The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c11.26

c11.26

Let us now examine the too much and too long misunderstood or rather not-understood hymn of Vṛishâkapi in the tenth Mandala of the Rigveda. As there is only one hymn in the Rigveda which gives the story, it is not so easy, as in the case of the Ribhus, to determine the nature of the deity, and hence various conjectures have been made by scholars as to its origin, character and meaning The deities appear both in the masculine and in the feminine form, Vrishâkapi and Vrishâkapâyî. Amara* considers that Vrishâkapi means either Vishnu or Shiva, and Vrishâkapâyî either Lakshmî or Gaurî. In the Brihad-devatâ Vrishâkapi is said to represent the setting sun, and Vrishâkapâyî the gloaming.† Yâska (12. 27) would derive the word so as to mean the sun who shakes (the world) with his rays, and his commentator observes that the god showers mist or dew and shakes the animate world. Modern speculations about the derivation and the meaning of the name may be found in Bhânu Dîkshita's commentary on Amara (iii. 3. 130). Prof. Max Müller, in one place,† observes that "it is difficult, on seeing the name of Vrishâkapi, not to think