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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1the storms coursing through the sky, that is really the host of the Maruts. But then gdnayad remains unexplained, and it is impossible to take ganayak na sdptayak as two similes, like unto horses, like unto wives, I believe, therefore, that we must here take sdpti in its original etymological sense, which would be ju-mentum, a yoked animal, a beast of draught, or rather a follower, a horse that will follow. Sdpti, therefore, could never be a wild horse, but always a tamed horse, a horse that will go in harness. Cf. IX, 21, 4. hit& nd sdptayah rathe, like horses put to the chariot; or in the singular, IX, 70, 10. hita# na sdptiz, like a harnessed horse. The root is sap, which in the Veda means to follow, to attend on, to worship. But if s4pti means originally animals that will go NOTES. 1, 85, I. 129 together, it may in our passage have retained the sense of yoke-fellow (av(vyos), and be intended as an adjective to ganayah, wives. There is at least one other passage where this meaning would seem to be more appropriate, viz. VIII, 20, 23. ydydm sakhaya# saptayas. You (Maruts), friends and followers! or you, friends and comrades ! Here it is hardly possible to assign to sdpti the sense of horse, for the Maruts, though likened to horses, are never thus barely invoked as saptaya/! If then we translate, ‘Those who glance forth like wives and yoke-fellows,’ i.e. like wives of the same husband, the question still recurs how the simile holds good, and how the Maruts rushing forth together in all their beauty can be compared to wives. In answer to this we have to bear in mind that the idea of many wives belonging to one husband (sapatni) is familiar to the Vedic poet, and that their impetuously rushing into the arms of their husbands, and appearing before them in all their beauty, are frequent images in their poetry. In such phrases as pdtim na ganayak and ganayah na garbham, the ganis, the wives or mothers, are represented as running together after their husbands or children. This impetuous approach the poet may have wished to allude to in our passage also, but though it might have been understood at once by his hearers, it is almost impossible to convey this implied idea in any other language. Wilson translates: ‘The Maruts, who are going forth, decorate themselves like females: they are gliders (through the air), the sons of Rudra, and the doers of good works, by which they promote the welfare of earth and heaven. Heroes, who grind (the solid rocks), they delight in sacrifices.’ Ludwig translates: ‘Die ganz besonders sich schmiicken wie frauen, die renner, zu ihrem zuge,’ &c. This is possible, yet the simile sounds somewhat forced. Note 2. The meaning of this phrase, which occurs very frequently, was originally that the storms by driving away the dark clouds, made the earth and the sky to appear [32] K 130 VEDIC HYMNS. larger and wider. It afterwards takes a more general sense of increasing, strengthening, blessing. Verse 2.
2The meaning of this phrase, which occurs very frequently, was originally that the storms by driving away the dark clouds, made the earth and the sky to appear [32] K 130 VEDIC HYMNS. larger and wider. It afterwards takes a more general sense of increasing, strengthening, blessing. Verse 2. Note 1. Ukshita is here a participle of vaksh or uksh, to grow, to wax; not of uksh, to sprinkle, to anoint, to inaugurate, as explained by Sayaza. Thus it is said of the Maruts, V, 55, 3. sdkdm gatéh—s4kdm ukshit&%, born together, and grown up together. Note 2. The same expression occurs VIII, 28, 5. saptd (iti) ddhi sriya% dhire. See also I, 116, 17; IX, 68, 1. Verse 38. Note 1. Gé-matr2, like gé-gata, a name of the Maruts, who are also called présni-m4tarak, sindhu-matarak. Note 2. Subhra is applied to the Maruts, I, 19, 5. Otherwise, no doubt, it might refer, as Ludwig remarks, to. virukmataz#, always supposing that virikmat is a feminine. Whether tandshu subhraz can starid for tandshu subhrasu is more doubtful. Note 8. Virikmata# must be an accusative plural. It occurs I, 127, 3, as an epithet of dgas; VI, 49, 5, as an epithet of the chariot of the Asvins. In our place, however, it must be taken as a substantive, signifying something which the Maruts wear, probably armour or weapons. This follows chiefly from X, 138, 4. satrOn