RIG-VEDA-SANHITA. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
OXFORD: 
 
 BT T. COMBE, M.A., E. B. GARDNER, E. P. HALL, AND H. LATHAM, 
 PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY. 
 
RIG-VEDA-SANHITA. 
 
 THE SACRED HYMNS OF THE BRAHMANS 
 
 TRANSLATED AND EXPLAINED 
 
 F. MAX MULLER, M.A, LLD. 
 
 FELLOW OK ALL SOULS COLLEGE ; 
 
 PROFESSOR OF COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY AT OXFORD; 
 
 FOREIGN MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTF. OF FRANCE, ETC., ETC. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 HYMNS TO THE MA RUTS OR THE STORM-GODS. 
 
 LIB K A \{ ) 
 
 UNITKPiSlTY OF i 
 
 TRUBNER AND CO., 60, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 [_All rijhts referred.'] 
 
/J/J/ 
 
,52. 
 
 fa tire gitiiutB 
 
 OP 
 
 COLEBROOKE, HOSEN, BUENOUF, 
 
 THE THREE FOUNDERS 
 OF VEDIC SCHOLARSHIP IN EUROPE. 
 
J. 1 li R A i: \ 
 
 UN IV Kits IT Y OV 
 
 CA1JK< h; VI V. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 %VrHEN some twenty years ago I decided on 
 undertaking the first edition of the two texts 
 and the commentary of the Rig-veda, I Httle ex- 
 pected that it would fall to my lot to publish also 
 what may, without presumption, be called the first 
 translation of the ancient sacred hymns of the 
 Brahmans. Such is the charm of deciphering step 
 by step the dark and helpless utterances of the 
 early poets of India, and discovering from time to 
 time behind words that for years seemed unintelli- 
 gible, the simple though strange expressions of 
 primitive thought and primitive faith, that it re- 
 quired no small amount of self-denial to decide 
 in favour of devotmg a life to the publishing of 
 the materials rather than to the drawing of the 
 results which those materials supply to the student 
 of. ancient language and ancient religion. Even 
 five and twenty years ago, and without waiting 
 for the pubhcation of S%^ ana's commentary, much 
 might have been achieved in the interpretation of 
 the h3Tims of the Rig-veda. With the MSS. then 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 accessible in the principal libraries of Europe, a 
 tolerably correct text of the Sanhitd might have 
 been published, and these ancient reHcs of a primitive 
 religion might have been at least partially deciphered 
 and translated in the same way in which ancient 
 inscriptions are deciphered and translated, viz. by 
 a careful collection of all grammatical forms, and 
 by a complete intercomparison of all passages in 
 which the same words and the same phrases occur. 
 When T resolved to devote my leisure to a critical 
 edition of the text and commentary of the Eig- 
 veda rather than to an independent study of that 
 text, it was chiefly from a conviction that the 
 traditional interpretation of. the Rig-veda, as em- 
 bodied in the commentary of S4ya?ia and other 
 works of a similar character, could not be neglected 
 with impunity, and that sooner or later a complete 
 edition of these works would be recognized as a 
 necessity. It was better therefore to begin with the 
 beginning, though it seemed hard sometimes to spend 
 forty years in the wilderness instead of rushing 
 straight into the promised land. 
 
 It is well known to those who have followed 
 my literary publications that I never entertained 
 any exaggernted opinion as to the value of the 
 traditionjd interpretation of the Veda, handed down 
 ill the thcologie-al schools of India, and preserved 
 to us in the great commentary of Sdya^ia. More 
 than twenty years ago, when it required more 
 coiUMge to s])('ak out than now, I expressed my 
 
imM':ka(;k. ix 
 
 opinion on that sulijoct in no ;unl)i^nous languaj^c, 
 and was l)lamed for it \>y womo of thoHO wlio now 
 speak of S4ya?ia as a mere drag in the progress 
 of Vedic scholarship. A drag, liowever, is some- 
 times more conducive to tlie safe advancement of 
 learning than a whip ; and those who recollect the 
 history of Vedic scholarship during the last five 
 and twenty years, know best that, with all its 
 faults and weaknesses, Sayawa's commentary was a 
 sine qud non for a scholarlik(3 study of the llig- 
 veda. T do not wonder that others who have more 
 recently entered on that study are inclined to speak 
 disparagingly of the scholastic interpretations of 
 Sayana. They hardly know how much we ;dl owe 
 to his guidance in effecting our first entrance into 
 this fortress of Vedic language and Vedic religion, 
 and how much even they, without being iiware of 
 it, are indebted to that Indian Eustathius. I do 
 not withdraw an opinion which I expressed many 
 years ago, and for which I was much blamed at 
 the time, that S^ya/ia in many cases teaches us 
 how the Veda ought not to be, rather than how it 
 ought to be understood. But for all that, who 
 does not know how much assistance mny be derived 
 from a first translation, even though it is imperfect, 
 nay, how often the very mistakes of our predeces- 
 sors help us in finding the right track 1 If we 
 can now walk without S4ya?ia, we ought to bear 
 in mind that five and twenty years ago we could 
 not have made even our first steps, we could never, 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 at least, have gained a firm footing, without hi8 
 leading strings. If therefore we can now see 
 f\irther than he could, let us not forget that we 
 are standing on his shoulders. 
 
 I do not regret in the least the time which I 
 have devoted to the somewhat tedious work of 
 editing the commentary of Sava?<a, and editing it 
 according to the strictest rules of critical scholar- 
 ship. The Veda, I feel convinced, will occupy 
 scholars for centuries to come, and will take and 
 maintain for ever its position as the most ancient 
 of books in the library of mankind. Such a book, 
 and the commentary of such a book, should be 
 edited once for all ; and unless some unexpected 
 discovery is made of more ancient MSS., I do not 
 anticipate that any future Bekker or Dindorf will 
 find much to glean for a new edition of Saya;?a, 
 or that the text, as restored by me from a col- 
 lation of the best MSS. accessible in Europe, 
 mil ever be materially shaken"". It has taken 
 
 * Since the publication of the first volume of the Rig-veda, 
 many now MSS. have come before me, partly copied for mc. 
 piiitly lent to me for a time by scholars in India, but every- 
 one of them belonged clearly to one of the three families which 
 I have described in my introduction to the first volume of th" 
 Rig-veda. In the beginning of the first Ash^aka, and occasionally 
 nt the beginning of other Ashtokas, likewise in the commentary 
 on hymns which were studied by native scholars with particular 
 interest, various readings occur in some MSS., which seem at 
 first to I)otokon an independent source, but which are in reality 
 iiurc niaiginal notes, duo to more or less learned students of 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 a long time, I Imow ; but those who find fanlt 
 with me for the delay, should remember that few 
 scholars, if any, have worked for others more than 
 I have done in copying and editing Sanskrit texts, 
 
 these MSS. Thus after verse 3 of the introduction one MS. 
 i-eacls : sa praha nripati??i ra^ran, saya?iaryo mamanu^/a/t, sarvaj/i 
 vetty esha veclana/)i vyakhyatritvena yur/yatam. The same MS., 
 after verse 4, adds : ityukto madhavaryena virabukkanialu'pati/^, 
 an\asat sayana^-ai-va«i vedarthasya prakasane. 
 
 I had for a time some hope that MSS. wi'itten in Grantha 
 or other South-Indian alphabets might have preserved an in- 
 dependent text of Saya«a, but from some specimens of a 
 Gi-antha MS. collated for me by Mr. Eggeling, I do not think 
 that even this hope is meant to be realised. The MS. in 
 question contains a few independent various readings, such as 
 are found in all MSS., and owe their origin clearly to the 
 jottings of individual students. When at the end of verse 6, 
 I found the independent reading, vyutpaunas tavata sarva riX-o 
 \'yakhyatum arhati, I expected that other various readings of 
 the same character might follow. But after a few additions 
 in the beginning, and those cleai'ly taken from othei- parts of 
 Sayana's commentary, nothing of real importance could be 
 gleaned from that MS. I may mention as more important 
 specimens of mai'ginal notes that, before the first puna/i kid?-isam, 
 on page 44, line 24, this MS. reads : athava ya^nasya devam 
 iti sambandhaA, yap'fiasya prakasakam ityarthaA, purohitam iti 
 p?-itliagviseshawam. And again, page 44, line 26, before puua/i 
 kidrisam, this MS. adds : athava ritvi^ram ritvigvid (vad) ya(/na- 
 nirvahaka7M hotarawi devanam ahvataram ; tatha ratuadhatamam. 
 In the same line, after ratnauam, we read rama?iiyadiiananam va, 
 taken from page 46, line 2. Various readings like these, however, 
 occur on the first sheets only, soon after the MS. follows the usual 
 and recognized text. For the later Ashiakas, where all the MSS. 
 are very deficient, and where an independent authority would be 
 of real use, no Grantha MS. has as yet been discovered. 
 
xii . PREFACE. 
 
 and that after all one cannot give up the whole 
 of one's life to the collation of Oriental MSS. and 
 the correction of proof-sheets. The two concluding 
 volumes have long been ready for Press, and as 
 soon as I can find leisure, they too shall be piinted 
 and published. 
 
 In now venturing to publish the first volume 
 of my translation of the Eig-veda, I am fully 
 aware that the fate which awaits it will be very 
 different from that of my edition of the text and 
 commentary. It is a mere contribution towards 
 a better understanding of the Vedic hymns, and 
 though I hojDe it may give in the main a right 
 rendering of the sense of the Vedic poets, I feel con- 
 vinced that on many points my translation is liable 
 to correction, and will sooner or later be replaced by 
 a more satisfactory one. It is difficult to explain to 
 those who have not themselves worked at the Veda, 
 how it is that, though we may understand almost 
 every word, yet we find it so difficult to lay hold 
 <jf a whole chain of connected thought, and to dis- 
 cover expressions that will not throw a wrong 
 shade on the original features of the ancient words 
 of the Veda. We have, on the one hand, to avoid 
 giving to our translations too modern a character, 
 or paraphrasing instead of translatmg ; while, on 
 the other, we cannot retain expressions which, if 
 literally rendered in English or any modem tongue, 
 woulil have an air of quaintness or absiu-dity totally 
 foreign to the intention of the ancient poets. There 
 
iniEFAc;E. xm 
 
 are, as all Vedic scholars know, whole verses whicli, 
 as yet, yield no sense whatever. There are words 
 the meanmg of which we can only guess. Here, 
 no doubt, a continued study will remove some of 
 our difficulties, and many a passage that is now 
 dark, will receive light hereafter from a happy 
 combination. Much has already been achieved by 
 the efforts of European scholars, but much more 
 remains to be done ; and our only chance of seeing 
 any rapid progress made lies, I believe, in com- 
 municating freely what every one has found out 
 by himself, and not minding if others point out 
 to us that we have overlooked the very passage 
 that would at once have solved our difficulties, 
 that our conjectures were unnecessary, and our 
 emendations wrong. True and honest scholars 
 whose conscience tells them that they have done 
 their best, and who care for the subject on which 
 they are engaged more than for the praise of 
 benevolent or the blame of mahgnant critics, ought 
 not to take any notice of merely frivolous censure. 
 There are mistakes, no doubt, of which we ought 
 to be ashamed, and for which the only amemde 
 honorahle we can make is to openly confess and 
 retract them. But there are others, particularly 
 in a subject like Vedic interpretation, which we 
 should forgive, as we wish to be forgiven. This 
 can be done mthout lowering the standard of true 
 scholarship or vitiating the healthy tone of scien- 
 tific morality. Kindness and gentleness are not 
 
XIV PREFACE. 
 
 incompatible with earnestness, — far from it! — and 
 where these elements are wanting, not only is 
 the joy embittered which is the inherent reward 
 of all bond Jide work, but selfishness, malignity, 
 aye, even untruthfulness, gain the upper hand, and 
 the healthy growth of science is stunted. While 
 in my translation of the Veda and in the remarks 
 that I have to make in the course of my commen- 
 tary, I shall frequently differ from other scholars, 
 I hope I shall never say an unkind word of men 
 who have done their best, and who have done 
 wiiat they have done in a truly scholarlike, that 
 is, in a liumble spirit. It would be unpleasant, 
 even were it possible within the limits assigned, to 
 criticise every opinion that has been put forward 
 on the meaning of certain words or on the con- 
 struction of certain verses of the Veda. I prefer, 
 as much as possible, to vindicate my own transla- 
 tion, instead of examining the translations of other 
 scholars, whether Indian or European. Saya/^a's 
 translation, as rendered into English by Professor 
 Wilson, is before the world. Let those wdio take 
 an interest in these matters compare it with the 
 translation here proposed. In order to give readeis 
 who do not possess that translation, an opportunity 
 <tf comparing it with my own, I have for a few 
 hymns printed that as well as the translations of 
 Langlois and Benfey on the same page with my 
 own. Everybody will thus be enabled to judge 
 of lilt' peculiar character of each of these transla- 
 
TREFACE. XV 
 
 tions. That of Saya?ia represents the tradition of 
 India ; that of Langlois is the ingenious, but 
 thoroughly uncritical, guess-work of a man of taste ; 
 that of Benfey is the rendering of a scholar, who 
 has carefully worked out the history of some 
 words, but who assigns to other words either the 
 traditional meaning recorded by Saya^ia, or a con- 
 jectural meaning which, however, would not always 
 stand the test of an intercomparison of all passages 
 in which these words occur. I may say, in general, 
 that Say ana's translation was of great use to me 
 in the beginnmg, though it seldom afforded help 
 for the really difficult passages. Langlois trans- 
 lation has hardly ever yielded real assistance, while 
 I sincerely regret that Benfey 's rendering does not 
 extend beyond the first Manc^ala. 
 
 It may sound self-contradictory, if, after confessing 
 the help which I derived from these translations, 
 I venture to call my own the first translation of 
 the Rig-veda. The word translation, however, has 
 many meanings. I mean by translation, not a mere 
 rendering of the hymns of the Rig-veda into 
 English, French, or German, but a full account of 
 the reasons which justify the translator in assign- 
 ing such a power to such a word, and such a 
 meaning to such a sentence. I mean by translation 
 a real deciphering, a work like that which Buruouf 
 performed in his first attempts at a translation 
 of the Avesta, — a traduction raisonnee, if such an 
 expression may he used. Without such a process. 
 
Xvi PREFACE. 
 
 without a running commentary, a mere translation 
 of the ancient hymns of the Brahmans will never 
 lead to any solid results. Even if the translator 
 htis discovered the right meaning of a word or 
 of a whole sentence, his mere translation does not 
 help us much, unless he shows us the process by 
 which he has arrived at it, unless he places before 
 us the ineces justificatives of his final judgment. 
 The Veda teems with words that require a justi- 
 fication ; not so much the words which occur but 
 once or twice, though many of these are difficult 
 enough, but rather the common words and particles, 
 which occur again and again, which we understand 
 to a certain point, and can render in a vague way, 
 but which must be defined before they can be trans- 
 lated, and before they can convey to us any real 
 and tangible meaning. It was out of the question 
 in a translation of this character to attempt either 
 an imitation of the original rhythm or metre, or to 
 introduce the totally foreign element of rhyming. 
 Such translations may follow by and by : at present 
 a metrical translation would only be an excuse for 
 an inaccurate translation. 
 
 Wliile engaged in collecting the evidence on 
 which the meaning of every word and every sen- 
 tence must be founded, I have derived the most 
 imjiortant assistance from the Sanskrit Dictionary 
 of Professors Boehtlingk and Eoth, which has been 
 in (.'ourse of publication during the last sixteen 
 years. The Vedic portion of that Dictionary may, 
 
PREFACE. XVll 
 
 I believe, be taken as the almost exclusive work of 
 Professor Eotli, and as such, for the sake of brevity, 
 I shall treat it in my notes. It would be ungrate- 
 ful were I not to acknowledge most fully the real 
 benefit which this pubhcation has conferred on 
 every student of Sanskiit, and my only regret is 
 that its j^nblication has not proceeded more rapidly, 
 so that even now years will elapse before we can 
 hope to see it finished. But my sincere admiration 
 for the work performed by the compilers of that 
 Dictionary does not prevent me from differing, in 
 many cases, from the explanations of Yedic words 
 given by Professor Both. If I do not always criti- 
 cise Professor Poth's explanations when I difier from 
 him, the reason is obvious. A dictionary without a 
 full translation of each passage, or without a justifica- 
 tion of the meanings assigned to each word, is only 
 a preliminary step to a translation. It represents 
 a first classification of the meanings of the same 
 word in difierent passages, but it gives us no 
 means of judging how, according to the opinion 
 of the compiler, the meaning of each single word 
 should be made to fit the general sense of a whole 
 sentence. I do not say this in disparagement, 
 for, in a dictionary, it can hardly be otherwise ; 
 I only refer to it in order to explain the difficulty 
 I felt whenever I differed from Professor Roth, and 
 was yet unable to teU how the meaning assigned 
 by him to certain words would be justified by the 
 author of the Dictionary himself. On this ground 
 VOL. T. b 
 
XVIU PREFACE. 
 
 I have throiigliout preferred to explain every step 
 bv which I aiTived at my own renderings, rather 
 tlian to wTite a running criticism of Professor Both's 
 Dictionary. My obHgations to him I like to express 
 thus once for all, by stating that whenever I found 
 that I agreed with him, I felt greatly assured as 
 to the soundness of my o^vn rendering, while when- 
 ever I differed from him, I never did so without 
 careful consideration. 
 
 The works, however, which I have hitherto men- 
 tioned, though the most important, are by no means 
 the only ones that have been of use to me m 
 preparing my translation of the Rig-veda. The 
 numerous articles on certain hymns, verses, or single 
 words occurring in the Rig-veda, published by Vedic 
 scholars in Europe and India during the last tliirty 
 years, were read by me at the time of their publica- 
 tion, and have helped me to overcome difficulties, 
 the very existence of which is now forgotten. If I 
 go back still further, I feel that in grappling with 
 the first and the greatest of difficulties in the study 
 of the Veda, I and many others are more deeply 
 indebted than it is possible to say, to one whose 
 early loss has been one of the greatest misfortunes 
 to Sanskrit scholarship. It was in Burnouf's lectures 
 that we first learnt what the Veda was, and how 
 it should fonn the foundation of all our studies. 
 Not only did he most liberally communicate to 
 his pupils his valuable MSS., and teach us how 
 to use these tools, but the results of his own 
 
PREFACE. XIX 
 
 exi^erience were freely placed at our service, we were 
 warned against researches which he knew to be 
 useless, we were encouraged in undertakings which 
 he knew to be full of promise. His minute ana- 
 lysis of long passages of Sayan a, his independent 
 interpretations of the text of the hymns, his com- 
 parisons between the words and grammatical forms, 
 the thoughts and legends of the Veda and Avesta, 
 his brilliant divination checked by an inexorable 
 sense of truth, and his chy logical method enlivened 
 by sallies of humour and sparks of imagmative 
 genius, though not easily forgotten and always 
 remembered with gratitude, are now beyond the 
 reach of praise or blame. Were I to criticise what 
 he or other scholars have said and written many 
 years ago, they might justly complain of such 
 criticism. It is no longer necessaiy to prove that 
 Nabhanedish^/^a cannot mean ' new relatives,' or that 
 th^re never was a race of Etendhras, or that the 
 angels of the Bible are in no way connected with 
 the Angiras of the Vedic hymns ; and it would, 
 on the other hand, be a mere waste of time, were 
 I to attempt to find out who first discovered that 
 in the Veda deva does not always mean divine, 
 but sometimes means hrilliant. In fact, it could 
 not be done. In a new subject like that of the 
 interpretation of the Veda, there are certain things 
 which everybody discovers who has eyes to see. 
 Their discovery requires so little research that it 
 seems almost an insult to sav that they were dis- 
 
 b2 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 covered by this or that scholar. Take, for instance, 
 the pecuHar pronunciation of certain words, rendered 
 necessary by the requirements of Vedic metres. I 
 beHeve that my learned friend Professor Kuhn was 
 one of the first to call general attention to the fact 
 that semivowels must frequently be changed into 
 their corresponding vowels, and that long vowels 
 must sometimes be pronounced as two syllables. It 
 is clear, however, from Rosen's notes to the first 
 Ash^aka (i. i, 8), that he, too, was perfectly aware 
 of this fact, and that he recognized the prevalence 
 of this rule, not only with regard to semivowels 
 (see his note to Rv. i. 2, 9) and long vowels which 
 are the result of Sandhi, but Hkewise with regard 
 to others that occui' in the body of a word. 'Ani- 
 madverte,' he writes, *tres syllabas postremas vocis 
 adhvar4?i4m dipodise iambicse munus sustinentes, 
 penultima syllaba prseter iambi prioris arsin, thesin 
 quoque sequentis pedis ferente. Satis frequei]^ia 
 sunt, in hac praesertim dipodise iambicae sede, 
 exempla syllabse natura longse in tres moras pro- 
 ductiB. De qua re nihil quidem memoratum 
 invenio apud Pingalam aliosque qui de arte 
 metrica scripserunt : sed numeros ita, ut modo 
 dictum est, computandos esse, taciti agnoscere 
 videntur, quum versus una syllaba mancus non 
 cos oifendat.'' 
 
