The Arctic Home in the Vedas c13.12.2

c13.12.2

The epithets uchchâ-budhna (with the bottom up) and jimha-bâra (with its mouth downwards or sidewards), as applied to a well (avata), completely show that something extraordinary, or the reverse of what we usually see, is here intended; and we cannot take them as referring to the clouds, for the well is said to be pushed up (ûrdhvam nunudre) in order to make the waters flow from it hitherward. It may also be observed that in I, 24, 7, the king Varuṇa of hallowed might is said to sustain "erect the Tree's stem in the bottomless (abudhna) region," and "its rays which are hidden from us have," we are told, "their bottom up and flow downwards (nîchînâḥ)." This description of the region of Varuṇa exactly corresponds with the conception of the Hades in which every thing is turned upside down. Being regarded as an inverted hemisphere, it is rightly described, from the point of view of persons in this world, as a supportless region with bottom up and mouth downwards; and it was this bottomless darkness (I, 182, 6), or the bottomless and supportless ocean, in which Bhujyu was plunged, and which he crossed without distress by means of the boats graciously provided by the Ashvins. In the Atharva Veda X, 8, 9, a bowl with mouth inclined or downwards (*tiryag-bilaḥ*), and bottom upwards (*ūrdhva-budhnaḥ*) is said to hold within it every form of glory; and there seven Ṛiṣhis, who have been this Mighty One's protectors, are described as sitting together.¹ The verse occurs also in the Bṛih.