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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1I propose to derive vidatha from vi-dha ; the dh was changed into d by the same 'Hauchdissimilationsgesetz' (Brugmann, Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik, vol. i, p. 355 seq.), accord- ing to which Arian #bhaudhati was changed into Sanskrit MAiVDALA I, HYMN 31. 2 J bodhati. No one will doubt that the operation of this 'Hauchdissimilationsgesetz' could be annihilated by oppo- site forces, but it must be admitted that the forms with ' Hauchdissimilation ' could also remain intact. The verb vi-dha means ' to distribute, to arrange, to ordain ; ' thus the original meaning of vidatha must be, like the meaning of vidhana, ' distribution, disposition, ordinance.' In V, 3, 6 we read vidatheshu ahnam : this phrase receives its explana- tion by VII, 66, 11. vi ye dadhti^ .saradam ma'sam at aha^ ; ahoratram vidadhat, X, 190, % ; masam vidhanam, X, 138, 6 ; rztun . . . vi dadhau, I, 95, 3. We may call attention also to VI, 51, 3. veda yah trim vidathani esham devanam ^■anrna, c he who knows their threefold division, the birth of the gods;' VI, 8, 1. pra mi vofam vidatha ^atavedasa^, ' 1 will proclaim the ordinances of Gatavedas.' Within the sphere of the Vedic poets' thoughts, the most prominent example of something most artificially 'vi'hita' was the sacrifice (comp. vi ye dadhu/* . . . ya^Tzam, VII, 66, 11 ; samsati uktham vacate vi u dha/£, IV, 6, 11 ; [the moon] bhagam devebhya^ vf dadhati a-yan, X, 85, 19; and the following very significant passage: ya^asya tva vidatha prikk/iam atra kati hotara^ rztusaA ya^*anti, Va£\ Samh. XXIII, 57). Thus ya^a and vidatha, ' sacrifice' and 1 ordinance,' became nearly synonymous (comp. Ill, 3, 3, &c). It would be superfluous to quote the whole number of passages which show this, but I believe that an attentive reader will discern at least in some of them the traces of the original meaning of vidatha; see, for instance, II, 1, 4 ; III, 28, 4. — Finally vidatha seems to mean ' the act of disposing of any business ' or the like ; this meaning appears, I believe, in passages like the well-known phrase, brzhat vadema vidathe suvira^ (comp. suvirasaA vidatham a vadema) : ' may we with valiant men mightily raise our voice at the determining (of ordinances, &c.).' Thus the words vidatha and sabha approach each other in their meaning ; a person influential in council is called both vidathya and sabheya (see Boehtlingk-Roth, s. v. vidathya). Note 3. The exact meaning of paritakmya is not quite 28 VEDIC HYMNS. free from doubt. Comp. Bartholomae, Bezzenberger's Beitrage, XV, 203, note 1. Note 4. Prof. Max Muller translates this verse : ' Thou savest the man who has gone the wrong way in the thick of the battle, thou who art quick at the sacrifice ; thou who in the strife of heroes, when the prize (or the booty) is sur- rounded (beset on all sides), killest,' &c.
2Note 4. Prof. Max Muller translates this verse : ' Thou savest the man who has gone the wrong way in the thick of the battle, thou who art quick at the sacrifice ; thou who in the strife of heroes, when the prize (or the booty) is sur- rounded (beset on all sides), killest,' &c. Verse 7. Note 1. The phrase begins as if a relative clause were to follow attached to the words ' that mortal/ But, instead of this, afterwards a relative clause follows referring to ' thou, 0 Agni.' Note 2. Roth (Ueber gewisse Kiirzungen des Wortendes, p. 4) and Bartholomae (Kuhn's Zeitschrift, XXIX, 559) think that a dative (like tatr/sha^aya) is required ; Agni gives comfort to both thirsty races, gods and men. Roth takes tatrzsha7za[^] for an abbreviation of tatrzshaTzaya ; Bartholomae conjectures tatrzshaya. It would be more easy to change the form into a dative with the ending -a ( = -ai); comp. Kluge, Kuhn's Zeitschrift, XXV, 309; Pischel-Geldner, I, 61 ; Aufrecht, Festgruss an Bohtlingk, 1 ; J. Schmidt, Pluralbildungen, 234. But why not leave the nominative? Agni, being thirsty himself, quenches the thirst of other beings. Comp. J. Schmidt, Pluralbil- dungen, 309. Verse 11. Note 1. Ayum clyave. See verse 2, note 2. Note 2. The names Nahus, Nahusha have much the same value as Manus, Manusha. But it seems that not all the Aryan tribes, but only a certain part of them, were con- sidered as descendants of Nahus. Comp. Bergaigne, Rel. Vedique, II, 324. Note 3. The last words are very obscure. Mamaka occurs only in one other passage, belonging to the same collection of hymns, I, 34, 6 : there the A^vins are invoked to bestow blessings on 'my son' (mamakaya sunave). ' When a son of my father is born ' may mean ' When I am M AND ALA I, HYMN 3 1. 