The Arctic Home in the Vedas c12.48

Language: English

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We have come to the conclusion that Indra’s fight with Vṛitra must have commenced in Sharad, and lasted till the end of Shishira in the watery regions of the nether world. Fortunately for us this conclusion is remarkably borne out by an important passage preserved in the Ṛig-Veda, which gives us, what may be called, the very date of the commencement of Indra’s conflict with Vṛitra, though the true bearing of the passage has yet remained unexplained owing to the absence of the real key to its meaning. In II, 12, 11, we read, “Indra found Shambara dwelling on the mountains (in) *chatvârimshyâm sharadi*.”¹ Now *chatvârimshyâm* is an ordinal numeral in the feminine gender and in the locative case, and similarly *sharadi* is the locative of *sharad* (autumn), which also is a word of feminine gender in Sanskrit. The phrase *chatvârimshyâm sharadi* is, therefore, capable of two interpretations or constructions, though the words are simple in themselves. *Chatvârimshyâm* literally means ‘in the fortieth,’ and *sharadi* ‘in autumn.’ If we now take *chatvârimshyâm* (in the fortieth) as an adjective qualifying *sharadi* (in autumn), the meaning of the phrase would be “in the fortieth autumn”;

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while if the two words are taken separately the meaning would be “on the fortieth, in autumn.” Sâyaṇa and Western scholars have adopted the first construction, and understand the passage to mean, “Indra found Shambara dwelling on the mountains *in the fortieth autumn*, that is, in the fortieth year”; for the words indicating seasons, like *Vasanta* (spring), *Sharad* (autumn), or *Hemanta* (winter), are understood to denote a year, especially when used with a numeral adjective meaning more than one. This construction is grammatically correct, for *chatvârimshyâm* and *sharadi* being both in the feminine gender and in the locative case, the two words can be taken together, and understood to mean “in the fortieth autumn or year.” But what are we to understand by the statement, that Shambara was found in the fortieth year by Indra? Are we to suppose that Indra was engaged in searching out the demon for 40 years, and it was only at the end of this long period that the enemy was, at last, found dwelling on the mountains?

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If so, Indra’s conflict with Shambara cannot be daily or yearly, but must be supposed to have taken place only once in 40 years, an inference, which is directly opposed to the statement (X, 62, 2) that “Vala was killed at the end of the year (parivatsare).” Some scholars try to get out of the difficulty by suggesting that the passage may be taken as referring to a famine or drought that occurred after 40 years, or that it may represent a forty years’ war between the Aryans protected by Indra, and Shambara, the chief of the aboriginal races dwelling on the mountains! But both these explanations are too far-fetched and imaginary to deserve any serious attention or refutation. The story of Shambara is mentioned in a number of places in the Rig-Veda, and everywhere it represents Indra’s conflict with Vritra.¹ It is, therefore, preposterous to hold that a forty years’ war with the aboriginies is referred to in this single passage, especially when the passage is capable of being interpreted differently without straining the words used. It is the most ordinary Sanskrit idiom to use the locative case in mentioning the month, the day, the season or the year, when a particular incident is said to have taken place.

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Thus, even now, we say, “Kârttike, shukla-pakshe, trayodashyâm,” meaning “in the month of Kârttika, in the bright half, on the thirteenth (tithi or day).” The feminine ordinal numerals, like chaturthî, ekâdashî, trayodashî, are always used, without any noun, to denote the tithi or the day of the month, or the fortnight, as the case may be. Thus in the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa (I, 1, 9, 10), we have the expression “yadi samvatsare na âdadhyât dvâdashyâm purastât âdadhyât,” meaning that “if the sacrificial fire is not consecrated at the end of the year (samvatsare), it should be consecrated on the twelfth (dvâdashyâm) afterwards.” Here dvâdashyâm is a feminine ordinal in the locative case used by itself, and means “on the twelfth tithi or day” after the end of the year mentioned in the preceding sentence.