Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1The lightning would be ' Cp. IX, roo, 3: ‘Send forth mind-yoked thought, as the thunder sends forth rain.’ INTRODUCTION, XXiil compared with the filter of white sheep’s wool, through which the Soma-juice percolates into the vat. The same simile, in my opinion, is implied wherever the formula pavate (4) vrish¢im, ‘he clarifies himself into rain,’ is used (IX, 49,1; 33 55,33 24; 96,14; 108,10). And, in truth, the simile seems to mea very striking one; but we must not, of course, think of single flashes of lightning such as we are accustomed to in our northern climes (and as are doubtless implied in the Vedic conception of the Vagra or thunderbolt), but of that continuous and widespread electric illumination (vi-dyut) which forms a characteristic feature of the monsoon, when the showers of rain seem to flow through an immense space of light?. 1 For a description of this phenomenon in the districts where we must imagine the Vedic poets to have composed their hymns, see Elphinstone, Account of the Kingdom of Cabool, p. 126 seq.
21 For a description of this phenomenon in the districts where we must imagine the Vedic poets to have composed their hymns, see Elphinstone, Account of the Kingdom of Cabool, p. 126 seq. I cannot forbear here to quote a few extracts from a graphic description of the setting in of the monsoon in India proper, given in the Rev. H. Caunter’s Oriental Annual (1834) :—‘ There was a slight haze upon the distant waters which seemed gradually to thicken, although not to a density sufficient to refract the rays of the sun, which still flooded the broad sea with one unvarying mass of glowing light . . . . Towards the afternoon, the aspect of the sky began to change; the horizon gathered blackness, and the sun, which had risen so brightly, had evidently culminated in darkness, and to have his splendour veiled from human sight by a long, gloomy period of storm and turbulence. Masses of heavy clouds appeared to rise from the sea, black and portentous, accompanied by sudden gusts of wind, that suddenly died away, being succeeded by an intense, death-like stillness, as if the air were in a state of utter stagnation, and its vital properties arrested. It seemed no longer to circulate, until again agitated by the brief but mighty gusts which swept fiercely along, like the giant heralds of the sky. Meanwhile the lower circle of the heavens looked a deep brassy red, from the partial reflection of the sunbeams upon the thick clouds, which had now everywhere overspread it .... From the house which we occupied we could behold the setting in of the monsoon in all its grand and terrific sublimity. The wind, with a force which nothing could resist, bent the tufted heads of the tall, slim cocoa-nut trees almost to the earth, flinging the light sand into the air in eddying vortices, until the rain had either so increased its gravity, or beaten it into a mass, as to prevent the wind from raising it. The pale lightning streamed from the clouds in broad sheets of flame, which appeared to encircle the heavens as if every element had been converted into fire, and the world was on the eve of a general conflagration, whilst the peal, which instantly followed, was like the explosion of a gunpowder-magazine, or the discharge of artillery in the gorge of a mountain, where the repercussion of surrounding hills multiplies with terrific energy its deep and astounding echoes. The heavens seemed to be XxiVv SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA,
3The heavens seemed to be XxiVv SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA, The striking coincidences between the Vedic Agnishfoma and the Homa ceremony of the P4rsis, pointed out by Martin Haug (Ait. Br. I, p. 59 seq.), leave no doubt as to the complete development of the Soma-ritual in its essential features before the separation of the Indo-Iranians. The exact identity of the plant from which their sacred liquor was prepared is still somewhat doubtful. An official inquiry which has been set on foot in consequence of two papers published by Prof. Roth (Journal of Germ. Or. Soc. 1881 and 1883), and translated by Mr. C. J. Lyall, secretary to the Chief Commissioner of Assam, and which, it is understood, is now carried on, on the part of the Government of India, by Dr. Aitchison, botanist to the Afghan Boundary Commission, will probably ere long settle the matter once for all. The appearance of the first official blue-book on the subject has already led to a renewed discussion of the matter, in the columns of a weekly journal?, in which Profs. Max Miiller and R. v. Roth, as well as several distinguished botanists, especially Drs. J. G. Baker and W. T. Thiselton Dyer, have taken part. Of especial interest in this discussion isa letter”, by Mr. A. Houttum-Schindler, dated Teheran, December 20, 1884,in which an account is given of the plant from which the present Parsis of Kerm4n and Yezd obtain their Him juice, and which they assert to be the very same one vast reservoir of flame, which was propelled from its voluminous bed by some invisible but omnipotent agency, and threatened to fling its fiery ruin upon everything around. In some parts, however, of the pitchy vapour by which the skies were by this time completely overspread, the lightning was seen only occasionally to glimmer in faint streaks of light, as if struggling, but unable, to escape from its prison, igniting, but too weak to burst, the impervious bosoms of those capacious magazines in which it was at once engendered and pent up. So heavy and continuous was the rain, that scarcely anything, save those vivid bursts of light which nothing could arrest or resist, was perceptible through it .... Day after day the same scene was repeated with somewhat less violence, though at intervals the might of the hurricane was truly appalling .... The breaking up of the monsoon is frequently even more violent, if possible, than its setting in, and this happened to be the case during the first season after my arrival in India. It was truly stupendous, and I shall never cease to remember it to the latest moment of my existence.’ 1 The Academy, Oct. 25, 1884—Feb. 14, 1885. 3 Ibid., Jan. 31, 1885. INTRODUCTION. XXV
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1The lightning would be ' Cp. IX, roo, 3: ‘Send forth mind-yoked thought, as the thunder sends forth rain.’ INTRODUCTION, XXiil compared with the filter of white sheep’s wool, through which the Soma-juice percolates into the vat. The same simile, in my opinion, is implied wherever the formula pavate (4) vrish¢im, ‘he clarifies himself into rain,’ is used (IX, 49,1; 33 55,33 24; 96,14; 108,10). And, in truth, the simile seems to mea very striking one; but we must not, of course, think of single flashes of lightning such as we are accustomed to in our northern climes (and as are doubtless implied in the Vedic conception of the Vagra or thunderbolt), but of that continuous and widespread electric illumination (vi-dyut) which forms a characteristic feature of the monsoon, when the showers of rain seem to flow through an immense space of light?. 1 For a description of this phenomenon in the districts where we must imagine the Vedic poets to have composed their hymns, see Elphinstone, Account of the Kingdom of Cabool, p. 126 seq.