 Now this is exactly the case. The ancient gram- 
 marians, as we sliall see, teach distinctly that where 
 two vowels have coalesced into one according to 
 
PREFACE. XXI 
 
 the rules of SancUii, they may be pronounced as 
 two syllables ; and though they do not teach the 
 same with regard to semivowels and long vowels 
 occurring in the body of the word, yet they tacitly 
 recognize that rule, by frequently taking its effects 
 for granted. Thus in Stitra 950 of the Pratis^khya, 
 verse ix. in, i, is called an Atyashd, and the first 
 pada is said to consist of twelve syllables. In order 
 to get this number, the author must have read. 
 
 aya ruM hari/'?ya punanaA. 
 
 Immediately after, verse iv. i, 3, is called a Dhi'iti, 
 and the first pada must again have twelve syllables. 
 Here therefore the author takes it for granted that 
 w^e should read, 
 
 saklie sakhayam abhy a vavritsva*. 
 
 No one, in fact, with any ear for rhythm, whether 
 /Saunaka and Pingala, or Kosen and Kuhn, could 
 have helped observing these rules when reading the 
 Veda. But it is quite a different case when we 
 come to the question as to which words admit of 
 such protracted pronunciation, and which do not. 
 Here one scholar may differ from another according 
 to the view he takes of the character of Vedic 
 
 * See also Sutra 937 seq. I canuot find any authority for the 
 statement of Professor Kuhn (Beitrage, vol. iii. p. 114) that accord- 
 ing to the Eik-pratisakhya it is the Jirst semivowel that must be 
 dissolved, unless he referred to the remarks of the commentator 
 to Sutra 973. 
 
Xxil PREFACE. 
 
 metres, and here one has to take careful account 
 of the minute and ingenious observations contained 
 in numerous articles by Professors Kuhn, BoUensen, 
 Grassmann, and others. With regard to the inter- 
 pretation of certain words and sentences, too, it may 
 happen that explanations which have taxed the 
 ingenuity of some scholars to the. utmost, seem to 
 others so self-evident that they would hardly think 
 of quoting anybody's name in support of them, to 
 say nothing of the endless and useless work it would 
 entail, were we obliged always to find out who was 
 the first to propose this or that interpretation. It 
 is impossible here to lay down general rules : — each 
 scholar must be guided by his own sense of justice to 
 others and by self-respect. Let us take one instance. 
 From the first time that I read the fourth hymn 
 of the Rig-veda, I translated the fifth and sixth 
 verses : 
 util bruvantu nah nidaA niA anyata/i ^it arata, 
 
 dddhana/i^ indre it duva/?, 
 utd naA su-bhagan ari/i vokeywii dasma k?'ishMya/?, 
 
 sy^ma it indrasya 5drma?ii. 
 
 1. Whether our enemies say, 'Move away else- 
 where, you who offer worship to Indra only,' — 
 
 2. Or whether, mighty one, all people call us 
 blessed : may we always remain in the keeping of 
 Indra. 
 
 About the general sense of this passage I imagined 
 tliere could be no doubt, although one word in it, 
 viz. drill, required an explanation. Yet the variety 
 
PREFACE. XXm 
 
 of interpretations proposed by difterent scholars is 
 extraordinary. First, if we look to Saya?ia, lie 
 translates : 
 
 1. May our priests praise Indra ! O enemies, 
 go away from tins place, and also from another 
 place ! Our priests (may praise Indra), they who 
 are always performing worship for Indra. 
 
 2. destroyer of enemies ! may the enemy call 
 us possessed of wealth ; how much more, friendly 
 people ! May we be in the happiness of Indra ! 
 
 Professor Wilson did not follow Sayaiia closely, 
 but translated : 
 
 1. Let our ministers, earnestly performing his 
 worship, exclaim : Depart, ye revilers, from hence 
 and every other place (where he is adored). 
 
 2. Destroyer of foes, let our enemies say we are 
 prosperous : let men (congratulate us). May we 
 ever abide in the felicity (derived from the favour) 
 of Indra. 
 
 Langlois translated : 
 
 1. Que (ces amis), en fetant Indra, puissent dire : 
 Vous, qui etes nos adversaires, retirez-vous loin d'ici. 
 
 2. Que nos ennemis nous appellent des hommes 
 fortunes, places que nous sommes sous la protection- 
 d'Indra. 
 
 Stevenson translated : 
 
 I. Let all men again join in praising Indra. 
 Avaunt ye profane scoffers, remove from hence, and 
 from every other place, while we perform the rites 
 of Indra. 
 
XXIV PREFACE. 
 
 2. foe-destroyer, (tlirough thy favour) even our 
 enemies speak peaceably to us, the possessors of 
 wealth ; what wonder then if other men do so. 
 Let us ever enjoy the happiness which springs 
 from Indra's blessing. 
 
 Professor Benfey translated : 
 
 1. And let the scoffers say, They are rejected by 
 every one else, therefore they celebrate Indra alone. 
 
 2. And may the enemy and the country proclaim 
 us as happy, destroyer, if we are only in Indra's 
 keeping. 
 
 Professor Eoth, s. v. anyataA, took tliis word 
 rightly in the sense of ' to a different place,' and 
 must therefore have taken that sentence ' move 
 away elsewhere' in the same sense in which I take 
 it. Later, however, s. v. ar, he corrected himself, 
 and proposed to translate the same words by ' you 
 neglect something else.' 
 
 Professor Bollensen (Orient und Occident, vol. ii. 
 }). 462), adopting to a certain extent the second 
 rendering of Professor Eoth in preference to that 
 of Professor Benfey, endeavoured to show that the 
 ' something else which is neglected,' is not some- 
 thing indefinite, but the worship of all the other 
 gods, except Indra. 
 
 It might, no doubt, be said that every one of 
 these translations contains something that is right, 
 though mixed up with a gi^eat deal that is wrong ; 
 but to attempt for every verse of the Veda to quote 
 uud to criticise every previoiLS translation, would 
 
PEEFACE. XXV 
 
 be an invidious and useless task. In the case just 
 quoted, it might seem right to state that Professor 
 Bollensen was the first to see that ixrih should be 
 joined with krishfdya/^, and that lie therefore pro- 
 posed to alter it to ari/i, as a nom. plur. But on 
 referring to Rosen, I find that, to a certain extent, 
 he had anticipated Professor Bollensen s remark, for 
 though, in his cautious way, he abstained from alter- 
 ing the text, yet he remarked : Possitne arih pluralis 
 esse, contracta termmatione, pro araya/?- ? 
 
 After these preliminary remarks I have to say a 
 few words on the general plan of my translation. 
 
 I do not attempt as yet a translation of the 
 whole of the Rig-veda, and I therefore considered 
 myself at liberty to group the hymns according 
 to the deities to which they are addressed. By 
 this process, I believe, a great advantage is gained. 
 We see at one glance all that has been said of a 
 certain god, and we gain a more complete insight 
 into his nature and character. Something of the 
 same kind had been attempted by the original 
 collectors of the ten books, for it can hardly be 
 by accident that each of them begins with hymns 
 addressed to Agni, and that these are followed 
 by hymns addressed to Indra. The only exception 
 to this rule is the eighth Manc/ala, for the ninth 
 being devoted to one deity, to Soma, can hardly be 
 accounted an exception. But if we take the Big- 
 veda as a whole, we find hymns, addressed to the 
 
XXVI PREFACE. 
 
 same deities, not only scattered about in different 
 books, but not even grouped together when they 
 occur in one and the same book. Here, as we 
 lose nothing by giving up the old arrangement, 
 we are surely at liberty, for our own purposes, 
 to put together such hymns as have a common 
 object, and to place before the reader as much 
 material as possible for an exhaustive study of each 
 individual deity. 
 
 I give for each hymn the Sanskrit original m 
 what is known as the Pada text, i. e. the text m 
 which all words (pada) stand by themselves, as 
 they do in Greek or Latin, without being joined 
 together according to the rules of Sandhi. The 
 text in which the words are thus joined, as they 
 are in all other Sanskrit texts, is called the Sanhita 
 text. Whether the Pada or the Sanliitd text be 
 the more ancient, may seem difficult to settle. As 
 far as I can judge, they seem to me, in their pre- 
 sent form, the product of the same period of 
 Vedic scholarship. The Pratisakhyas, it is true, 
 start from the Pada text, take it, as it were, for 
 granted, and devote their rules to the explanation of 
 those changes which that text undergoes in being 
 changed into the Sanhita text. But, on the other 
 hand, the Pada text in some cases cleaily pre- 
 supposes the Sanhitd text. It leaves out passages 
 which are repeated more than once, while the 
 SanhitA text always repeats these passages ; it 
 abstaiuH irom dividing the termination of the loca- 
 
PREFACE. XXVll 
 
 tive plural sii, whenever in the Sanhita text, i. e. 
 according to the rules of Sandhi, it becomes shu ; 
 hence nadlshu, a(7ishu, but ap-su ; and it gives 
 short vowels instead of the long ones of the San- 
 hita, even in cases where the long vowels are 
 justified by the rules of the Vedic language. It 
 is certain, in fact, that neither the Pada nor the 
 Sanhita text, as we now possess them, represent 
 the original text of the Veda. Both show clear 
 traces of scholastic influences. But if we try to 
 restore the original form of the Vedic hymns, we 
 shall certainly arrive at some kind of Pada text 
 rather than at a Sanhita text ; nay, even in their 
 present form, the original metre and rhythm of 
 the ancient hymns of the i^ishis are far more 
 perceptible when the words are divided, than when 
 we join them together throughout according to the 
 rules of Sandhi. Lastly, for practical purposes, 
 the Pada text is far superior to the Sanhita text 
 in which the final and initial letters, that is, the 
 most important letters of words, are constantly 
 disguised, and liable therefore to different inter- 
 pretations. Although in some passages we may 
 differ from the interpretation adopted by the 
 Pada text, and although certain Vedic words have, 
 no doubt, been wrongly analysed and divided by 
 /Sakalya, yet such cases are comparatively few, and 
 where they occur, they are interesting as carrying 
 us back to the earliest attempts of Vedic scholar- 
 ship. In the vast majority of cases the divided 
 
XXVUl PREFACE. 
 
 text, vdih a few such rules as we have to observe 
 in reach nor Latin, nav, even in readino- Pah verses, 
 brings us certainly much nearer to the original 
 utterance of the ancient i?isliis than the amalga- 
 mated text. 
 
 The critical principles by which I have been 
 guided in editing for the first time the text of 
 the Eig-veda, require a few words of explanation, 
 as they have lately been challenged on grounds 
 which, I think, rest on a complete misapprehension 
 of my previous statements on this subject. 
 
 As far as we are able to judge at present, we 
 can hardly speak of various readings in the Yedic 
 hymns, in the usual sense of that word. Various 
 readings to be gathered from a collation of dif- 
 ferent MSS., now accessible to us, there are none. 
 After collating a considerable nmnber of MSS., I 
 have succeeded, I believe, in fixing on three repre- 
 sentative MSS., as described in the preface to the 
 first volume of my edition of the Eig-veda. Even 
 these MSS. are not free from blunders, — for what 
 MS. is? — but these blunders have no claim to the 
 title of various readings. They are lapsus calami, 
 and no more ; and, what is important, they have not 
 become tracUtional"'. 
 
 ♦ Tims X. loi, 2, one of the Pada MSS. (P. 2) reads distinctly 
 yn^nrun pni k/-i«uta sakhaya/t, but all the other MSS. have 
 nnyata, and there can be little doubt that it was the frequent 
 repetition of the verb kri in this verse which led the writer 
 to substitute krinuta for nayata. No other MS., as far as I 
 
PREFACE. XXIX 
 
 The text, as deduced from the best MSS. of the 
 Sanhit^ text, can be controlled by four independent 
 checks. The first is, of course, a collation of the 
 best MSS. of the Sanhita text. 
 
 The second check to be applied to the Sanhita 
 text is a comparison with the Pada text, of which, 
 again, I possessed at least one excellent MS., and 
 several more modern copies. 
 
 am aware, i-epeats this blunder. In ix. 86, 34, the writer of the 
 same MS. puts ra^asi instead of dhavasi, because his eye was caught 
 by rac/a in the preceding line. x. 16, 5, the same MS. reads siim 
 gaM/tasva instead of gaXMatam, which is supported by S. i, S. 2, 
 P. 1, while S. 3. has a peculiar and moi'C important reading, gaX;- 
 X/iatat. X. 67, 6, the same MS. P. 2. has vi A;akartha instead 
 of vi A;akarta. 
 
 A number of various readings which have been gleaned from 
 Pandit Tarauatha's Tviladanadipaddhati (see Triibner's American 
 and Oriental Literary Recoi'd, July 31, 1868) belong to the same 
 class. They may be due either to the copyists of the ]\ISS. which 
 Pandit Taranatha used while compiling his work, or they may 
 by accident have crept into his own MS. Anyhow, not one of 
 them is suppoi'ted either by the best MSS. accessible in Europe, 
 01- by any passage in the Pratisakhya. 
 
 Rv. ix. II, 2, 
 
 read devajai inste 
 
 ad of devayu/i f. 
 
 ix. 11,4, 
 
 „ ar^-ata 
 
 , arkate f. 
 
 ix. 14, 2, 
 
 „ yadi sabandhava/i , 
 
 , yaddiptabandhava/t f- 
 
 ix. 16,3, 
 
 „ anaptam , 
 
 , anuptam f. 
 
 ix. 17,2, 
 
 „ suvanasa 
 
 , stuvanasaf. 
 
 ix. 21, 2, 
 
 „ pravriwvanto 
 
 , prav?'i?ivato t. 
 
 ix. 48, 2, 
 
 „ samvrikta 
 
 , sa«jyukta f- 
 
 ix. 49, I, 
 
 „ no 'pam 
 
 , no yam i'. 
 
 ix.54, 3> 
 
 „ suryaA 
 
 , suryam f. 
 
 ix-59.3, 
 
 „ sida ni 
 
 sidati t. 
 
 t As printed by Pandit Taramitha. 
 
XXX PREFACE. 
 
 The third check was a comparison of this text 
 with S^yana's commentary, or rather with the text 
 which is presupposed by that commentary. In the 
 few cases where the Pada text seemed to differ 
 from the SanhitS, text, a note was added to that 
 effect, in the various readings of my edition ; and 
 the same was done, at least in all important cases, 
 where Saya?2a clearly followed a text at variance 
 with our own. 
 
 The fourth check was a comparison of any doubt- 
 ful passage with the numerous passages quoted in 
 the Pratisakhya. 
 
 These were the principles by which I was guided 
 in the critical restoration of the text of the Pig- 
 veda, and I believe I may say that the text as 
 printed by me is more correct than any MS. now 
 accessible, more trustworthy than the text followed 
 by S4ya?za, and in all important points identically 
 the same with that text which the authors of the 
 Pratis^khya followed in their critical researches in 
 the fifth or sixth century before our era. I believe 
 that starting from that date our text of the Veda is 
 better authenticated, and supported by a niore per- 
 fect apparatus criticus, than the text of any Greek or 
 Latin author, and I do not think that diplomatic cri- 
 ticism can ever go beyond what has been achieved in 
 the constitution of the text of the Vedic hymns. 
 
 Far be it from me to say that the editio princeps 
 of* tlie text thus constituted was printed without 
 mistakes. P)ut most of these mistakes are mistakes 
 
PREFACE, XXXI 
 
 wliicli no attentive reader could fail to detect. Cases 
 like ii. $5^ i? where gdgisliett instead of (/6sliishat 
 was printed three times, so as to perplex even 
 Professor Eoth, or ii. 12, 14, where sasanianam 
 occurs three times mstead of sasamanam, are, I 
 beheve, of rare occurrence. Nor do I think that, 
 imless some quite unexpected discoveries are made, 
 there ever will be a new critical edition, or, as 
 we call it in Germany, a new recension of the 
 hymns of the E-ig-veda. If by collating new MSS., 
 or by a careful study of the Pr4tis4khya, or by 
 conjectural emendations, a more correct text could 
 have been produced, we may be certain that a 
 critical scholar Hke Professor Aufrecht would have 
 given us such a text. But after carefully collating 
 several MSS. of Professor Wilson's collection, and 
 after enjoying the advantage of Professor Weber's 
 assistance in collating the MSS. of the Eoyal 
 Library at Berlin, and after a minute study of the 
 Pratisakhya, he frankly states that in the text of 
 the Rig-veda, transcribed in Roman letters, which he 
 prmted at Berlin, he followed my edition, and that 
 he had to correct but a small number of misprints. 
 For the two MmidsAas which I had not yet pub- 
 lished, I lent him the very MSS. on which my 
 edition is founded ; and there will be accordingly 
 bvit few passages in these two concluding Ma^c^alas, 
 which I have still to publish, where the text will 
 materially differ from that of his Romanised tran- 
 script. 
 
XXXU PREFACE. 
 
 No one, I should think, who is at all acquainted 
 ^\ith the rules of diplomatic criticism, would easily 
 bring himself to touch a text resting on such authori- 
 ties as the text of the Eig-veda. What woidd a 
 Greek scholar give, if he coidd say of Homer that 
 his text was in eveiy word, in every syllable, in 
 every vowel, in every accent, the same as the text 
 used by Peisistratos in the sixth century B.C.! A 
 text thus presei^ed in its integrity for so many 
 centuries, must remain for ever the authoritative 
 text of the Veda. 
 
 To remove, for instance, the hymns 49-59 in 
 the eighth Ma?2c/ala -from their proper place, or 
 count them by themselves as Valakhilya* hymns, 
 seems to me little short of a critical sacrilege. 
 Why Saya??a does not explain these hymns, I con- 
 
 * The earliest interpretation of the name Valakhilya is found 
 i n the Taittiriya-ara?iyaka i. 23. We are told that Pra^apati 
 created the world, and in the process of creation the following 
 interlude occurs : 
 
 sa tapo 'tapyata. sa tapas taptva sariram adhimuta. tasya yan 
 niu/nsam asit tato 'runaJi ketavo Vcitarasaua rishaya udatish//iau. 
 ye nakha/i, te vaikhanasaA. ye bala/i, tc balakliilyaZi. 
 
