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

3. We choose thee, the all-possessor, as our messenger 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.

5. Thou art the cheerful Hotrz and householder,
O Agni, the messenger of the clans. In thee all the
firm laws are comprised which the gods have made1.

6. In thee, the blessed one, O Agni, youngest god, all sacrificial food is offered. Sacrifice then thou who art gracious to us to-day and afterwards1, to the gods that we may be rich in valiant men.

7. Him, the king, verily the adorers approach reverentially. With oblations men kindle Agni, having overcome all failures.

8. Destroying the foe1, they (victoriously) got through Heaven and Earth and the waters; they

VEDIC HYMNS.

have made wide room for their dwelling. May the manly (Agni)2, after he has received the oblations, become brilliant at the side of Ka/zva ; may he neigh as a horse in battles.

9. Take thy seat; thou art great. Shine forth,
thou who most excellently repairest to the gods.
O Agni, holy god, emit thy red, beautiful smoke,
O glorious one !

10. Thou whom the gods have placed here for Manu as the best performer of the sacrifice, O carrier of oblations, whom Ka/zva and Medhyatithi, whom VWshan and Upastuta1 (have worshipped,) the winner of prizes.

11. That Agni's nourishment has shone brightly whom Medhyatithi and Kanva have kindled on behalf of JZite1. Him do these hymns, him do we extol.

12. Fill (us with) wealth, thou self-dependent one, for thou, O Agni, hast companionship with the gods. Thou art lord over glorious booty. Have mercy upon us ; thou art great.

13. Stand up straight for blessing us, like the god Savitrz, straight a winner of booty, when we with our worshippers and with ointments1 call thee2 in emulation (with other people).

14. Standing straight, protect us by thy splendour from evil; burn down every ghoul1. Let us stand straight that we may walk and live. Find out our worship2 among the gods,

15. Save us, O Agni, from the sorcerer, save us from mischief, from the niggard. Save us from himp. 33 who does us harm or tries to kill us, O youngest god with bright splendour !

16. As with a club1 smite the niggards in all directions, and him who deceives us, O god with fiery jaws. The mortal who makes (his weapons) very sharp by night, may that impostor not rule over us.

17. Agni has won abundance in heroes, Agni prosperity (for Ka^va). Agni and the two Mitras (i.e. Mitra and Vanma) have blessed Medhyatithi, Agni (has blessed) Upastuta in the acquirement (of wealth) \

18. Through Agni we call hither from afar Turva^a, Yadu, and Ugradeva. May Agni, our strength against the Dasyu, conduct Navavastva, Brzhadratha, and Turviti1.

Agni and the two Mitras
(i.e. Mitra and Vanma) have blessed Medhyatithi,
Agni (has blessed) Upastuta in the acquirement (of
wealth) \

18. Through Agni we call hither from afar Turva^a, Yadu, and Ugradeva. May Agni, our strength against the Dasyu, conduct Navavastva, Brzhadratha, and Turviti1.

19. Manu has established thee, O Agni, as a light for all people. Thou hast shone forth with Ka/zva, born from 7?zta, grown strong, thou whom the human races worship.

20. Agni's flames are impetuous and violent ; they are terrible and not to be withstood. Always burn down the sorcerers, and the allies of the Yatus, every ghoul1.

NOTES.

The authorship of this hymn, and of the whole collection to which it belongs (I, 36-43), is ascribed to Ka/^va Ghaura. Numerous passages show indeed that it was the family of the Ka?zvas, or rather, to speak more accurately, a branch of that family, among which this group of hymns has been composed. But it is as great a mistake in this as in [463 Dp. 34 a number of similar cases to accept the founder of one of the great Brahmanical families as an author of Vedic poems. Comp. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morg. Gesellschaft, XLII, 215 seq.

The metre is alternately Brzhati and Satobrzhati, so that
the hymn consists of strophes (Pragatha) of two verses.
Verse i = SV. I, 59. Verse 9 = VS. XI, 37 ; TS. IV, 1, 3,
3 (V, 1, 4, 5) ; TAr. IV, 5, 2 (V, 4, 6) ; MS. II, 7, 3 ; IV, 9, 3-
Verse i3 = SV. I, 57 ; VS. XI, 42 ; TS. IV, 1, 4, 2 (V, 1, 5,
3) ; MS. II, 7, 4. Verses 13, i4=TB. Ill, 6, 1, 2 ; TAr. IV,
20, 1 ; MS. IV, 13, 1. Verse i9 = SV. I, 54.

Verse 1.

Note 1. Literally, we entreat for you. Comp. on this
use of the pronoun vak, Delbruck, Altindische Syntax, 206.
See also Neisser, Bezzenberger's Beitrage, XX, 64.

