Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1Lanman (p. 427) proposes to read ushari, but the metre would be better preserved by reading vrishévi as trisyllabic. The difficulty is the construction of the gerund vrishévi, which refers to the Maruts, and sydma saha, which refers to the sacrificers. Note 2. On sam yd/, see I, 165, 4, note 2. The metrical structure of this hymn is interesting. If we represent the foot of eight syllables by a, that of twelve by b, we find the following succession : r{ 73b8 u{ 33348 2aaba 4baa 5aaa 8aaa mm} 6 baba v{ 9 baba 4 baba 12aaa v{roaba vi 0 baba {15 abe 1raba 14 baba vil 16 baba We find that I contains the question, II the answer, III description of rain, IV prayer and invitation, V praise of the companions, VI prayer, VII conclusion. Comp. Oldenberg’s Prolegomena, p. 106 seq. ; MANDALA V, HYMN 54. 325 MAMDALA V, HYMN 654, ASH7AKA IV, ADHYAYA 8, VARGA 14-16. To THE Maruts (THE SToRM-Gops). 1. You have fashioned! this speech for the brilliant Marut-host which shakes the mountains : celebrate then the great manhood in honour of that host who praises the warm milk (of the sacrifice), and sacrifices on the height of heaven *, whose glory is brilliant. 2. O Maruts, your powerful men (came) forth searching for water, invigorating, harnessing their horses, swarming around. When they aim with the lightning, Trita shouts, and the waters murmur, running around on their course. 3. These Maruts are men brilliant with lightning, they shoot with thunderbolts, they blaze with the wind, they shake the mountains, and suddenly, when wishing to give water?, they whirl the hail; they have thundering strength, they are robust, they are ever-powerful, 4. When you drive forth! the nights, O Rudras, the days, O powerful men, the sky, the mists, ye shakers, the plains, like ships, and the strongholds, O Maruts, you suffer nowhere. 5. That strength of yours, O Maruts, that greatness extended far as the sun extends its daily course, when you, like your deer on their march, went down to the (western) mountain with untouched splendour'. 6. Your host, O Maruts, shone forth when, O sages, you strip, like a caterpillar, the waving tree’. 326 VEDIC HYMNS. Conduct then, O friends, our service * to a good end, as the eye conducts the man in walking. 7. That man, O Maruts, is not overpowered, he is not killed, he does not fail, he does not shake, he does not drop, his goods do not perish, nor his protections, if you lead him rightly, whether he be a seer or a king. 8. The men with their steeds, like conquerors of clans, like Aryaman (Mitra and Varuma)}, the Maruts, carrying waterskins’, fill the well; when the strong ones roar, they moisten the earth with the juice of sweetness *, — g. When the Maruts come forth this earth bows, the heaven bows, the paths in the sky bow, and the cloud-mountains with their quickening rain.
2When the Maruts come forth this earth bows, the heaven bows, the paths in the sky bow, and the cloud-mountains with their quickening rain. 10. When you rejoice at sunrise, O Maruts, toiling together’, men of Svar (sun-light), men of Dyu (heaven), your horses never tire in running, and you quickly reach the end of your journey. 11. On your shoulders are the spears, on your feet rings, on your chests golden chains, O Maruts, on your chariot gems ; fiery lightnings in your fists, and golden headbands tied round your heads?. 12. O Maruts, you shake the red apple? from the firmament, whose splendour no enemy ? can touch ; the hamlets bowed when the Maruts blazed, and the pious people (the Maruts) intoned their far-reaching shout. 13. O wise Maruts, let us carry off! the wealth of food which you have bestowed on us; give us?, O Maruts, such thousandfold wealth as never fails, like the star Tishya * from heaven ! 14. O Maruts, you protect our wealth of excellent men, and the seer, clever in song; you give to MANDALA V, HYMN 54. 327 Bharata (the warrior)! a strong horse *, you make the king to be obeyed °. 15. O you who are quickly ready to help, I implore you for wealth whereby we may overshadow all men, like the sky. O Maruts, be pleased with this word of mine, and let us speed by its speed over a hundred winters ! 