Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1The last line of verse 6 should be scanned : astobhayat vritha~Asim anu svadhdm gabhastyoA. There are two other verses in this hymn where the metre is difficult. In the last pada of verse 5 we have seven syllables instead of eleven. Again, I say, it would be most easy to insert one of the many tetrasyllabic epithets of the Maruts. But this would have been equally easy for the collectors of the Veda. Now the authors of the Anukramanis distinctly state that this fifth verse is viradrdpé, i.e. that one of its pAdas consists of eight syllables. How they would have made eight syllables out of vi-dhavatas varahdin does not appear, but at all events they knew that last pada to be imperfect. The rhythm does not suffer by this omission, as long as we scan vi-dh4vatah varahin. Lastly, there is the third p&da of the second verse, rukmaé na fitrak svadhiti-van. It would not be possible to get eleven syllables out of this, unless we admitted vydha not only in svadhitivan or svadhiti-vAn, but also in kitrah. Kuhn (Beitrage, vol. iv, p. 192) proposes to scan rukmaii na Aitarak svadhitivan. Nothing would be easier than to insert esham after Aitrak, but the question occurs again, how could esh4ém be lost, or why, if by some accident it had been lost, was not so obvious a correction made by Saunaka and Katyayana ? No verse of this hymn occurs in SV., VS., AV., TS., TB. Verse L Note 1. Alluding to the music of the Maruts, and not to the splendour of the lightning which is mentioned before. See Wolf, Beitrage zur Deutschen Mythologie, vol. ii, p- 137. ‘Das Ross und den Wagen des Gottes begleitet munterer Hornerschall, entweder stésst er selbst ins Horn, 172 VEDIC HYMNS. oder sein Gefolge. Oft vernimmt man auch eine liebliche Musik, der keine auf Erden gleich kommt (Miillenhof, 582). Das wird das Pfeifen und Heulen des Sturmes sein, nur in idealisirter Art.’ Ibid. p. 158. Note 2. Varshish/ha, which is generally explained as the superlative of vriddha, old (Paz. VI, 4, 157), has in most passages of the Rig-veda the more general meaning of strong or excellent: VI, 47, 9. {sham & vakshi ish&m varshish¢ham ; III, 13, 7 (vdsu); III, 26, 8 (ratna); III, 16, 3 (raf); IV, 31,15; VIII, 46, 24 (sravak); IV, 22, 9 (nrimma) ; V, 67, 1 (kshatrd); VI, 45, 31 (mdrdhdn). In some passages, however, it may be taken in the sense of oldest (I, 37,6; V, 7,1), though by no means necessarily. Varshish¢ha is derived in reality from vréshan, in the sense of strong, excellent. See note to I, 85, 12, page 144. Note 3. Paptata, the second person plural of the imperative of what is commonly, though without much reason, called the aorist of the causative of pat. It is curiously like the Greek ainrere, but it has the meaning of flying rather than falling ; see Curtius, Grundziige, p. 190. Two other forms formed on the same principle occur in the Rigveda, papta# and paptan : II, 31, 1. pra yat vayak na pdptan. That they may fly to us like birds. VI, 63, 6. pra vam vayak—anu paptan.
