The Arctic Home in the Vedas c11.55

c11.55

of Tishtrya cannot be regarded as accidental. The legends are undoubtedly identical in character, and, taking the one to illustrate the other, the only conclusion deducible from them is that a hundred nights was regarded to be the maximum duration of the fight between Indra and Vala, or Tishtrya and Apaosha, so far as the ancestors of the Indo-Iranian people were concerned, and that the sea Vouru-Kasha, or the ocean ‘encompassed with darkness,’ as the Rig-Veda has it (II, 23, 18), was the scene of this battle between the powers of light and darkness. We also learn from them that the hero of the battle, whether he was Indra or Tishtrya, stood in need of help, derived from the performance of the sacrifices specially offered to him during the period; and that as a matter of fact such sacrifices were performed in ancient times. The word *shata-kratu* does not occur in the Avesta, but in the Ashi Yasht (Yt. XVII, 56) “a ram of hundred-fold energy (*maeshahe sa-tokarahe*) is spoken of; and considering the fact that in the Bahram Yasht (Yt. XIV, 23) “a beautiful ram, with horns bent round” is said to be one of the incarnations of Verethraghna, and that Indra is also described as appearing in the form of a ram in the Rig-Veda (VIII, 2, 40), it is very probable that the phrase *sato-karahe maeshahe* refers to Verethraghna in the Ashi Yasht, and like the epithet *shata-kratu*, the adjective *sato-karahe* means not “possessed of hundred powers,” but “the master of a hundred deeds or sacrifices.” There is thus a very close correspondence between the Vedic and the Avestic ideas on this subject, and this strengthens the conclusion that the night sacrifices in the Vedic literature had their origin in the existence of a long continuous night of varying durations in the original home of the Vedic people. We can now also satisfactorily explain why Tishtrya is described (Yt. VIII, 36, vide Spiegel’s Trans.) as “bringing hither the circling years of men.” It is the Avestic parallel of the Vedic story of the Dawn setting in motion “the ages of men, or *mânushâ yugâ*,”