 He l)urncd with emotion. Having burnt with emotion, he shook 
 his liody. From what was his flesh, the ^ishis, called Arunas, 
 Kotus, and Vatarasanas, sprang forth. His nails became the Vai- 
 khanasas, his hairs the Balakhilyas. 
 
 The author of this allegory therefore took bala or vala in vala- 
 khilya, not in the sense of child, but identiticd it with bala, hair. 
 
 The connneutator remarks with regard to tapas : natra tapa 
 upavasadirfipam, ki?/itu srash<avyav/i vastu kidnsam iti parya- 
 lti/aiiarfi|mm. 
 
PREFACE, XXXlll 
 
 fess I do not know*; but whatever the reason was, 
 it was not because they did not exist at his time, 
 or because he thought them spurious. They are 
 regularly counted in Katyayana's Sarvanukiama, 
 though here the same accident has happened. One 
 commentator, Shac/gurusishya, the one most com- 
 monly used, does not explain them ; but another 
 commentator, (ragannatha, does explain them, exactly 
 as they occur in the Sarvanukrama, only leaving out 
 hymn 58. That these hymns had something peculiar 
 in the eyes of native scholars, is clear enough. They 
 may for a time have formed a separate collection, 
 they may have been considered of more modern 
 origin. I shall go even further than those who 
 remove these hymns from the place which they 
 have occupied for more than two thousand years. 
 I admit they disturb the regidarity both of the 
 Ma?K/ala and the Ash^aka divisions, and I have 
 pointed out myself that they are not counted in 
 the ancient Anukramanis ascribed to >S'aunaka ; 
 (History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 220.) 
 But, on the other hand, verses taken from these 
 hymns occur in all the other Vedasf; the hymns 
 
 * A similar omission was pointed out by Professor Roth. 
 Verses 21-24 of the 53rd hymn of the third MawtZala, which 
 contain imprecations against VasishiAa, are left out by the writer 
 of a Pada MS., and by a copyist of Saya?ia's commentaiy, pi-obably 
 because they both belonged to the family of Vasish^/ta. See my 
 edition of the Rig-veda, vol. ii. p. Ivi, Notes. 
 
 t This is a criterion of some importance, and it might have 
 VOL. I. 
 
XXXIV PREFACE. 
 
 themselves are never included in the collections of 
 Pariiish^as or Khilas or apocryphal hymns, nor does 
 Kdtydyana ever mention mere Khilas in liis Sarva- 
 niikrama. Eight of them are mentioned in the Bri- 
 haddevata, without any allusion to their apocryphal 
 character : 
 
 Para?iy ash^au tu stikt^ny rishinkm tigmate^aslm, 
 
 Aindra?iy atra tu shacZvimsa/i pragatho bahudaivata/i. 
 
 Rig antyagner aZ;ety agni/i suryam antyapado ^agau. 
 
 Praskawvas ka, prishadhras ^a pradad yad vastu 
 Idmkuna, 
 
 Bhiirid iti tu stikt^bhydm akhilam parikirtitam. 
 
 Aindr^wy ubhayam ity atra shal agneyat pardwi tu. 
 
 ' The next eight hymns belong to i^ishis of keen 
 intellect * ; they are addressed to Indra, but the 
 26th Pragatha (viii. 54, 3-4, which verses form the 
 26th couplet, if counting from viii. 49, i) is ad- 
 dressed to many gods. The last verse (of these 
 eight hymns), viii. ^6, 5, beginning with the words 
 akeiy agnih, is addressed to Agni, and the last 
 
 been mentioned, for instance, by Professor Bollensen in his in- 
 teresting article on the Dvipada Vira^r liymns ascribed to 
 Para^ara (i. 65-70) that not a single verse of them occurs in 
 any of the other Vedas. 
 
 * Lest A^aunaka be suspected of having applied this epithet, 
 tigniatcj/as, to the Valakhilyas in order to fill the verse (pada- 
 pflra/iartham), I may point out that the same epithet is applied 
 to the Valakhilyas in the Maitry-upanishad 2, 3. The nom. plur. 
 whicli occurs there is tigmatc</asa/i, and the commentator remarks : 
 figuiiitt'i/asas tivratcf/aso 'tyfir(/itaprabhava/t ; te(7asa ityeva//<vidha 
 ctn^•Mi^kha8anketapa<^a.s■ X-Aandasa/i sarvatra. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 foot celebrates Surya. Whatsoever Praska?iva and 
 Prisliadhra gave (or, if we read prishadhraya, what- 
 ever Praska?iva gave to P/ishadhra), all that is 
 celebrated in the two hymns beginning with bhurit. 
 After the hymn addressed to Agni (viii. 60, i), there 
 follow six hymns addressed to Indra, beginning with 
 ubhayam.' 
 
 But the most important pomt of all is this, that 
 these hymns, which exist both in the Pada and 
 Sanhita texts, £ire quoted by the Pratis4khya, not 
 only for general purposes, but for special passages 
 occurring in them, and nowhere else. Thus in 
 Sutra 154, lietayaA is quoted as one of the few 
 words which does not require the elision of a fol- 
 lowing short a. In order to appreciate what is 
 implied by this special quotation, it is necessary 
 to have a clear insight into the mechanism of the 
 Prati.mkhya. Its chief object is to bring under 
 general categories the changes which the separate 
 words of the Pada text undergo when joined to- 
 gether in the Arshl Sanhita, and to do this with 
 the utmost brevity possible. Now the Sandhi rules, 
 as observed in the Sanhita of the Rig-veda, are by 
 no means so uniform and regular as they are in 
 later Sanskrit, and hence it is sometimes extremely 
 difficult to bring all the exceptional cases under 
 more or less general rides. In our passage the 
 author of the Pratisakhya endeavours to compre- 
 hend all the passages where an initial a in the 
 Veda is not elided after a final e or 0. In ordinary 
 c 2 
 
XXXvi PREFACE. 
 
 Sanskrit it would be always elided, in the Sanhit^ 
 it is sometimes elided, and sometimes not. Thus the 
 Prati^-akhya begins in Sutra 139 by stating that if 
 the short a stands at the beginning of a pada or 
 foot, it is always elided. Wliy it should be always 
 elided in the very j^lace where the metre most 
 strongly requires that it should be pronounced, 
 does not concern the author of the Prdtisakliya. 
 He is a statistician, not a grammarian, and he 
 therefore simply adds in Sutra 153 the only three 
 exceptional passages where the a, under these very 
 circumstances, happens to be not elided. He then 
 proceeds in Sutra 139 to state that a is elided even in 
 the middle of a pada, provided it be hght, followed 
 by y or v, and these, y or v, again followed by a 
 light vowel. Hence the Sanhita writes te Vadan, 
 so yS,m, but not slkshanto Vratam, for here the a 
 of avratam is heavy ; nor mitramaho 'vadyat, for 
 here the a following the v is heavy. 
 
 Then follows again an extension of this rule, viz. 
 m the case of words ending in ^vo. After these, 
 a short a, even if followed by other consonants 
 besides y or v, may be elided, but the other con- 
 ditions must be fulfilled, i. e. the short a must be 
 light, and the vowel of the next syllable must 
 again be light. Thus the Sanliita writes indeed 
 gavo 'bhlta/i, but not gavo gmau, because here the a 
 is heavy, being foUowed by two consonants. 
 
 After this, a more general rule, or, more cor- 
 rectly, a more comprehensive observation is made, 
 
PREFACE. XXXVll 
 
 viz. that under all circumstances initial a is elided, 
 if the preceding word ends in aye, ayaA, ave, or 
 ava//. As might be expected, however, so large a 
 class must have numerous exceptions, and these 
 can only be collected by quoting every word ending 
 in these syllables, or every passage in which the 
 exceptions occur. Before these exceptions are 
 enumerated, some other more or less general obser- 
 vations are made, providing for the elision of 
 initial a. Initial a, according to Sutra 142, is to 
 be elided if the precedmg word is vaA, and if this 
 va/^ is preceded by 4, na, pra, kva, ^itra/i, savit^, 
 eva, or ka/^. There is, of course, no intelligible 
 reason why, if these words precede yslJi, the next 
 a should be elided. It is a mere statement of 
 facts, and, generally speaking, these statements are 
 minutely accurate. There is probably no verse in 
 the whole of the Eig-veda where an initial a after 
 v£ih is elided, unless these very words precede, or 
 unless some other observation has been made to 
 provide for the elision of the a. For instance, in 
 V. 25, I, we find vsJi preceded by aMAa, which is 
 not among the words just mentioned, and here the 
 Sanhita does not elide the a of agnim, which follows 
 after va/^. After all these more or less general 
 observations as to the elision of an initial a are 
 thus exhausted, the author of the Prsitis^khya 
 descends into particulars, and gives lists, first, of 
 words the initial a of which is always elided; 
 secondly, of words which, if preceding, require under 
 
XXXVlll PREFACE. 
 
 all cii'cumstances the elision of the initial a of the 
 next word, whatever may have been said to the con- 
 trary in the preceding Sutras. Afterwards, he gives 
 a number of passages which defy all rules, and must 
 be given on their own merits, and as they stand 
 in the Sanliita. Lastly, follow special exceptions to 
 the more or less general rules given before. And 
 here, among these special exceptions, we see that 
 the author of the Prati^akhya finds it necessary to 
 quote a passage from a Valakhilya hymn in which 
 hetdya/i occurs, i. e. a word ending in aya/i, and 
 where, in defiance of Siitra 149, which required the 
 elision of a following initial a imder all circum- 
 stances (sarvath^), the initial a of asya is not elided ; 
 viii. 50, 2, Sanliita, satanlka hetayo asya. It might 
 be objected that the Pratisakhya only quotes hetdya/t 
 as an exceptional word, and does not refer directly 
 to the verse in the Valakhilya hymn. But for- 
 tunately hetaya/? occurs but twice in the whole of 
 the Kig-veda ; and in the other passage where it 
 occurs, i. 190, 4, neither the rule nor the exception 
 as to the eHsion of an initial a, could apply. The 
 author of the Prdtisakhya therefore makes no dis- 
 tinction between the Vdlakliilya and any other hymns 
 of the Rig-veda, and he would have considered his 
 phonetic statistics equally at fault, if it had been 
 possible to quote one single passage from the hymns 
 viii. 49 to 59, as contravening his observations, as if 
 such passages had been alleged from the hymns of 
 Vasish^/ia or Visvamitra. 
 
PREFACE. XXXIX 
 
 It woiild lead me too far, were I to enter liere 
 into similar cases in support of the fact that the 
 Prdtis^khya makes no distinction between the 
 Valakhilva and any other hymns of the Rig-veda- 
 sanliita*. But I doubt whether the bearing of this 
 fact has ever been fully realised. Here we see that 
 the absence of the elision of a short a which follows 
 after a word ending in aya^, was considered of suf- 
 ficient importance to be recorded in a special rule, 
 because in most cases the Sanhit4 elides an initial 
 a, if preceded by a word ending in aya/^ What 
 does this prove 1 It proves, unless aU our views 
 on the chronology of Vedic literature are wrong, 
 that in the fifth century b. c, at least, or previously 
 rather to the time when the Pratisakhya was com- 
 posed, both the Pada and the Sanhita texts were 
 so firmly settled that it was impossible, for the 
 sake of imiformity or regularity, to omit one single 
 short a ; and it proves a fortiori, that the hymn 
 m which that irregular short a occurs, formed at 
 that time part of the Vedic canon, I confess I feel 
 sometimes frightened by the stringency of this 
 argument, and I should like to see a possibility 
 by which we could explain the addition, not of the 
 Valakhilya hymns only, but of other much more 
 modern sounding hymns, at a later time than the 
 period of the Pratis4khyas. But until that possi- 
 
 * The Pratisakliya takes into account both the (S'akahi and 
 Bashkala sakhas, as may be seen from Sutra 1057. 
 
xl PREFACE. 
 
 bility is sho\^^l, we must abide by om' own con- 
 clusions ; and then I ask, who is the critic who 
 would dare to tamper with a canon of scripture of 
 which every iota was settled before the time of 
 Cyrus, and which we possess in exactly that form 
 in which it is described to us by the authors of 
 the Prati^^akliyas ? I say again, that I am not free 
 from misgivings on the subject, and my critical 
 conscience would be far better satisfied if we could 
 ascribe the Pratisakhya and all it presupposes to a 
 much later date. But until that is done, the fact 
 remains that the two divergent texts, the Pada 
 and Sanhitd, wliich we now possess, existed, as we 
 now possess them, previous to the time of the 
 Pratiiakhya : they have not diverged nor varied 
 since, and tlic vertex to which they point, starting 
 from the distance of the two texts as measured 
 by the Pratii'akliya, carries us back far beyond the 
 time of *Saunaka, if we wish to determme the date 
 of the first authorised collection of the hymns, both 
 in their Pada and in their Sanliita form. 
 
 Instances abound, if we compare the Pada and 
 Sanhitii texts, where, if uniformity between the two 
 texts had been the object of the scholars of the 
 ancient Parishads, the lengthening or shortening of 
 a vowel Avuuld at once have removed the apparent 
 discordance between the two traditional texts. Nor 
 slundd it be supposed that such minute discord- 
 ances between the two, as the length or shortness 
 of a vowel, were always rendered necessary by the 
 
PREFACE. xli 
 
 requirements of the metre, and that for that reason 
 the ancient students or the later copyists of the 
 Veda abstained from altering the peculiar spelling 
 of words, which seemed required by the exigencies 
 of the metre in the Sanhit^ text, but not in the Pada 
 text. Though this may be true in some cases, it is 
 not so in all. There are short vowels in the Sanhita 
 where, according to grammar, we expect long vowels, 
 and where, according to metre, there was no necessity 
 for shortening them. Yet in these very places all the 
 MSS. of the Sanhita text give the irregular short, 
 and all the MSS. of the Pada text the regular long 
 vowel, and the authors of the Prati^akhyas bear 
 witness that the same minute difference existed at 
 their own time, nay, previous to their own time. In 
 vii. 60, 1 2, the Sanhita text gives : 
 
 ijim deva purohitir yuvdbhyaw ya.^neshu mitra- 
 varujiav akari. 
 
 This primacy, (two) gods, was made for you 
 two, Mitra and Varu^ia, at the sacrifices ! 
 
 Here it is quite clear that deva is meant for a 
 dual, and ought to have been devd or devau. The 
 metre does not require a short syllable, and yet 
 all the Sanhitei MSS. read deva, and all the Pada 
 MSS. read dev^ ; and what is more important, the 
 authors of the Pratisakhya had to register this small 
 divergence of the two texts, which existed in their 
 time as it exists in our own'"'. 
 
 * See Prati^akliya, Sutra 309 seq., wliere several more instances 
 of the same kind are given. 
 
xlii PREFACE. 
 
 Nor let it be supposed, that the writers of our 
 MSS. were so careful and so conscientious that 
 they would, when copying MSS., regulate eveiy 
 consonant or vowel according to the rules of the 
 Pratisakhya. This is by no means the case. The 
 writers of Vedic MSS. are on the whole more 
 accurate than the writers of other MSS., but their 
 learning does not seem to extend to a knowledge 
 of the minute ndes of the Pratisakhya, and they 
 will commit occasionally the very mistakes against 
 which they are warned by the Pratisakhya. Thus 
 the Pratisakhya (Sutra 799) warns the students 
 against a common mistake of changing vaiyasva 
 into vayyasva, i. e. by changing ai to a, and doubling 
 the semivowel y. But this very mistake occurs in 
 S. 2, and another MS. gives vaiyyasva. See p. xlvii. 
 
 If these arguments are sound, if nothing can be 
 said against the critical principles by which I have 
 been guided m editing the text of the Rig-veda, 
 if the fourfold check, described above, fidfils every 
 requirement that could be made for restoring 
 that text which was known to Saya/^a, and wliich 
 was known, probably 2000 years earlier, to the 
 authors of the Pratisakhyas, what can be the 
 motives, it may fairly be asked, of those who 
 clamour for a new and more critical edition, and 
 who imagine tluit the cditio 2^^'^nceps of the Kig- 
 veda will share the fate of most of the editiones 
 pnncijH's of the Greek and Roman classics, and 
 be su])planted by new editions founded on the col- 
 
PREFACE. xliii 
 
 latioii of other MSS. 'i No one could liave rejoiced 
 more sincerely than I did at the pubHcation of the 
 Eomanised transliteration of the Rig-veda, carried 
 out with so much patience and accuracy by Pro- 
 fessor Aufrecht. It showed that there was a grow- 
 ing interest in this, the only true Veda ; it showed 
 that even those who could not read Sanskrit in 
 the original Devanagari, wished to have access to 
 the original text of these ancient hymns ; it showed 
 that the study of the Veda had a future before it 
 like no other book of Sanskrit literature. My 
 learned friend Professor Aufrecht has been most 
 unfairly charged with having printed this Eoman- 
 ised text 7ne insciente vel invito. My edition of the 
 Eig-veda is puhlici juris, hke any edition of Homer 
 or Plato, and anybody might have reprinted it 
 either in Eoman or Devanagarl letters. But far 
 from keeping me in ignorance of liis useful enter- 
 prise, Professor Aufrecht applied to me for the 
 loan of the MSS. of the two Ma7zc/alas which I 
 had not yet published, and I lent them to him 
 most gladly because, by seeing them printed at 
 once, I felt far less guilty in delaying the pub- 
 lication of the last volumes of my edition of the 
 text and commentary. Nor could anything have 
 been more honourable than the way in which Pro- 
 fessor Aufrecht speaks of the true relation of his 
 Eomanised text to my edition. That there are 
 misprints, and I, speaking for myself, ought to say 
 mistakes also, in my edition of the Eig-veda, I 
 
xliv PREFACE. 
 
 know but too well ; and if Professor Aiifrecht, after 
 carefully transcribing every word, could honestly say 
 that their number is small, I doubt whether other 
 scholars will be able to prove that their number 
 is large. I believe I may with the same honesty 
 return Professor Aufrecht's compHment, and con- 
 sidering the great difficulty of avoiding misprints 
 in Romanised transcripts, I have always thought 
 and I have always said that his reprint of the 
 hymns of the Veda is remarkably correct and accu- 
 rate. Wliat, however, I must protest agamst, and 
 what, I feel sure, Professor Aufrecht himself would 
 equally protest against, is the supposition, and 
 more than supposition of certain scholars, that 
 wherever his Latin transcript varies from my own 
 Devanagari text, Professor Aufrecht is right, and 
 I am wrong, that his various readings rest on the 
 authority of new MSS., and constitute in fact a 
 new recension of the Vedic hymns. Against this 
 supposition I must protest most strongly, not for 
 my own sake, but for the sake of the old book, 
 and, still more, for the sake of the truth. No doubt 
 it is natural to suppose that where a later edition 
 differs from a former edition, it does so intentionally ; 
 and I do not complain of those who, without being 
 able to have recourse to MSS. in order to test 
 tlic antliority of various readings, concluded that 
 wherever the new text differed from the old, it was 
 U'cause the old text was at fault. In order to satisfy 
 my own conscience on this point, I have collated a 
 
PREFACE. xlv 
 
 number of passages where Professor Aufreeht's text 
 differs from my own, and I feel satisfied that in 
 the vast majority of cases, I am right and he is 
 wTong, and that his variations do not rest on the 
 authority of MSS. I must not shrink from the 
 duty of making good this assertion, and I therefore 
 proceed to an examination of such passages as have 
 occurred to me on occasionally referring to his text, 
 pointing out the readings both where he is right, 
 and where he is wrong. The differences between 
 the two texts may appear trifling, but I shall not 
 avail myself of that plea. On the contrary, I quite 
 agree with those scholars who hold that in truly 
 critical scholarship there is nothing trifling. Besides, 
 it is in the nature of the case that what may, by 
 a stretch of the word, be called various readings 
 in the Veda, must be confined to single letters or 
 accents, and can but seldom extend to whole words, 
 and never to whole sentences. I must therefore 
 beg my readers to have j^atience while I endeavour 
 to show that the text of the Eig-veda, as first 
 published by me, though by no means faultless, was 
 nevertheless not edited in so perfunctory a manner 
 as some learned critics seem to suppose, and that 
 it will not be easy to supplant it either by a colla- 
 tion of new MSS., such as are accessible at present, 
 or by occasional references to the Pratis4khya. 
 
