Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1389. Verse 138. Note 1. Sasa, masc., means a spell, whether for good or for evil, a blessing as well as a curse. It means a curse, or, at all events, a calumny: I, 18, 3. m& nak sdmsahk drarushak dhort{h pranak martyasya. Let not the curse of the enemy, the onslaught of a mortal hurt us, I, 94, 8. asmakam sdmsah abhi astu dus-dhyas. May our curse overcome the wicked! III, 18, 2, tapa sdsam drarushad. Burn the curse of the enemy ! NOTES, I, 166, 13. 271 VII, 25, 2. Aré tam sdmsam krinuhi ninitsd’. Take far away the curse of the reviler! Cf. VII, 34, 12. It means blessing : II, 31, 6. utd vak s4msam usigdm-iva smasi. _ We desire your blessing as a blessing for suppliants. X, 31,1. & nak devindm upa vetu samsah. May the blessing of the gods come to us! X, 7,1. urushyd nak uri-bhid deva samsaih, Protect us, god, with thy wide blessings! II, 23, 10. m& nak duh-sdmsah abhi-dipsuz tsata pra susamsah mati-bhiz tarishimahi. Let not an evil-speaking enemy conquer us; may we, enjoying good report, increase by our prayers! In some passages, however, as pointed out by Grassmann, s4msa may best be rendered by singer, praiser, Grassmann marks one passage only, II, 26, 1. righ it sdmmsak vanavat vanushyata/. May the righteous singer conquer his enemies. He admits, however, doubtfully, the explanation of B. R.,. that riguk sdmsak may be taken as one word, meaning, ‘requiring the right.’ This explanation seems surrendered by B.R. in the second edition of their Dictionary, and I doubt whether s4msak can mean here anything but singer. That being so, the same meaning seems more appropriate in other verses also, which I formerly translated differently, e. g. VII, 56, 19.. imé sdasam vanushyata/ nf panti, - They, the Maruts, protect the singer from his enemy. Lastly, s4mmsa means praise, the spell addressed by men to the gods, or prayer: I, 33, 7. pra sunvata’ stuvatah sdmsam Avah. Thou hast regarded the prayer of him who offers libation and praise. X, 42, 6. yasmin vaydm dadhima sdmsam indre. Indra in whom we place our hope. Cf. sams, Westergaard, Radices Linguae Sanscritae, s.v. sams. 272 VEDIC HYMNS. MANDALA I, HYMN 167. ASHTAKA II, ADHYAYA 4, VARGA 4-5. To THE Maruts (THE SToRM-Gops). 1. O Indra, a thousand have been thy helps accorded to us, a thousand, O driver of the bays, have been thy most delightful viands. May thousands of treasures richly to enjoy, may goods! come to us a thousandfold. 2. May the Maruts come towards us with their aids, the mighty ones, or with their best aids from the great heaven, now that their furthest steeds have rushed forth on the distant shore of the sea; 3. There clings? to the Maruts one who moves in secret, like a man’s wife (the lightning *), and who is like a spear carried behind’, well grasped, resplendent, gold-adorned; there is also with them Vaé (the voice of thunder), like unto a courtly, eloquent woman.
