The Arctic Home in the Vedas c9.33.2

c9.33.2

As regards the other suggestion, *viz.*, that the sun remained stationary for a while to allow his favourite race, the Aryans, to overthrow their enemies, it seems to have had its origin in the Biblical passage (Joshua, X, 12, 13), where the sun is said to have stood still, at the word of Joshua, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. But there is no authority for importing this Biblical idea into the Rig-Veda. Indra's exploits are described in a number of hymns in the Rig-Veda, but in no other hymn he is said to have made the sun stand still for the Aryans. We must, therefore, reject both the explanations suggested by Griffith. Sâyaṇa gets over the difficulty by interpreting the phrase, *ratham vi amuchat madhye divaḥ*, as meaning that "the sun loosened (*vi amuchat*) his carriage, that is, set it free to travel, towards the middle (*madhye*) of heaven, (*ratham prasthânâya vi-muktavân*)." Sâyaṇa's meaning, therefore, is that when Indra obtained compensation from Vṛitra, he let loose the chariot of the sun to travel towards the midst of the sky. But the construction is evidently a strained one. The verb *vi much* is used in about a dozen places in the Rig-Veda in relation to horses, and everywhere it means to 'unharness,' 'unyoke,' or 'separate the horses from the carriage for rest;' and even Sâyaṇa has interpreted it in the same way.