Vedic mythology

io III. RELIGION, WELTL. WISSENSCH. u. KUNST. i A. VEDIC MYTHOLOGY.
apart . A
similar notion is found in the AB., where it is remarked (2, iy 8
)
that 1000 days journey for a horse the heavenly
world is distant from here .
Another Brahmana states that the heavenly world is as far from this world
as 1000 cows standing on each other (PB. 16, 8 6
; 21, i 9).
The air or intermediate space (antariksd) is hardly susceptible of per
sonification. As the region of mists and cloud, it is also called rajas which
5
is described as watery (i, i24 cp. 5, 85 2
j and is sometimes thought of
as dark, when it is spoken of as black 2>4 9 6
(i, 35
; 8, 43 ). The triple
subdivision is referred to as the three spaces ^or rajdmsi (4, 53 5 ; 5, 69 x
).
The highest is then spoken of as uttama 5
(9, 22 j, parama (3, 30 2
), or trtlya,
the third (9, 74 6
; io, 45 3 . I23 8
;, where the waters and Soma are _> and
the
celestial Agni is produced. The two lower spaces are within the range of
our perception, but the third belongs to Visnu (7, 99 r
cp. i, i55 5 ). The
latter seems to be the mysterious space once referred to elsewhere (io, io5 7 ).
The twofold subdivision of the atmosphere is commoner. Then the lower
(upard) or terrestrial (parthiva) is contrasted with the heavenly (divyam or
divah) space (i, 62 s ; 4, 53 3 ). The uppermost stratum, as being contiguous
with heaven (div) in the twofold as well as the triple division, seems often
to be loosely employed as synonymous with heaven in the strict sense.
Absolute definiteness or consistency in the statements of different poets or
even of the same poet could not reasonably be expected in regard to such
matters.
The air being above the earth in the threefold division of the universe,
its subdivisions, whether two or three, would naturally have been regarded
shows that
as above it also; and one verse at least (i, 8i 5
cp. 90 7 ) clearly
the terrestrial space is in this position. Three passages, however, of the
RV. (6,
1
9 ; 7, So 1
; 5, 8i 4 ) have been thought to lend themselves to the -
view 7 that the lower atmosphere was conceived as under the earth, to account
for the course of the sun during the night. The least indefinite of fhese
three passages (5, 8i 4 ) is to the effect that Savitr, the sun, goes round night
on both sides (ubhayatah). This may, however, mean nothing more than
that night is enclosed between the limits of sunset and sunrise. At any rate,
the view advanced in the AB. (3, 44 *) as to the sun s course during the night
is, that the luminary shines upwards at night, while it turns round so as to
shine downwards in the daytime. A similar notion may account for the
statement of the RV. that the light which the sun s steeds draw is sometimes
bright and sometimes dark (i, H5 5 ), or that the rajas which accompanies
the sun to the east is different from the light with which he rises (io, 37 3 ).
There being no direct reference to the sun passing below the earth, the
balance of probabilities seems to favour the view that the luminary was
supposed to return towards the east the way he came, becoming entirely
darkened during the return journey. As to what becomes of the stars during
the daytime, a doubt is expressed (i, 24), but no conjecture is made.
The atmosphere is often called a sea (samudra) as the abode of the
celestial waters. It is also assimilated to the earth, inasmuch as it has
2
mountains 12
(i, 32 &c.) and seven streams which flow there (i, 32 &c.),
when the conflict with the demon of drought takes place. Owing to the
obvious resemblance the term mountain (parvata) thus very often in the
RV. refers to clouds 8
, the figurative sense being generally clear enough. The
word rock (adri) is further regularly used in a mythological sense for cloud
as enclosing the cows released by Indra and other gods 9 .
The rainclouds as containing the waters, as dripping, moving and roaring,
are peculiarly liable to theriomorphism as cows 10
, whose milk is rain.