"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"
The cosmic circulation of atmospheric waters is described not only in Indo-Iranian mythology. Dr. Warren, in his Paradise Found … points out that similar phenomena are mentioned in Homer, who describes the sun as returning to the currents of the ocean or diving into it, and then rising from it to the sky. All rivers and seas, all springs and even wells arise from the deepest ocean that surrounds the earth. It is described how Helios the sun floats from west to east in a golden boat, or bowl, which clearly indicates underground waters. But experts studying Homer saw unnecessarily a number of difficulties in translating this passage, saying that Homer considered the earth to be flat and that if hell was enveloped in complete darkness, then it cannot be assumed that the sun after sunset fell there.
Dr. Warren, however, showed that such a claim was completely unfounded, that Homer's earth was spherical and that the underworld was full of atmospheric water. We have already seen above how some Vedologists created similar difficulties in interpreting the myth of Vritra, suggesting that the Vedic bards were not aware of the lower celestial hemisphere. Dr. Warren has shown that this baseless reasoning is a prejudice that affects many scholars trying to explain the essence of ancient myths: after all, it was believed that ancient man could not know much about the world, like modern savages with their crude ideas about reality. If scientists were not blinded by this prejudice, they would undoubtedly explain in a different way what can be clearly seen, but what they distort, or throw aside, or ignore.
Dr. Warren points out that Euripides, like Homer, held the view that there was one source of all the world's waters, and that Hesiod held the same view in his Theogony. He called all the rivers sons, and all springs and springs as daughters, saying that they all go back to the Oceanos. Then we see a continuous downward movement of all waters until they reach the equator of the Ocean-river, under which lies the underworld, which is similar to the movements of atmospheric waters described in the Avesta. Aristotle and his "Meteora" are also said to mention "a river flowing continuously in the air between heaven and earth and created by ascending and descending pairs."
It is also pointed out that Grill believed that the ancient Germans envisioned such a world river; the downdraft Ukko and the ascending Amma are known in Finnish mythology, which reflects a similar belief that they are traces of cosmic circulation. In Latvian mythology, we also read about a golden boat, and, referring to this, Professor Max Müller writes: “That golden boat that plunges into the sea and is mourned by the daughter of the sky must undoubtedly be found somewhere else, namely in Latvian mythology … This is the setting sun, which in the Vedas must be saved by the Ashvins; and the golden boat, in which both Helios and Hercules sail from west to east; sometimes it is the daughter of the Sun herself who drowns like Chyavana in the Vedas. As he and characters like him are saved by the Ashvins, so the Latvians call on the sons of the gods to sail in a boat and save the daughter of the Sun.
In this regard, we note here that in the Rig Veda the Ashvins also use a boat to save the perishing (I, 116, 3; I, 182, 6), and although it is not described as golden, their chariot is always golden (VIII, 5, 29). And the boat of the god Pushan, on which he crosses the air ocean ("samudra"), is clearly called golden (VI, 58, 3). In the hymn (I, 46, 7) it is repeated that the Ashvins had both a chariot and a boat, and in the stanza (I, 30, 18) it is explained that in their chariot they equally crossed the heavenly and water regions. Their chariot is defined by the word "crossing" in the form of "samana yojana", where the word "samana" loses its meaning if there were difficulties in crossing only one part of the celestial sphere as opposed to another. The Vedic gods used boats to cross the lower world, the location of the air waters, and when these gods appeared above the horizon,they crossed the upper sphere in chariots.
But sometimes it is said about the waters that they carry them through the sky, just as chariots crossing the lower world are described. For example, in the legend of Dirghatamas, mentioned above, it is said that he was carried by the waters for ten months, and then he grew old and began to approach death, that is, to the ocean, where the waters rushed. This means that the waters carried the sun for ten months before the moment when it went into the lower ocean.
But let us pass in the discussion of this issue to the fact that the idea of the cosmic circulation of air waters was by no means limited only by the framework of Indian, Iranian or Greek mythology. In Egyptian mythology, the goddess Nut (goddess of the sky) was sometimes "depicted as a figure, accompanied by stars and waters."
Norman Locke points out that "not only the sun-god, but the stars were also perceived as crossing space in boats from one side of the horizon to the other." The idea of Judaism about the firmament surrounded by water and separated from the lower waters has already been mentioned above. In the Vedas and in the Avesta there are clear indications of the circulation of atmospheric waters in the upper and lower celestial hemispheres of the universe. This idea is found in the ancient mythology of any people, and nothing but a false prejudice can keep us from correctly interpreting the theory of cosmic circulation of atmospheric waters, those simultaneous movements or liberation of water and light, which are described in the Vedas.
Accepting the theory of the cosmic circulation of heavenly waters and the simultaneous release of the waters and dawn, the question can be asked - how is the Arctic theory connected with this, or how can it be used to explain the essence of the legend of Vritra? We can perceive the thought that Vritra captivated the waters, closing the passages in the rocks, we can agree that the heavenly waters of the whole world are present under the three lands, but still the battle between Indra and Vritra could, as far as we know, be a daily battle of light with darkness, and then one can insist that there is no need to resort to the Arctic theory to explain the mentioned legend. All incidents of this legend cannot be reduced to the daily battle of light against darkness.
Continuation: "Chapter IX. Vedic myths about captive waters. 5. Fortieth day of autumn - the beginning of the struggle of Indra"