Vedic Hymns, Part II: Hymns to Agni (Mandalas I–V) — SBE Vol. 46 (trans. Hermann Oldenberg, 1897)

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THE

SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST

[46]

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HENRY FROWDE

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THE MACMILLAN CO., 66 FIFTH AVENUE

THE

SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST

TRANSLATED

BY VARIOUS ORIENTAL SCHOLARS

AND EDITED BY

F. MAX MULLER

VOL. XLVI

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1897

[All rights reserved]

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PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS

BY HORACE HART
PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY

VEDIC HYMNS

TRANSLATED BY

HERMANN OLDENBERG

PART II

HYMNS TO AGNI (MAMDALAS I-V)

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1897

[ All rights reserved]

CONTENTS.

Introduction

Hymns, Translation and Notes :-
Ma^ala I, i

13 Ap:

p. 26

p. 27

31
36
44
45

p. 58

59
60

65
66
67
68
69
70

7i

p. 72

p. 73

74
75
76

77
78
79
94

Hymn

PAGE

xi

I

p. 6

p. 8

13
16

22
3i
37
42

45
49
52
54
57
61

64
67
70

p. 74

82
88
92

95
96
100
102
103
108

Vlll CONTENTS.

PAGE

Maat/ala I, 95 . . . . . . .114

96 . .

. 119

p. 97

. 125

98 . \

p. 127

p. 99

. 128

p. 127

p. 129

p. 128

• 137

p. 140

. 141

141 .

• 147

142 Apr! Hymn i53

p. 143

• i57

p. 144

p. 160

p. 145

p. 164

p. 146

. 167

p. 147

p. 170

p. 148

p. 173

p. 149

p. 176

150 A *

' 178

188 Apri Hymn

p. 179

p. 189

p. 181

II, 1 . .

p. 186

p. 2

*93

3 Apri Hymn

p. 198

p. 4

p. 202

p. 5

p. 206

p. 6

p. 209

p. 7

p. 211

p. 8

p. 213

p. 9

p. 215

p. 10

p. 217

p. 1

p. 219

p. 2

p. 228

p. 3

p. 232

4 Apri Hymn

p. 236

p. 5

p. 240

p. 6

p. 244

p. 7

p. 248

p. 8

p. 252

p. 9

p. 256

CONTENTS.

IX

PAGE

Mawdfola

p. 259

II

. 261

12 To Indra-Agni

• 263

p. 13

. 266

p. 14

. 268

p. 15

. 271

p. 16

p. 273

p. 17

p. 275

p. 18

p. 277

p. 19

• 279

2Q

p. 281

p. 21

p. 283

p. 22

p. 285

p. 23

p. 287

24 . . .

p. 289

p. 25

p. 291

p. 26

p. 292

p. 27

p. 296

p. 28

p. 300

p. 29

p. 302

IV, i . .

• 307

p. 2

p. 316

p. 3

p. 325

p. 4

33i

p. 5

p. 335

p. 6

p. 340

p. 7

p. 343

p. 8

p. 346

p. 9

p. 348

p. 10

35o

p. 11

p. 352

p. 12

p. 354

p. 13

35<*

p. 14

p. 358

p. 15

p. 360

V, 1 . .

p. 363

p. 2

p. 366

p. 3

37i

p. 4

p. 375

X

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Maw^ala V, 5 Apri Hymn . . . 377p. 6p. 379p. 7p. 382p. 8p. 385p. 9p. 387p. 10p. 389 n

p. 391

p. 12

p. 393

p. 13

p. 395

p. 14

p. 397

p. 15

• 399

p. 16

. 401

p. 17

p. 403

p. 18

p. 405

p. 19

p. 407

p. 20

p. 410

p. 21

p. 412

p. 22

4i3

p. 23

p. 414

p. 24

p. 415

p. 25

p. 416

p. 26

p. 418

p. 27

p. 420

p. 28

• 423

Appendices: —

I. Index of Words ....... 427

II. List of the more important Passages quoted in the

Notes ....

p. 487

Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets adopted for the
Translations of the Sacred Books of the East .

p. 497

INTRODUCTION.

IN preparing this volume, which contains the greater part of the Agni hymns of the Rig-veda, namely, those of the Ma^alas I-V, the translator enjoyed the high advantage of Professor Max Muller's assistance, in the way stated in the Introduction to the first volume of Vedic Hymns, Sacred Books of the East, vol. xxxii, p. xxvii.

H. O.

Kiel :
November, 1895.

VEDIC HYMNS.

p. 1ASH7AKA I, ADHYAYA 1, VARGA 1-2.i \ I magnify 2 Agni, the Purohita, the divine ministrant of the sacrifice, the Hotri priest, the greatest bestower of treasures.

2. Agni, worthy to be magnified by the ancient jRtshis and by the present ones — may he conduct the gods hither.

ASH7AKA I, ADHYAYA 1, VARGA 1-2.

i \ I magnify 2 Agni, the Purohita, the divine ministrant of the sacrifice, the Hotri priest, the greatest bestower of treasures.