 I begin with some mistakes of my own, mistakes 
 which I might have avoided, if I had always con- 
 sulted the Pratis^khya, where single words or whole 
 
xlvi PREFAC^E. 
 
 passages of the Veda are quoted. Some of these 
 mistakes have been removed by Professor Aufrecht, 
 others appear in his transcript as they appear in 
 my own edition. 
 
 I need hardly point out passages where palpable 
 misprints in my edition have been repeated in 
 Professor Aufrecht's text. I mean by palpable 
 misprints, cases where a glance at the Pada text 
 or at the Sanhita text or a reference to Saya?ia's 
 commentaiy would show at once what was intended. 
 Thus, for instance, in vi. 15, 3, vridhe, as I had 
 printed in the Sanhita, was clearly a misprint for 
 v?idh6, as may be seen from the Pada, which gives 
 vridhih, and from Saya^a. Here, though Professor 
 Aufrecht repeats vridhe, I think it hardly necessary 
 to show that the authority of the best MSS, (S. 2. 
 alone contains a correction of v?idh6 to v?'idhe) is 
 in favour of vridhdh, whatever we may think of 
 the relative value of these two readings. One 
 must be careful, however, in a text like that of 
 the Vedic hymns, where the presence or absence 
 of a single letter or accent begins to become the 
 object of the most learned and painstaking dis- 
 cussions, not to claim too large an indulgence for 
 mis[)rints. A misprint in the Sanhita, if repeated 
 in the Pada, or if admitted even in the commen- 
 tary of Saya?ia, though it need not be put down 
 to the editor's deplorable ignorance, becomes yet a 
 serious matter, and I willingly take all the blame 
 which is justly due for occasional accidents of this 
 
PREFACE. xlvii 
 
 character. Sucli are, for instance, ii. 12, 14, sasa- 
 mandm instead of 6'asamandm ; i. 124, 4, .9iidliyiiva/i, 
 in the Pada, instead of sundhyuva/i ; and the substi- 
 tution in several places of a short u instead of a 
 long li in such forms as silsdvama, when occurring 
 in the Pada; cf. i. 166, 14; 167, 9. 
 
 It is clear from Sutra 819 and 163, 5, that the 
 two words iiti indra in iv. 29, i, should not be 
 joined together, but that in the Sanhita the hiatus 
 should remain. Hence utindra, as printed in my 
 edition and rejDeated in Professor Aufrecht's, should 
 be corrected, and the hiatus be jDreserved, as it is 
 in the fom^th verse of the same hymn, uti ittha. 
 MSS. S. I, S. 3. are right; in S. 2. the words are 
 joined. 
 
 It follows from Sutra 799 that to double the y 
 in vaiya^va is a mistake, but a mistake which had 
 to be pointed out and guarded against as early as 
 the time of the Pratisakhya. In viii. 26, 11, there- 
 fore, vaiyyasvdsya, as printed in my edition and 
 repeated in Professor Aufrecht's, shoidd be changed 
 to vaiya.svilsya. MSS. S. i, S. 3. are right, likewise 
 P. I, P. 2 ; but S. 2. has the double mistake vay- 
 yasvdsya, as described in the Pratisakhya ; another 
 MS. of Wilson's has vaiyy. The same applies to 
 viii. 23, 24, and viii. 24, 23. P. i. admits the mis- 
 taken spelling vayyasva. 
 
 Some corrections that ought to be made in the 
 Padapa^/ia only, as printed in my edition, are pointed 
 out in a note to Sutra 738 of the Pratisakhya. Thus, 
 
xlviii PREFACE. 
 
 according to Siitra 583, 6, srujsih in the Pada text 
 of ii. 10, 2, should be changed to srujKh. MSS. P. i, 
 P. 2. have the short u. 
 
 In V. 7, 8, I had printed siikih shma, leaving the 
 a of shma short in accordance with the Pr^tisakhya, 
 S6tra 514, where a string of words is given before 
 which sma must not be lengthened, and where 
 under No. II. we find ydsmai. Professor Aufrecht has 
 altered this, and gives the a as long, which is wrong. 
 The MSS. S. I, S. 2, S. 3. have the short a. 
 
 Another word before which sma ought not to be 
 lengthened is m^vate. Hence, according to Sutra 
 514, 14, I ought not to have printed in vi. 6^, 4, 
 shma mavate, but shma mavate. Here Professor 
 Aufrecht has retained the long a, which is wrong. 
 MSS. S. I, S. 2, S. 3. have the short a. 
 
 It follows from Sutra 499 that in i. 138, 4, we 
 should not lengthen the vowel of su. Hence, in- 
 stead of asy^ u shii na, iipa satdye, as printed in 
 my edition and repeated by Professor Aufrecht, we 
 should read asy^ u shu ;^a upa satdye. S. i, S. 2, 
 S. 3. have short u. 
 
 In vii. 31, 4, I had by mistake printed viddlil 
 instead of viddln. The same reading is adopted 
 by Professor Aufrecht (ii. p. 24), but the authority 
 of the Prdtii'dkhya, Siitra 445, can hardly be over- 
 ruled. S. I, S. 2, S. 3. have viddhu 
 
 While in cases like these, the Praticsakhya is an 
 autliority which, as far as I can judge, ought to over- 
 rule tlie authority of eveiy MS., however ancient, 
 
PREFACE. xlix 
 
 we must in other cases depend either on the testi- 
 mony of the best MSS. or be guided, in fixing on 
 the right reading, by Sava^^a and the rules of 
 grammar. I shall therefore, in cases where I 
 cannot consider Professor Aufrecht's readings as 
 authoritative improvements, have to give my rea- 
 sons wliy I adhere to the readings which I had 
 originally adopted. 
 
 In V. 9, 4, I had printed by mistake purii yo 
 instead of purti yd. I had, however, corrected this 
 misprmt in my edition of the' Pratisakhya, 393, ^^2. 
 Professor Aufrecht decides in favour of purii with 
 a short u, but against the authority of the MSS., 
 S. I, S. 2, S. 3, which have puru. 
 
 It was certainly a great mistake of mine, though 
 it may seem more excusable in a Komanised tran- 
 script, that I did not follow the writers of the best 
 MSS. in their use of the Avagraha, or, I should 
 rather say, of that sign which, as far as the Veda is 
 concerned, is very wrongly designated by the name 
 of Avagraha. Avagraha, according to the Prati- 
 sakhya, never occurs in the Sanhita text, but is the 
 name given to that halt, stoppage, or pause which 
 in the Pada text separates the component parts 
 of compound words. That pause has the length of 
 one short vowel, i. e. one matra. Of course, nothing 
 is said by the Pratis^khya as to how the pause 
 should be represented graphically, but it is several 
 times alluded to as of importance in the recitation 
 and accentuation of the Veda. What we have been 
 
 VOL. I. d 
 
1 PREFACE. 
 
 in the habit of calling Avagraha is by the writers of 
 certain MSS. of the Sanhita text used as the sign of 
 the Viv?'itti or hiatus. Tliis hiatus, however, is very 
 different from the Avagraha, for while the Avagraha 
 has the length of one matra, the Vivritti or hiatus 
 has the length of J matra, if the two vowels are 
 short ; of ^ m^tra, if either vowel is long ; of f matra, 
 if both vowels are long. Now I have several times 
 called attention to the fact that though this hiatus 
 is marked in certain MSS. by the sign s, I have 
 in my edition omitted it, because I thought that 
 the hiatus spoke for itself and did not require a 
 sign to attract the attention of European readers ; 
 while, on the contrary, I have inserted that sign 
 where MSS. hardly ever use it, viz. when a short 
 initial a is ehded after a final e or o ; (see my re- 
 marks on pp. 0^6, 39, of my edition of the Pr^tis^khya.) 
 Although I thought, and still think, that this use 
 of the sign s is more useful for practical purposes, 
 yet I regret that, in tliis one particular, I should have 
 deviated from the authority of the best MSS., and 
 caused some misunderstandings on the part of those 
 who have made use of my edition. If, for instance, 
 I had placed the sign of the Vivritti, the s, in its 
 proper place, or if, at least, I had not inserted it 
 where, as we say, the initial a has been elided after 
 e or o, Professor Bollensen would have seen at once 
 tliat the authors of the Prati^-akhyas fidly agree 
 with liim in looking on this change, not as an 
 elision, but as a contraction. If, as sometimes 
 
PREFAC!E. 11 
 
 happens, final o or e remain unchanged before ini- 
 tial short a, this is called the Pan^-ala and Vrkkja 
 padav>'itti (SAtra 137). If, on the contrary, final or 
 e become one (ekibhavati) with the initial short a, this 
 is called the Abhinihita sandhi (Sutra 138). While 
 the former, the hiatus of the PafiHla and Eastern 
 schools, is marked by the writers of several MSS. 
 by the sign s, the Abhinihita sandhi, being a sandlii, 
 is not marked by any sign*. 
 
 i. 3, 12. r%ati (Aufr. p. 2) instead of ra^ati (M. M. 
 vol. i. p. 75) is wrong. 
 
 i. 7, 9. ya ekaA (Aufr. p. 5) should be yd ekaA 
 (M. M. vol. i. p. no), because the relative pronoun is 
 never without an accent. The relative particle yatha 
 may be without an accent, if it stands at the end 
 of a pada ; and though there are exceptions to this 
 rule, yet in viii. 21, 5, where Professor Aufrecht gives 
 ydtha, the MSS. are mianimous in favour of yath4 
 (M. M. vol. iv. p. 480). See Phi^sutra, ed. Kielhorn, 
 
 P- 54. 
 
 i. 10, II. k tu (Aufr. p. 7) should be a tC( (M. M. 
 vol. i. p. 139), because a is never without the 
 accent. 
 
 i. 10, 12. gushtsih, which Professor Aufrecht specially 
 mentions as having no final Visarga in the Pada, has 
 the Visarga in all the MSS., (Aufr. p. 7, M. M. vol. i. 
 p. 140.) 
 
 ■"■ As to the system or want of system, according to which the 
 Abhinihita sandhi takes place in the >Sanhita, see p. xxxv seq. 
 d2 
 
Hi PREFACE. 
 
 i. Ti, 4. kdvir (Aufr. p. 7) should be kavir (M. M. 
 vol. i. p. 143). 
 
 i. 22, 8. read rMh^msi. 
 
 i. 40, I and 6. There is no excuse for the accent 
 either on tvemahe or on vo^ema, while sd,Mn in i. 51, 
 II, ought to have the accent on the first syllable. 
 
 i. 49, 3. Rosen was right in not eliding the a in 
 div6 dntebhyaA. S. i, S. 2, S. 3. preserve the initial 
 a, nor does the Pratisakhya anywhere provide for 
 its suppression. 
 
 i. 54, 8. kshdtram (Aufr. p. 46) is a mere misprint 
 for kshatrdm. 
 
 i- 55^ 1 • vandanasrud (Aufr. p. 47) instead of van- 
 dana^rud (M. M. vol. i. p. 514) is wrong. 
 
 i. ^'], 2. samaisita instead of samdsita had been cor- 
 rected in my reprint of the first Ma7<(/ala, published 
 at Leipzig. See Bollensen, Zeitschrift der D. M. G., 
 vol. xxii. p. 626, 
 
 i. 61, 7. read vish?m/i ; i. 64, 2. read 5iU'aya/i ; 
 i. 64, 5. read dh<itaya/i. 
 
 i. 61, 16. Rosen had rightly printed hariyo^ana 
 Avith a long a both in the Sanhita and Pada texts, 
 and I ought not to have given the short a instead. 
 All the MSS., S. I, S. 2, S. 3, P. i, and P. 2, give the 
 long a. Professor Aufrecht gives the short a in 
 tlie Pada, wliich is wrong. 
 
 i. 67, 2 (4). viddntim (M. M. vol. i. p. 594) is per- 
 fectly right, as far as the authority of the MSS. and 
 of Sriya?ia is concerned, and should not have been 
 altered to viuddntim (Aufr. p. ^']). 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 i. 72, 2. read vatsd,m; i. 72, 6. read pasM; i. 76, 3. 
 read dliilkshy ; i. 82, i. read yad^. 
 
 i. 83, 3. Rosen was right in giving asa7>iyattaA. 
 I gave d,samyata^ on the authority of P. i, but all 
 the other MSS. have tt. 
 
 i. 84, I. indra (Aufr. p. 68) cannot have the accent 
 on the first syllable, because it does not stand at the 
 beginning of a pada (M. M. vol. i. p. 677). The same 
 applies to mdra, vi. 41, 4, (Aufr. p. 429) instead of 
 indra (M. M. vol. iii. p. 734) ; to dgne, i. 140, 1 2, (Aufr. 
 p. 130) instead of ague (M. M. vol. ii. p. 133). In 
 iii. '^6^ 3, on the contrary, indra, being at the head 
 of a pada, ought to have the accent on the first 
 syllable, indra (M. M. vol. ii. p. 855), not indra (Aufr. 
 p. 249). The same mistake occrn-s again, iii. ^6, 10, 
 (Aufr. p. 250); iv. 32, 7, (Aufr. p. 305); iv. 32, 12, 
 (Aufr. p. 305); viii. 3, 12, (Aufr. ii. p. 86). In v. 61, i, 
 nara/^ should have no accent; whereas in vii. 91, 3, 
 it should have the accent on the first syllable. In 
 viii. 8, 19, vipanyu should have no accent, and 
 Professor Aufrecht gives it correctly in the notes, 
 where he has likewise very properly removed the 
 Avagraha which I had inserted. 
 
 i. 88, I. read yata (M. M. vol. i. p. 708), not yatha 
 (Aufr. p. 72). 
 
 i. 90, I. read rir/uniti; i. 94, 11. read yavasado 
 (M. M. vol. i. p. 766), not yayasado (Aufr. p. 80). 
 
 i. 118, 9. abhibh^tim (Aufr. p. 105) instead of abhi- 
 bhiitim (M. M. vol. i. p. 957) camiot be right, consi- 
 dering that in all other passages abhibhuti has the 
 
liv rREFACE. 
 
 accent on the second syllable. S. i, S. 2, S, 3. have 
 tlie accent on the i. 
 
 i. 1 28, 4. gh?'itasrir (Aufr. p. 1 17) instead of gh?'ita5rir 
 (M. M. vol. ii. p. 52) is wrong. 
 
 i. 144, 2. read pdrivrita/i (M. M. vol. ii. p. 155) in- 
 stead of pariv>-itaA (Aufr. p. 133). 
 
 i. 145, 5. Professor Aiifrecht (p. 134) gives npama- 
 syam, both in the Sanhita and Pada texts, as having 
 the accent on the last syllable. I had placed the 
 accent on the penultimate, (Pada, upa-masyam, vol. ii. 
 p. 161,) and whatever may be the reading of other 
 MSS., this is the only possible accentuation. S. i, 
 S. 2, S. 3. have the right accent. 
 
 i. 148, 4. pur<l?^i (Aufr. p. 136) instead of purtini 
 (M. M. vol. ii. p. 170) does not rest, as far as I know, 
 on the authority of any MSS. S. i, S. 2, S. 3. have 
 
 i- 15 1> 7- gaH'Aatho (Aufr. p. 137) should be g6.k- 
 ^7^atho (M. M. vol. ii. p. 181). 
 
 i. 161, 12. All the Pada MSS. read prd dbravit, 
 separating the two words and accentuating each. 
 Though the accent is irregular, yet, considering 
 the peculiar construction of the verse, in which 
 prd and pro are used as adverbs rather than as 
 prepositions, I should not venture with Professor 
 Aufrecht (p. 144) to write pra abravit. 
 
 i. 163, II. dhnlf/tman (Aufr. p. 147) instead of 
 dhrdr/imiin (M. M. vol. ii. p. 245) is wrong. 
 
 ^- ^^3. 13- gamyd (Aufr. p. 148) instead of gamy^ 
 (M. M. vol. ii. p. 246) is wi'ong. 
 
PREFACE. Iv 
 
 i. 164, 17. read pilre;?a (M. M. vol. ii. p. 259) instead 
 of pard«a (Aufr. p. 149). 
 
 i. 164, ^S. The first likyii/i ought to have the 
 accent, and has it in all the MSS., (Aufr. p. 151, 
 M. M. vol. ii. p. 278.) 
 
 i. 165, 5. A mere change of accent may seem a 
 small matter, yet it is frequently of the highest 
 importance in the interpretation of the Yeda. Thus 
 in i. 165, 5, I had, in accordance with the MSS. S. i, 
 S. 2, S. 3, printed et4n (vol. ii. p. 393) with the accent 
 on the first syllable. Professor Aufrecht alters this 
 into etan (p. 153), which, no doubt, would be the 
 right form, if it were intended for the accusative 
 plural of the pronoun, but not if it is meant, as it 
 is here, for the accusative plural of eta, the speckled 
 deer of the Maruts. 
 
 i. 165, 15. yasish^a (Aufr. p. 154) instead of yasish^a 
 (M. M. vol. ii. p. 298) is not supported by any MSS. 
 
 i. 169, 7, instead of patayanta (Aufr. p. 158), read 
 patayanta (M. M. vol. ii. p. 322). 
 
 i. 174, 7. kiiyava^'am (Aufr. p. 162) should be kuya- 
 v^^am (M. M. vol. ii. p. 340). 
 
 i. 177, I. yukt^, which I had adopted from MS. 
 S. 3 (prima manu), is not supported by other MSS., 
 though P. 2. reads yuttka. Professor Aufrecht, who 
 had retained yuktai in the text, has afterwards cor- 
 rected it to yuktva, and in this he was right. In 
 i- ^77> 2, gahi for yahi is wrong. 
 
 i. 188, 4. astri?mn (Aufr. p. 171) instead of astriwan 
 (M. M. vol. ii. p. 395) can only be a misprint. 
 