2There clings? to the Maruts one who moves in secret, like a man’s wife (the lightning *), and who is like a spear carried behind’, well grasped, resplendent, gold-adorned; there is also with them Vaé (the voice of thunder), like unto a courtly, eloquent woman. 4. Far away the brilliant, untiring Maruts cling to their young maid, as if she belonged to them all’; but the terrible ones did not drive away Rodast (the lightning), for they wished her to grow ® their friend. 5. When the divine Rodast with dishevelled locks, the manly-minded, wished to follow them, she went, like Sfry4 (the Dawn), to the chariot of her servant, with terrible look, as with the pace of a cloud. 6. As soon as the poet with the libations, O Maruts, had sung his song at the sacrifice, pouring out Soma, the youthful men (the Maruts) placed the young maid (in their chariot) as their companion for victory, mighty in assemblies. MANDALA I, HYMN 167. 273 7. I praise what is the praiseworthy true greatness of those Maruts, that the manly-minded, proud, and strong one (Rodast) drives with them towards the blessed mothers. 8. They protect? Mitra and Varuza from the unspeakable, and Aryaman also finds out the infamous. Even what is firm and unshakable is being shaken*; but he who dispenses treasures °, O Maruts, has grown (in strength). 9. No people indeed, whether near to us, or from afar, have ever found the end of your strength, O Maruts! The Maruts, strong in daring strength, have, like the sea, boldly! surrounded their haters. 10. May we to-day, may we to-morrow in battle be called the most beloved of Indra. We were so formerly, may we truly be so day by day, and may the lord of the Maruts be with us. 11. May this praise, O Maruts, this song of MA4ndarya, the son of MA4na, the poet, ask you with food for offspring for ourselves! May we have an invigorating autumn, with quickening rain ! [32] T 274 VEDIC HYMNS. NOTES. Ascribed to Agastya, addressed to the Maruts, but the first verse to Indra. Metre Trish¢ubh throughout. No verse of this hymn occurs in the SAma-veda, nor in the other Samhitas. Verse 1. Note 1. We must keep vaga, as a general term, distinct from asva, horses, and go, cows, for the poets themselves distinguish between gavyanta/, asvaydnta/, and vagayantah; see IV, 17,16; VI, 8, 6. Verse 3. Note 1. On mimyaksha, see before, I, 165, 1, note 2. Note 2. The spear of the Maruts is meant for the lightning, and we actually find vishd-vidyutak, having the lightning for their spear, as an epithet of the Maruts, - I, 168, 5; V, 52, 13. The rest of this verse is difficult, and has been variously rendered by different scholars. We must remember that the lightning is represented as the wife or the beloved of the Maruts. In that character she is called Rodasi, with the accent on the last syllable, and kept distinct from rddasi, the dual, with the accent on the antepenultimate, which means heaven and earth. This Rodasf occurs:
3In that character she is called Rodasi, with the accent on the last syllable, and kept distinct from rddasi, the dual, with the accent on the antepenultimate, which means heaven and earth. This Rodasf occurs: V, 56, 8. 4 ydsmin tasthdu su-rdvAni bibhrati sA44 marutsu rodasi. The chariot on which, carrying pleasant gifts, stands Rodasi among the Maruts. VI, 50, 5. mimydksha yéshu rodasi nu devi. To whom clings the divine Rodasi. VI, 66, 6. A4dha sma eshu rodasi svd-sokid 4 dmavatsu tasthau na rékah. When they (the Maruts) had joined the two Rodas, ie. heaven and earth, then the self-brilliant Rodast came among the strong ones. The name of Rédasi, heaven and earth, is so much more frequent in the Rig-veda than that of Rodast, that in NOTES. I, 167, 3. 275 several passages the iti which stands after duals, has been wrongly inserted after Rodasi in the singular. It is so in our hymn, verse 4, where we must read rodasfm instead of rodasi iti, and again in X, 92, 11. Besides the lightning, however, the thunder also may be said to be in the company of the Maruts, to be their friend or their wife, and it is this double relationship which seems to be hinted at in our hymn. The thunder is called V4%, voice, the voice of heaven, also called by the author of the Anukramami, Ambhrini. It was natural to identify this ambhriaza with Greek dBpipos, terrible, particularly as it is used of the thunder, d@pimov éBpdvtnce, Hes. Th. 839, and is applied to Athene as é8ptyondtpn- But there are difficulties pointed out by Curtius, Grundziige, p. 532, which have not yet been removed. This Vaék says of herself (X, 125, 12) that she stretched the bow for Rudra, the father of the Maruts, that her birth-place is in the waters (clouds), and that she fills heaven and earth. See also X, 114, 8. In 1,173, 3. antaz dita’ nad rédasi darat vak. The voice (thunder) moved between heaven and earth, like a messenger. In VIII, 100, 10 and 11, after it has been said that the thunderbolt lies hidden in the water, the poet says: yat va4k vadanti avi-ketandni rashfri devdnam ni-sasdda mandra, when the voice, the queen of the gods, the delightful, uttering incomprehensible sounds, sat down. If, in our verse, we take V4% in the sense of thunder, but as a feminine, it seems to me that the poet, speaking of the lightning and thunder as the two companions of the Maruts, represents the first, Rodas?, or the lightning, as the recognised wife, hiding herself in the house, while the other, the loud thunder, is represented as a more public companion of the Maruts, distinctly called vidatheshu pagra (verse 6), a good speaker at assemblies. This contrast, if it is really what the poet intended, throws a curious light on the social character of the Vedic times, as it presupposes two classes of wives, not necessarily simultaneous, however,—a house-wife, who stays at home and is not much seen, and a wife who appears in T2 276 ‘ VEDIC HYMNS.
