"Chapter I. Prehistoric times"
"Chapter II. Ice Age"
"Chapter III. Arctic regions"
"Chapter IV. Night of the Gods"
"Chapter V. Vedic Dawns"
"Chapter VI. Long day and long night"
"Chapter VII. Months and seasons"
"Chapter VIII. The path of the cows"
Promotional video:
"Chapter IX. Vedic myths about captive waters"
"Chapter IX. Vedic myths about captive waters. 1. Legend of Indra and Vritra"
"Chapter IX. Vedic myths about captive waters. 2. Four victories of Indra in the fight against Vala"
"Chapter IX. Vedic myths about captive waters. 3. Cosmology in the Rig Veda"
"Chapter IX. Vedic myths about captive waters. 4. Cosmic circulation of atmospheric waters in myths"
"Chapter IX. Vedic myths about captive waters. 5. Fortieth day of autumn - the beginning of the struggle of Indra"
"Chapter X. Vedic myths about the morning deities. Ashwins"
We have already discussed the legend of the seven Adityas and their premature brother above and showed that we are talking about seven months of sunshine in the Arctic. But this is not the only period of light, the sun is there at different times in the sky, depending on the location of the observer. The periods of offering sacrifices by the Navagwamis and Dashagwamis last from nine to ten months, and the legend of Saptavadhri, referring to the exploits of the Ashvins, also speaks of the last period. Here the time has come to discuss the question, is there a story about Surya in the Rig Veda in connection with such a phenomenon? The ten months of sunshine is indicated by the indication of ten horses in the chariot of Surya, but there is even more expressive evidence in the legend of how Indra stole the wheel of the sun. To understand it correctly, we must first look at the problem of the connection between Indra and Surya.
It was already indicated above, in the previous chapter, that Indra is the main character in the struggle between the forces of light and darkness. It was he who ensured the sunrise from dawn, that is, he helped the sun to shine (VIII, 3, 6; VIII, 98, 2), helped to ascend into the sky (I, 7, 3). It is indicated that the sun was in darkness (III, 39, 5), where Indra, supported by Dashagwami, found him and raised him into the sky for people. It was again Indra, who paved the way for the sun (X, 111, 3), he fought with the demons of darkness to make the morning bloom. Everywhere Indra is described as a friend of Surya and his assistant, but despite this, a story suddenly appears in the Rig Veda that Indra took or stole the wheel of the sun (I, 175, 4; IV, 30, 4; V, 31, 11; X, 43, 5). It has been suggested that the legend may refer either to the darkening of his cloud, or to his daily visit. But the first is so irregularwhich can hardly become the basis of the legend, and this is weakly connected with the actions of Indra; to confirm the second, we do not find authoritative indications.
We must therefore take a deeper look at the legend and look for more acceptable ways to explain it. Surya's chariot is described in the Rig Veda as one-wheeled (I, 164, 2), but this wheel has seven meanings, and in later indications of mythology it is called "eka-chakra" ("one-wheeled"). If this wheel is stolen, the sun will stop and everything will freeze. At the same time, the legend, it seems, tells of the sun itself as a wheel. So, in the hymns (I, 175, 4; IV, 30, 4) "suryam-chakram" is mentioned, that is, the solar disk itself is called a wheel. And when it is said that this wheel has been stolen, then we must assume that the sun has been stolen, and not one of the two wheels of his chariot, after which it would have to be unknown how to continue on its way.
But what was Indra to do with this solar wheel or with the sun itself, which he had stolen? It is reported that he used the rays of the sun as a weapon to burn demons (VIII, 12, 9). This means that stealing the wheel and defeating the demons coincide in time. The battle of Indra with the demons has the main goal of reviving the light, and one should ask - how could Indra use the disk of the sun as a weapon in an attack in the name of returning the sun lost in the darkness? After all, this comes close to claiming that this sun disk was used as a weapon to restore the same sun that was believed to have been lost in the darkness. But this is only an apparent difficulty arising as a result of new ideas about darkness and light.
According to these ideas, it is unthinkable for Surya and darkness to stay in one place. But the Rig Veda clearly speaks of "the sun dwelling in darkness." This occurs in no less than two hymns (III, 39, 5; I, 117, 5), and this can only be explained by the fact that the Vedic bards believed in the loss of light by the sun when it hid behind the horizon, or in its temporary disappearance shine during the battle with the demons of darkness. No other theory can explain the meaning of the expression "tamasi kshiyantam" ("abiding in darkness"), and if you agree with this, then it is easy to understand how it is about the disk of the sun that Indra used it to defeat the demons and restore the morning Sveta. To clarify this, we can say that Indra helped the sun to destroy the obstacle that suppressed or darkened its radiance, and when this obstacle was removed,the sun received its light and ascended from the lower ocean. Thus, Indra is correctly described in the hymn (IV, 17, 14) as the sun that stopped the wheel. Turning it around, he threw it into the hidden darkness at the bottom of rajas, that is, into the lower world of darkness. And an important passage in the hymn (VI, 31, 3) means the following: “O Indra, thirsting for cows (striving for cows), you, together with Kutsu, are fighting against Shushna, Asushi and Kuyava. At the end of ten (months) you steal the wheel of Surya and destroy calamities. "you and Kutsu are fighting against Shushna, Ashushi and Kuyava. At the end of ten (months) you steal the wheel of Surya and destroy calamities. "you and Kutsu are fighting against Shushna, Ashushi and Kuyava. At the end of ten (months) you steal the wheel of Surya and destroy calamities."
(Many scholars have argued about the meaning of the word "ten" in this and other hymns close to him, believing that it could mean "every ten days" of Indra's struggle, but such a struggle could not be repeated every ten days, as some have translated. It could be annual, and, according to the rules of grammar, the numeral given here should be understood as used in the genitive case "ten", that is, "at the end of ten") *.
* Here, in brackets, is the essence of Tilak's disputes with other scientists on this issue. The need to exclude such pages from translation is stated in the translator's preface.
Translating the stanza in this way, we see that in the ancient homeland of the Aryans, the sun completed its annual course in ten months and was hidden, and then Indra entered into battle with Vritra, trying to raise the sun into the sky again. It was he who stole the disk of the sun and armed himself with it to fight the demons (Vritra, also called Shushna, Asusha and Kuyava - these words act as definitions of the quality of Vritra and mean "drought", "gluttonous" and "curse for the harvest").
All this legend, cited not only in one hymn, as a whole, having been explained through the Arctic theory, becomes understandable.
Continuation: "Chapter X. Vedic myths about morning deities. Seven. Nine. Ten."