The Arctic Home in the Vedas c9.5

c9.5

But apart from this legendary struggle, there are other verses in the Rig-Veda which plainly indicate the existence of a night longer than the longest cis-Arctic night. In the first place the Vedic bards are seen frequently invoking their deities to release them from darkness. Thus in II, 27, 14, the poet says “ Aditi, Mitra and also Varuna, forgive if we have committed any sin against you! May I obtain the wide fearless light, O Indra! May not the long darkness come over us.” The expression in the original for ‘long darkness’ is *dīrghāḥ tamisrāḥ*, and means rather an ‘uninterrupted succession of dark nights (*tamisrāḥ* )’ than simply ‘long darkness.’ But even adopting Max Muller’s rendering given above, ¹ the anxiety here manifested for the disappearance of the long darkness is unmeaning, if the darkness never lasted for more than twenty-four hours. In I, 46, 6, the Ashvins are asked “to vouchsafe such strength to the worshipper as may carry him through darkness”; and in VII, 67, 2 the poet exclaims:—“The fire has commenced to burn, the ends of darkness have been seen, and the banner of the Dawn has appeared in the east!” ² The expression ‘ends of darkness’ (*tamasaḥ antāḥ*) is very peculiar, and it would be a violation of idiom to take this and other expressions indicating ‘long darkness’ to mean nothing more than long winter nights, as we have them in the temperate or the tropical zone. As stated previously the longest winter night in these zones must be, at best, a little short of twenty-four hours, and even then these long nights prevail only for a fortnight or so. It is, therefore, very unlikely that Vedic bards perpetuated the memory of these long nights by making it a grievance of such importance as to require the aid of their deities to relieve them from There are other passages where the same longing for the end of darkness or for the appearance of light is expressed, and these cannot be accounted for on the theory that to the old Vedic bards night was as death, since they had no means, which a civilised person in the twentieth century possesses, of dispelling the darkness of night by artificial illumination. Even the modern savages are not reported to be in the habit of exhibiting such impatience for the morning light as we find in the utterances of the Vedic bards; and yet the latter were so much advanced in civilisation as to know the use of metals and carriages. Again not only men, but Gods, are said to have lived in long darkness. Thus, in X, 124, 1, Agni is told that he has stayed "too long in the long darkness," the phrase used being *jyog eva dīrgham tama āshayishṭāḥ*. This double phrase *jyog* (long) and *dīrgham* is still more inappropriate, if the duration of darkness never exceeded that of the longest winter-night. In II, 2, 2, the same deity, Agni, is said to shine during "continuous nights," which, according to Max Muller, is the meaning of the word *kṣapaḥ* in the original.¹ The translation is no doubt correct, but Prof. Max Muller does not explain to us what he means by the phrase "continuous nights." Does it signify a succession of nights uninterrupted by sunlight? Or, is it only an elegant rendering, meaning nothing more than a number of nights? The learned translator seems to have narrowly missed the true import of the phrase employed by him.