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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1devaydntaA, as a feminine, viz. devaydntiz, VII, 18, 3, we can hardly doubt that in I, 6, 6, gfrak is a masculine and means singers. The same applies to VI, 63,10. In VI, 52,9, ipa naz sinavak girahk srinvantu amrttasya yé, the construction is, of course, quite different. Note 2. The expression that the Maruts enlarged or extended the fences of their race-course (RV. IV, 58, 7), can only mean that they swept over the whole sky, and drove the clouds away from all the corners. Kashzha may mean the wooden enclosures (carceres) or the wooden poles that served as turning and winning-posts (metae). The SAma-veda has yagfeshu instead of agmeshu. That the translation of this verse is purely tentative, and far from satisfactory, was known to all Vedic scholars, but I doubt whether they will consider the interpretation which M. Bergaigne proposes with so much assurance, as less tentative and more satisfactory. He translates (Journ. As. 1884, Pp- 239), ‘des fils ont, dans leur marche, allongé leurs chants comme des chemins, pour y marcher a genoux (sur les genoux) en mugissant (en chantant).’ I shall content myself with shortly pointing out the misgivings which every Vedic scholar would feel at once in proposing such a rendering. First as to the conception itself. Can a poet say, ‘The Maruts have stretched out their songs in order to march on them on their knees?’ ‘The roads,’ as M. Bergaigne shows himself, are only a simile, and no one walks on a simile. Secondly, the idea that these Maruts widened the roads on which they march, is common enough, but that they lengthened their songs, like paths, is never said by the Vedic Rishis, nor would they in such a case have left out the particle na or iva. Lastly, though many things are said of the Maruts, I do not remember that they ever appear on their knees. I do not think, therefore, that M. Bergaigne’s infallible method helps us much beyond where we were before. Conjectures are easy, but for that very reason, one does not like to bring them forward. One might propose to read s(indvak divas, a very common name of the Maruts, One might go a step further, identify 78 VEDIC HYMNS.
2Bergaigne’s infallible method helps us much beyond where we were before. Conjectures are easy, but for that very reason, one does not like to bring them forward. One might propose to read s(indvak divas, a very common name of the Maruts, One might go a step further, identify 78 VEDIC HYMNS. gid with bhdrati, and point out that the Maruts are called the sons of Bharata, II, 36,2. But all this leaves us in utter uncertainty, and where a scholar feels the ground so uncertain beneath his feet, he hesitates to speak with papal authority. M. Bergaigne’s strong point is that abhigfiu means on their knees, not up to their knees. Here again, I ask, does abhi in prepositional compounds ever mean on? If abhigvu is used in the same sense in which we use ‘on our knees,’ it would in Sanskrit mean only ‘bowing up to the knees.’ Now in I, 72, 5, abhigfiu seems to express a positive expression of reverence. With regard to the other passages where abhigfu occurs, M. Bergaigne has not shown how they ought to be translated so as to give a clear sense. I do not pretend to solve the difficulties, but I think it is better to confess our difficulties than to hide them under the veil of a so-called systematic interpretation. Abhigiiu, like mitag#u, may have expressed a position of the knees, expressive of strength, but on such points very little information is to be gained from Indian commentators. The last sentence expresses the result of this race, viz. the falling of so much rain that the cows had to walk up to their knees in water. This becomes still clearer from the next verse. SAyANA: These, the producers of speech, have spread water in their courses, they cause the cows to walk up to their knees in order to drink the water. Verse 11. WILSON: They drive before them, in their course, the long, vast, uninjurable, rain-retaining cloud. BENFEY: Dann treiben sie im Sturm heran jenen langen und breiten Spross der Wolke unerschépflichen. Lupwic: Sogar disen langen, breiten, das kind der wolke, den unfeindlichen, schleudern auf ihren ziigen sie vorwarts. Note 1. Rain is called the offspring of the cloud, mihd napat, and is then treated as a masculine; cf. apam napat, &c. NOTES. I, 37, 14. 79 Verse 12. WILSON: Maruts, as you have vigour, invigorate mankind: give animation to the clouds. BENFEY: O Marut’s! mit der Kraft, die ihr besitzt, werft ihr Geschépfe um, die Berge werft ihr um sogar. LuDwIG: O Marut, so wie eure kraft ist, warft ihr die leute nieder, warft ihr die berge nieder. Note 1. In VIII, 72, 8, akukyavit is explained by vyadarayat, he tore open. Auéyavitana is the Vedic form of the 2nd pers. plur. of the reduplicated aorist. Verse 13. WILSON: Wherever the Maruts pass, they fill the way with clamour: every one hears their (noise). BENFEY: Wenn die Marut’s des Weges ziehn, dann sprechen mit einander sie und mancher mag sie héren. LuDWIG: Wenn die Marut wandern, sprechen auf dem weg sie mit einander, es héret sie ein jeder.