asrindt virukmata, Indra tore his enemies with the bright weapon. In VIII, 20, 11, where rukmé occurs as a masculine plural, v{ bhragante rukmasak ddhi bahushu, their bright things shine on their arms, it seems likewise to be meant for weapons; according to Sdyana, for chains. In V, 55,3; X, 78, 3, the Maruts are called vi-rok{za, bright like the rays of the sun or the tongues of fire. Note 4. Observe the short syllable in the tenth syllable of this Pada; Benfey, Vedica, p. 124; Lanman, Noun- Inflection, pp. 378, 543. Verse 4. Note 1. The sudden transition from the third to the second person is not unusual in the Vedic hymns, the fact SL - NOTES, I, 85, 5. 131 being that where we in a relative sentence should use the same person as that of the principal verb, the Vedic poets frequently use the third. Note 2. Vrésha-vrata is untranslatable for reasons stated p. 138 seq.; it means consisting of companies of vréshans, in whatever sense that word be taken. Wilson in his translation mistakes 4éyutd for aéyutds, and vrata for vrata. He translates the former by ‘incapable of being overthrown, the latter by ‘entrusted with the duty of sending rain,’ both against the authority of Sayaza. Vrtshavrata occurs twice in the Rig-veda as an epithet of Soma only, [X, 62, 11; 64, 1. Verse 5. Note 1. If we take Adri for cloud, then ramh might have the meaning of stirring up. V, 32, 2. tvdm utsdn riti-bhi# badbadhanén dramhad. Thou madest the springs to run that had been shut up by the seasons. VIII, 19, 6. tasya {t arvantahk ramhayante Asdvah. His horses only run quick.
3Verse 5. Note 1. If we take Adri for cloud, then ramh might have the meaning of stirring up. V, 32, 2. tvdm utsdn riti-bhi# badbadhanén dramhad. Thou madest the springs to run that had been shut up by the seasons. VIII, 19, 6. tasya {t arvantahk ramhayante Asdvah. His horses only run quick. But ddri often means stone, in the sense of weapon, or bolt (cf. adrivak, voc., wielder of the thunderbolt), and ramhayati would then have the meaning of hurling. This is the meaning adopted by Benfey and Ludwig. Note 2. The red may be the dark red cloud, but arusha has almost become a proper name, and its original meaning of redness is forgotten. Nay, it is possible that arusha, as ‘applied to the same power of darkness which is best known by the names of Vritra, Dasyu, &c., may never have had the sense of redness, but been formed straight from ar, to hurt, from which arvan, arus, &c. (see p.65 seq.). It would then mean simply the hurter, the enemy. It is possible also to take arusha in the sense of the red horse, the leader between the two Haris, when we ought to remember that the Maruts pour forth the streams of the stallion, RV. V, 83, 6. prd pinvata vrishvah dsvasya dharah, and that they lead about the horse to make it rain, RV. I, 64, 6. atyam na mihé vi nayanti vaginam. K 2 132 “VEDIC HYMNS, Note 3. SAyavza explains: ‘ They moisten the whole earth like a hide,’ a hide representing a small surface which is watered without great effort. Wilson: ‘They moisten the earth, like a hide, with water.’ Langlois: ‘Alors les gouttes d’eau, pergant comme la peau de ce (nuage) bienfaisant viennent inonder la terre.’ Benfey: ‘ Dann stiirzen reichlich aus der rothen (Gewitterwolke) Tropfen, mit Fluth wie eine Haut die Erde netzend. (Dass die Erde so durchnadsst wird, wie durchregnetes Leder.)’ If the poet had intended to compare the earth, before it is moistened by rain, to a hide, he might have had in his mind the dryness of a tanned skin, or, as Professor Benfey says, of leather. If, on the contrary, the simile refers to the streams of water, then #drma-iva, like a skin, might either be taken in the technical acceptation of the skin through which, at the preparation of the Soma, the streams (dhar4h) of that beverage are squeezed and distilled, or we may take the word in the more general sense of water-skin. In that case the comparison, though not very pointedly expressed, as it would have been by later Sanskrit poets, would still be complete. The streams of the red-(horse), i.e. of the cloud, rush forth, and they, whether the streams liberated by the Maruts, or the Maruts themselves, moisten the earth with water, like a skin, i. e. like a skin in which water is kept and from which it is poured out. The cloud itself being called a skin by Vedic poets (I, 129, 3) makes the comparison still more natural.