Ivi PREFACE. 
 
 ii. 2y, 6. kdrtad (Aufr. p. 203) instead of karMd 
 (M. M. vol. ii. p. 560) is wrong. 
 
 ii. 40, 4. A-akra (Aufr. p. 214) instead of kakvi (M.M. 
 vol. ii. p. 614) is wrong. 
 
 iii. 7, 7. gu/i (Aufr. p. 226) instead of guJi (M. M. 
 vol. ii. p. 666) is wrong ; likewise iii. 30, 10. gkh (Aufr. 
 p. 241) instead of gaA (M. M. vol. ii. p. 792). 
 
 iii. 17, I. i<7yate (Aufr. p. 232) instead of a^yate 
 (M. M. vol. ii. p. 722) is impossible. 
 
 iii. 47, I. Professor Aufrecht (p. 256) puts the nomi- 
 native indro instead of the vocative indra, which I 
 had given (vol. ii. p. 902). I doubt whether any 
 MSS. support that change (S. i, S. 2, S. 3. have 
 indra), but it is clear that Saya?7a takes indra as a 
 vocative, and likewise the Nirukta. 
 
 iii. 50, 2. Professor Aufrecht (p. 258) gives asya, 
 both in the Sanhita and Pada, without the accent on 
 the last syllable. But all the MSS. that I know (S. r, 
 S. 2, S. 3, P. I, P. 2), give it ^\ith the accent on the 
 last syllable (M. M. vol. ii. p. 912), and this no doubt 
 is right. The same mistake occurs again in iii. 51, 10, 
 (Aufr. p. 259); iv. 5, II, (Aufr. p. 281); iv. ^6, 2, (Aufr. 
 p. 309); V. 12, 3, (Aufr. p. 3^7); while in viii. 103, 9, 
 (Aufr. ii. p. 195) the MSS. consistently give asya as 
 unaccented, whereas Professor Aufrecht, in this very 
 passage, places the accent on the last syllable. On 
 the same page (p. 259) amandan, in the Pada, is a 
 misprint for dmandan. 
 
 iii. .-,3, i<S. asi (Aufr. p. 262) instead of dsi (M.M. 
 vol. ii. ]•>. 934) is wrong, because hi requires that the 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 accent should remain on asi. S. i, S. 2, S. 3, P. i, P. 2. 
 have jisi. 
 
 iv. 4, 7, sva ayuslie (Aufr. p. 279) instead of svd, 
 avushi (M. M. vol. iii. p. ^y) is not supported by any 
 good J\ISS., nor required by the sense of the passage. 
 S. I, S. 2, S. 3, P. I, P. 2. have ayushi. 
 
 iv. J, 7. arupitam, in the Pada, (Aufr. p. 280) 
 instead of arupitam (M. M. vol. iii. p. 45) is right, as 
 had been shown in the Pr^tisakhya, Sutra 179, though 
 by a misprint the long a of the Sanhita had been 
 put in the place of the short a of the Pada. 
 
 iv. 5, 9. read gauA (M. M. vol. iii. p. 46) instead of 
 goh (Aufr. p. 281). 
 
 iv. 15, 2. yati, with the accent on the first syllable, 
 is supported by all MSS. against yati (Aufr. p. 287). 
 The same applies to y^ti in iv. 29, 2, and to varante 
 in iv. 31, 9. 
 
 iv. 18, II. ami, without any accent (Aufr. p. 293), 
 instead of ami (M. M. vol. iii. p. 105) is wrong, because 
 ami is never unaccented. 
 
 iv. 21, 9. no, without an accent (Aufr. j). 296), in- 
 stead of no (M. M. vol. iii. p. 120) is w^rong. 
 
 iv. 26, 3. atithigvam (Aufr. p. 300) instead of ati- 
 thigvd^m (M. M, vol. iii. p. 140) and vi. 47, 22. atithig- 
 vasya (Aufr. p. 437) instead of atithigvasya (M. M. 
 vol. iii. p. 776) are wrong, for atithigva never occurs 
 again except w^ith the accent on the last syllable. 
 The MSS. do not vary. Nor do they vary in the 
 accentuation of kiitsa : hence kutsdm (Aufr. p. 300) 
 should be kiitsam (M. M. vol. iii. p. 139). 
 
Iviii PREFACE. 
 
 iv. ^6, 6. Professor Aufrecht (p. 309) has altered the 
 accent of ^vishii/i into avishu/^, but the MSS. are 
 unanimous in favour of avishu^ (M. M. vol. iii. 
 p. 181). 
 
 Again in iv. 41, 9, the MSS. support the accentua- 
 tion of dgman (M. M. vol. iii. p. 200), while Professor 
 Aufrecht (p. 313) has altered it to agman. 
 
 iv. 42, 9. dda6^at, being preceded by hi, ought to 
 have the accent ; (Aufrecht, p. 314, has adasat without 
 the accent.) For the same reason, v. 29, 3, avindat 
 (M. M. vol. iii. p. 342) ought not to have been altered 
 to avindat (Aufr. p. 344). 
 
 iv. 50, 4. vy6man is a misprint for vyoman. 
 
 V. 15, 5. Professor Aufrecht (p. 338) writes dirgham 
 instead of dogham (M. M. vol. iii. p. 314). This, no 
 doubt, was done intentionally, and not by accident, 
 as we see from the change of accent. But dogham, 
 though it occurs but once, is supported in this place 
 by all the best MSS., and has been accepted by 
 Professor Both in his Dictionary. 
 
 V. 34, 4. prdyato (Aufr. p. 351) instead of prdyata 
 (M. M. vol. iii. p. 371) is wrong. 
 
 V. 42, 9. visarmS,?iam (Aufr. p. 358) instead of visar- 
 m^?iam (M. M. vol, iii. p. 402) is wrong. 
 
 V. 44, 4. parva?2d (Aufr. p. 360) instead of prava?i^ 
 (M. M. vol. iii. p. 415) is wrong. 
 
 V. 83, 4. vanti (Aufr. p. 389) instead of v^nti (M. M. 
 vol. iii. p. 554) is supported by no MSS. 
 
 V. 85, 6. dsin/jauti/i (Aufr. p. 391) instead of 
 asifi/.anti// (M. M. vol. iii. p. 560) is not supported 
 
PREFACE. lix 
 
 either by MSS. or by grammar, as siil^* belongs to 
 the Tud-class. On the same grounds ishdyanta/^, 
 vi. 16, 27 (M. M. vol. iii. p. 638), ought not to have 
 been changed to ishayanta/i (Aufr. p. 408), nor vi. 24, 7, 
 avakarsdyanti (M. M. vol. iii. p. 687) into avakdrsa- 
 yanti (Aufr. p. 418). 
 
 vi. 46, 10. read girvai^as (M. M. vol. iii. p. 763) 
 instead of girva?ias (Aufr. p. 435). 
 
 vi. 60, 10. k?inoti (Aufr. p. 450) instead of kri/ioti 
 (M. M. vol. iii. p. 839) is wrong. 
 
 vii. 40, 4. aryama apa/i (Aufr. ii. p. ;^^), in the 
 Pada, instead of aryama dpa/i (M. M. vol. iv. p. 81) 
 is wrong. 
 
 vii. 51, I. adity^nam (Aufr. ii. p. 40) instead of 
 adity^n^m (M. M. vol. iv. p. 103) is wrong. 
 
 vii. 64, 2. i?^m (Aufr. ii. p. 50) instead of ilkm (M. M. 
 vol. iv. p. 146) is \vrong. In the same verse gopa/i in 
 the Pada should be changed in my edition to gopa, 
 
 vii. 66, 5. yo (Aufr. ii. p. 51) instead of ye (M. M. 
 vol. iv. p. 151) is indeed supported by S. 3, but 
 evidently untenable on account of atipiprati. 
 
 vii. 72, 3. In abudhran Professor Aufrecht has 
 properly altered the wrong spelling abudhnan ; and, 
 as far as the authority of the best MSS. is concerned 
 (S. I, S. 2, S. 3), he is also right in puttmg a final n, 
 although Professor Bollensen prefers the dental n ; 
 (Zeitschrift der D. M. G., vol. xxii. p. 599.) The fact 
 is that Vedic MSS. use the Anusvara dot for final 
 nasals before all class-letters, and leave it to us 
 to interpret that dot according to the letter which 
 
Ix PREFACE. 
 
 follows. Before I felt quite certain on this j^oiut, 
 I have in several cases retained the dot, as given 
 by the MSS., instead of changing it, as I ought 
 to have done according to my system of writmg 
 Devanagari, into the corresponding nasal, provided 
 it represents an original n. In i. 71, i, S. 2, S. 3. 
 have the dot in a(7ushran, but S. i. has dental n. In 
 ix. 87, 5, as?'igran has the dot; i.e. S. i. has the dot, 
 and nkh, dental n joined to Teh ; S. 2. has uJch without 
 the dot before the n ; S. 3. has the dot, and then kh. 
 In iv. 24, 6, the spelling of the Sanhita d,vivena7?i tarn 
 would leave it doubtful whether we ought to read 
 dAdvenan tdm or dvivenam tdm ; S. i. and S. 3. read 
 dvivenawi tarn, but S. 2. has dvivenan tdm ; P. 2. has 
 dvi-venan tam, and P. i. had the same originally, 
 though a later hand changed it to avi-vena7>i t^m. 
 In iv. 25, 3, on the contrary, S. i. and S. 3. write 
 ilvivena?/i; S. 2. dvivenam ; P. i. and P. 2. avi-vena/?i. 
 What is intended is clear enough, vi^. avi-venan in 
 iv. 24, 6 ; avi-venam in iv. 25, 3. 
 
 vii. 73, I. asvina (Aufr. ii. p. ^6) instead of a^'vina 
 (M. M. vol. iv. p. 176) is wrong. On the same page, 
 dhlsh72ye, vii. 72, 3, should have the accent on the 
 first syllable. 
 
 vii. 77, 1. In this verse, which has been so often 
 discussed (see Kuhn, Beitrage, vol. iii. p. 472 ; Boeht- 
 lingk and Eoth, Dictionary, vol. ii. p. 968 ; Bollensen, 
 Orient und Occident, vol. ii. p. 463), all the MSS. 
 wliich I know, read /;ar^yai, and not either A;arathai 
 MOV </aravai. 
 
P"REFA('E. Ixi 
 
 viii. 2, 29. kiri/jam (Aufr. ii. p. 84) instead of kammm 
 (M. M. vol. iv. p. 308) does not rest on the authority 
 of any MSS., nor is it supported by Saya^ia. 
 
 viii. 9, 9, Professor Aufrecht has altered the very 
 important form aX^'uA-yuvimdhi (M. M. vol. iv. p. 389) 
 to aZ,'u/;yavimdhi (ii. p. 98). The question is whether 
 this was done intentionally and on the authority of 
 any MSS. My own MSS. support the form kkukjw- 
 vimdhi, and I see that Professor Roth accepts this 
 form. 
 
 viii. 32, 14. ^yantaram (Aufr. ii. p. 129) instead of 
 ayantaram (M. M. vol. iv. p. 567) is wrong. 
 
 viii. 47, 15. dushvdpnyam (Aufr. ii. p. 150) is not 
 so correct as du/ishvapnyam (M. M. vol. iv. p. 660), 
 or, better, dushshvapnyam (Pratisakhya, Sutras 255 
 and 364), though it is perfectly true that the MSS. 
 write dushvapnyam. 
 
 In the ninth and tenth Ma;ic/alas I have not to 
 defend myself, and I need not therefore give a 
 list of the passages where I think that Professor 
 Aufrecht's text is not supported by the best MSS. 
 My own edition of these Ma?2cZalas will soon be 
 published, and I need hardly say that where it dif- 
 fers from Professor Aufrecht's text, I am prepared to 
 show that I had the best authorities on my side. 
 
 Having said so much in vmcUcation of the text 
 of the Rig-veda as published by me, and in defence 
 of my principles of criticism which seem to me so 
 self-evident as hardly to deserve the name of cano- 
 nes critici, I feel bound at the same time both to 
 
Ixii PREFACE. 
 
 acknowledge some inaccm-acies that have occurred in 
 the index at the end of each volume, and to defend 
 some entries in that index which have been chal- 
 lenged without sujficient cause. 
 
 It has been supposed that in the index at the 
 end of my fourth volume, the seventeenth verse of 
 the 34th hymn in the seventh Ma?icZala has been 
 wrongly assigned to Ahi Budhnya, and that one 
 half only of that verse should have been reserv'ed 
 for that deity. I do not deny that we should be 
 justified in deriving that sense from the words of 
 the Anukramanik^, but I cannot admit that my 
 own interpretation is untenable. As S4ya«a does 
 not speak authoritatively on the subject, I followed 
 the authority of ShacZgurusishya. This commentator 
 of the Anukrama?iika says : atra Z:a ab^^m ukthair 
 ahim gri??isha ity ardliarA-o 'b^an^mno devasya 
 stuti/i; m^ no 'hir budhnya ity ardharZjo 'hii'budli- 
 nyanamno devasya *. Another commentator says : 
 ab^^m ukthair ardharZ:o 'hUi ; uttaro mi no 'hir 
 ity ahir budhnya/^. From this w^e learn that both 
 commentators looked upon the Dvipadas as ardhar^-as 
 or half-verses, and ascribed the whole of verse 16 to 
 Ahir ahgaih, the whole of verse 17 to Aliir budlmyaA. 
 It will be seen from an accurate examination of 
 SS,yawa's commentary on verse 17, that in the second 
 interpretation of the second half of verse 17, he 
 
 * MS. Wilson 379 has, avdhar/:o njiraano daivatasya, and in the 
 iiiar<,'iii 'hi. Aliirhudlnivii seems to have been taken as one word. 
 
PREFACE. Ixiii 
 
 labours to show that in this portion, too, Ahir 
 budhnyaA may be considered as the deity. 
 
 It is perfectly right to say that the words of the 
 Aniikrama^dkfi, ab(/am iilieh, signify that the verse 
 beginning with ab^am, belongs to Ahi. But there 
 was no misprint in my index. It will be seen that 
 Shac/gurusishya goes even beyond me, and calls 
 that deity simply Ab^a, leaving out Ahi altogether, 
 as understood. I was anxious to show the distinc- 
 tion between Ab^^ AhiA and Ahir Budhnya^, as the 
 deities of the two successive verses, and I did not 
 expect that any reader could possibly misinterpret 
 my entry. 
 
 With regard to hymns 91 and 92 of the seventh 
 Ma?^c/ala, it is true, that m the index I did not 
 mention that certain verses in which two deities are 
 mentioned (91, 2; 4-7; 92, 2), must be considered as 
 addressed not to Yayu alone, but to Vayu and Indra. 
 It will be seen from Saya^^a's introduction to hymn 
 90, that he, too, wrongly limits the sentence of the 
 Anukrama?nka, aindryas ka. y4 dvivadukta^, to the 
 fifth and following verses of hymn 90, and that he 
 never alludes to this proviso again in his introductory 
 remarks to hymns 91 and 92, though, of course, he 
 explains the verses, in which a dual occurs, as 
 addressed to two deities, viz, Indra and V^yu, The 
 same omission, whether intentional or unintentional, 
 occurs in Shac/gurusishya's commentary. The other 
 commentary, however, assigns the verses of the three 
 hymns rightly. The subject has evidently been one 
 
Ixiv PREFACE. 
 
 that excited attention in very early days, for in the 
 Aitareya-brahma?ia, v. 20, we actually find that the 
 word vim which occurs in hymn 90, i, and which 
 might be taken as a dual, though Saya?m explains 
 it as a singular, is changed into te*. 
 
 In liymn vii. 104, rakshoha??au might certainly 
 be added as an ejoithet of Indra- Soman, and ShacZ- 
 gurusishya clearly takes it in that sense. The 
 Aiiukrama?iik£l says : indrisomi panA'adhikaindra- 
 somsLTii rakshoghna7?i sapabhisapaprayam. 
 
 In hymn viii. 67, it has been supposed that the 
 readings Samada and Samada instead of Sammada 
 and Sinmaada were due to a misprint. Tliis is not 
 the case. That I was aware of the other spelling of 
 this name, viz. Sammada and Sammada, I had sho^\^l 
 in my History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature (2nd 
 ed.), p. 39, where I had translated the passage of the 
 ASankhiyana-sutras in which Matsya Sammada occurs, 
 and had also called attention to the Asvalayana- 
 SLitras X. 7, and the /Satapatha-br4hma?ia xiii. 3, i, i, 
 where the same passage is found. I there spelt the 
 
 * The intei-punction of Dr. Haug's edition (p. 128) should be 
 after te. Shaf/gurusishya says : ata eva brahma?iasfitrayo/i praiige 
 vayavatvaya pra viraya suAayo dadrire vara iti dvivaX-auasthane ta 
 ity ekavaAanapa</ia/i krita/i, vam ity ukta?« ^-ed aindratva?H ka. 
 Byad iti. Possibly the same change should be made in Asvalayaua's 
 Sfttras, viii. ii, and it has been made by the Kama Naraya?«a 
 Yidyaratna. The remark of the commentator, however, dadrire 
 ta iti pravdgapMa/f, looks as if vam might have been retained in 
 the text. Tlif MSS. I have collated are in favour of te. 
 
PREFACE. Ixv 
 
 name Sammada, because the majority of the MSS. 
 were in favour of that spelUng. In the edition of 
 the Asvalayana-siUras, which has since been pubHshed 
 by Eama Naraya^^a Vidy^ra?/ya, the name is spelt 
 Stlmada. My own opinion is that Sammada is the 
 right spelling, but that does not prove that Saya7?a 
 thought so ; and unless I deviated from the prin- 
 ciples which I had adopted for a critical restoration 
 of SA,ya??a's text, T could not but write S^mada in 
 our passage. B i. and B 4. omit samada, but both 
 give samadakhyasya ; Ca. gives likewise samada- 
 khyasya, and A. semadakhyasya. This, I beheve, 
 was meant by the writer for sammadakhyasya, for 
 in the passage from the Anukrama^d both A. and 
 Ca. give s^mmado. I then consulted the commentary 
 of Shac/gurusishya, and there again the same MS. 
 gave twice sammada, once samada, which is explained 
 by samad^khyamahdminaraf^aputra/i. A better MS. 
 of Shac/gurusishya, MS. Wilson 379, gives the read- 
 ings sdmmado, sammada, and sammadakhyasya. The 
 other commentary gives distinctly samanda. 
 
 It will be seen from these .remarks that many 
 things have to be considered before one can form 
 an independent judgment as to the exact view 
 adopted by S4ya?ia in places where he differs from 
 other authorities, or as to the exact words in 
 which he clothed his meaning. Such cases occur 
 again and again. Thus in ix. 86, I find that 
 Professor Aufrecht ascribes the first ten verses to 
 the Akrish^as, whereas Skja,n?i calls them Akrish^as. 
 
 VOL. I. e 
 
Ixvi PREFACE. 
 
 It is perfectly true that the best MSS. of the 
 Anuki-ama;/ika have Akrish^a, it is equally true that 
 the name of these Ak?*ish^as is spelt with a short a 
 ill the Hariva7Hsa, 11,533, t)ut an editor of Saya?m's 
 work is not to alter the occasional mistakes of that 
 learned commentator, and he certainly called these 
 poets Ak?'ish^as. 
 
 Verses 21-30 of the same hymn are ascribed by 
 Professor Aufrecht to the Prisniya/i. Here, again, 
 several MSS. support that reading ; and in ShacZ- 
 guru^ishya's commentary, the correction of prisniya/i- 
 into prisnayaA is made by a later hand. But Saya?ia 
 clearly took p^isnaya/i for a nominative plural of 
 prisni, and in this case he certainly was right. The 
 Dictionary of Boehtlingk and Roth quotes the Maha- 
 bharata, vii. 8728, in support of the peculiar reading 
 of p?'isniya/i, but the pubHshed text gives p7'i5nayaA. 
 Professor Benfey, in his Hst of poets (Ind. Stud, 
 vol. iii. p. 223), gives prisniyof/a as one word, not 
 p?'isniyog^, as stated in the Dictionary of Boehtlingk 
 and Both, but this is evidently meant for two words, 
 viz. p?-isnayo 'gkh. However, whether pri^^niya/i or 
 p?^isnaya/i be the real name of these poets, an editor 
 of Saya/ia is bound to give that reading of the 
 name which S^ya??a believed to be the right one, 
 i. e. prisnaya/i, 
 
 Again, in the same hymn, Professor Aufrecht 
 asci-ibes verses 31-40 to the Atris. He evidently 
 read t/-itiye 'traya/i. But S^ya?m read t?'itiye 
 traya//, and ascribes verses 31-40 to the three com- 
 
PREFACE. Ixvii 
 
 panies together of the T^ishis mentioned before. On 
 this point the MSS. admit of no doubt, for we read : 
 A'aturthasya Jca dasar^asya khr'ishtk m^sh^ ity^di- 
 dvin^manas trayo ga?ia drash^4ra/i. I do not say 
 that the other explanation is wrong ; I only say 
 that, whether right or wrong, Saya72a certainly read 
 traya/i, not atrayaA, and that an editor has no more 
 right to correct the text, supported by the best MSS., 
 in the first and second, than in the third of these 
 passages, all taken from one and the same hymn. 
 