Note 2. The meaning of yahva cannot be determined with full certainty.

Note 3. There is no sufficient reason to change with
Ludwig (IV, 254) puruTzam to Puru/zam, and thus to convert
the metrically correct Pada into an irregular one. — Comp.
Bollensen, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenl. Geseilschaft,
XXII, 593.

Note 4. On devayatinam, comp. Lanman, p. 399.

Verse 5.

Note 1. 'On thee all the eternal works are united, i.e. depend, which the gods have wrought ; such as sun, stars, lightning/ M.M.

Verse 6.

Note 1. With the third Pada compare the third Pada of verse 2. It is a galita.

Verse 8.

Note 1. The word ' the foe ' (vrz'tra) alludes to the name of the demon conquered by Indra ; see H. O., Religion des Veda, 135, note 2.

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Note 2. The metre would become more correct by reading vrishabhak instead of vr/shd. Or W/sham, ' with VWshan'? Comp. verse 10.

Verse 10.

Note 1. Medhyatithi or Medhatithi is very frequently mentioned in connection with Ka/zva.

O., Religion des
Veda, 135, note 2.

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Note 2. The metre would become more correct by reading vrishabhak instead of vr/shd. Or W/sham, ' with VWshan'? Comp. verse 10.

Verse 10.

Note 1. Medhyatithi or Medhatithi is very frequently mentioned in connection with Ka/zva.

VWshan is taken as a proper name by Boehtlingk-Roth and by Grassmann (not by Ludwig) in VI, 16, 15. Possibly they are right, but in no case can Vrzshan of the sixth book, named by the side of Dadhya&£ and Atharvan, be identified with any probability with the Vrzshan mentioned in our passage, who evidently belongs to the ancestors of the Ka/zvas.

Upastuta is mentioned again together with Ka/zva and
Medhyatithi in verse 17 of our hymn, together with Ka^va
in VIII, 5, 25. Comp. I, 112, 15 ; VIII, 103, 8 ; X, 115, 8. 9 ;
Bergaigne, Rel. Ved., II, 448.

Verse 11.

Note 1. Comp. I, 139, 2. yat ha tyat mitrâvaru?zav ritiLt adhi adadathe anrztam svena manyuna; X, 73, 5. mandamana^ rz'tat adhi.

Verse 13.

Note 1. Angibhlk can possibly mean 'who have salved themselves/ There is no reason to think of the anointing of the yupa (sacrificial post), to which Saya/za refers the word.

Note 2. On vi-hvi, comp. Pischel-Geldner, 1, 144. There must be a technical reason, unknown to me, for the connection in which this verb repeatedly occurs, as is the case in our passage, with the noun vaghat : comp. Ill, 8, 10 (see below); VIII, 5, 16. purutra £it hf vam nard vihvayante manishfea^ vaghadbhi^ ajvinS, a gatam.

Verse 14.

Note 1. The exact meaning of atrin is unknown.
Note 2. Geldner's conjectures on duvas seem rather bold

D 2

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to me (Kuhn's Zeitschrift, XXVII, 233). Comp. vol. xxxii, pp. 203-206 (I, 165, 14).

Verse 16.
Note 1. On ghaneva, see Lanman, Noun-Inflection, 334.

Verse 17.

Note 1. On Medhyatithi and Upastuta, see the note on verse 10. Aufrecht (Kuhn's Zeitschrift, XXVI, 612) believes that in mitrota an abbreviation of the name Mitratithi (X, 33, 7) is contained ; he translates : * Agni has promoted Mitratithi, Medhyatithi, and Upastuta in the acquirement of wealth.' This is very ingenious, but I do not think that the reason which Aufrecht gives is sufficient : it cannot be understood, he says, why Mitra (or Mitra and Varu^a) should be mentioned in a hymn exclusively addressed to Agni. But similar cases are quite frequent. — Prof. Max Miiller writes : ' Could mitra stand for mitram ? Agni has protected his friends and also Medhyatithi.' Comp. also Lanman, p. 342.

Verse 18.

Note 1. On Turva^a and Yadu, comp. Muir, V, 286 ; Bergaigne, II, 354 seq. ; Zeitschr. der D. Morg. Ges. XLII, 220. There is not the slightest reason for Ludwig's statement (IV, 254) that this hymn is a ' gebet um sig fiir den auf einem kriegszuge befindlichen Turva9akonig.'

Ugradeva is not mentioned again. On Navavastva and Brzhadratha, comp. X, 49, 6 ; VI, 20, 11 ; on Turviti, the materials collected by Bergaigne, Rel. Ved., II, 358 seq.