2. Agni, worthy to be magnified by the ancient jRtshis and by the present ones — may he conduct the gods hither.

3. May one obtain through Agni wealth and welfare day by day, which may bring glory and high bliss of valiant offspring.

4. Agni, whatever sacrifice and worship1 thou encompassest on every side, that indeed goes to the gods.

5. May Agni the thoughtful Hot?-/, he who is true and most splendidly renowned, may the god come hither with the gods.

6. Whatever good thou wilt do to thy worshipper,
O Agni, that (work) verily is thine, O Angiras.

7. Thee, O Agni, we approach day by day, O
(god) who shinest in the darkness * ; with our prayer,
bringing adoration to thee —

8. Who art the king of all worship, the guardian of
7?z'ta, the shining one, increasing in thy own house.

9. Thus, O Agni, be easy of access to us, as a father is to his. son. Stay with us for our happiness.

[46] B

VEDIC HYMNS.

NOTES.

The hymn is ascribed to Madhu^^andas Vai^vamitra,
and may possibly belong to an author of the Vuvamitra
family. See my Prolegomena, p. 261. Metre, Gayatri.
The hymn has been translated and commented upon by
M. M., Physical Religion, pp. 170-173.

Verse 1 = TS. IV, 3, 13, 3 ; MS. IV, io, 5. Verse 3 =
TS. Ill, 1, 11, 1 ; IV, 3, 13/5 ; MS. IV, 10, 4 (IV, 14, 16).
Verse 4 = TS. IV, 1, 11, 1 ; MS. IV, 10, 3. Verse 7 = SV.
I, 14. Verses 7-9 = VS. Ill, 22-24; TS. I, 5, 6, 2 ; MS.

I. 5> 3-

Verse 1.

Note 1. This verse being the first verse of the Rig-veda as we now possess it, seems already to have occupied the same position in the time of the author of the hymns X, 20-26. For, after a short benediction, the opening words of this collection of hymns are also agni'm i/e, ' I magnify Agni.' Comp. my Prolegomena, p. 231.

3STote 2. The verb which I translate by * magnify ' — being well aware that it is impossible to do full justice to its meaning by such a translation — is id. There seems to me no doubt that this verb is etymologically connected with the substantives ish, * food/ id, ida, fr& (not with the root ya^* of which Brugmann, Indogermanische Forschungen I, 171, thinks). We need not ask here whether the connection between id and ish is effected by a i Wurzeldeterminativ ' (root-determinative) d — in this case we should have here id for izhd, comp. nida for nizhda, pid for pizhd, &c. ; see Brugmann's Grundriss, vol. i, § 591 — or whether id is a reduplicated present of id (of the type described by Brugmann, Grundriss, vol. ii, p. 854 ; comp. frte, &c.). The original meaning of ide at all events seems to be c I give sap or nourishment/ Now in the Vedic poetry and ritual, the idea of sap or nourishment is especially connected with the different products coming from the cow, milk and

MA2VDALA I, HYMN T.

ii, p. 854 ; comp. frte, &c.). The original meaning of ide at all events seems to be c I give sap or nourishment/ Now in the Vedic poetry and ritual, the idea of sap or nourishment is especially connected with the different products coming from the cow, milk and

MA2VDALA I, HYMN T.

butter. The footsteps of the goddess Ida. drip with butter. The words ' agnim ide ' seem to me, consequently, originally to convey the idea of celebrating Agni by pouring sacrificial butter into the fire. There is a number of passages in the Rig-veda which, in my opinion, show clear traces of this original meaning of the verb. Thus we read X, 53, 2. ya^amahai yagniyan hanta devan l/amahai idyan a^yena, ' let us sacrifice (ya^*) to the gods to whom sacrifice is due ; let us magnify (id) with butter those to whom magnifying is due.5 V, 14, 3. tarn hi sasvanta.k l/ate sruM devam ghritaskuta, agnim havyaya voMave, 'for all people magnify this god Agni with the butter-dripping sacrificial spoon, that he may carry the sacrificial food/ V, 28, 1. devan l/ana havisha ghritaki, ' magnifying the gods with sacrificial food, (the spoon) filled with butter.' Comp. also I, 84, 18 ; VI, 70, 4; VIII, 74, 6; X, 118, 3. Then, by a gradual development, we find the verb id or the noun i/enya connected with such instrumental as gira or girbhi^, * to magnify by songs,' or stomal 'by praises,5 namasa 'by adoration,' and the like. The Rig-vedic texts, however, show us very clearly that even in such phrases the original meaning of id was not quite forgotten. For the word is not used indifferently of any praise offered to any god whatever. No god of the Vedic Pantheon is praised so frequently and so highly by the poets of the Rig-veda as Indra. Yet, with very few exceptions, the word id is avoided in connection with this god. The whole ninth MandaXa. contains nothing but praises of Soma Pavamana. Yet the word id occurs, in the whole of this Ma;^ala, in two passages only (5, 3 ; 66, 1) of which one is contained in an Aprt verse transferring artificially to Soma such qualifications as belong originally to Agni. On the other hand, in the invocations addressed to Agni, this verb and its derivatives are most frequently used. We may conclude that the idea of celebration, as conveyed by these words, had a connotation which qualified them for the employment with regard to Agni, the god nourished by offerings of butter, much better than for being addressed to Indra, the drinker of the Soma juice, or to the god Soma himself.

B 2

VEDIC HYMNS.

Last comes, I believe, the meaning of \d as contained in a very small number of passages such as VII, 91, 2. fndravayu sustutf^ vam iyana marc/ikam itte suvitam ka. navyam, c Indra and Vayu ! Our beautiful praise, approaching you, asks you for mercy and for new welfare.' Here the construction of \d is such as if in English the phrase, ' men magnify the gods for obtaining mercy,' could be expressed in the words ' men magnify the gods mercy.'