Page 548 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

COMPARATIVE MYmOLOGY 329·

the period of darkness, varied from six to twelve months in the
Arctic regions the conception of a year of twelve months was·
perhaps less suited for practical reckoning in the primeval home
than the conception of so many months' summer or so many
months' winter taken singly, and this explains why in the
~ig-Veda we have the expression" manus!za yuga and k~hapa!z"
to denote the whole year.
In discussing the legend of the Navagvas and the Dashagvas
we have shown that the numerals incorporated in their names
must be interpreted as referring to the number of months
during which they completed their annual sacrifices, and that
Prof. Lignana's view that they refer to the months of preg-
nancy is not only improbable but opposed to the express Vedic
texts which tell us that the Navagvas and the Dashagvas
completed their sacrifices in ten months. Let us now see if there
are corresponding personages in other Aryan mythologies.
Prof. Lignana has pointed out the resemblance between the
Navagvas and the Novemsides of the Romans. The compari-
son is no doubt happy, but there is nothing in the cult of the
:Novemsides which gives us a clue to the original meaning of the
word. We know nothing beyond tl:ie fact that Novemsides
( also spelt Novemsiles ) were certain Latin gods, who accord-
ing to the double etymology ( novam, nine or novus, new ) were
taken for nine Muses, or for gods newly introduced, as after
the conquest of a place in contrast with the old gods of the
.Ountry. But the Celtic tradition of the Maid of Nine forms
is much more explicit, inasmuch as it is distinctly connected with
the sun-hero Cuchualinn. The story is thus narrated by Rhys :
Conchobar had a passing fair daughter called Fedelm of the
:aine forms, for she had so many fair aspects, each of which was
more beautiful, as we are told, than the others; and when
" Cuchulainn had, at the news of the approach of the enemy
from the west, advanced with his father to the frontier of the
realm, he suddently hastened away in the evening to a place of
secret meeting, where he knew Fedelm to have a bath got ready
for him in order to prepare him for the morrrow and his first
encounter with the invading army."* This reminds us of the
assistance rendered by the Navagvas and the Dashagvas to
• Rhys' Hibbert Lectures, pp. 630- 31·