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.
1389. Verse 138. Note 1. Sasa, masc., means a spell, whether for good or for evil, a blessing as well as a curse. It means a curse, or, at all events, a calumny: I, 18, 3. m& nak sdmsahk drarushak dhort{h pranak martyasya. Let not the curse of the enemy, the onslaught of a mortal hurt us, I, 94, 8. asmakam sdmsah abhi astu dus-dhyas. May our curse overcome the wicked! III, 18, 2, tapa sdsam drarushad. Burn the curse of the enemy ! NOTES, I, 166, 13. 271 VII, 25, 2. Aré tam sdmsam krinuhi ninitsd’. Take far away the curse of the reviler! Cf. VII, 34, 12. It means blessing : II, 31, 6. utd vak s4msam usigdm-iva smasi. _ We desire your blessing as a blessing for suppliants. X, 31,1. & nak devindm upa vetu samsah. May the blessing of the gods come to us! X, 7,1. urushyd nak uri-bhid deva samsaih, Protect us, god, with thy wide blessings! II, 23, 10. m& nak duh-sdmsah abhi-dipsuz tsata pra susamsah mati-bhiz tarishimahi. Let not an evil-speaking enemy conquer us; may we, enjoying good report, increase by our prayers! In some passages, however, as pointed out by Grassmann, s4msa may best be rendered by singer, praiser, Grassmann marks one passage only, II, 26, 1. righ it sdmmsak vanavat vanushyata/. May the righteous singer conquer his enemies. He admits, however, doubtfully, the explanation of B. R.,. that riguk sdmsak may be taken as one word, meaning, ‘requiring the right.’ This explanation seems surrendered by B.R. in the second edition of their Dictionary, and I doubt whether s4msak can mean here anything but singer. That being so, the same meaning seems more appropriate in other verses also, which I formerly translated differently, e. g. VII, 56, 19.. imé sdasam vanushyata/ nf panti, - They, the Maruts, protect the singer from his enemy. Lastly, s4mmsa means praise, the spell addressed by men to the gods, or prayer: I, 33, 7. pra sunvata’ stuvatah sdmsam Avah. Thou hast regarded the prayer of him who offers libation and praise. X, 42, 6. yasmin vaydm dadhima sdmsam indre. Indra in whom we place our hope. Cf. sams, Westergaard, Radices Linguae Sanscritae, s.v. sams. 272 VEDIC HYMNS. MANDALA I, HYMN 167. ASHTAKA II, ADHYAYA 4, VARGA 4-5. To THE Maruts (THE SToRM-Gops). 1. O Indra, a thousand have been thy helps accorded to us, a thousand, O driver of the bays, have been thy most delightful viands. May thousands of treasures richly to enjoy, may goods! come to us a thousandfold. 2. May the Maruts come towards us with their aids, the mighty ones, or with their best aids from the great heaven, now that their furthest steeds have rushed forth on the distant shore of the sea; 3. There clings? to the Maruts one who moves in secret, like a man’s wife (the lightning *), and who is like a spear carried behind’, well grasped, resplendent, gold-adorned; there is also with them Vaé (the voice of thunder), like unto a courtly, eloquent woman.
