List members , I think everyone in this group should read the following extract from Page 237 to Page 242 from "The Arctic Home of the Vedas" . It is quite evident that the Rig Veda was (allegorically) referring to a whole Earth water cycle , where in the oceans on outer surface of Earth are connected to those of inner earth via the Abyss or the bottomless pit (the North Polar opening) . It also hints at the fact that fresh water emanates from the Polar openings into the oceans on the outer surface :-
It has been noticed above that the passages, where waters are
said to be released by Indra after killing Vṛitra do not refer expressly
to the rain-cloud. The words parvata, giri and the like are used to
denote the place where the waters were confined, and âpah or
sindhus, to denote the waters themselves. Now âpah, or waters
generally, are mentioned in a number of places in the يig-Veda, and
the word in many places denotes the celestial or aerial waters. Thus
we are told that they follow the path of the gods, and are to be found
beside the sun, who is with them (I, 23, 17). In VII, 49, 2, we have an
express statement that there are waters, which are celestial (divyâh
âpah), and also those that flow in earthly
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channels (khanitrimâh, thus clearly distinguishing between terrestrial
and celestial waters. In the same verse they are said to have the sea
or the ocean for the goal; and in VIII, 69, 12, the seven rivers are said
to flow into the jaws of Varuna as into a surging abyss. Varuna again
is described as the god, who, like Indra, makes the rivers flow (II, 28,
4); and we have seen that the sage Dîrghatamas is said to have been
borne on the waters wending to their goal (I, 158, 6). But it is
needless to cite more authorities on this point, for scholars are
agreed that both celestial and terrestrial waters are mentioned in the
يig-Veda. The nature, the character, or the movements of celestial
waters appear, however, to be very imperfectly understood; and this
is the sole reason why scholars have not yet been able to connect the
release of the waters with the recovery of the dawn in the Vṛitra
legend. It seems to have been supposed that when the يig-Veda
speaks of the celestial waters (dîvyâh âpah) only the rain-waters are
intended. But this is a mistake; for, in passages which speak of the
creation of the world (X, 82, 6; 129, 3), the world is said to have once
consisted of nothing but undifferentiated waters. In short, the يigVeda, like the Hebrew Testament, expressly states that the world was
originally full of waters, and that there were the waters in the
firmament above and waters below. The Shatapatha Brâhmana (XI,
1, 6, 1), the Aitareya Upanishad (I, 1) and Manu (I, 9), all say that the
world was created from watery vapors. There can, there fore, be no
doubt that the idea of celestial waters was well-known to the
ancestors of the Vedic bards in early days; and as the celestial
waters were conceived to be the material out of which the universe
was created, it is probable that the Vedic bards understood by that
phrase what the modern scientist now understand by “ether” or “the
nebulous mass of matter” that fills all-the space in the universe. We
need not, however, go so far. It is enough for our purpose to know
that the celestial waters (divyâh âpah), or the watery vapors
(purisham), are mentioned in the يig-Veda and that the Vedic bards
considered the space or the region above, below
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and around them to be full of these celestial vapors which are said to
be coeval with the world in X, 30, 10.
It is, however, alleged by Wallis in his Cosmology of the RigVeda (p. 115) that the Vedic bards were not acquainted with the
regions below the earth, and that every thing, which is described in
the Vedas as occurring in the atmosphere, including the movements
of the sun during night and day, must, be placed in the regions of the
sky, which were over the head of these bards. This view appears to
be adopted by Macdonell in his Vedic Mythology; and if it be correct,
we shall have to place all the waters in the upper heaven. But I do not
think that Wallis has correctly interpreted the passages quoted by
Prof. Zimmer in support of his theory that a rajas (region) exists below
the earth; and we cannot, therefore accept Wallis’ conclusions, which
are evidently based upon prepossessions derived most probably from
the Homeric controversy. Prof. Zimmer refers to three passages (VI,
9, 1; VII, 80, 1; V, 81, 4) to prove that a rajas beneath the earth was
known to the Vedic people. The first of these passages is the wellknown verse regarding the bright and the dark day. It says, “the bright
day and the dark day, both roll the two rajas by the well-known
paths.” Here the two rajas are evidently the upper and the lower
celestial hemisphere; but Wallis asks us to compare this verse with I,
185, 1, where day and night are said “to revolve like two wheels,” that
is, to circle round from east to west, the one rising as the other goes
down, and observes that “We are in no way obliged to consider that
the progress of either is continued below the earth.” I am unable to
understand how we can draw such an inference from these
passages. In VI, 9, 1, quoted by Zimmer, two rajas or atmospheres
are men tinned, and the bright and the dark day are said to roll along
both these rajas or regions. But if we hold with Wallis that the
progress of either begins in the east and stops in the west, without