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 storms coursing through the sky, that is really the host of the Maruts. But then gdnayad remains unexplained, and it is impossible to take ganayak na sdptayak as two similes, like unto horses, like unto wives, I believe, therefore, that we must here take sdpti in its original etymological sense, which would be ju-mentum, a yoked animal, a beast of draught, or rather a follower, a horse that will follow. Sdpti, therefore, could never be a wild horse, but always a tamed horse, a horse that will go in harness. Cf. IX, 21, 4. hit& nd sdptayah rathe, like horses put to the chariot; or in the singular, IX, 70, 10. hita# na sdptiz, like a harnessed horse. The root is sap, which in the Veda means to follow, to attend on, to worship. But if s4pti means originally animals that will go NOTES. 1, 85, I. 129 together, it may in our passage have retained the sense of yoke-fellow (av(vyos), and be intended as an adjective to ganayah, wives. There is at least one other passage where this meaning would seem to be more appropriate, viz. VIII, 20, 23. ydydm sakhaya# saptayas. You (Maruts), friends and followers! or you, friends and comrades ! Here it is hardly possible to assign to sdpti the sense of horse, for the Maruts, though likened to horses, are never thus barely invoked as saptaya/! If then we translate, ‘Those who glance forth like wives and yoke-fellows,’ i.e. like wives of the same husband, the question still recurs how the simile holds good, and how the Maruts rushing forth together in all their beauty can be compared to wives. In answer to this we have to bear in mind that the idea of many wives belonging to one husband (sapatni) is familiar to the Vedic poet, and that their impetuously rushing into the arms of their husbands, and appearing before them in all their beauty, are frequent images in their poetry. In such phrases as pdtim na ganayak and ganayah na garbham, the ganis, the wives or mothers, are represented as running together after their husbands or children. This impetuous approach the poet may have wished to allude to in our passage also, but though it might have been understood at once by his hearers, it is almost impossible to convey this implied idea in any other language. Wilson translates: ‘The Maruts, who are going forth, decorate themselves like females: they are gliders (through the air), the sons of Rudra, and the doers of good works, by which they promote the welfare of earth and heaven. Heroes, who grind (the solid rocks), they delight in sacrifices.’ Ludwig translates: ‘Die ganz besonders sich schmiicken wie frauen, die renner, zu ihrem zuge,’ &c. This is possible, yet the simile sounds somewhat forced. Note 2. The meaning of this phrase, which occurs very frequently, was originally that the storms by driving away the dark clouds, made the earth and the sky to appear [32] K 130 VEDIC HYMNS. larger and wider. It afterwards takes a more general sense of increasing, strengthening, blessing. Verse 2.
2The meaning of this phrase, which occurs very frequently, was originally that the storms by driving away the dark clouds, made the earth and the sky to appear [32] K 130 VEDIC HYMNS. larger and wider. It afterwards takes a more general sense of increasing, strengthening, blessing. Verse 2. Note 1. Ukshita is here a participle of vaksh or uksh, to grow, to wax; not of uksh, to sprinkle, to anoint, to inaugurate, as explained by Sayaza. Thus it is said of the Maruts, V, 55, 3. sdkdm gatéh—s4kdm ukshit&%, born together, and grown up together. Note 2. The same expression occurs VIII, 28, 5. saptd (iti) ddhi sriya% dhire. See also I, 116, 17; IX, 68, 1. Verse 38. Note 1. Gé-matr2, like gé-gata, a name of the Maruts, who are also called présni-m4tarak, sindhu-matarak. Note 2. Subhra is applied to the Maruts, I, 19, 5. Otherwise, no doubt, it might refer, as Ludwig remarks, to. virukmataz#, always supposing that virikmat is a feminine. Whether tandshu subhraz can starid for tandshu subhrasu is more doubtful. Note 8. Virikmata# must be an accusative plural. It occurs I, 127, 3, as an epithet of dgas; VI, 49, 5, as an epithet of the chariot of the Asvins. In our place, however, it must be taken as a substantive, signifying something which the Maruts wear, probably armour or weapons. This follows chiefly from X, 138, 4. satrOn asrindt virukmata, Indra tore his enemies with the bright weapon. In VIII, 20, 11, where rukmé occurs as a masculine plural, v{ bhragante rukmasak ddhi bahushu, their bright things shine on their arms, it seems likewise to be meant for weapons; according to Sdyana, for chains. In V, 55,3; X, 78, 3, the Maruts are called vi-rok{za, bright like the rays of the sun or the tongues of fire. Note 4. Observe the short syllable in the tenth syllable of this Pada; Benfey, Vedica, p. 124; Lanman, Noun- Inflection, pp. 378, 543. Verse 4. Note 1. The sudden transition from the third to the second person is not unusual in the Vedic hymns, the fact SL - NOTES, I, 85, 5. 