Page 549 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

330 SAMAGRA TILAK- 2 • THE ARCTIC HOME
Indra by means of Soma sacrifices performed by them and which
sacrifices are said to have invigorated lndra and prepared him
for his fight with the powers of darkness, represented by Vri.tra,
Vala, Shambara and other demons. The Maid of Nine Forms
is therefore a Celtic paraphrase of the Nine-going sacrifices in
the Rig-Veda. Prof. Rhys considers Fedelm to be a sort of
Athene with nine forms of beauty, and refers to the story of
Athene weaving a peplos for her favourite Herakles, or causing
spring of warm water to gush forth from the ground, to supply
him at the end of the day with a refreshing bath.* But this
comparison does not explain why there should be nine forms
of beauty in either case. The mystery is, however, cleared up,
if we suppose these legends to refer to the nine months of sun-
shine at the end of which the setting sun-god is refreshed or
invigorated for his struggle with the demons of darkness by the
acts of or services of the Nine-going sacrifices, or the Maid of
Nine Foms. In the Norse literature we are told that Thor, the
son of Earth, slays the W odd-dragon, walks nine paces and
dies of the venom of the Serpent.t If the slaying of the dragon
be understood, as remarked by Prof. Rhys, to mean the con-
quest of the Sun-hero over the powers of darkness and the
death of Thor be taken to represent the sinking of the summer-,
sun below the horizon, we have here a clear statement that
Thor, the Sun-hero, walked nine paces during the time that
intervened between the end of winter and the end of summer.
These nine paces could not be nine days or nine years; and there
is therefore no alternative but to hold that the legend refers to
the nine months' life of the Sun-god before he succumbed to
the powers of darkness. The Avestic story of Vafra, or, accord-
ing to Spiegel, Vifra Navaza ( Yt. V, 61 ) belongs, I think, to
the same class. He is said to have been flung up in the air, in
the shape of a bird by Thraetaona and was flying for three
days and three nights towards his own house, but could not
turn down. At the end of the third night when the beneficent
dawn came dawning up, he prayed unto Ardvi Sura Arulhita
to help him, promising to offer Haomas and meat by the brink
of the river Rangha. Ardvi Sura AnAhita listening to his prayer

• Rhys' Hibbert Lectures, pp. 378- g.
t IOid, p. 6I 6.