The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c9.47

c9.47

There is another set of traditions which we can similarly explain on the supposition with which we have started, viz., that the vernal equinox was then in Orion. The heliacal rising of the constellation at the beginning of the year marked the revival of nature at the commencement of spring, and the asterism may thus be said to represent all these milder influences which in later mythology were fully embodied in the conception of Vishnu. But the case was completely reversed if we take the acronycal rising of the same. It was at the autumnal equinox that the Dog-star rose at the beginning of night, and though, strictly speaking, it marked the end of Varshā, yet the portion of the heaven wherein the constellation is situated could have been easily regarded as the battle-ground of Indra and Vritra who fought in those days, and also as the stage on which the terrible Rudra made his appearance. In short, the constellation naturally became the harbinger of the mild and the terrible aspects of nature. It is in this latter sense that the Dog-star might be considered a rain-star, and Saramā, like the Greek Hermes with which it is identified, might be said to have been sent to search for the cows of Indra taken away by the Panis of the nether word. The Greek legends mention two watch dogs—Kerberos and Orthros; and of these Kerberos has been etymologically identified with *Sharvara* and Orthros with *Vritra*.∗ But no explanation has been given of how this Vritra came to be stationed at the gates of hell. Prof. Max Müller suggests that Orthros is the dark spirit that is to be fought by the sun in the morning. But then, this does not explain why it was called Vritra, and how it came to be killed by Herakles. The legend of Namuchi, as given in the Rigveda and interpreted on the supposition that the year began with the Dog-star, does, however, solve the difficulty. I have already alluded to the fact that in the Rigveda Vritra is often said to appear in the form of a *Mriga* (Rig. i 80. 7; v. 32. 3; v. 34. 2; viii. 93. 14). In Rig. vii. 19. 5 Vritra and Namuchi are both said to be killed by Indra, and though this cannot be taken as a direct authority for holding that Vritra and Namuchi are the different forms of the same enemy, yet from the description of the two I do not think there can be any doubt as to their being identical. In fact, Shushna, Pipru, Kuyava and Namuchi[†] are only so many different names of the enemy of Indra. Now Indra is represented as cutting off the head of Vritra (Rig. i. 52. 10), and also of Namuchi (Rig. v. 30. 7; vi. 20. 6). Combining these statements we get that Indra cut off the head of Vritra or Namuchi, in the form of a *Mriga*; and this at once suggests the question whether that head is not the same as that of Prajapati cut off by Rudra and which gave the name of Mriga-shirsha, or "the antelope's head" to the constellation. In Rig i 53. 7, we are simply