NO. I THE DARKER SIDE OF DAWN COOMARASWAM Y "J 



tering-folk ", and in VII, 69, 4, where " at the end of her wandering, 

 the Daughter of the Sun chooses his glory (sriyam) "? The proces- 

 sion of Usas is in fact described in terms exactly parallel to those 

 of I, 24, 8 cited above with respect to the procession of the Sun : in 

 I, 152, 3, "The footless-maid proceeds as first of footed things" 

 (apad eti prathanui padvatlnam), and this is nearly identical with 

 VT, 59, 6 " This footless-maid came earliest forth to footed things " 

 (apad lyaui piirva a agat padvat'ibhyah . apad in both passages repre- 

 senting apad'i). That is as much as to say that she, who had been a 

 " serpent ", now assumes an angelic-human form. The same is im- 

 plied when it is said that " Our Lady puts off her dark robe " (apa 

 krsnan nirnijam devl avarityavah, I, 113, 14, cf. VIII, 41, 10. where 

 it is Varuna that " makes the black robes white ", svetan adhi nirnijas 

 cakrc krsnan) ; for this is the same as putting off desuetude and 

 impotence (I, 140, 8 jaram pra niuncan, Pancavimsa Brdhiimnan, 

 XXV, 17, 3 jaram apahat, etc.), it is really the snake-skin, the 

 old skin, jtrndn tacam as in Pancavimsa Brahmana, XXV, 15, 

 that is taken off. It is similarly that Urvasi and her sisters, in 

 X, 95, 8-9, " evade Puriiruvas like snakes " (tarasantl na hhujyiih), 

 but when they yield " display themselves as swans " (dtayo na tanvah 

 snmbhata), or "with swan-skins", for tanu is often tantamount to 

 "' skin ". 



In I, 185. where Day and Night (ahanl) are if not absolutely 

 identified with, at least very closely assimilated to Heaven and Earth 

 (dyavaprfhivl. or rodas'i), it is said, in the second verse, that "The 

 twain (unspecified),'' though not proceeding (acarantl) and footless 

 {apad'i), yet support a mighty Germ {garhha = Agn\) that proceeds 

 and hath feet " (carantam padvantam) . This is closely related to X, 

 22, 14, " Thou smotest Susna to the right for sake of Universal-Life 

 {visvdyavc, i. e. for Agni), that Earth (ksah) that had neither hands 

 nor feet {ahastd yad apad'i, cf. Ill, 30, 8, cited above) might wax " 

 (vardliata), and III, 55, 14 where "As having feet (padyd) she 

 standeth up erect {urddhvd tasfhau), adorned with many beauties ". 



We can now compare all of the foregoing matter with a part of the 

 account of the marriage of Surya in X, 85, 28-30. Here, immediately 

 before her actual wedding, Surya is called Krtya," and it is only 

 when this krtya nature that is like a clinging garment (asakti) is 

 put off that she comes to her husband : " Krtya that clingeth close is 

 taken off (vyajydte) .... this Krtya hath come to be with feet and 

 consorts with her husband as a bride" (krtya esd padvati hhutvd 

 jdyCi visatc patim).^' The text goes on to describe the inauspicious 

 aspect of the Sun himself when united with this same Krtya. ab intra: 



