Vedic Mythology c8.s1.9

c8.s1.9

B. Vala⁶. This word occurs about twenty-four times in the RV. and is regularly connected with the release of the cows by Indra or his allies, especially the Aṅgirases (§ 54). Vala is a guardian of cows, whom Indra rent when he robbed Paṇi of his cows (10, 67⁶ cp. 6, 39²). He laments for his cows when taken by Bṛhaspati (10, 68¹⁰ cp. 67⁶). He has castles which were forced open by Indra (6, 18⁵), fences which were pierced by Indra (1, 52⁵), and an unbroken summit which was broken by Indra (6, 39²). The TS. (2, 1, 5¹) speaks of Indra having opened the hole (*bila*) of Vala and cast out the best beast in it, a thousand others following. There are, however, several passages in which the word is still unpersonified. The primary meaning in these cases seems to have been 'covering' or 'cave' (from the root *vṛ*, to cover). Thus the word is twice (1, 62⁴; 4, 50⁵) used in apposition with *phaliga*, the receptacle of the (atmospheric) waters (8, 32²⁵) and appears in the Naighaṇṭuka (1, 10) as a synonym of *megha*, 'cloud'. Indra is said to have driven out the cows and opened (*apa var*) the *vala* (2, 14³) or to have opened (*apāvar*) the aperture (cp. 1, 32¹¹) of the *vala* containing cows (1, 115). The PB. (19, 7) speaks of the cave (*vala*) of the Asuras being closed with a stone. In several passages the word may have either the primary or the personified sense (1, 52⁵; 2, 12³; 3, 34¹⁰). It has probably the latter in Indra's epithet *valaṃruja*, 'breaker of Vala', which occurs immediately after *vṛtrakhāda*, 'destroyer of Vṛtra' (3, 45² cp. 2, 12³). The transition to the personified meaning appears in a passage (3, 30¹⁰) in which Vala is spoken of as the stable (*vraja*) of the cow and as having opened (*vi āra*) for fear before Indra strikes. That the personification is not fully developed, is indicated by the action of Indra and others, when they attack Vala, being generally expressed by *bhid*, 'to pierce', sometimes by *dṛ*, 'to cleave', or *ruj*, 'to break', but not (as in the case of Vṛtra) by *han*, 'to slay'. The connexion of the verb *bhid* with the name of Vala is preserved in *valabhid*, which is a frequent epithet of Indra in post-Vedic literature. Here Vala is regarded as the brother of Vṛtra, and the two are associated in Indra's compound epithet *vala-vṛtra-han*, 'Slayer of Vala and Vṛtra'.