2190. Two other forms formed on the same principle occur in the Rigveda, papta# and paptan : II, 31, 1. pra yat vayak na pdptan. That they may fly to us like birds. VI, 63, 6. pra vam vayak—anu paptan. May your birds fly after you. X, 95,15. purdravak ma mrithaé mf pra paptak. Puriravas, do not die, do not go away! Verse 2. Note 1. Though svadhiti-van does not occur again, it can only mean he who holds the axe, or, it may be, the sword or the thunderbolt, the latter particularly, if Indra is here intended. Svadhiti signifies axe: III, 2, 10. sva-dhitim nd tégase. They adorned Agni like an axe to shine or to cut. The svddhiti is used by the butcher, I, 162,9; 18; 20; and by the wood-cutter or carpenter, III, 8,6; 11; X, 89, 7, &c. Roth (s.v.) takes svadhiti as meaning also a tree, NOTES. I, 88, 3. 173 possibly the oak, and he translates svadhitivan in our passage by a chariot made of the wood of the Svadhiti tree. In RV. IX, 96, 6, svadhitir vandnam may well mean ‘the strong axe among woods,’ the axe being naturally made of the strongest wood. In V, 32, 10, a devi svddhitiz is mentioned, possibly the lightning, the companion of Indra and the Maruts. Note 2. The tire of the chariot of the Maruts is frequently mentioned. It was considered not only as an essential part of their chariot, but likewise as useful for crushing the enemy : V, 52, 9. utd pavyd rathanam ddrim bhindanti dgasa. They cut the mountain (cloud) with the tire of their chariots. I, 166, 10. pavishu kshur&% ddhi. On their tires are sharp edges. In V, 31, 5, tires are mentioned without horses and chariot, which were turned by Indra against the Dasyus (I, 64, 11). I doubt, however, whether in India or elsewhere the tires or the wheels of chariots were ever used as weapons of attack, as detached from the chariot ; (see M.M., On Pavirava, in Beitrage zur Vergleichenden Sprachforschung, vol. iii, p. 447.) If we translate the figurative language of the Vedic poets into matter-of-fact terms, the tires of the chariots of the Maruts may be rendered by thunderbolts; yet by the poets of the Veda, as by the ancient people of Germany, thunder was really supposed to be the noise of the chariot of a god, and it was but a continuation of the same belief that the sharp wheels of that chariot were supposed to cut and crush the clouds; (see M. M., loc. cit., p. 444.) Verse 3. Note 1. That the vasis are small weapons, knives of daggers, we saw before, p. 71. Sayama here explains vast by a weapon commonly called 4ra, or an awl. In X, 101, 10, v&sis are mentioned, made of stone, asman-méayi. The difficulty begins with the second half. Medhé, as here written in the Pada text, could only be a plural of 174 VEDIC HYMNS.
371. Sayama here explains vast by a weapon commonly called 4ra, or an awl. In X, 101, 10, v&sis are mentioned, made of stone, asman-méayi. The difficulty begins with the second half. Medhé, as here written in the Pada text, could only be a plural of 174 VEDIC HYMNS. a neuter medhda, but such a neuter does nowhere exist in the Veda. We only find the masculine médha, sacrifice, which is out of the question here, on account of its accent. Hence the passage III, 58, 2, drdhv&% bhavanti pitdra-iva médha&, is of no assistance, unless we alter the accent. The feminine medh& means will, thought, prayer: I, 18, 6; II, 34, 73 IV, 33, 103 V, 27,43; 42,13; VII, 104, 6; VIII, 6, 10; 52,9; IX, 9, 9; 26, 3; 32,6; 65, 16; 107, 25; X, 91, 8. The construction does not allow us to take medh& as a Vedic instrumental instead of medhdyA, nor does such a form occur anywhere else in the Rig-veda. Nothing remains, I believe, but to have recourse to conjecture, and the addition of a single Visarga in the Pada would remove all difficulty. In the next line, if tuvi-dyumnasak be the subject, it would signify the priests. This, however, is again without any warrant from the Rig-veda, where tuvi-dyumna is always used as an epithet of gods. I therefore take it as referring to the Maruts, as an adjective in the nominative, following the vocatives marutah su-gaté#. The conception