21 For a description of this phenomenon in the districts where we must imagine the Vedic poets to have composed their hymns, see Elphinstone, Account of the Kingdom of Cabool, p. 126 seq. I cannot forbear here to quote a few extracts from a graphic description of the setting in of the monsoon in India proper, given in the Rev. H. Caunter’s Oriental Annual (1834) :—‘ There was a slight haze upon the distant waters which seemed gradually to thicken, although not to a density sufficient to refract the rays of the sun, which still flooded the broad sea with one unvarying mass of glowing light . . . . Towards the afternoon, the aspect of the sky began to change; the horizon gathered blackness, and the sun, which had risen so brightly, had evidently culminated in darkness, and to have his splendour veiled from human sight by a long, gloomy period of storm and turbulence. Masses of heavy clouds appeared to rise from the sea, black and portentous, accompanied by sudden gusts of wind, that suddenly died away, being succeeded by an intense, death-like stillness, as if the air were in a state of utter stagnation, and its vital properties arrested. It seemed no longer to circulate, until again agitated by the brief but mighty gusts which swept fiercely along, like the giant heralds of the sky. Meanwhile the lower circle of the heavens looked a deep brassy red, from the partial reflection of the sunbeams upon the thick clouds, which had now everywhere overspread it .... From the house which we occupied we could behold the setting in of the monsoon in all its grand and terrific sublimity. The wind, with a force which nothing could resist, bent the tufted heads of the tall, slim cocoa-nut trees almost to the earth, flinging the light sand into the air in eddying vortices, until the rain had either so increased its gravity, or beaten it into a mass, as to prevent the wind from raising it. The pale lightning streamed from the clouds in broad sheets of flame, which appeared to encircle the heavens as if every element had been converted into fire, and the world was on the eve of a general conflagration, whilst the peal, which instantly followed, was like the explosion of a gunpowder-magazine, or the discharge of artillery in the gorge of a mountain, where the repercussion of surrounding hills multiplies with terrific energy its deep and astounding echoes. The heavens seemed to be XxiVv SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA,
3The heavens seemed to be XxiVv SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA, The striking coincidences between the Vedic Agnishfoma and the Homa ceremony of the P4rsis, pointed out by Martin Haug (Ait. Br. I, p. 59 seq.), leave no doubt as to the complete development of the Soma-ritual in its essential features before the separation of the Indo-Iranians. The exact identity of the plant from which their sacred liquor was prepared is still somewhat doubtful. An official inquiry which has been set on foot in consequence of two papers published by Prof. Roth (Journal of Germ. Or. Soc. 1881 and 1883), and translated by Mr. C. J. Lyall, secretary to the Chief Commissioner of Assam, and which, it is understood, is now carried on, on the part of the Government of India, by Dr. Aitchison, botanist to the Afghan Boundary Commission, will probably ere long settle the matter once for all. The appearance of the first official blue-book on the subject has already led to a renewed discussion of the matter, in the columns of a weekly journal?, in which Profs. Max Miiller and R. v. Roth, as well as several distinguished botanists, especially Drs. J. G. Baker and W. T. Thiselton Dyer, have taken part. Of especial interest in this discussion isa letter”, by Mr. A. Houttum-Schindler, dated Teheran, December 20, 1884,in which an account is given of the plant from which the present Parsis of Kerm4n and Yezd obtain their Him juice, and which they assert to be the very same one vast reservoir of flame, which was propelled from its voluminous bed by some invisible but omnipotent agency, and threatened to fling its fiery ruin upon everything around. In some parts, however, of the pitchy vapour by which the skies were by this time completely overspread, the lightning was seen only occasionally to glimmer in faint streaks of light, as if struggling, but unable, to escape from its prison, igniting, but too weak to burst, the impervious bosoms of those capacious magazines in which it was at once engendered and pent up. So heavy and continuous was the rain, that scarcely anything, save those vivid bursts of light which nothing could arrest or resist, was perceptible through it .... Day after day the same scene was repeated with somewhat less violence, though at intervals the might of the hurricane was truly appalling .... The breaking up of the monsoon is frequently even more violent, if possible, than its setting in, and this happened to be the case during the first season after my arrival in India. It was truly stupendous, and I shall never cease to remember it to the latest moment of my existence.’ 1 The Academy, Oct. 25, 1884—Feb. 14, 1885. 3 Ibid., Jan. 31, 1885. INTRODUCTION. XXV
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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