328 ~ VEDIC HYMNS. NOTES. The same poet, Sy4v4sva Atreya. Metre, 1-1 3, 15 Gagati; 14 Trishfubh. None of the verses of this hymn occurs in SV., VS., AV., TS., TB., MS. Verse 1. Note 1. Anaga, explained as a 2nd pers. plur. perf., referring to the same people who are addressed by arkata. It may be also the first person of the imperative; see Benfey, Uber die Entstehung der mit r anlautenden Personalendungen, p. 5, note. Note 2. Possibly the second line of this verse may refer to ceremonial technicalities. Gharma means heat and summer, but also the sacrificial vessel (formus) in which the milk is heated, and the warm milk itself. Yagvan can only mean sacrificing, and divak prishtha is the back of heaven, the highest roof of heaven; see triprisht#a. Thus we read, I, 115, 3. haritak ... divak 4 prishthdm asthud. See also I, 164,10; 166, 5; III, 2,12; IX, 36,6; 66,5; 69, 5; 83, 2; 86, 27. It would seem therefore as ‘if the Maruts themselves were here represented as performing sacrificial acts in the highest heaven, praising the milk, that is, the rain, which they pour down from heaven to earth. Possibly the text is corrupt. If yagyu could have the same meaning as prayagyu, I should like to conjecture, divah 4 prishtham yagyave. In IX, 61, 12. indraya yagyave seems to mean ‘to the chasing Indra.’ See also Ayagi (erjagend), obtaining. Might we conjecture diva 4 prikshaydvane? Prikshay4ma occurs as a name; see also II, 34, 3- Verse 3. Note 1. Abda, wish to give water, is very doubtful. Both abda and abdi, in abdimat, mean cloud. The text seems corrupt. NOTES. V, 54, 5. 329 Verse 4,
3Might we conjecture diva 4 prikshaydvane? Prikshay4ma occurs as a name; see also II, 34, 3- Verse 3. Note 1. Abda, wish to give water, is very doubtful. Both abda and abdi, in abdimat, mean cloud. The text seems corrupt. NOTES. V, 54, 5. 329 Verse 4, Note 1. The meaning of vyag is doubtful. It may simply mean to make visible. Verse 5. Note 1. The last words danasvad4m yat nf dyAtana girfm are difficult. Sayama has an explanation ready, viz. when you throw down the cloud or the mountain which gives no water or which does not give up the horses carried off by the Pazis. Grassmann too is ready with an explanation : ‘Als ihr unnahbar glainzend, Hirschen gleich, den Berg auf eurer Fahrt durchranntet, den kein Ross erreicht.’ Ludwig : ‘Als ihr nider gehn machtet den nicht vergangliches gebenden (d. i. die waszer; oder: die rosse verweigernden ?) berg.’ Giri may be the cloud, and nothing could be more appropriate than that the Maruts should come down upon the cloud or go over it, in order to make it give up the rain. But asvada means ‘giving horses,’ and though rainclouds may be compared to horses, it does not follow that asva by itself could mean rain. Asvada is used of the dawn, I, 113, 18, possibly as giving horses, that is, wealth, but possibly also, as bringing the horses to the morning sun. These horses start with the dawn or the sun in the morning, and they rest in the evening. The legend that Agni hid himself in an Asvattha tree (Sdyana, RV. I, 65, 1) may owe its origin to asvattha, i.e. horse-stable, having been a name of the West (K. Z. I, 467); cf. tishthadgu, at sunset. In X, 8, 3, the Dawns are called dasvabudhnad, which may mean that they had their resting-place among the horses. The Maruts, more particularly, are said to dwell in the Asvattha tree, when Indra called them to his help against’ Vritra; cf. Sat. Brahm. IV, 3, 3, 6; Par. Grthy. II, 15,4. Possibly therefore, though I say no more, possibly the Dawn or the East might have been called asvada, the West anasvad4, and in that case it might be said that the Maruts are of unsullied splendour, when they 330 VEDIC HYMNS. go down to the western mountain. M. Bergaigne explains, ‘La montagne qui ne donne pas, qui retient le cheval, le cheval mythique, soleil ou éclair.. My own impression, however, is that anasvadam is an old mistake, though I cannot accept Ludwig’s conjecture a-nasva-dam. Why not dnu svadhdm, or anasva-y4f, moving without horses? cf. V, 42, 10. Verse 6. Note 1. This is, no doubt, a bold simile, but a very true one. In one night caterpillars will eat off the whole foliage of a tree, and in the same way a violent storm in the autumn will strip every leaf. Arzas4m as an adjective, with the accent on the last syllable, does not occur again, but it can hardly mean anything but waving. If it will stand for the sea, we might translate, ‘When you clear the waving sea (or air), as the caterpillar a tree.’
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.
