The Arctic Home in the Vedas c9.33.3

c9.33.3

Thus *vi-muchya* is explained by him as *rathât vishlishya* in I, 104, 1, and *rathât vi-muchya* in III, 32, 1, and *rathât visrijya* in X, 160, 1, (also compare I, 171, 1; I, 177, 4; VI, 40, 1). The most natural meaning of the present verse would, therefore, be that the 'sun unyoked his carriage.' But even supposing that *vi much* can be interpreted to mean 'to loosen for travel,' the expression would be appropriate only when there is an antecedent stoppage or slow motion of the sun. The question why the sun stopped or slackened his motion in the midst of the sky would, therefore, still remain unsolved. The phrase *divaḥ madhye* naturally means ‘in the midst of the sky,’ and cannot be interpreted to mean ‘towards the mid-heaven.’ Of course if the sun was below the horizon, we may describe him as having loosened his horses for travel as in V, 62, 1; but even there the meaning seems to be that the horses rested at the place. In the present case the sun is already in the midst of heaven, and we cannot take him below the horizon without a palpable distortion of meaning. Nor can we properly explain the action of retaliation (*pratimânam*), if we accept Sâyaṇa’s interpretation. We must, therefore, interpret the first half of the verse to mean that “the sun unyoked his carriage in the midst of heaven.” There is another passage in the Rig-Veda which speaks of the sun halting in the midst of heaven.