131 being that where we in a relative sentence should use the same person as that of the principal verb, the Vedic poets frequently use the third. Note 2. Vrésha-vrata is untranslatable for reasons stated p. 138 seq.; it means consisting of companies of vréshans, in whatever sense that word be taken. Wilson in his translation mistakes 4éyutd for aéyutds, and vrata for vrata. He translates the former by ‘incapable of being overthrown, the latter by ‘entrusted with the duty of sending rain,’ both against the authority of Sayaza. Vrtshavrata occurs twice in the Rig-veda as an epithet of Soma only, [X, 62, 11; 64, 1. Verse 5. Note 1. If we take Adri for cloud, then ramh might have the meaning of stirring up. V, 32, 2. tvdm utsdn riti-bhi# badbadhanén dramhad. Thou madest the springs to run that had been shut up by the seasons. VIII, 19, 6. tasya {t arvantahk ramhayante Asdvah. His horses only run quick.
3Verse 5. Note 1. If we take Adri for cloud, then ramh might have the meaning of stirring up. V, 32, 2. tvdm utsdn riti-bhi# badbadhanén dramhad. Thou madest the springs to run that had been shut up by the seasons. VIII, 19, 6. tasya {t arvantahk ramhayante Asdvah. His horses only run quick. But ddri often means stone, in the sense of weapon, or bolt (cf. adrivak, voc., wielder of the thunderbolt), and ramhayati would then have the meaning of hurling. This is the meaning adopted by Benfey and Ludwig. Note 2. The red may be the dark red cloud, but arusha has almost become a proper name, and its original meaning of redness is forgotten. Nay, it is possible that arusha, as ‘applied to the same power of darkness which is best known by the names of Vritra, Dasyu, &c., may never have had the sense of redness, but been formed straight from ar, to hurt, from which arvan, arus, &c. (see p.65 seq.). It would then mean simply the hurter, the enemy. It is possible also to take arusha in the sense of the red horse, the leader between the two Haris, when we ought to remember that the Maruts pour forth the streams of the stallion, RV. V, 83, 6. prd pinvata vrishvah dsvasya dharah, and that they lead about the horse to make it rain, RV. I, 64, 6. atyam na mihé vi nayanti vaginam. K 2 132 “VEDIC HYMNS, Note 3. SAyavza explains: ‘ They moisten the whole earth like a hide,’ a hide representing a small surface which is watered without great effort. Wilson: ‘They moisten the earth, like a hide, with water.’ Langlois: ‘Alors les gouttes d’eau, pergant comme la peau de ce (nuage) bienfaisant viennent inonder la terre.’ Benfey: ‘ Dann stiirzen reichlich aus der rothen (Gewitterwolke) Tropfen, mit Fluth wie eine Haut die Erde netzend. (Dass die Erde so durchnadsst wird, wie durchregnetes Leder.)’ If the poet had intended to compare the earth, before it is moistened by rain, to a hide, he might have had in his mind the dryness of a tanned skin, or, as Professor Benfey says, of leather. If, on the contrary, the simile refers to the streams of water, then #drma-iva, like a skin, might either be taken in the technical acceptation of the skin through which, at the preparation of the Soma, the streams (dhar4h) of that beverage are squeezed and distilled, or we may take the word in the more general sense of water-skin. In that case the comparison, though not very pointedly expressed, as it would have been by later Sanskrit poets, would still be complete. The streams of the red-(horse), i.e. of the cloud, rush forth, and they, whether the streams liberated by the Maruts, or the Maruts themselves, moisten the earth with water, like a skin, i. e. like a skin in which water is kept and from which it is poured out. The cloud itself being called a skin by Vedic poets (I, 129, 3) makes the comparison still more natural.
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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