3WILSON: Wherever the Maruts pass, they fill the way with clamour: every one hears their (noise). BENFEY: Wenn die Marut’s des Weges ziehn, dann sprechen mit einander sie und mancher mag sie héren. LuDWIG: Wenn die Marut wandern, sprechen auf dem weg sie mit einander, es héret sie ein jeder. Note 1, Yanti has to be pronounced as an amphibrachys. Verse 14. WILSON: Come quickly, with your swift (vehicles). The offerings of the Kazvas are prepared. Be pleased with them. BENFEY: Auf schnellen kommet schnell herbei, bei Kazva’s Spross sind Feste euch: da wollt euch schon ergotzen. LuDWIG: Brecht rasch auf mit raschen rossen, bei den Kaava’s ist euer dienst, dort eben erfreuet euch. Note 1. Benfey supposes that diva’ stands in the singular instead of the plural. But why should the plural have been used, as the singular (asti) would have created no kind of difficulty? It is better to take duvak as a nominative plural of a noun dd, worshipper, derived from the same root which yielded divas, worship. We certainly find 4-duva#, as.a nom. plur., in the sense of not-worshipping : 80 VEDIC HYMNS. VII, 4, 6. m& tv4 vaydm sahas4-van avirak mé dpsavah pari sadima ma dduvaA. May we not, O hero, sit round thee like men without strength, without beauty (cf. VIII, 7, 7), without worship. Here S4yawa explains d4duvah very well by pariarazahina, which seems better than Roth’s explanation ‘zégernd, ohne Eifer,’ Verse 15. WItson : The offering is prepared for your gratification : we are your (worshippers), that we may live all our life. BENFEY: Geriistet ist fiir euren Rausch und wir geh6ren, traun! euch an fiir unser ganzes Lebelang. Lupwic: Er ist euch zur trunkesfreude, und wir gleichfalls euer hier, dass unsere ganze dauer wir erleben. wratad I, HYMN 38. 81 —— —_ ° MANDALA I, HYMN 838. ASHTAKA I, ADHYAYA 8, VARGA 15-17. To THE MarutTs (THE STORM-GODS). 1. What then now? When! will you take (us) as a dear father takes his son by both hands, O ye gods, for whom the sacred grass has been trimmed ? ? 2. Where now? On what errand of yours are you going, in heaven, not on earth!? Where are your cows sporting ? 3. Where are your newest favours!, O Maruts ? Where the blessings? Where all delights ? 4. If you, sons of Przsni, were mortals, and your praiser an immortal }¥,— 5. Then never! should your praiser be unwelcome, like a deer in pasture grass’, nor should he go on the path of Yama *. 6. Let not one sin! after another, difficult to be conquered, overcome us; may it depart? together with greed. 7. Truly they are terrible and powerful; even to the desert the Rudriyas bring rain that is never dried up1. 8. The lightning lows like a cow, it follows as a mother follows after her young, when the shower (of the Maruts) has been let loose '. 9. Even by day the Maruts create darkness with the water-bearing cloud!, when they drench the earth. 10. Then from the shouting of the Maruts over the whole space of the earth ', men reeled forward.