29 born/ or ' When a new issue is born within our tribe : ' then — thus we may possibly supply — the goddess I/a, the teacher of mankind, will be the new-born child's teacher also. Another possible explanation would be to take Mamaka as a proper name. Or Prof. Max Miiller may be right, who writes : 'Could not pitM yat putra/z mamakasya ga.ya.te refer to Agni, who, in III, 29, 3, was called Uayah putra^. Her father and husband (Manu) is also the father of mankind, therefore of the poet who says : Whenever the son of my father is born, they made I/a (his mother) the teacher of man.' Verse 12. Note 1. Trata tokasya tanaye seems to be nothing else but trata tokasya tanayasya, which would have had one syllable too much. Verse 13. Note 1. Comp. on this verse, Pischel, I, 216 seq. Note 2. Agni is to protect the man who has no quiver, and cannot, therefore, protect himself. The four eyes of the divine guardian seem to signify that he can look in all directions, and perhaps also that he has the power of seeing invisible bad demons. The watchdogs of Yama also are four-eyed, X, 14, 10. 11 ; comp. H. O., Religion des Veda, 474, note 4. Comp. nishangin, Rig-veda III, 30, 15 ; V, 57, 2 ; X, 103, 3.
3The watchdogs of Yama also are four-eyed, X, 14, 10. 11 ; comp. H. O., Religion des Veda, 474, note 4. Comp. nishangin, Rig-veda III, 30, 15 ; V, 57, 2 ; X, 103, 3. Note 3. On kin, comp. Pischel loc. cit. Note 4. Ratahavya^ means either a man who has made offerings, or a god to whom offerings are made. That it stands here in the first sense is shown with great proba- bility by VIII, 103, 13, where the kmk ratahavya^ svadhvara^ is described, the man who, though poor, makes offerings and is a good sacrificer. But if we are right in our translation of ratahavya^, the verb vanoshi cannot belong to the relative clause; I propose to read vanoshi without accent. The way in which Pischel tries to explain the accent of vanoshi, by taking the words kire^ k\t man- tram manasa as a parenthesis, is too artificial. 30 VEDIC HYMNS. Verse 14. Note 1. I think that we should here, as in verse 13, read vanoshi without accent. Note 2. This must be at least the approximate meaning of adhra. ' For ddhrasya one expects radhrasya,' M. M. Note 3. I think that the quarters of the world have nothing to do here, but that instead of pra disak we should read (with Ludwig) pradfoa/j. A similar mistake regarding the word pradlr occurs several times in the text of the Rig- veda. I propose to translate the corrected text : ' Thou instructest the simple, well knowing the (divine) command- ments/ Comp. vayunani vidvan, dutyani vidvan, &c. Verse 15. Note 1. * Der ist des himels ebenbild ' (Ludwig). But this word upama is, as far as we can see, not very ancient. I take upama, with Boehtlingk-Roth, as an adverbial instru- mental like dakshka, madhya, &c. Prof. Max Muller translates ' close or near to heaven.' Verse 16. Note 1. Saram designates in the Atharva-veda VI, 43, 3 a fault or defect, the exact nature of which cannot be deter- mined. Boehtlingk-Roth propose Widerspanstigkeit, Hart- nackigkeit ; Max Muller, Abweg, Fehltritt. Note 2. On bhrzmi, comp. M. M.'s note on II, 34, 1. Note 3. Comp. Ill, 43, 5. kuvit m& rhhim papiva^sam sutasya (supply karase), ' Wilt thou make me a Rtshi after I have drunk Soma ? ' MANDALA I, HYMN 36. 3 1 MAJVZ?ALA I, HYMN 36. ASH7AKA I, ADHYAYA 3, VARGA 8-11. i. We implore1 with well-spoken words the vigo- rous2 Agni who belongs to many people3, to the clans that worship the gods4, whom other people (also) magnify. 2. Men have placed Agni (on the altar) as the augmenter of strength. May we worship thee, rich in sacrificial food. Thus be thou here to-day gracious to us, a helper in our striving for gain, O good one ! 3. We choose thee, the all-possessor, as our mes- senger and as our HotW. The flames of thee, who art great, spread around; thy rays touch the heaven. 4. The gods, Varu^a, Mitra, Aryaman, kindle thee, the ancient messenger. The mortal, O Agni, who worships thee, gains through thee every prize.