2There clings? to the Maruts one who moves in secret, like a man’s wife (the lightning *), and who is like a spear carried behind’, well grasped, resplendent, gold-adorned; there is also with them Vaé (the voice of thunder), like unto a courtly, eloquent woman. 4. Far away the brilliant, untiring Maruts cling to their young maid, as if she belonged to them all’; but the terrible ones did not drive away Rodast (the lightning), for they wished her to grow ® their friend. 5. When the divine Rodast with dishevelled locks, the manly-minded, wished to follow them, she went, like Sfry4 (the Dawn), to the chariot of her servant, with terrible look, as with the pace of a cloud. 6. As soon as the poet with the libations, O Maruts, had sung his song at the sacrifice, pouring out Soma, the youthful men (the Maruts) placed the young maid (in their chariot) as their companion for victory, mighty in assemblies. MANDALA I, HYMN 167. 273 7. I praise what is the praiseworthy true greatness of those Maruts, that the manly-minded, proud, and strong one (Rodast) drives with them towards the blessed mothers. 8. They protect? Mitra and Varuza from the unspeakable, and Aryaman also finds out the infamous. Even what is firm and unshakable is being shaken*; but he who dispenses treasures °, O Maruts, has grown (in strength). 9. No people indeed, whether near to us, or from afar, have ever found the end of your strength, O Maruts! The Maruts, strong in daring strength, have, like the sea, boldly! surrounded their haters. 10. May we to-day, may we to-morrow in battle be called the most beloved of Indra. We were so formerly, may we truly be so day by day, and may the lord of the Maruts be with us. 11. May this praise, O Maruts, this song of MA4ndarya, the son of MA4na, the poet, ask you with food for offspring for ourselves! May we have an invigorating autumn, with quickening rain ! [32] T 274 VEDIC HYMNS. NOTES. Ascribed to Agastya, addressed to the Maruts, but the first verse to Indra. Metre Trish¢ubh throughout. No verse of this hymn occurs in the SAma-veda, nor in the other Samhitas. Verse 1. Note 1. We must keep vaga, as a general term, distinct from asva, horses, and go, cows, for the poets themselves distinguish between gavyanta/, asvaydnta/, and vagayantah; see IV, 17,16; VI, 8, 6. Verse 3. Note 1. On mimyaksha, see before, I, 165, 1, note 2. Note 2. The spear of the Maruts is meant for the lightning, and we actually find vishd-vidyutak, having the lightning for their spear, as an epithet of the Maruts, - I, 168, 5; V, 52, 13. The rest of this verse is difficult, and has been variously rendered by different scholars. We must remember that the lightning is represented as the wife or the beloved of the Maruts. In that character she is called Rodasi, with the accent on the last syllable, and kept distinct from rddasi, the dual, with the accent on the antepenultimate, which means heaven and earth. This Rodasf occurs:
3In that character she is called Rodasi, with the accent on the last syllable, and kept distinct from rddasi, the dual, with the accent on the antepenultimate, which means heaven and earth. This Rodasf occurs: V, 56, 8. 4 ydsmin tasthdu su-rdvAni bibhrati sA44 marutsu rodasi. The chariot on which, carrying pleasant gifts, stands Rodasi among the Maruts. VI, 50, 5. mimydksha yéshu rodasi nu devi. To whom clings the divine Rodasi. VI, 66, 6. A4dha sma eshu rodasi svd-sokid 4 dmavatsu tasthau na rékah. When they (the Maruts) had joined the two Rodas, ie. heaven and earth, then the self-brilliant Rodast came among the strong ones. The name of Rédasi, heaven and earth, is so much more frequent in the Rig-veda than that of Rodast, that in NOTES. I, 167, 3. 275 several passages the iti which stands after duals, has been wrongly inserted after Rodasi in the singular. It is so in our hymn, verse 4, where we must read rodasfm instead of rodasi iti, and again in X, 92, 11. Besides the lightning, however, the thunder also may be said to be in the company of the Maruts, to be their friend or their wife, and it is this double relationship which seems to be hinted at in our hymn. The thunder is called V4%, voice, the voice of heaven, also called by the author of the Anukramami, Ambhrini. It was natural to identify this ambhriaza with Greek dBpipos, terrible, particularly as it is used of the thunder, d@pimov éBpdvtnce, Hes. Th. 839, and is applied to Athene as é8ptyondtpn- But there are difficulties pointed out by Curtius, Grundziige, p. 532, which have not yet been removed. This Vaék says of herself (X, 125, 12) that she stretched the bow for Rudra, the father of the Maruts, that her birth-place is in the waters (clouds), and that she fills heaven and earth. See also X, 114, 8. In 1,173, 3. antaz dita’ nad rédasi darat vak. The voice (thunder) moved between heaven and earth, like a messenger. In VIII, 100, 10 and 11, after it has been said that the thunderbolt lies hidden in the water, the poet says: yat va4k vadanti avi-ketandni rashfri devdnam ni-sasdda mandra, when the voice, the queen of the gods, the delightful, uttering incomprehensible sounds, sat down. If, in our verse, we take V4% in the sense of thunder, but as a feminine, it seems to me that the poet, speaking of the lightning and thunder as the two companions of the Maruts, represents the first, Rodas?, or the lightning, as the recognised wife, hiding herself in the house, while the other, the loud thunder, is represented as a more public companion of the Maruts, distinctly called vidatheshu pagra (verse 6), a good speaker at assemblies. This contrast, if it is really what the poet intended, throws a curious light on the social character of the Vedic times, as it presupposes two classes of wives, not necessarily simultaneous, however,—a house-wife, who stays at home and is not much seen, and a wife who appears in T2 276 ‘ VEDIC HYMNS.
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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