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.
1devaydntaA, as a feminine, viz. devaydntiz, VII, 18, 3, we can hardly doubt that in I, 6, 6, gfrak is a masculine and means singers. The same applies to VI, 63,10. In VI, 52,9, ipa naz sinavak girahk srinvantu amrttasya yé, the construction is, of course, quite different. Note 2. The expression that the Maruts enlarged or extended the fences of their race-course (RV. IV, 58, 7), can only mean that they swept over the whole sky, and drove the clouds away from all the corners. Kashzha may mean the wooden enclosures (carceres) or the wooden poles that served as turning and winning-posts (metae). The SAma-veda has yagfeshu instead of agmeshu. That the translation of this verse is purely tentative, and far from satisfactory, was known to all Vedic scholars, but I doubt whether they will consider the interpretation which M. Bergaigne proposes with so much assurance, as less tentative and more satisfactory. He translates (Journ. As. 1884, Pp- 239), ‘des fils ont, dans leur marche, allongé leurs chants comme des chemins, pour y marcher a genoux (sur les genoux) en mugissant (en chantant).’ I shall content myself with shortly pointing out the misgivings which every Vedic scholar would feel at once in proposing such a rendering. First as to the conception itself. Can a poet say, ‘The Maruts have stretched out their songs in order to march on them on their knees?’ ‘The roads,’ as M. Bergaigne shows himself, are only a simile, and no one walks on a simile. Secondly, the idea that these Maruts widened the roads on which they march, is common enough, but that they lengthened their songs, like paths, is never said by the Vedic Rishis, nor would they in such a case have left out the particle na or iva. Lastly, though many things are said of the Maruts, I do not remember that they ever appear on their knees. I do not think, therefore, that M. Bergaigne’s infallible method helps us much beyond where we were before. Conjectures are easy, but for that very reason, one does not like to bring them forward. One might propose to read s(indvak divas, a very common name of the Maruts, One might go a step further, identify 78 VEDIC HYMNS.
2Bergaigne’s infallible method helps us much beyond where we were before. Conjectures are easy, but for that very reason, one does not like to bring them forward. One might propose to read s(indvak divas, a very common name of the Maruts, One might go a step further, identify 78 VEDIC HYMNS. gid with bhdrati, and point out that the Maruts are called the sons of Bharata, II, 36,2. But all this leaves us in utter uncertainty, and where a scholar feels the ground so uncertain beneath his feet, he hesitates to speak with papal authority. M. Bergaigne’s strong point is that abhigfiu means on their knees, not up to their knees. Here again, I ask, does abhi in prepositional compounds ever mean on? If abhigvu is used in the same sense in which we use ‘on our knees,’ it would in Sanskrit mean only ‘bowing up to the knees.’ Now in I, 72, 5, abhigfiu seems to express a positive expression of reverence. With regard to the other passages where abhigfu occurs, M. Bergaigne has not shown how they ought to be translated so as to give a clear sense. I do not pretend to solve the difficulties, but I think it is better to confess our difficulties than to hide them under the veil of a so-called systematic interpretation. Abhigiiu, like mitag#u, may have expressed a position of the knees, expressive of strength, but on such points very little information is to be gained from Indian commentators. The last sentence expresses the result of this race, viz. the falling of so much rain that the cows had to walk up to their knees in water. This becomes still clearer from the next verse. SAyANA: These, the producers of speech, have spread water in their courses, they cause the cows to walk up to their knees in order to drink the water. Verse 11. WILSON: They drive before them, in their course, the long, vast, uninjurable, rain-retaining cloud. BENFEY: Dann treiben sie im Sturm heran jenen langen und breiten Spross der Wolke unerschépflichen. Lupwic: Sogar disen langen, breiten, das kind der wolke, den unfeindlichen, schleudern auf ihren ziigen sie vorwarts. Note 1. Rain is called the offspring of the cloud, mihd napat, and is then treated as a masculine; cf. apam napat, &c. NOTES. I, 37, 14. 79 Verse 12. WILSON: Maruts, as you have vigour, invigorate mankind: give animation to the clouds. BENFEY: O Marut’s! mit der Kraft, die ihr besitzt, werft ihr Geschépfe um, die Berge werft ihr um sogar. LuDwIG: O Marut, so wie eure kraft ist, warft ihr die leute nieder, warft ihr die berge nieder. Note 1. In VIII, 72, 8, akukyavit is explained by vyadarayat, he tore open. Auéyavitana is the Vedic form of the 2nd pers. plur. of the reduplicated aorist. Verse 13. WILSON: Wherever the Maruts pass, they fill the way with clamour: every one hears their (noise). BENFEY: Wenn die Marut’s des Weges ziehn, dann sprechen mit einander sie und mancher mag sie héren. LuDWIG: Wenn die Marut wandern, sprechen auf dem weg sie mit einander, es héret sie ein jeder.