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.
1I propose to derive vidatha from vi-dha ; the dh was changed into d by the same 'Hauchdissimilationsgesetz' (Brugmann, Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik, vol. i, p. 355 seq.), accord- ing to which Arian #bhaudhati was changed into Sanskrit MAiVDALA I, HYMN 31. 2 J bodhati. No one will doubt that the operation of this 'Hauchdissimilationsgesetz' could be annihilated by oppo- site forces, but it must be admitted that the forms with ' Hauchdissimilation ' could also remain intact. The verb vi-dha means ' to distribute, to arrange, to ordain ; ' thus the original meaning of vidatha must be, like the meaning of vidhana, ' distribution, disposition, ordinance.' In V, 3, 6 we read vidatheshu ahnam : this phrase receives its explana- tion by VII, 66, 11. vi ye dadhti^ .saradam ma'sam at aha^ ; ahoratram vidadhat, X, 190, % ; masam vidhanam, X, 138, 6 ; rztun . . . vi dadhau, I, 95, 3. We may call attention also to VI, 51, 3. veda yah trim vidathani esham devanam ^■anrna, c he who knows their threefold division, the birth of the gods;' VI, 8, 1. pra mi vofam vidatha ^atavedasa^, ' 1 will proclaim the ordinances of Gatavedas.' Within the sphere of the Vedic poets' thoughts, the most prominent example of something most artificially 'vi'hita' was the sacrifice (comp. vi ye dadhu/* . . . ya^Tzam, VII, 66, 11 ; samsati uktham vacate vi u dha/£, IV, 6, 11 ; [the moon] bhagam devebhya^ vf dadhati a-yan, X, 85, 19; and the following very significant passage: ya^asya tva vidatha prikk/iam atra kati hotara^ rztusaA ya^*anti, Va£\ Samh. XXIII, 57). Thus ya^a and vidatha, ' sacrifice' and 1 ordinance,' became nearly synonymous (comp. Ill, 3, 3, &c). It would be superfluous to quote the whole number of passages which show this, but I believe that an attentive reader will discern at least in some of them the traces of the original meaning of vidatha; see, for instance, II, 1, 4 ; III, 28, 4. — Finally vidatha seems to mean ' the act of disposing of any business ' or the like ; this meaning appears, I believe, in passages like the well-known phrase, brzhat vadema vidathe suvira^ (comp. suvirasaA vidatham a vadema) : ' may we with valiant men mightily raise our voice at the determining (of ordinances, &c.).' Thus the words vidatha and sabha approach each other in their meaning ; a person influential in council is called both vidathya and sabheya (see Boehtlingk-Roth, s. v. vidathya). Note 3. The exact meaning of paritakmya is not quite 28 VEDIC HYMNS. free from doubt. Comp. Bartholomae, Bezzenberger's Beitrage, XV, 203, note 1. Note 4. Prof. Max Muller translates this verse : ' Thou savest the man who has gone the wrong way in the thick of the battle, thou who art quick at the sacrifice ; thou who in the strife of heroes, when the prize (or the booty) is sur- rounded (beset on all sides), killest,' &c.
2Note 4. Prof. Max Muller translates this verse : ' Thou savest the man who has gone the wrong way in the thick of the battle, thou who art quick at the sacrifice ; thou who in the strife of heroes, when the prize (or the booty) is sur- rounded (beset on all sides), killest,' &c. Verse 7. Note 1. The phrase begins as if a relative clause were to follow attached to the words ' that mortal/ But, instead of this, afterwards a relative clause follows referring to ' thou, 0 Agni.' Note 2. Roth (Ueber gewisse Kiirzungen des Wortendes, p. 4) and Bartholomae (Kuhn's Zeitschrift, XXIX, 559) think that a dative (like tatr/sha^aya) is required ; Agni gives comfort to both thirsty races, gods and men. Roth takes tatrzsha7za[^] for an abbreviation of tatrzshaTzaya ; Bartholomae conjectures tatrzshaya. It would be more easy to change the form into a dative with the ending -a ( = -ai); comp. Kluge, Kuhn's Zeitschrift, XXV, 309; Pischel-Geldner, I, 61 ; Aufrecht, Festgruss an Bohtlingk, 1 ; J. Schmidt, Pluralbildungen, 234. But why not leave the nominative? Agni, being thirsty himself, quenches the thirst of other beings. Comp. J. Schmidt, Pluralbil- dungen, 309. Verse 11. Note 1. Ayum clyave. See verse 2, note 2. Note 2. The names Nahus, Nahusha have much the same value as Manus, Manusha. But it seems that not all the Aryan tribes, but only a certain part of them, were con- sidered as descendants of Nahus. Comp. Bergaigne, Rel. Vedique, II, 324. Note 3. The last words are very obscure. Mamaka occurs only in one other passage, belonging to the same collection of hymns, I, 34, 6 : there the A^vins are invoked to bestow blessings on 'my son' (mamakaya sunave). ' When a son of my father is born ' may mean ' When I am M AND ALA I, HYMN 3 1. 