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

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urged, that there is no necessity whatever, for bringing in the Arctic
theory to explain the legend. A little reflection will, however, show that
all the incidents in the legend cannot be explained on the theory of a
daily struggle between light and darkness. In X, 62, 2, the Angirases,
who are the assistants of Indra in his conquest of cows, are said to
have defeated Vala at the end of the year (parivatsare). This shows
that the struggle was annual and did not take place every day. Then
we have the passage (VIII, 32, 26), where Arbuda, the watery demon,
is said to have been killed by Indra with ice (hima), and not with a
thunderbolt as usual. In addition to the fact that the struggle was an
yearly one, we must, therefore, hold that the conflict took place during
winter, the season of ice and snow; and this is corroborated by the
statement in the Avesta, that it was during winter that the waters, and
with them the sun, ceased to move onwards. Vṛitra’s forts are again
described as autumnal or shâradîh showing that the fight must have
commenced at the end of sharad (autumn) and continued during
winter. We have further seen that there are a hundred nightsacrifices,
and the duration of Tishtrya’s fight with Apaosha is
described as varying from one to a hundred nights in the Tir Yasht.
All these incidents can be explained only by the Arctic theory, or by
the theory of the long autumnal night, and not on the hypothesis of a
daily struggle between light and darkness.
We have come to the conclusion that Indra’s fight with Vṛitra
must have commenced in Sharad, and lasted till the end of Shishira
in the watery regions of the nether world. Fortunately for us this
conclusion is remarkably borne out by an important passage
preserved in the يig-Veda, which gives us, what may be called, the
very date of the commencement of Indra’s conflict with Vṛitra, though
the true bearing of the passage has yet remained unexplained owing
to the absence of the real key to its meaning. In II, 12, 11, we read,
“Indra found Shambara dwelling on the mountains (in)
chatvârimshyâm