 But though I insist so strongly on a strict 
 observance of the rules of diplomatic criticism 
 with regard to the text of the Eig-veda, nay, even 
 of Saya^ia, I insist equally strongly on the right 
 of independent criticism, which ought to begin 
 where diplomatic criticism ends. Considering the 
 startling antiquity which we can claim for every 
 letter and accent of our MSS. so far as they are 
 authenticated by the Prati^akhya, to say nothing 
 of the passages of the hymns which are quoted 
 verbatim in the Brahma?2as, the Kalpa-sutras, the 
 Nirukta, the Bnhaddevata, and the Anukrama^is, 
 I should deem it reckless to alter one single letter 
 or one single accent in an edition of the hymns 
 of the Big-veda. As the text has been handed 
 down to us, so it should remain ; and whatever 
 alterations and corrections we, the critical MleJcJchas 
 of the nineteenth century, have to propose, should 
 be kept distinct from that time-hallowed inherit- 
 ance. Unlikely as it may sound, it is true never- 
 
Ixviii PREFACE. 
 
 theless that we, the scholars of the nineteenth 
 century, are able to point out mistakes in the 
 text of the Eig-veda which escaped the attention 
 of the most learned among the native scholars of 
 the sixth century b. c. No doubt, these scholars, 
 even if they had perceived such mistakes, would 
 hardly have ventured to correct the text of their 
 sacred writings. The authors of the Pr^tisakhya 
 had before their eyes a text ready made, of which 
 they registered every peculiarity, nay, in which 
 they would note and preserve every single irregu- 
 larity, even though it stood alone amidst hundreds 
 of analogous cases. With us the case is different. 
 Where we see a rule observed in 99 cases, we feel 
 strongly tempted and sometimes justified in altering 
 the 1 00th case in accordance with what we con- 
 sider to be a general rule. Yet even then I feel 
 convinced we ought not to do more than place 
 our conjectural readings below the textus receptus 
 of the Veda, — a text so ancient and venerable that 
 no scholar of any historical tact or critical taste 
 would venture to foist into it a conjectural reading, 
 however plausible, nay, however undeniable. 
 
 There can be no clearer case of corruption in the 
 traditional text of the Eig-veda than if in i. 70, 4, the 
 Pada text reads : 
 
 vdrdhan ydm p{lrvi'/i kshapd/i vl-riipdA sthdtu/i yJ'a 
 rdthani ?'itil-pravitam. 
 
 All scholars who have touched on this verse, 
 Professors Ben fey, BoUensen, Roth, and others, have 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Ixix 
 
 pointed out that instead of ba, ratham, the original 
 poet must have said A-ardtham. The phrase sthatu^ 
 ^'anltham, what stands and moves, occurs several 
 tunes. It is evidently an ancient phrase, and hence 
 we can account for the preservation in it of the 
 old termination of the nom. sing, of neuters in ri, 
 which here, as in the Greek jULafj-rvfj or /map-Tv?, 
 masc, appears as ur or us, while in the ordinary 
 Sanskrit we find ri only. This nom. sing. neut. in 
 us, explains also the common genitives and ablatives, 
 pitu/i, matu^-, &c., which stand for pitur-s, matur-s. 
 This plirase sthatii/i I'aratham occurs : 
 
 i. 58, 5. sthatu/i ^'aratham bhayate patatri^ia/^,. 
 
 What stands and what moves is afraid of Agni. 
 
 i. 68, 1. sthatuA Z:ardtham akttin vi ur^iot. 
 
 He lighted up what stands and what moves diu-ing 
 eveiy night. 
 
 i. 72, 6. pa^'un bd sthatrm ^aratham hi p^hi. 
 
 Protect the cattle, and what stands and moves ! 
 
 Here it has been proposed to read sthatuA instead 
 of sthatrm, and I confess that this emendation is very 
 plausible. One does not see how pasu, cattle, could 
 be called immohilia or fixtures, unless the poet wished 
 to make a distinction between cattle that are kept 
 fastened in stables, and cattle that are allowed to roam 
 about freely in the homestead. This distinction is 
 alluded to, for instance, in the ^atapatha-brahmaiia, 
 xi. 8, 3, 2. saurya evaisha pasuA syad iti, tasmad 
 etasminn astamite pasavo badhyante ; badhnanty 
 ekan yathagoshfAam, eka uj^asamayanti. 
 
Ixx PREFACE. 
 
 i. 70, 2. girhhah Jca sthatam garbha/i A'ardtliam, 
 (read sthatram, and see Bollensen, Orient und Occi- 
 dent, vol. ii. p. 462.) 
 
 He who is within all that stands and all that 
 moves. 
 
 The word /:ardtha, if it occurs bj itself, means 
 flock, movable property : 
 
 iii. 31, 15. ^t it sdkhi-bhya/^, Z^ardtham sdm airat. 
 
 He brought together, for his friends, the flocks. 
 
 viii. ^^, 8. puru-tra ^^ardtham dadhe. 
 
 He bestowed flocks on many people. 
 
 X. 92, 13. prd nah pusha todtham — avatu. 
 
 May Ptishan protect our flock ! 
 
 Another idiomatic phrase in which sthatuA occurs 
 is sthatu/i gigatsih, and here sthatu/^ is really a 
 genitive : 
 
 iv. ^^, 6. giigiiiah sthatu/i ubhdyasya ya/i vasi. 
 
 He who is lord of both, of what is movable and 
 what is immovable. 
 
 vi. 50, 7. vlsvasya sthdtu/i gsiga,iah ^anitriA. 
 
 They who created all that stands and moves. 
 
 vii. 60, 2. visvasya sth^tii/i giigataJi kn. gopsih. 
 
 The guardians of all that stands. and moves. Cf. 
 X. 63, 8. 
 
 i- i59> 3- sthdtuA ka satydm gdgatah ka. dharmav^i 
 putrilsya patlui/i padiim cldvaya\dna/^. 
 
 'i'ruly while you uphold all that stands and moves, 
 you protect the home of the guileless son. Cf. ii. 
 3^ .)• 
 
 1)11 1 altliougli I have 110 doubt that in i. 70, 4, 
 
PREFACE. Ixxi 
 
 the original poet said stliatuA ^'ardtham, I should be 
 loath to suppress the evidence of the mistake and 
 alter the Pada text from ka nitham to /^ardtham. 
 The very mistake is instructive, as showing us the 
 kind of misapprehension to which the collectors of 
 the Vedic text were liable, and enabling us to judge 
 how far the limits of conjectural criticism may safely 
 be extended. 
 
 A still more extraordinary case of misunder- 
 standmg on the part of the original compilers of 
 the Vedic texts, and Hkewise of the authors of the 
 Pratisakhyas, the Niruktas, and other Vedic trea- 
 tises, has been pointed out by Professor Kuhn. In 
 an article of his, * Zur altesten Geschichte der Indo- 
 germanischen Vollvcr' (Indische Studien, vol. i. p. 351), 
 he made the following observation : ' The Lithuanian 
 laukas, Lett, lauks, Pruss. laukas, all meaning field, 
 agree exactly with the Sk. lokas, world, Lat. locus. 
 Low Germ, (in East-Frisia and Oldenburg) louch, 
 loch, village. All these words are to be traced 
 back to the Sk. uru, Gr. evpv?, broad, wide. The 
 initial u is lost, as in Goth, rums, 0. H. G. rAmi, 
 rtimin (Low Germ, riime, an open uncultivated field 
 in a forest), and the r changed into 1. In support 
 of this derivation it should be observed that in 
 the Veda loka is frequently preceded by the par- 
 ticle u, which probably was only separated from 
 it by the Diaskeuastee, and that the meaning is 
 that of open space.' Although this derivation has 
 met with little favour, I confess that I look upon 
 
Ixxii PREFACE. 
 
 this remark, excepting only the Latin locus, i. e, 
 stlocus, as one of the most ingenious of this emi- 
 nent scholar. The fact is that this particle u 
 before loka is one of the most puzzling occur- 
 rences in the Veda. Professor Bollensen says that 
 loka never occurs without a preceding u in the 
 first eight Ma/icZalas, and this is perfectly true 
 with the exception of one passage which he has 
 overlooked, viii. loo, 12. dyaii^ dehi lokdm vd^riya 
 vi-skdbhe, Dyu ! give room for the lightning to 
 step forth I Professor Bollensen (1. c. p. 603) reads 
 vritraya instead of vd^raya, without authority. He 
 is right in objecting to dyaus as a vocative, but 
 dyaiiA may be a genitive belonging to va^raya, in 
 which case we should translate, Make room for the 
 lightning of Dyu to step forth ! 
 
 But what is even more important, is the fact 
 that the occurrence of this unaccented u at the 
 beginning of a pada is against the very rules, or, 
 at least, runs counter to the very observations 
 which the authors of the Pratii^akhya have made 
 on the inadmissibility of an unaccented word in 
 such a place, so that they had to insert a special 
 jn-ovision exempting the luiaccented u from this 
 general observation : ' anud^ttam tu pMadau na- 
 uvar^/am vidyate padam,' ' no luiaccented word is 
 f'oinid at the beginning of a pMa except u!' 
 Although I have frequently insisted on the fact 
 that such statements of the Prati^^dkhya are not 
 to lu' considered as rules, but simply as more or 
 
PREFACE. IXXlll 
 
 less general statistical accumulatious of facts actually 
 occurring in the Veda, I have also pointed out that 
 we are at liberty to found on these collected facts 
 inductive observations which may assume the cha- 
 racter of real rules. Thus, in our case, we can well 
 understand why there should be none, or, at least, 
 very few instances, where an unaccented word begins 
 a pada. We should not begin a verse with an 
 encHtic particle in any other language either ; and 
 as in Sanskrit a verb at the beginning of a pada 
 receives ipso facto the accent, and as the same 
 applies to vocatives, no chance is left for an un- 
 accented word m that place except it be a particle. 
 But the one particle that offends against this general 
 observation is u, and the very word before which 
 this u causes this metrical offence is loka. Can 
 any argument be more tempting in favour of ad- 
 mitting an old form uloka instead of u loka ? 
 Lokdm is preceded by u in i. 93, 6 ; ii. 30, 6 ; (asmin 
 bhayd,-sthe kri?iutam u lokam, make room for us, 
 grant an escape to us, in this danger!) iv. 17, 17 ; vi. 
 ~3y 3 ', 7 (with urum) ; 47, 8 (urum nah lokam, or 
 ulokam ?) ; 73, 2 ; vii. 20, 2 ; 33, 5 (with urum) ; 60, 9 
 (with lu-um) ; 84, 2 (with m-ilm) ; 99, 4 (with lu-um) ; 
 ix. 92, 5; X. 13, 2 ; 16, 4 (suk>itam u lokdm) ; 30, 7 ; 
 104, 10 ; 180, 3 (with uriim). Loke is preceded by u 
 in iii. 29, 8; v. 1, 6 ; loka-krit, ix. 86, 21; x. 133, i. In 
 all remaining passages u loka is found at the be- 
 ginning of a pada : \okih, iii. 37,11; lokdm, iii. 2, 9 
 (u lokam u dve (iti) lipa r/amim iyatuA) ; v. 4, 1 1 ; 
 
Ixxiv PREFACE. 
 
 loka-kritnum, viii. 15, 4; ix. 2, 8. The only pas- 
 sages in which loka occurs without being preceded 
 by u, are lokam, vi. 47, 8 (see above); viii. 100, 12; 
 X. 14, 9 ; 85, 20 (am?'itasya) ; ]oka.h, ix. 113, 9; lokan, 
 X. 90, 14; loke, ix. 113, 7^; X. 85, 24. 
 
 Considering all this, I feel as convinced as it is 
 possible to be in such matters, that in all the 
 passages where u loka occurs and where it means 
 space, carrier e oiiverte, freedom, we ought to read 
 urokd, ; but in spite of this I could never bring 
 myself to insert this word, of which neither the 
 authors of the Brahma?ms nor the wTiters of the 
 Pr^tis^khyas or even later grammarians had any 
 idea, into the text. On the contrary, I should 
 here, too, consider it most useful to leave the tra- 
 ditional reading, and to add the corrections in the 
 margin, in order that, if these conjectural emenda- 
 tions are in time considered as beyond the reach 
 of doubt, they may be used as evidence in support 
 of conjectures which, without such evidence, might 
 seem intolerable in the eyes of timid critics. 
 
 Tliere remains one difficulty about this hypothe- 
 tical word ulokd, which it is but fair to mention. 
 If it is derived from uru, or, as Professor BoUensen 
 suggests, from urva^ or urvak, the change of va 
 into o would require further support. Neither 
 maghon for maghavan, nor duro?ia for dura-va?ia 
 are strictly analogous cases, because in each we 
 liave an a preceding the va or u. Strictly speak- 
 ing, uroka presupposes uravaka, as sl6ka presupposes 
 
PREFACE. IXXV 
 
 sravaka, or 6ka, house, avaka (from av, not from 
 ir^'). That, on the other hand, the u of urn is liable 
 to disappear, is shown by passages such as i. 138,3; 
 vii. 39, 3, where the metre requires uru to be treated 
 as one syllable; and possibly by ix. 96, 15, if the 
 original reading was urur iva instead of urviva. 
 
 The most powerful instrument that has hitherto 
 been applied to the emendation of Vedic texts, is 
 the metre. Metre means measure, and uniform 
 measm'e, and hence its importance for critical pur- 
 poses, as second only to that of grammar. If our 
 knowledge ' of the metrical system of the Vedic 
 poets rests on a sound basis, any deviations from 
 the general rule are rightly objected to ; and if by 
 a slight alteration they can be removed, and the 
 metre be restored, we naturally feel inclined to 
 adopt such emendations. Two safeguards, how- 
 ever, are needed in this kind of conjectural criticism. 
 We ought to be quite certain that the anomaly is 
 impossible, and we ought to be able to explain to a 
 certain extent how the deviation from the original 
 correct text could have occurred. As this subject 
 has of late years received considerable attention, 
 and as emendations of the Vedic texts, supported 
 by metrical arguments, have been carried on on a 
 very large scale, it becomes absolutely necessary to 
 re-examine the grounds on which these emendations 
 are supposed to rest. There are, in fact, but few 
 hymns in which some verses or some words have 
 not been challenged for metrical reasons, and I feel 
 
Ixxvi PREFACE. 
 
 bound, therefore, at the very beginning of my 
 translation of the E,ig-veda, to express my own 
 opinion on this subject, and to give my reasons 
 why in so many cases I allow metrical anomalies 
 to remain which by some of the most learned and 
 ingenious among Vedic scholars would be pro- 
 nounced intolerable. 
 
 Even if the theory of the ancient metres had not 
 been so carefuUy worked out by the authors of the 
 Pritisakhyas and the Anukrama?as, an independent 
 study of the Veda would have enabled us to dis- 
 cover the general rules by which the Yedic poets 
 were guided in the composition of their works. Nor 
 would it have been difficult to show how constantly 
 these general principles are violated by the intro- 
 duction of phonetic changes which in the later 
 Sanskrit are called the euphonic changes of Sandhi, 
 and according to which final vow^els must be joined 
 with initial vowels, and final consonants adapted 
 to initial consonants, until at last each sentence be- 
 comes a continuous chain of closely linked syllables. 
 It is far easier, as I remarked before, to discover 
 the original and natural I'hythm of the Vedic hymns 
 by reading them m the Pada than in the Sanhit^ 
 text, and after some practice our ear becomes suffi- 
 ciently schooled to tell us at once how each line 
 ought to be pronounced. We find, on the one hand, 
 that the rules of Sandhi, instead of being generally 
 binduig, were treated by the Vedic poets as poetical 
 licences only ; and, on the other, that a greater 
 
FREFACE. Ixxvii 
 
 freedom of pronunciation was allowed even in the 
 body of words than would be tolerated in the later 
 Sanskrit. If a syllable was wanted to complete the 
 metre, a semivowel might be pronounced as a vowel, 
 many a long vowel might be protracted so as to 
 count for two syllables, and short vowels might be 
 inserted between certain consonants, of which no 
 trace exists in the ordinary Sanskrit. If, on the 
 contrary, there w^ere too many syllables, then the 
 rules of Sandhi were observed, or two short syllables 
 contracted by rapid pronunciation into one ; nay, 
 in a few cases, a final m or s, it seems, might be 
 omitted. It would be a mistake to suj^pose that 
 the authors of the Pratisakhyas were not aware of 
 this freedom allowed or required in the pronunciation 
 of the Vedic hymns. Though they abstained from 
 introducing into the text changes of pronunciation 
 which even we ourselves would never tolerate, if 
 inserted in the texts of Homer and Plautus, in the 
 Pali verses of Buddha, or even in modern English 
 poetry, the authors of the Pratisdkhya were clearly 
 aware that in many places one syllable had to be 
 pronounced as two, or two as one. They were 
 clearly aware that certain vowels, generally con- 
 sidered as long, had to be pronounced as short, but 
 they did not change the text. They were clearly 
 aware that in order to satisfy the demands of the 
 metre, certain changes of pronunciation w^ere indis- 
 pensable. They knew it, but they did not change 
 the text. And this shows that the text, as they 
 
Ixxviii PREFACE. 
 
 describe it, enjoyed even in their time a high 
 authority, tliat they did not make it, but that, 
 such as it is, with all its incongniities, it had been 
 made before their time. In many cases, no doubt, 
 certain syllables in the hymns of the Veda had been 
 actually lengthened or shortened in the Sanliita text 
 in accordance with the metre in which they are 
 composed. But this was done by the poets them- 
 selves, or, at all events, it was not done by the 
 authors of the Pratisakhya. They simply register 
 such changes, but they do not enjoin them, and in 
 this we, too, should follow their example. It is, 
 therefore, a point of some importance in the critical 
 restoration and proper pronunciation of Vedic texts, 
 that in the rules which we have to follow in order 
 to satigfy the demands of the metre, we should 
 carefully distinguish between what is sanctioned by 
 ancient authority, and what is the result of our own 
 observations. This I shall now proceed to do. 
 
 First, then, the authors of the Pr^ti^^akhya distinctly 
 admit that, in order to uphold the rules they have 
 themselves laid down, certain syllables are to be 
 pronounced as two syllables. We read in Sutra 527 : 
 ' In a deficient pMa the right number is to be 
 provided for by protraction of semivowels (which 
 were originally vowels), and of contracted vowels 
 (which were originally two independent vowels).' 
 It is only by this process that the short syllable 
 wlTuh lias been lengthened in the Sanhita, viz. the 
 sixth, or the eighth, or the tenth, can be shown 
 
PREFACE. Ixxix 
 
 to have occupied and to occupy that place where 
 ahnie, according to a former rule, a short syllable is 
 liable to be lencrthened. Thus we read: 
 
 i. 16 1, II. udvatsvasma akri^^otan^ tri?^am. 
 This would seem to be a verse of eleven syllables, 
 in which the ninth syllable na has been lengthened. 
 This, however, is against the system of the Prati- 
 5akhya. But if we protract the semivowel v in 
 udvatsv, and change it back into u, which it was 
 origmally, then we gain one syllable, the whole 
 verse has twelve syllables, na occupies the tenth 
 place, and it now belongs to that class of cases 
 which is included in a former Sutra, 523. 
 The same applies to x. 103, 13, where we read: 
 
 preta (/ayat^ naraA. 
 This is a verse of seven syllables, in which the fifth 
 syllable is lengthened, without any authority. Let 
 us protract preta by bringing it back to its original 
 component elements pra ita, and we get a verse of 
 eight syllables, the sixth syllable now falls under 
 the general observation, and is lengthened in the 
 Sanhita accordingly. 
 