going below the earth, the whole movement becomes confined to one
rajas or region and does not extend over the two. Zimmer’s
interpretation is, therefore, not only more
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probable, but the only one that explains the use of rajasî (in the dual),
or the two regions, in the verse. The next passage (VII, 80, 1) is also
misunderstood by Wallis. It describes the dawn as “unrolling the two
regions (rajasî), which border on each other (samante), revealing all
things. Now; the dawn always appears on the horizon and the two
rajas, which it unrolls and which are said to border on each other,
must meet on this horizon. They can therefore only represent the
lower and the upper celestial sphere. But Wallis would have us
believe that both these rajasî are above the earth, and that narrowing
down together towards east and west they meet on the horizon like
two arched curves over one’s head! The artificial character of this
explanation is self-evident, and I see no reason why we should adopt
it in preference to the simple and natural explanation of Zimmer,
unless we start with a preconceived notion that references to the
regions below the earth ought not to be and cannot be found in the
يig-Veda. The third passage pointed out by Zimmer is V, 81, 4, which
says “O Savitṛi! Thou goest round (parîyase) the night, on both sides
(ubhayatah). “Here Wallis proposes to translate parîyase by
“encompassest;” but parîyase ordinarily means “goest round,” and
there is no reason why the idea of motion usually implied by it should
be here abandoned. It will thus be seen that the conclusion of Wallis
is based upon the distortion of passages which Zimmer interprets in a
simpler and a more natural way: and that Zimmer’s view is more in
accordance with the natural meaning of these texts. But if an express
passage
be still needed to prove conclusively that the region below the earth
was known to the Vedic bards, we refer to VII, 104, 11, where the
bard prays for the destruction of his enemies and says, “Let him
(enemy) go down below the three earths (tisrah prîthivih adhah).”
Here the region below the three earths is expressly mentioned; and
since the enemy is to be condemned to it, it must be a region of
torment and pain like the Hades. In X, 152, 4, we read, “One who
injures ms, let him be sent to the: nether darkness (adharam tamah),”
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and, comparing this with the last passage, it is evident that the region
below the earth was conceived as dark. In III, 73, 21, we have, “Let
him, who hates us, fall downwards (adharah),” and in 11, 12, 4, the
brood of the Dasyu, whom India killed, is said to be “sent to the
unknown nether world (adharam guhâkah).” These passages directly
show that region below the earth was not only known to the Vedic
bards, but was conceived as filled with darkness, and made the
scene of India’s tight with Vṛitra. It may, however, be alleged that
“below the three earths” may simply mean underneath the surface of
the earth. But, in that case, it was not necessary to speak of all the
three earths, and since we are told that the region is below all the
three earths, it can refer only to the nether world. This is further
proved by the passage which describes what is above the three
earths. The expression, corresponding to tisrah prîthivih adhah or
“the region below the three earths,” will be tisrah prîthivih upari or the
region above the three earths,” and as a matter of fact this expression
is also found in the يig-Veda. Thus in I, 34, 8, we are told that “the
Ashvins, moving above the three earths (tisrah prîthivih upari), protect
the vault or the top of heaven (divo nâkam) through days and nights”;
and Ashvins are said to have come on their car from a distant region
(parâvat) in the preceding verse of the same hymn. The phrase divo
nâkam occurs several times in the يig-Veda and means the top or
the vault of the heaven. Thus in IV, 13, 5, the sun is said to guard
(pâti) the vault of the heaven (divo nâkam); and as regards the threefold division of the earth it is mentioned in several places in the يigVeda (I, 102, 8; IV, 53, 5; VII, 87, 5), and also in the Avesta (Yt. XIII,
3; Yasna, XI, 7). In IV, 53, 5, this three-fold division is further
extended to antariksha, rajas, rochana and dyu or heaven. This
shows what we are to understand by “three earths.” It is the one and
the same earth, regarded as three-fold; and since the Ashvins are
described as protecting the vault of heaven by moving “above the
three earths,” it is clear that in contrast with the vault above, a nether
region, as far below
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the three earths as the heaven is above them, must have been
conceived and denoted by the phrase “below the three earths,” and
that the latter expression did not merely mean an interterranean
ground. When we meet with two such phrases as the heaven “above
the three earths,” and the region “below the three earths,” in the يigVeda, phrases, which cannot be mistaken or misunderstood, the
hypothesis that the Vedic bards were not acquainted with the nether
world at once falls to the ground.
Regards
) pizza maker. The middle of the pizza could develop very thin portions and holes in it and the outer would remain thick. When cooked it would be further pronounced with pockets and strange stretching, etc. I think you get the idea - but multiple holes and pockets form and - where thin - the holes are most easily seen and pass from the top to the pan on the bottom.