1Lanman (p. 427) proposes to read ushari, but the metre would be better preserved by reading vrishévi as trisyllabic. The difficulty is the construction of the gerund vrishévi, which refers to the Maruts, and sydma saha, which refers to the sacrificers. Note 2. On sam yd/, see I, 165, 4, note 2. The metrical structure of this hymn is interesting. If we represent the foot of eight syllables by a, that of twelve by b, we find the following succession : r{ 73b8 u{ 33348 2aaba 4baa 5aaa 8aaa mm} 6 baba v{ 9 baba 4 baba 12aaa v{roaba vi 0 baba {15 abe 1raba 14 baba vil 16 baba We find that I contains the question, II the answer, III description of rain, IV prayer and invitation, V praise of the companions, VI prayer, VII conclusion. Comp. Oldenberg’s Prolegomena, p. 106 seq. ; MANDALA V, HYMN 54. 325 MAMDALA V, HYMN 654, ASH7AKA IV, ADHYAYA 8, VARGA 14-16. To THE Maruts (THE SToRM-Gops). 1. You have fashioned! this speech for the brilliant Marut-host which shakes the mountains : celebrate then the great manhood in honour of that host who praises the warm milk (of the sacrifice), and sacrifices on the height of heaven *, whose glory is brilliant. 2. O Maruts, your powerful men (came) forth searching for water, invigorating, harnessing their horses, swarming around. When they aim with the lightning, Trita shouts, and the waters murmur, running around on their course. 3. These Maruts are men brilliant with lightning, they shoot with thunderbolts, they blaze with the wind, they shake the mountains, and suddenly, when wishing to give water?, they whirl the hail; they have thundering strength, they are robust, they are ever-powerful, 4. When you drive forth! the nights, O Rudras, the days, O powerful men, the sky, the mists, ye shakers, the plains, like ships, and the strongholds, O Maruts, you suffer nowhere. 5. That strength of yours, O Maruts, that greatness extended far as the sun extends its daily course, when you, like your deer on their march, went down to the (western) mountain with untouched splendour'. 6. Your host, O Maruts, shone forth when, O sages, you strip, like a caterpillar, the waving tree’. 326 VEDIC HYMNS. Conduct then, O friends, our service * to a good end, as the eye conducts the man in walking. 7. That man, O Maruts, is not overpowered, he is not killed, he does not fail, he does not shake, he does not drop, his goods do not perish, nor his protections, if you lead him rightly, whether he be a seer or a king. 8. The men with their steeds, like conquerors of clans, like Aryaman (Mitra and Varuma)}, the Maruts, carrying waterskins’, fill the well; when the strong ones roar, they moisten the earth with the juice of sweetness *, — g. When the Maruts come forth this earth bows, the heaven bows, the paths in the sky bow, and the cloud-mountains with their quickening rain.
2When the Maruts come forth this earth bows, the heaven bows, the paths in the sky bow, and the cloud-mountains with their quickening rain. 10. When you rejoice at sunrise, O Maruts, toiling together’, men of Svar (sun-light), men of Dyu (heaven), your horses never tire in running, and you quickly reach the end of your journey. 11. On your shoulders are the spears, on your feet rings, on your chests golden chains, O Maruts, on your chariot gems ; fiery lightnings in your fists, and golden headbands tied round your heads?. 12. O Maruts, you shake the red apple? from the firmament, whose splendour no enemy ? can touch ; the hamlets bowed when the Maruts blazed, and the pious people (the Maruts) intoned their far-reaching shout. 13. O wise Maruts, let us carry off! the wealth of food which you have bestowed on us; give us?, O Maruts, such thousandfold wealth as never fails, like the star Tishya * from heaven ! 14. O Maruts, you protect our wealth of excellent men, and the seer, clever in song; you give to MANDALA V, HYMN 54. 327 Bharata (the warrior)! a strong horse *, you make the king to be obeyed °. 15. O you who are quickly ready to help, I implore you for wealth whereby we may overshadow all men, like the sky. O Maruts, be pleased with this word of mine, and let us speed by its speed over a hundred winters ! 