The Arctic Home in the Vedas c10.13

c10.13

The Shatapatha Brāhmaṇa, III, 1, 3, 3, explains the legend of Aditi somewhat on the same lines. It says that seven alone of Aditi's sons are styled Devāḥ Ādityāḥ (the gods Ādityas) by men, and that the eighth Mārtāṇḍa was born undeveloped, whereupon the Āditya gods created man and other animals out of him. In two other passages of the Shatapatha Brāhmaṇa, VI, 1, 2, 8, and XI, 6, 3, 8, the number of Ādityas is, however, given as twelve. In the first (VI, 1, 2, 8) they are said to have sprung from twelve drops generated by Prajāpati and then placed in different regions (dikṣhu); while in the second (XI, 6, 3, 8)² these twelve Âdityas are identified with the twelve months of the year. The number of Âdityas is also given as twelve in the Upanishads; while in the post-Vedic literature they are everywhere said to be twelve, answering to the twelve months of the year. Muir, in his Original Sanskrit Texts, Volumes IV and V, gives most of these passages, but offers no explanation as to the legend of Aditi, except such as is to be found in the passages quoted. There are many different speculations or theories of Western Scholars regarding the nature and character of Aditi, but as far as the number of Âdityas is concerned, I know of no satisfactory explanation as yet suggested by them. On the contrary the tendency is, as observed by Prof. Max Muller, to regard the number, seven or eight, as unconnected with any solar movements. A suggestion is made that the eight Âdityas may be taken to represent the eight cardinal points of the compass, but the death or casting away of the eighth Âditya seals the fate of this explanation, which thus seems to have been put forward only to be rejected like Mârtâṇḍa, the eighth Âditya.