 The same rules are repeated in a later portion 
 of the Pratisakhya. Here rules had been given as 
 to the number of syllables of which certain metres 
 consist, and it is added (Sutras 972, 973) that where 
 that number is deficient, it should be completed 
 by protracting contracted vowels, and by sepa- 
 rating consonantal groups in which semivowels 
 
IXXX PREFACE. 
 
 (originally vowels) occur, by means of their cor- 
 responding vowel. 
 
 The rules in both places are given in almost 
 identically the same words, and the only difference 
 between the two passages is this, that, according 
 to the foiTner, semivowels are simply changed back 
 into their vowels, while, according to the latter, the 
 semivowel remains, but is separated from the pre- 
 ceding consonant by its corresponding vowel. 
 
 These rules therefore show clearly that the authors 
 of the Pr4ti5£ikhya, though they would have shrmik 
 from altering one single letter of the authorised 
 Sanhita, recognized the fact that where two vowels 
 had been contracted into one, they might yet be pro- 
 nounced as two ; and where a vowel before another 
 vowel had been changed into a semivowel, it might 
 either be pronounced as a vowel, or as a semivowel 
 preceded by its corresponding vowel. More than these 
 two modifications, however, the Pratisakhya does not 
 allow, or, at least, does not distinctly sanction. The 
 commentator indeed tries to show that by the word- 
 ing of the Sutras in both places, a third modification 
 is sanctioned, viz. the vocalisation, in the body of a 
 word, of semivowels which do not owe their origin 
 to an original vowel. But in both places this in- 
 terpretation is purely artificial. Some such rule 
 ought to have been given, but it was not given by 
 the authors of the Prati.sakhya. It ought to have 
 been given, for it is only by observing such a rule 
 that in i. 6[, 12, gor na parva vi rada tira-sM, we get 
 
PREFACE. Ixxxi 
 
 a verse of eleven syllables, and thus secure for da 
 in rada the eighth place, where alone the short 
 a could be lengthened. Yet we look in vain for a 
 rule sanctioning the change of semivowels mto 
 vowels, except where the semivowels can rightly 
 be called kshaipra-var^a (Siltra 974), i. e. semivowels 
 that were originally vowels. The independent (sv4- 
 bhavika) semivowels, as e. g. the v in parva, are 
 not included ; and to suppose that in Sutra 527 
 these semivowels were indicated by var/^a is impos- 
 sible, particidarly if we compare the similar wording 
 of Sutra 973 * 
 
 We look m vain, too, in the Pratisakhya for another 
 rule according to which long vowels, even if they do 
 not owe their origin to the coalescence of two vowels, 
 are liable to be protracted. However, this rule, too, 
 though never distinctly sanctioned, is observed in 
 the Pratisakhya, for unless its author observed it, he 
 could not have obtained in the verses quoted by 
 the Pr^tisakhya the number of syllables which he 
 ascribes to them. According to SAtra 937, the verse, 
 Pv. X. 134, I, is a Mah^pankti, and consists of six 
 
 * It will be seen from my edition of the Pratisakhya, par- 
 ticularly from the extracts from Uva^ given after SAtra 973, 
 that the idea of making two syllables out of goh, never entered 
 Uva^a's mind. M. Regnier was right, Professor Kuhn (Beitrage, 
 vol. iv. p. 187) was wrong. Uvaia, no doubt, wishes to show that 
 original (svabhavika) semivowels are liable to vyuha, or at least 
 to vyavaya; but though this is true in fact, Uva^a does not suc- 
 ceed in his attempt to prove that the rules of the Pratisakhya 
 sanction it. 
 
 VOL. T. f 
 
Ixxxii PREFACE. 
 
 pMas, of eight syllables each. In order to obtain 
 that number, we must read: 
 
 samra^am X'arshanin^m. 
 
 We may therefore say that, without allowing any 
 actual change in the received text of the Sanhit4, 
 the Pratisakhya distinctly allows a lengthened pro- 
 nunciation of certain syllables, which in the Pada 
 text form two syllables ; and we may add that, by 
 implication, it allows the same even in cases where 
 the Pada text also gives but one instead of two 
 syllables. Having this authority in our favour, I 
 do not thiuk that we use too much liberty if we 
 extend this modified pronunciation, recognized in so 
 many cases by the ancient scholars of India them- 
 selves, to other cases where it seems to us required 
 as well, in order to satisfy the metrical rules of the 
 Veda. 
 
 Secondly, I beheve it can be proved that, if not 
 the authors of the Pratisakhya, those at least who 
 constituted the Vedic text which was current in the 
 ancient schools and which we now have before us, 
 were fully aware that certain long vowels and diph- 
 thongs could be used as short. The authors of the 
 Prdtii'akhya remark that certain changes which can 
 take place before a short syllable only, take place 
 likewise before the word no, although the vowel of 
 this 'no' is by them supposed to be long. After 
 liaving stated in Sutra 523 that the eighth syllable 
 of hendecasyllabics and dodecasyllabics, if short, is 
 lengthened, provided a short syllable follows, they 
 
PREFACE. Ixxxiii 
 
 remark that for this purpose ivdh or no is treated 
 as a short syllable: 
 
 X. 59, 4. dyu-bhi/(!, hita^ ^arim4 su na/i astu, (Sanh. 
 sii no astu.) 
 
 ■ Again, in stating that the tenth syllable of hendeca- 
 syllabics and dodecasyllabics, if short, is lengthened, 
 provided a short syllable follows, the same exception 
 is understood to be made in favour of naA or no, 
 as a short syllable : 
 
 vii. 48, 4. nu devasaA varivaA kartana na/i, (Sanh. 
 kartana no, bhiita na^, &c.) 
 
 AVith regard to e being shortened before a short 
 a, where, according to rule, the a should be elided, 
 we actually find that the Sanhita gives a instead 
 of e in Hv. viii. 72, 5. veti stdtave ambyam, Sanh. 
 veti st6tava ambyam. (Pratis. 177, 5.) 
 
 I do not ascribe very much weight to the authority 
 which we may derive from these observations with 
 regard to our o\\t.i treatment of the diphthongs e 
 and o as either long or short in the Veda, yet in 
 answer to those who are incredulous as to the 
 fact that the vowels e and could ever be short 
 in Sanskrit, an appeal to the authority of those 
 who constituted our text, and in constituting it 
 clearly treated o as a short vowel, may not be 
 without weight. We may also appeal to the fact 
 that in Pali and Prak?'it every final o and e can 
 be treated as either long or short*. Starting from 
 
 * See Lassen, Inst. Linguse Pracriticse, pp. 145, 147, 151; Cowell, 
 VararuAn, Introduction, p. xvii. 
 
 f 2 
 
IxXXiv PREFACE. 
 
 this we may certainly extend this observation, as 
 it has been extended by Professor Kiihn, but we 
 must not extend it too far. It is quite clear that 
 in the same verse e and o can be used both as long 
 and short. I give the Sanhit^ text : 
 i. 84, 17. ka Ishate tu^yate ko bibhaya 
 
 ko mawsate santam indra^^i ko anti, 
 kas tok^ya ka ibhayota raye 
 adhi bravat tanve ko ^an£iya. 
 But although there can be no doubt that e and 
 o, when final, or at the end of the first member of 
 a compound, may be treated in the Veda as anceps, 
 there is no evidence, I believe, to show that the 
 same licence applies to a medial or initial e or o. 
 In iv. 45, 5, we must scan 
 
 VLSTkh ^arante prati vastoA asvin^, 
 ending the verse with an epitritus tertius instead of 
 the usual dij ambus *. 
 
 * See Professor Weber's pertinent remarks in Knlin's Beitriige, 
 vol. iii. p. 394. I do not think that in the verses adduced by- 
 Professor Kuhn, in which final o is considered by him as an iambus 
 or trochee, this scanning is inevitable. Thus we may scan the 
 Sanliita text : 
 
 i. 88, 2. rukmo na kltrah svadhitivan. 
 
 i. 141, 8. ratho na yata/i sikvabhiA krito. 
 
 i. 174, 3. si7«ho ua dame apamsi vastoA. 
 
 vi. 24, 3. aksho na ^-akryo/i sura brihan. 
 
 X. 3, I. ino ragann arati/i samiddho. 
 
 This leaves but one of Professor Kuhn's examples (Beitrage, 
 vol. iv. p. 192) unexplained: i. 191, i. kai'ikato na kankato, where 
 iva for na wouhl remove the difficulty. 
 
PREFACE. IxXXV 
 
 Thirdly, the fact that the initial short a, if fol- 
 lowing upon a word ending in o or e, is frequently 
 not to be ehded, is clearly recognized by the authors 
 of the Pratisakhya (see p. xxxv). Nay, that they 
 wished it to be pronounced even in passages where, 
 in accordance with the requirements of the Prati- 
 sakliya, it had to disappear in the Sanhita text, we 
 may conclude from Sutra 978. It is there stated 
 that no pada should ever begin with a word that 
 has no accent. The exceptions to this rule are few, 
 and they are discussed in Sutras 978-987. But if 
 the initial a were not pronounced in i. i, 9, saA nsbh 
 pita-iva sunave d,gne su-up^yand-Z^- bhava, the second 
 p^da would begin with 'gne, a word which, after the 
 elision of the initial a, would be a word without an 
 accent. 
 
 Fourthly, the fact that other long vov/els, besides 
 e and o, may under certain circumstances be used as 
 short in the Veda, is not merely a modern theory, but 
 rests on no less an authority than Pa?ani. 
 
 Pa??ini says, vi. i, 127, that i, u, ri (see Ev. Bh. iv. 
 I, 12) at the end of a pada (but not in a compound*) 
 
 * There are certain compounds iu which, according to Professor 
 Kuhn, two vowels have been contracted into one short vowel. 
 This is certainly the opinion of Hindu grammarians, also of the 
 compiler of the Pada text. But most of them would admit of 
 another explanation. Thus dhanvar?iasa/t, which is divided into 
 dhanva-ar?tasa/t, may be dhanu-ar^iasa/i (Rv. v. 45, 2). Dhanar^am, 
 divided into dhana-ar^am, may have been dhana-ri^-am (Rv. x. 
 46, 5). >S'atar^asam (Rv. vii. 100, 3) may be taken as sata- 
 j-iAasam instead of sata-ar^^asam. 
 
Ixxxvi PREFACE. 
 
 may remain unchanged, if a dilierent vowel follows, 
 and that, if long, they may be shortened. He 
 ascribes this rule, or, more con'ectly, the fii'st por- 
 tion of it only, to /S4kalya, Pratis^kliya 155 seq.* 
 Thus Z:akri atra may become kakri atra or Jcakrj 
 atra. Madhil atra may become madhu atra or 
 madhv atra. In vi. i, 138, P4?iini adds that a, 
 i, u, ri may remain unchanged before ?*i, and, if 
 long, may be shortened, and this agam according 
 to the teaching of >S'4kalya, i. e. Pratisakhya 136. 
 Hence brahm^ ?'islii/i becomes brahma nshiA or 
 brahmarshi/i ; kimiari risya/i becomes kimi^ri risjSih 
 or kum^ry risjsJi. This rule enables us to explain 
 a number of passages m wdiich the Sanhita text 
 either changes the final long vowel into a semi- 
 vowel, or leaves it unchanged, when the vowel 
 is a pragrihya vowel. To the first class belong 
 such passages as i. 163, 13; iv. 38, 10. \^gi drva, 
 Sanh. Ykgy6,Y\X ; vi. 7, 3. vat/i' ague, Sanli. va^/yagne ; 
 vi. 20, 13. pakthi arkai/^, Sanli. pakthyarkai/i ; iv. 22,4. 
 6'ushmi a goh, Sanh. sushmy^ goh. In these pas- 
 sages i is the termination of a nom. masc. of a 
 stem ending in in. Secondly, iv. 24, 8. pdtni fikkhix, 
 Sanh. patnyiU'Ma ; iv. 34, i. devi ahnam, Sanh. devy- 
 ahnam ; v. 75, 4. va^i/d a-hit4, Sanh. va?iiX'y^hita ; 
 vi. 61, 4. avitri avatu, Sanh. avitryavatu. In these 
 
 * In the Pmti*vikhy;i the rule which allows vowel before vowel 
 to remain unehangeil, is restricted to special passages, and in some 
 of them tlie two vowels are savarwaj cf. Sfitra 163. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 passages the i is the termination of feminines. In 
 X. 15, 4, iitf arvd!k, Sanh. utyarvak, the final i of 
 tlie instrumental uti ought not to have been changed 
 into a semivowel, for, though not followed by iti, 
 it is to be treated as pragrihya ; (Pratis. 163, 5.) 
 It is, however, mentioned as an exception in Siltra 
 174, 9. The same applies to ii. 3, 4. vedi iti asyam, 
 Sanh. vedy asyam. The prag?"ihya 1 ought not to 
 have been changed into a semivowel, but the fact 
 that it had been changed irregularly, was again duly 
 registered in Sutra 174, 5. These two pragrihya 
 i therefore, which have really to be pronounced 
 short, were irregularly changed in the Sanhita into 
 the semivowel ; and as this semivowel, like all semi- 
 vowels, may take vj^avdya, the same object was 
 attained as if it had been written by a short vowel. 
 With regard to pragrihya u, no such indication is 
 given by the Sanhita text ; but in such passages 
 as i. 46, 13. sambhu iti sam-bhu a gatam, Sanh. 
 sambhu K gatam ; v. 43, 4. bahu Iti ddrim, Sanh. 
 bahii adrim, the pragrihya A of the dual can be 
 used as short, like the A of madhti atra, given as 
 an example by the commentators of Pa^uni. 
 
 To Professor Kuhn, I believe, belongs the merit 
 of having extended this rule to final a. That the 
 a of the dual may become short, was mentioned 
 in the Pratisakhya, Sutra 309, though in none of 
 the passages there mentioned is there any metrical 
 necessity for this shortening (see p. xli). This being 
 the case, it is impossible to deny that where this a 
 
Ixxxviii PREFACE. 
 
 is followed by a vowel, and where Sandhi between 
 the two vowels is impossible, . the final a may be 
 treg-ted as short. Whether it must be so. treated, 
 depends on the view which we take of the Vedic 
 metres, and will have to be discussed hereafter, 
 I agree with Professor Knhn when he scans : 
 
 vi. 6^, I. kva tya valg^ puru-hut4 adya, (Sanh. 
 punihlitadya) ; and not kva tyd valgu puruhStMya, 
 although we might quote other verses as ending 
 with an epitritus primus. 
 
 iv. 3, 13. ma vesasya pra-minata^ ma dpe/i, (Sanh. 
 m^pe/i,) although the dispondeus is possible. 
 
 i. 77, I. katha dasema agnaye ka asmai, (Sanh. 
 k^smai.) 
 
 vi. 24, 5. aryaA vasasya pari-et^ asti. 
 
 Even in a compound like tv^-<ita, I should shorten 
 the first vowel, e. g. 
 
 X. 148, I. tmana tana sanuy^ma tva-^it^/i, 
 although the passage is not mentioned by the Prati- 
 sakhya among those where a short final vowel in the 
 eighth place is not lengthened when a short syllable 
 follows'"'. 
 
 But when we come to the second p4da of a 
 Gayatri, and find there a long a, and that long 
 a not followed by a vowel, I cannot agree with 
 Professor Kuhn, that the long a, even under such 
 
 * I see that Professor Kuhn, vol. iv. j). 186, has anticipated this 
 observation in esh/au, to be read a-Tsh«au. 
 
PREFACE. Ixxxix 
 
 circumstances, ought to be shortened. We may 
 scan : 
 
 V. 5, 7. vatasya patman i/ita daivya hotaia manu- 
 sha/i. 
 
 The same choriambic ending occurs even in the 
 hist pMa of a Gayatri, and is perfectly free from 
 objection at the end of the other p^das. 
 
 So, again, we may admit the shortening of au 
 to o in s^no avye and sano avyaye, as quoted in 
 the Pratisakhya, 174 and 177, but this would not 
 justify the shortening of au to av in Anush^ubh 
 verses, such as 
 
 V. 86, 5. martaya dev^u adabh^, 
 amsa-iva devau arvate, 
 while, mth regard to the Trish^ubh and (ragati 
 verses, our views on these metres must naturally 
 depend on the difficulties we meet with in carry- 
 ing them out. On this more by and by. 
 
 There is no reason for shortening a in 
 
 V. 5, 10. devanam guhya namani. 
 It is the second pada of a Gayatri here ; and we 
 shall see that, even in the third pada, four long 
 syllables occiur again and again. 
 
 For the same reason I cannot folloAV Dr. Kuhn 
 in a number of other passages where, for the sake 
 of the metre, he proposes to change a long a into 
 a short one. Such passages are in the Pada text: 
 
 vi. 46, II. didyavaA tigma-m^rdh£ina/^, not m^r- 
 dhanaA. 
 
XC PREFACE. 
 
 i. 15, 6. /'ituna ya^nam asithe, not asathe, 
 
 V. 66, 2. samvak asuiyam ^iute, not kskie. 
 
 V. 67, I. varshish^Aam kshatram 4sMie, not a.sathe. 
 See Beitriige, vol. iii. p. 122. 
 
 i. 46, 6, tarn asme rasatham isham, not rdsatliain 
 isham. 
 
 iv. 32, 23. babbrii v^meshu sobhete, not sobbete. 
 
 iv. 45, 3. uta priyam madbune yun^atbam ratbam, 
 not yun^^tbam ratbam. 
 
 V, 74, 3. kam aJckhsi yun^/atbe ratbam, not yunr/atbe 
 ratbam. 
 
 iv. !^^, I. dy^vabbiimi (iti) adite trasitbam nsJi, not 
 trasitbam naA. 
 
 V. 41, I. ritasya va sadasi trasitbam nah, not tra- 
 sitbam naA. 
 
 I must enter tbe same protest against sbortennig 
 otber long vowels in tbe following verses wbicb 
 Professor Knbn proposes to make metrically correct 
 by tbis remedy : 
 
 i. 42, 6. bira?iyav^imat-tama, not va^imat-tama. 
 
 Here tbe sbort syllable of ga/?a-sri-bbi/« in v. 60, 8, 
 cannot be quoted as a precedent, for tbe i in ga7ia5ri, 
 walking in companies, was never long, and could 
 tberefore not be sbortened. Still less can we quote 
 nari-bbya/i as an instance of a long i being sbort- 
 ened, for nari-bbyaA is derived from nirih, not from 
 nari, and occurs witb a sbort i even wlien tbe metre 
 re(piircs a long syllable ; i. 43, 6. nrl-bbya/i nl,ri- 
 
PREFACE. XCl 
 
 bhya/i gave. The fact is, that in the Eig-veda the 
 forms narishu and nari-bhyaA never occur, but always 
 n^rishu, n4ri-bhya/i; while from v£isl we never find any 
 forms with short i, but always v^^'ishu, v^si-bhi/k 
 
 Nor is there any justification for change in i. 35, 16. 
 gkvah na gavydtiA anu, the second p^da of a Gdyatri. 
 Nor in v. 56, 3. ?'iksha^ na va^ maruta/i, simi-van 
 amaA. In most of the passages mentioned by Profes- 
 sor Kulm on p. 122, this peculiarity may be observed, 
 tliat the eighth syllable is short, or, at all events, 
 may be short, when the ninth is long : 
 
 vi. 44, 21. v/*ish?ie te indu/i- vrishabha pipaya. 
 
 i. 73, I. syona-si^ atithi^ na pri/i^na/i-. 
 
 vii. 13, I. bhare havi/i na barhishi prin^na^. 
 
 ii. 28, 7. ena/i kri?ivantam asura bhrinanti. 
 