3WILSON: Wherever the Maruts pass, they fill the way with clamour: every one hears their (noise). BENFEY: Wenn die Marut’s des Weges ziehn, dann sprechen mit einander sie und mancher mag sie héren. LuDWIG: Wenn die Marut wandern, sprechen auf dem weg sie mit einander, es héret sie ein jeder. Note 1, Yanti has to be pronounced as an amphibrachys. Verse 14. WILSON: Come quickly, with your swift (vehicles). The offerings of the Kazvas are prepared. Be pleased with them. BENFEY: Auf schnellen kommet schnell herbei, bei Kazva’s Spross sind Feste euch: da wollt euch schon ergotzen. LuDWIG: Brecht rasch auf mit raschen rossen, bei den Kaava’s ist euer dienst, dort eben erfreuet euch. Note 1. Benfey supposes that diva’ stands in the singular instead of the plural. But why should the plural have been used, as the singular (asti) would have created no kind of difficulty? It is better to take duvak as a nominative plural of a noun dd, worshipper, derived from the same root which yielded divas, worship. We certainly find 4-duva#, as.a nom. plur., in the sense of not-worshipping : 80 VEDIC HYMNS. VII, 4, 6. m& tv4 vaydm sahas4-van avirak mé dpsavah pari sadima ma dduvaA. May we not, O hero, sit round thee like men without strength, without beauty (cf. VIII, 7, 7), without worship. Here S4yawa explains d4duvah very well by pariarazahina, which seems better than Roth’s explanation ‘zégernd, ohne Eifer,’ Verse 15. WItson : The offering is prepared for your gratification : we are your (worshippers), that we may live all our life. BENFEY: Geriistet ist fiir euren Rausch und wir geh6ren, traun! euch an fiir unser ganzes Lebelang. Lupwic: Er ist euch zur trunkesfreude, und wir gleichfalls euer hier, dass unsere ganze dauer wir erleben. wratad I, HYMN 38. 81 —— —_ ° MANDALA I, HYMN 838. ASHTAKA I, ADHYAYA 8, VARGA 15-17. To THE MarutTs (THE STORM-GODS). 1. What then now? When! will you take (us) as a dear father takes his son by both hands, O ye gods, for whom the sacred grass has been trimmed ? ? 2. Where now? On what errand of yours are you going, in heaven, not on earth!? Where are your cows sporting ? 3. Where are your newest favours!, O Maruts ? Where the blessings? Where all delights ? 4. If you, sons of Przsni, were mortals, and your praiser an immortal }¥,— 5. Then never! should your praiser be unwelcome, like a deer in pasture grass’, nor should he go on the path of Yama *. 6. Let not one sin! after another, difficult to be conquered, overcome us; may it depart? together with greed. 7. Truly they are terrible and powerful; even to the desert the Rudriyas bring rain that is never dried up1. 8. The lightning lows like a cow, it follows as a mother follows after her young, when the shower (of the Maruts) has been let loose '. 9. Even by day the Maruts create darkness with the water-bearing cloud!, when they drench the earth. 10. Then from the shouting of the Maruts over the whole space of the earth ', men reeled forward.
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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