29 born/ or ' When a new issue is born within our tribe : ' then — thus we may possibly supply — the goddess I/a, the teacher of mankind, will be the new-born child's teacher also. Another possible explanation would be to take Mamaka as a proper name. Or Prof. Max Miiller may be right, who writes : 'Could not pitM yat putra/z mamakasya ga.ya.te refer to Agni, who, in III, 29, 3, was called Uayah putra^. Her father and husband (Manu) is also the father of mankind, therefore of the poet who says : Whenever the son of my father is born, they made I/a (his mother) the teacher of man.' Verse 12. Note 1. Trata tokasya tanaye seems to be nothing else but trata tokasya tanayasya, which would have had one syllable too much. Verse 13. Note 1. Comp. on this verse, Pischel, I, 216 seq. Note 2. Agni is to protect the man who has no quiver, and cannot, therefore, protect himself. The four eyes of the divine guardian seem to signify that he can look in all directions, and perhaps also that he has the power of seeing invisible bad demons. The watchdogs of Yama also are four-eyed, X, 14, 10. 11 ; comp. H. O., Religion des Veda, 474, note 4. Comp. nishangin, Rig-veda III, 30, 15 ; V, 57, 2 ; X, 103, 3.
3The watchdogs of Yama also are four-eyed, X, 14, 10. 11 ; comp. H. O., Religion des Veda, 474, note 4. Comp. nishangin, Rig-veda III, 30, 15 ; V, 57, 2 ; X, 103, 3. Note 3. On kin, comp. Pischel loc. cit. Note 4. Ratahavya^ means either a man who has made offerings, or a god to whom offerings are made. That it stands here in the first sense is shown with great proba- bility by VIII, 103, 13, where the kmk ratahavya^ svadhvara^ is described, the man who, though poor, makes offerings and is a good sacrificer. But if we are right in our translation of ratahavya^, the verb vanoshi cannot belong to the relative clause; I propose to read vanoshi without accent. The way in which Pischel tries to explain the accent of vanoshi, by taking the words kire^ k\t man- tram manasa as a parenthesis, is too artificial. 30 VEDIC HYMNS. Verse 14. Note 1. I think that we should here, as in verse 13, read vanoshi without accent. Note 2. This must be at least the approximate meaning of adhra. ' For ddhrasya one expects radhrasya,' M. M. Note 3. I think that the quarters of the world have nothing to do here, but that instead of pra disak we should read (with Ludwig) pradfoa/j. A similar mistake regarding the word pradlr occurs several times in the text of the Rig- veda. I propose to translate the corrected text : ' Thou instructest the simple, well knowing the (divine) command- ments/ Comp. vayunani vidvan, dutyani vidvan, &c. Verse 15. Note 1. * Der ist des himels ebenbild ' (Ludwig). But this word upama is, as far as we can see, not very ancient. I take upama, with Boehtlingk-Roth, as an adverbial instru- mental like dakshka, madhya, &c. Prof. Max Muller translates ' close or near to heaven.' Verse 16. Note 1. Saram designates in the Atharva-veda VI, 43, 3 a fault or defect, the exact nature of which cannot be deter- mined. Boehtlingk-Roth propose Widerspanstigkeit, Hart- nackigkeit ; Max Muller, Abweg, Fehltritt. Note 2. On bhrzmi, comp. M. M.'s note on II, 34, 1. Note 3. Comp. Ill, 43, 5. kuvit m& rhhim papiva^sam sutasya (supply karase), ' Wilt thou make me a Rtshi after I have drunk Soma ? ' MANDALA I, HYMN 36. 3 1 MAJVZ?ALA I, HYMN 36. ASH7AKA I, ADHYAYA 3, VARGA 8-11. i. We implore1 with well-spoken words the vigo- rous2 Agni who belongs to many people3, to the clans that worship the gods4, whom other people (also) magnify. 2. Men have placed Agni (on the altar) as the augmenter of strength. May we worship thee, rich in sacrificial food. Thus be thou here to-day gracious to us, a helper in our striving for gain, O good one ! 3. We choose thee, the all-possessor, as our mes- senger and as our HotW. The flames of thee, who art great, spread around; thy rays touch the heaven. 4. The gods, Varu^a, Mitra, Aryaman, kindle thee, the ancient messenger. The mortal, O Agni, who worships thee, gains through thee every prize.
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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