that the Maruts stir up the forests is not of unfrequent occurrence in the Rig-veda: cf. 1,171, 3. That Ordhva is used of the mind, in the sense of roused, may be seen in I, 119, 23 134,13 144,13 VII, 64, 4. The idea in the poet’s mind seems to have been that the thunderbolts of the Maruts rouse up men to prayer as they stir the tops of the forest trees, Ludwig takes medha, masc., in the sense of lance, comparing it with Icelandic meidhr, but the two words cannot well be the same. Possibly vana may be meant for lances: ‘May they raise our minds, like lances ;’ see note to I, 171, 3. Note 2. On dhan in the sense of to agitate, see B. and R.s.v. The shaking of the stone may be the shaking of the stone for distilling the heavenly Soma or the rain; but adri may also be meant for the thunderbolt. I now take tuvidyumna for an adjective referring to the Maruts, because it is a divine rather than a human epithet. Still, the passage is doubtful. Verse 4. Note 1. The first question is, which is the subject, ahani NOTES. I, 88, 4. 175
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 last line of verse 6 should be scanned : astobhayat vritha~Asim anu svadhdm gabhastyoA. There are two other verses in this hymn where the metre is difficult. In the last pada of verse 5 we have seven syllables instead of eleven. Again, I say, it would be most easy to insert one of the many tetrasyllabic epithets of the Maruts. But this would have been equally easy for the collectors of the Veda. Now the authors of the Anukramanis distinctly state that this fifth verse is viradrdpé, i.e. that one of its pAdas consists of eight syllables. How they would have made eight syllables out of vi-dhavatas varahdin does not appear, but at all events they knew that last pada to be imperfect. The rhythm does not suffer by this omission, as long as we scan vi-dh4vatah varahin. Lastly, there is the third p&da of the second verse, rukmaé na fitrak svadhiti-van. It would not be possible to get eleven syllables out of this, unless we admitted vydha not only in svadhitivan or svadhiti-vAn, but also in kitrah. Kuhn (Beitrage, vol. iv, p. 192) proposes to scan rukmaii na Aitarak svadhitivan. Nothing would be easier than to insert esham after Aitrak, but the question occurs again, how could esh4ém be lost, or why, if by some accident it had been lost, was not so obvious a correction made by Saunaka and Katyayana ? No verse of this hymn occurs in SV., VS., AV., TS., TB. Verse L Note 1. Alluding to the music of the Maruts, and not to the splendour of the lightning which is mentioned before. See Wolf, Beitrage zur Deutschen Mythologie, vol. ii, p- 137. ‘Das Ross und den Wagen des Gottes begleitet munterer Hornerschall, entweder stésst er selbst ins Horn, 172 VEDIC HYMNS. oder sein Gefolge. Oft vernimmt man auch eine liebliche Musik, der keine auf Erden gleich kommt (Miillenhof, 582). Das wird das Pfeifen und Heulen des Sturmes sein, nur in idealisirter Art.’ Ibid. p. 158. Note 2. Varshish/ha, which is generally explained as the superlative of vriddha, old (Paz. VI, 4, 157), has in most passages of the Rig-veda the more general meaning of strong or excellent: VI, 47, 9. {sham & vakshi ish&m varshish¢ham ; III, 13, 7 (vdsu); III, 26, 8 (ratna); III, 16, 3 (raf); IV, 31,15; VIII, 46, 24 (sravak); IV, 22, 9 (nrimma) ; V, 67, 1 (kshatrd); VI, 45, 31 (mdrdhdn). In some passages, however, it may be taken in the sense of oldest (I, 37,6; V, 7,1), though by no means necessarily. Varshish¢ha is derived in reality from vréshan, in the sense of strong, excellent. See note to I, 85, 12, page 144. Note 3. Paptata, the second person plural of the imperative of what is commonly, though without much reason, called the aorist of the causative of pat. It is curiously like the Greek ainrere, but it has the meaning of flying rather than falling ; see Curtius, Grundziige, p. 190. Two other forms formed on the same principle occur in the Rigveda, papta# and paptan : II, 31, 1. pra yat vayak na pdptan. That they may fly to us like birds. VI, 63, 6. pra vam vayak—anu paptan.