328 ~ VEDIC HYMNS. NOTES. The same poet, Sy4v4sva Atreya. Metre, 1-1 3, 15 Gagati; 14 Trishfubh. None of the verses of this hymn occurs in SV., VS., AV., TS., TB., MS. Verse 1. Note 1. Anaga, explained as a 2nd pers. plur. perf., referring to the same people who are addressed by arkata. It may be also the first person of the imperative; see Benfey, Uber die Entstehung der mit r anlautenden Personalendungen, p. 5, note. Note 2. Possibly the second line of this verse may refer to ceremonial technicalities. Gharma means heat and summer, but also the sacrificial vessel (formus) in which the milk is heated, and the warm milk itself. Yagvan can only mean sacrificing, and divak prishtha is the back of heaven, the highest roof of heaven; see triprisht#a. Thus we read, I, 115, 3. haritak ... divak 4 prishthdm asthud. See also I, 164,10; 166, 5; III, 2,12; IX, 36,6; 66,5; 69, 5; 83, 2; 86, 27. It would seem therefore as ‘if the Maruts themselves were here represented as performing sacrificial acts in the highest heaven, praising the milk, that is, the rain, which they pour down from heaven to earth. Possibly the text is corrupt. If yagyu could have the same meaning as prayagyu, I should like to conjecture, divah 4 prishtham yagyave. In IX, 61, 12. indraya yagyave seems to mean ‘to the chasing Indra.’ See also Ayagi (erjagend), obtaining. Might we conjecture diva 4 prikshaydvane? Prikshay4ma occurs as a name; see also II, 34, 3- Verse 3. Note 1. Abda, wish to give water, is very doubtful. Both abda and abdi, in abdimat, mean cloud. The text seems corrupt. NOTES. V, 54, 5. 329 Verse 4,
3Might we conjecture diva 4 prikshaydvane? Prikshay4ma occurs as a name; see also II, 34, 3- Verse 3. Note 1. Abda, wish to give water, is very doubtful. Both abda and abdi, in abdimat, mean cloud. The text seems corrupt. NOTES. V, 54, 5. 329 Verse 4, Note 1. The meaning of vyag is doubtful. It may simply mean to make visible. Verse 5. Note 1. The last words danasvad4m yat nf dyAtana girfm are difficult. Sayama has an explanation ready, viz. when you throw down the cloud or the mountain which gives no water or which does not give up the horses carried off by the Pazis. Grassmann too is ready with an explanation : ‘Als ihr unnahbar glainzend, Hirschen gleich, den Berg auf eurer Fahrt durchranntet, den kein Ross erreicht.’ Ludwig : ‘Als ihr nider gehn machtet den nicht vergangliches gebenden (d. i. die waszer; oder: die rosse verweigernden ?) berg.’ Giri may be the cloud, and nothing could be more appropriate than that the Maruts should come down upon the cloud or go over it, in order to make it give up the rain. But asvada means ‘giving horses,’ and though rainclouds may be compared to horses, it does not follow that asva by itself could mean rain. Asvada is used of the dawn, I, 113, 18, possibly as giving horses, that is, wealth, but possibly also, as bringing the horses to the morning sun. These horses start with the dawn or the sun in the morning, and they rest in the evening. The legend that Agni hid himself in an Asvattha tree (Sdyana, RV. I, 65, 1) may owe its origin to asvattha, i.e. horse-stable, having been a name of the West (K. Z. I, 467); cf. tishthadgu, at sunset. In X, 8, 3, the Dawns are called dasvabudhnad, which may mean that they had their resting-place among the horses. The Maruts, more particularly, are said to dwell in the Asvattha tree, when Indra called them to his help against’ Vritra; cf. Sat. Brahm. IV, 3, 3, 6; Par. Grthy. II, 15,4. Possibly therefore, though I say no more, possibly the Dawn or the East might have been called asvada, the West anasvad4, and in that case it might be said that the Maruts are of unsullied splendour, when they 330 VEDIC HYMNS. go down to the western mountain. M. Bergaigne explains, ‘La montagne qui ne donne pas, qui retient le cheval, le cheval mythique, soleil ou éclair.. My own impression, however, is that anasvadam is an old mistake, though I cannot accept Ludwig’s conjecture a-nasva-dam. Why not dnu svadhdm, or anasva-y4f, moving without horses? cf. V, 42, 10. Verse 6. Note 1. This is, no doubt, a bold simile, but a very true one. In one night caterpillars will eat off the whole foliage of a tree, and in the same way a violent storm in the autumn will strip every leaf. Arzas4m as an adjective, with the accent on the last syllable, does not occur again, but it can hardly mean anything but waving. If it will stand for the sea, we might translate, ‘When you clear the waving sea (or air), as the caterpillar a tree.’
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.
No commentary for this page.