History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c95.33

v7.c95.33

Varuṇa is said to have spread antarikṣa on forests, spread the Sun in heaven and Soma on mountains (Ṛg V. 85. 2). Even in the times of the Ṛgveda speculation had begun about the distance between heaven and earth. In Ṛg. I. 155. 5 the poet says that no one dare soar up to the third step of Viṣṇu (i. e. heaven), not even the birds flying on their wings. In the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa the distance between the earth and heaven is put at one thousand days' journey for a horse ²⁴⁴⁴