their common origin.
It has been pointed out by Prof. Weber that in the Buddhistic
Dasharatha Jataka, SitA is represented as the sister and not as
the wife of Rama, and the learned Professor tells us that this
must be an ancient version of the story, for a marriage with
one's sister must be considered to be as primeval as Adam hirr.-
self. The late Mr. Telang was of opinion that the Buddhists
must have deliberately misrepresented the story of the Brahma-
nical epic, and such a perversion is not improbable. But on
the theory that certain features of the Vedic dawn myths were
probably interwoven with the main historic story of the epic,
we may explain the Buddhistic account by supposing that it
was the outcome of an unsuccessful attempt made in pre-
Buddhistic time to identify Rama with Surya in the ~ig-Veda,
the latter of whom is described both as the brother and the
lover of the Dawn (VII, 75, 5; VI, 55, 4 and 5; X, 3, 3 ). I have
already stated that the subject is too vast to be treated here at
any length. My object was to point out a few resemblances
between the story of the Ramayapa and the Vedic myths as