Artic Home of the Aryans by Lokamanya Bal ... - Mandhata Global

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the four simultaneous effects of Indra’s conquest over Vṛitra by the
storm theory; and, strange to say, they seem to attribute their failure,
not to their own ignorance or inability, but to the alleged confusion of
ideas on the part of the Vedic bards.
These are not, however, the only points, in which the Stormtheory
fails to explain the legend of Indra and Vṛitra. It has been
pointed out above that Vṛitra was killed in distant regions, in which
ghastly darkness reigned, and which abounded in waters; while in X,
73, 7, Indra by killing Namuchi, alias Vṛitra, is said to have cleared the
gates of the Devayâna path, evidently meaning that Vṛitra was killed
at the gates of the path leading to the region of the gods. Even in the
Avesta, the fight between Apaosha and Tishtrya is said to have taken
place in the sea of Vouru-Kasha, and Tishtrya is described as moving
along the path made by Mazda after his fight with Apaosha. Vṛitra’s
abode is similarly described as “hidden” and “enveloped by water” at
the bottom of rajas (I, 52, 6). None of these conditions is satisfied by
making the storm-cloud, the scene of the battle between Indra and
Vṛitra; for a cloud cannot be said to be the ocean of waters, nor can it
be described as lying in a distant (parâvat) region, or at the threshold
of the Devayâna or the path of the gods. In the يig-Veda parâvat is
usually contrasted with arâvat, and it means a distant region on the
other side, as contrasted with the region on this or the nearer side.
The Devayâna is similarly contrasted with the Pitṛiyâna, and means
the northern celestial hemisphere. The clouds over the head of the
observer cannot be said to be either in the distant region, or at the
gate of the Devayâna; nor can we speak of them as enveloped by
sun-less darkness. It is, therefore, highly improbable that the rainclouds
could have been the scene of battle between Indra and Vṛitra.
It was the sea on the other side, the dark ocean as contrasted with
the bright ocean (shukram arnah) which the sun mounts in the
morning, where the battle was fought according to the passages
referred to above; and the description is appropriate only in the case
of the