2190. Two other forms formed on the same principle occur in the Rigveda, papta# and paptan : II, 31, 1. pra yat vayak na pdptan. That they may fly to us like birds. VI, 63, 6. pra vam vayak—anu paptan. May your birds fly after you. X, 95,15. purdravak ma mrithaé mf pra paptak. Puriravas, do not die, do not go away! Verse 2. Note 1. Though svadhiti-van does not occur again, it can only mean he who holds the axe, or, it may be, the sword or the thunderbolt, the latter particularly, if Indra is here intended. Svadhiti signifies axe: III, 2, 10. sva-dhitim nd tégase. They adorned Agni like an axe to shine or to cut. The svddhiti is used by the butcher, I, 162,9; 18; 20; and by the wood-cutter or carpenter, III, 8,6; 11; X, 89, 7, &c. Roth (s.v.) takes svadhiti as meaning also a tree, NOTES. I, 88, 3. 173 possibly the oak, and he translates svadhitivan in our passage by a chariot made of the wood of the Svadhiti tree. In RV. IX, 96, 6, svadhitir vandnam may well mean ‘the strong axe among woods,’ the axe being naturally made of the strongest wood. In V, 32, 10, a devi svddhitiz is mentioned, possibly the lightning, the companion of Indra and the Maruts. Note 2. The tire of the chariot of the Maruts is frequently mentioned. It was considered not only as an essential part of their chariot, but likewise as useful for crushing the enemy : V, 52, 9. utd pavyd rathanam ddrim bhindanti dgasa. They cut the mountain (cloud) with the tire of their chariots. I, 166, 10. pavishu kshur&% ddhi. On their tires are sharp edges. In V, 31, 5, tires are mentioned without horses and chariot, which were turned by Indra against the Dasyus (I, 64, 11). I doubt, however, whether in India or elsewhere the tires or the wheels of chariots were ever used as weapons of attack, as detached from the chariot ; (see M.M., On Pavirava, in Beitrage zur Vergleichenden Sprachforschung, vol. iii, p. 447.) If we translate the figurative language of the Vedic poets into matter-of-fact terms, the tires of the chariots of the Maruts may be rendered by thunderbolts; yet by the poets of the Veda, as by the ancient people of Germany, thunder was really supposed to be the noise of the chariot of a god, and it was but a continuation of the same belief that the sharp wheels of that chariot were supposed to cut and crush the clouds; (see M. M., loc. cit., p. 444.) Verse 3. Note 1. That the vasis are small weapons, knives of daggers, we saw before, p. 71. Sayama here explains vast by a weapon commonly called 4ra, or an awl. In X, 101, 10, v&sis are mentioned, made of stone, asman-méayi. The difficulty begins with the second half. Medhé, as here written in the Pada text, could only be a plural of 174 VEDIC HYMNS.
371. Sayama here explains vast by a weapon commonly called 4ra, or an awl. In X, 101, 10, v&sis are mentioned, made of stone, asman-méayi. The difficulty begins with the second half. Medhé, as here written in the Pada text, could only be a plural of 174 VEDIC HYMNS. a neuter medhda, but such a neuter does nowhere exist in the Veda. We only find the masculine médha, sacrifice, which is out of the question here, on account of its accent. Hence the passage III, 58, 2, drdhv&% bhavanti pitdra-iva médha&, is of no assistance, unless we alter the accent. The feminine medh& means will, thought, prayer: I, 18, 6; II, 34, 73 IV, 33, 103 V, 27,43; 42,13; VII, 104, 6; VIII, 6, 10; 52,9; IX, 9, 9; 26, 3; 32,6; 65, 16; 107, 25; X, 91, 8. The construction does not allow us to take medh& as a Vedic instrumental instead of medhdyA, nor does such a form occur anywhere else in the Rig-veda. Nothing remains, I believe, but to have recourse to conjecture, and the addition of a single Visarga in the Pada would remove all difficulty. In the next line, if tuvi-dyumnasak be the subject, it would signify the priests. This, however, is again without any warrant from the Rig-veda, where tuvi-dyumna is always used as an epithet of gods. I therefore take it as referring to the Maruts, as an adjective in the nominative, following the vocatives marutah su-gaté#. The conception that the Maruts stir up the forests is not of unfrequent occurrence in the Rig-veda: cf. 1,171, 3. That Ordhva is used of the mind, in the sense of roused, may be seen in I, 119, 23 134,13 144,13 VII, 64, 4. The idea in the poet’s mind seems to have been that the thunderbolts of the Maruts rouse up men to prayer as they stir the tops of the forest trees, Ludwig takes medha, masc., in the sense of lance, comparing it with Icelandic meidhr, but the two words cannot well be the same. Possibly vana may be meant for lances: ‘May they raise our minds, like lances ;’ see note to I, 171, 3. Note 2. On dhan in the sense of to agitate, see B. and R.s.v. The shaking of the stone may be the shaking of the stone for distilling the heavenly Soma or the rain; but adri may also be meant for the thunderbolt. I now take tuvidyumna for an adjective referring to the Maruts, because it is a divine rather than a human epithet. Still, the passage is doubtful. Verse 4. Note 1. The first question is, which is the subject, ahani NOTES. I, 88, 4. 175
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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