 Before, however, we can settle the question 
 whether in these and other places certain vowels 
 shoidd be j^ronounced as either long or short, we 
 must settle the more general question, what authority 
 we have for requiring a long or a short syllable in 
 certain places of the Vedic metres. Now it has 
 generally been supposed that the Pratisakhya 
 teaches that there must be a long syllable in 
 the eighth or tenth place of Traish^ubha and (ra- 
 gata, and in the sixth place of Anush^ubha padas. 
 Tliis is not the case. The Prati^-akhya, no doubt, 
 says, that a short final vowel, but not any short 
 syllable, occupying the eighth or tenth place in 
 a Traish^ubha and 6^4gata pada, or the sixth 
 
XCll PREFACE. 
 
 place ill a G^yatra pada, is lengthened, but it 
 never says that it must be lengthened ; on the 
 contrary, it gives itself a number of cases where 
 it is not so lengthened. But, what is even more 
 important, the Pratisakhya distinctly adds a proviso 
 which shows that the ancient critics of the Veda 
 did not consider the trochee as the only possible 
 foot for the sixth and seventh syllables of Gayatra, 
 or for the eighth and ninth, or tenth and eleventh 
 syllables of Traish^ubha and G^agata padas. They 
 distinctly admit that the seventh and the ninth 
 and the eleventh syllables in such padas may be 
 long, and that in that case the preceding short 
 vowel is not lengthened. We thus get the iambus 
 in the very place which is generally occupied by the 
 trochee. According to the Prati6akhya, the general 
 scheme for the Gayatra would be, not only 
 
 6 7 
 
 + + + +1+-.^+, 
 but also , 
 
 6 7 
 
 + + + + |+v^-+; 
 
 and for the Traish^ubha and (x^gata, not only 
 
 8 9 
 
 + + + + |+ + +-|v.. + +( + ), 
 
 but also 
 
 + + + + |+ + +v^|- + + ( + ). 
 
 And again, for the same padas, not only 
 
 lO II 
 
 + + + + 1 + + + + !+-^ (+), 
 
 but also 
 
 + + + + |++ + + |+^_(-F). 
 
PREFACE. XClll 
 
 Before appealing, however, to the Prati^ukhya for 
 tlie establishment of such a rule as that the sixth syl- 
 h^ble of Anushfubha and the eighth or tenth syllable 
 of Traish^ubha and (rdgata padas must be lengthened, 
 provided a short syllable follows, it is indispensable 
 that we should have a clear appreciation of the real 
 character of the Pratisakhya. If we carefully follow 
 the thread wliich runs through these books, we shall 
 soon perceive that, even with the proviso that a 
 short syllable follows, the Prati^akhya never teaches 
 that certain final vowels must be lengthened. The 
 object of the Pratisakhya is, as I pointed out on 
 a former occasion, to register all the facts which 
 possess a phonetic interest. In doing this, all 
 kinds of plans are adopted in order to bring as 
 large a number of cases as possible under general 
 categories. These categories are purely technical 
 and external, and they never assume, with the 
 authors of the Piati^akhya, the character of general 
 rules. Let us now, after these preliminary remarks, 
 return to the Sutras ^2^ to ^^^, which we discussed 
 before. The Pratisakhya simply says that certain 
 syllables which are short in the Pada, if occupying 
 a certain place in a verse, are lengthened in the 
 Sanhita, provided a short syllable follows. This 
 looks, no doubt, like a general rule which should 
 be carried out under all circumstances. But this 
 idea never entered the minds of the authors of the 
 Pratisakhya. They only give this rule as the most 
 convenient way of registering the lengthening of 
 
XCIV PREFACE. 
 
 certain syllables which have actually been lengthened 
 in the text of the Sanhit4, while they remam short 
 in tlie Pada ; and after having done this, they pro- 
 ceed to give a number of verses where the same 
 ride might be supposed to apply, but where in the 
 text of the Sanhita the short syllable has not been 
 lengthened. After having given a long string of 
 words which are short in the Pada and long in 
 the Sanhita, and where no intelHgible reason of 
 their lengthening can be given, at least not by the 
 authors of the Pratisakhya, the Pr^tis^khya adds in 
 Siitra 523, * The final vowel of the eighth syllable 
 is lengthened in padas of eleven and twelve syl- 
 lables, provided a syllable follows which is short in 
 the Sanhita.' As instances the commentator gives 
 (Sanhita text) : 
 
 i. 32, 4. tddi'tna sdtrum na klla vivitse. 
 
 -- -l-y_6lw- ^- 
 
 i. 94, 1, dgne sakhye ma rishama vayam tava. 
 
 Then foUows another rule (SAtra 525) that ' The 
 final vowel of the tenth syllable in padas of eleven 
 and twelve syllables is lengthened, provided a syl- 
 lable follows which is short in the Sanhita.' As 
 instances the commentator gives: 
 
 iii. 54, 22. jlhd visva sumdna didihi na/^ 
 u. 34, 9. ilva rudr4 asdso hantana vddha/?. 
 
 Lastly, a rule is given (Siltra 526) that ' The final 
 vowrl of tlie sixth syllable is lenfythened in a 
 
 1 o 
 
PREFACE, XCV 
 
 of eight syllables, provided a syllable follows which 
 is short:' 
 
 i. 5, lo. i'sano yavaya vadham. 
 
 If the seventh syllable is long no change takes 
 place : 
 
 ix. 67, 30. a pavasva deva soma. 
 
 While we ourselves shoidd look upon these rules 
 as founded in the nature of the metre, which, no 
 doubt, to a certain extent they are, the authors 
 of the Pratis^khya use them simply as convenient 
 nets for catching as many cases as possible of 
 lengthened syllables actually occurring in the text 
 of the Sanliita. For this purpose, and in order 
 to avoid giving a number of special rules, they 
 add in this place an observation, very important 
 to us as throwing light on the real pronuncia- 
 tion of the Vedic hymns at the time when our 
 Sanhit^ text was finally settled, but with them 
 again a mere expedient for enlarging the preceding 
 rules, and thus catching more cases of lengthening 
 at one haul. They say in Sutra 527, that in order 
 to get the right number of syllables in such verses, 
 we must pronomice sometimes one syllable as two. 
 Thus only can the lengthened syllable be got into 
 one of the places required by the preceding Sutra, 
 viz. the sixth, the eighth, or the tenth place, and 
 thus only can a large number of lengthened syllables 
 be comprehended under the same general rule of 
 the Pratis4khya. In all this we ourselves can easily 
 
XCVl PEEFACE. 
 
 recognize a principle wliich guided the compilers of 
 the Sanhit^ text, or the very authors of the hymns, 
 in lengthening syllables which in the Pada text 
 are short, and which were liable to be lengthened 
 because they occupied certain places on which the 
 stress of the metre would naturally fall. We also see 
 quite clearly that these compilers, or those whose 
 pronunciation they tried to perpetuate, must have 
 pronounced certain syllables as two syllables, and 
 we naturally consider that we have a right to try 
 the same expedient in other cases where to us, 
 though not to them, the metre seems deficient, and 
 where it could be rendered perfect by pronouncing 
 one syllable as two. Such thoughts, however, never 
 entered the minds of the authors of the Pratisakhyas, 
 who are satisfied with explaining what is, according 
 to the authority of the Sanhita, and who never 
 attempt to say what ought to be, even against the 
 authority of the Sanhita. Wliile in some cases they 
 have ears to hear and to appreciate the natural flow 
 of the poetical language of the i?ishis, they seem 
 at other times as deaf as the adder to the voice of 
 the charmer. 
 
 A general rule, therefore, in our sense of the word, 
 that the eighth syllable in hendecasyllabics and do- 
 decasyllabics, the tenth syllable in hendecasyllabics 
 and dodecasyllabics, and the sixth syllable in octo- 
 syllabics should be lengthened, rests in no sense on 
 the authority of ancient grammarians. Even as a 
 mere observation, they restrict it by the condition 
 
PREFACE. XCVU 
 
 that the' next syllable must be short, in order to 
 provoke the lengthening of the preceding syllable, 
 thereby sanctioning, of course, many exceptions ; and 
 they then proceed to quote a number of cases where, 
 in spite of all, the short syllable remains short*. 
 In some of these quotations they are no doubt wrong, 
 but in most of them their statement cannot be 
 disputed. 
 
 As to the eighth syllable being short in hen- 
 decasyllabics and dodecasyllabics, they quote such 
 verses as, 
 
 vi. 66, 4. antar (iti) santa/i avady^ni pun^na/i. 
 
 Thus we see that in vi. 44, 9, varshiyaA vaya^ 
 kri;2uhi sakibhih, hi remains short; while in vi. 25, 3, 
 gahi vrish^^-y^ni k^i^^uhi para^-a/z, it is lengthened in 
 the Sanhita, the only difference being that in the 
 second passage the accent is on hi. 
 
 As to the tenth syllable being short in a dodeca- 
 syllabic, they quote 
 
 ii. 27, 14. adite mitra varu)^a uta m^nZa. 
 
 * ' Wo die achtsilbigen Reihen mit herbeigezogen sind, ist es 
 in der Kegel bei solchen Liedern geschehen, die im Ganzen von 
 der regelmassigen Form weniger abweichen, und fiir solche Falle, 
 wo auch das Pratisakhya die Langung der sechsten Silbe in 
 achtsilbigen Reiheu vorschreiht, namlich wo die siebente von 
 Natur kurz ist. Die achtsilbigen Eeihen bediirfeu einer erneu- 
 ten Durchforschung, da es niehrfach schwer fallt, den Sanbita- 
 text mit der Vorschi-ift der Pratisakhya in Ubereinstimmung zu 
 bringcn.' Kuhn, Beitrage, vol. iii. p. 450 ; and still more strongly, 
 1>- 45S. 
 
 VOL. I. e: 
 
XCVUl PREFACE. 
 
 As to the tenth syllable being short in a hendeca- 
 syllabic, they quote 
 
 ii. 20, I. vayam te vayaA indra viddhi su na/i. 
 
 As to the sixth syllable being short in an octo- 
 syllabic, they quote 
 
 viii. 23, 26. mahaA visv£in abhi sata/i. 
 
 A large number of similar exceptions are collected 
 from 528, 3 to 534, 94, and this does not include any 
 cases where the ninth, the eleventh, or the seventh 
 syllable is long, instead of being short, while it 
 does include cases where the eighth syllable is 
 long, though the ninth is not short, or, at least, is 
 not short according to the views of the collectors of 
 these passages. See Sfitra 522, 6. 
 
 Besides the cases mentioned by the Pratisikhya 
 itself, where a short syllable, though occupymg a 
 place which would seem to require lengthening, 
 remains short, there are many others which the 
 Prdtisakhya does not mention, because, from its 
 point of view, there was no necessity for doing so. 
 The Pratisakhya has been blamed* for omitting 
 such cases as i. 93, 6. urmn yar/ndya A'akrathtir u 
 lokam; or i. 96, i. devit agnim dharayan drilvi/?od^m. 
 But though occupying the eighth place, and though 
 1 1)1 lowed by a short syllable, these syllables could 
 
 * ' Dazu kommt, dass der uns vorliegende Sanhitatcxt vielfaUiL; 
 gar nidit niit »Saunaka's allgemeiuen Kegel iibereinstimmt, in dom 
 die Verljingerung kurzer Silhen nicht uiiter den Bedingungeu ein- 
 getreten ist, die er vorsclireibt.' Kulin, Beitrage, vol. iii. p. 459. 
 
PREFACE. XCIX 
 
 never fall under the general observation of the 
 I Pr4ti6'[lkhya, because that general observation refers 
 to final vouK'ls only, but not to short syllables in 
 general. Similar cases are i. 107, i'^; 122, 9; 130, 10; 
 152, 6; 154, i; 158, 5^; 163, 2; 167, lO'^; 171, 4; 173, 6; 
 179, i'^; 182, 8'^; 186, 6, &c. 
 
 If, therefore, we say that, happen what may, these 
 metrical rules must be observed, and the text of 
 the Veda altered in order to satisfy the requirements 
 of these rules, we ought to know at all events that 
 we do this on our own responsibihty, and that we 
 cannot shield ourselves behind the authority of 
 >Saunaka or Katyayana. Now it is well known that 
 Professor Kuhn* has laid down the rule that the 
 Traish^ubha padas must end in a bacchiuis or amphi- 
 brachys v^-^, and the 6ragata padas in a dij ambus 
 or pseon secundus ^-^^. With regard to Anush- 
 ^ubha padas, he requires the dijambus or paeon 
 secimdus •^ - ^^^ at the end of a whole verse only, 
 allowing greater freedom in the foimation of the 
 preceding padas. In a later article, however, the 
 final p4da, too, in Anush^ubha metre is allowed 
 greater freedom, and the rule, as above given, is 
 strictly maintained with regard to the Traish^ubha 
 and 6^4gata padas only. 
 
 This subject is so important, and affects so large 
 a number of passages in the Veda, that it requires 
 the most careftd examination. The Vedic metres, 
 
 * Beitrage zur Vergleichenden Sprachforschung, vol. iii. p. 118. 
 
C PREFACE. 
 
 though at first sight very perplexing, are very 
 simple, if reduced to their primary elements. The 
 authors of the Pr^tis^khyas have elaborated a most 
 complicated system. Counting the syllables in the 
 most mechanical manner, they have assigned nearly 
 a hundred names to every variety which they disco- 
 vered m the hymns of the Eig-veda*. But they also 
 observed that the constituent elements of all these 
 metres were really but four, (Sutras 988, 989) : 
 
 1. The G^yatra pada, of eight syllables, ending in v^ -. 
 
 2. The Yaira^a pada, of ten syllables, ending in — . 
 
 3. The Traish^ubha pada, of eleven syllables, enduig 
 
 in 
 
 4. The GigSita, p^da, of twelve syllables, ending m ^ -. 
 Then follows an important rule, Sutra 990 : ' The 
 
 penultimate syllable/ he says, 'in a Gayatra and 
 6^4gata p^da is light (laghu), in a Vau'a^a and 
 Traishiubha pMa heavy (guru).' This is called 
 their v?*itta. 
 
 This word V7-itta, which is generally translated 
 by metre, had evidently originally a more special 
 meaning. It meant the final rhythm, or if we 
 take it literally, the turn of a Hue, for it is derived 
 from vrit, to turn. Hence v>itta is the same word 
 as the Latin versus, verse ; but I do not wish to 
 decide whether the connection between the two 
 words is historical, or simply etymological. In 
 Latin, versus is always supposed to have meant 
 
 * See Appendix to my edition of the Pratisakhyii, p. ccelvi. 
 
PREFACE. CI 
 
 originally a furrow, then a line, then a verse. In 
 ' Sanskrit the metaphor that led to the formation 
 of vritta, in the sense of final rhythm, has nothing 
 to do with plougliing. If, as I have tried to prove 
 (Chips from a German Workshop, vol. i. p. 84), the 
 names assigned to metres and metrical language 
 were derived from words originally referring to 
 choregic movements, vritta must have meant the 
 turn, i. e. the last step of any given movement ; 
 and tills turn, as determining the general character 
 of the whole movement, would naturally be regulated 
 by more severe rules, while greater freedom would 
 be allowed for the rest. 
 
 Having touched on this subject, I may add another 
 fact in support of my view. The words Trish^ubh 
 and Anush^ubh, names for the most common metres, 
 are generally derived from a root stubh, to praise. 
 I believe they should be derived from a root 
 stubh, which is preserved in Greek, not only in 
 o-Tu<^e\o?, hard, a-rvcpeXi^w, to strike hard, but . in 
 the root vreixcp, from which a-TefxcpvXov, stamped or 
 pressed olives or grapes, and aa-refKp^g, untrodden 
 (grapes), then unshaken ; and in arefx/Sw, to shake, 
 cTTo^ico, to scold, &c. In Sanskrit this root exists 
 in a parallel form as stambh, lit. to stamp down, 
 then to fix, to make firm, with which Bopp has 
 compared the German stamp/en, to stamp ; (Glossa- 
 rium, s. v. stambh.) I therefore look upon Trish^ubh 
 as meaning originally trijyudium, (supposing this 
 word to be derived from tri and p^6f, according to 
 
cii PREFACE. 
 
 the expression in Horace, pepnlisse ter pede terram, 
 Hor. Od. iii. i8,) and I explain its name ' Three- 
 step,' by the fact that the three last syllables ^ - ^, 
 which fomi the characteristic feature of that metre, 
 and may be called its real vHtta or turn, were 
 audibly stamped at the end of each turn or strophe. 
 I explain Anush^ubh, which consists of four equal 
 p£ldas, each of eight syllables, as the 'After-step,' 
 because each line was stamped regidarly after the 
 other, possibly by two choruses, each side taking- 
 its turn. There is one passage in the Veda where 
 Anush^ubh seems to have preserved this meaning : 
 
 X. 124, 9. anu-stubham anu Z;ar^'uryjlma«am indram 
 ni y^'ikyu/i kavdyaA manisha. 
 
 Poets by their msdom discovered Indra dancing 
 to an Anush^ubh. 
 
 Other names of metres which pomt to a similar 
 origin, i. e. to theii' original connection with dances, 
 are Padapankti, ' Step-row ;' Nyanku-sari/n, ' Eoe- 
 step ;' Abhisariwi, * Contre-danse,' &c. 
 
 If now we return to the statement of the Prati- 
 6'akhya in reference to the v/ittas, we should observe 
 how careful its author is in his language. He does 
 not say that the penultimate is long or short, but 
 he simply states, that, from a metrical point of 
 view, it must be considered as light or heavy, 
 which need not mean more than that it must be 
 pronouncetl with or without stress. The fact that 
 tlie author of the Prati^akhya uses these terms, laghu 
 and guru, instead of hrasva, short, and dirgha, long, 
 
PREFACE. cm 
 
 shows in fact that he was aware that the penul- 
 timate in these pMas is not invariably long or 
 short, though, from a metrical point of view, it is 
 always heavy or light. 
 
 It is perfectly true that if we keep to these 
 four pMas, (to which one more pada, viz. the half 
 Vairdf/a, consisting of five syllables, might be added,) 
 we can reduce nearly all the hymns of the Rig-veda 
 to their simple elements which the ancient poets com- 
 bined together, in general in a very simple way, but 
 occasionally with greater freedom. The most im- 
 portant strophes, formed out of these p4das, are, 
 
 1. Three Gayatra padas = the Gayatri, (24 syllables.) 
 
 2. Four Gayatra padas = the Anush^ubh, (32 syllables.) 
 
 3. Fom- Vair%a padas = the Yimg, (40 syllables.) 
 
 4. Four Traish^ubha padas = the Trish^ubh, (44 syl- 
 
 lables.) 
 
 5. Fom^ G'agata padas = the Gagati, (48 syllables.) 
 Between the Gayatri and Anush^ubh strophes, 
 
 another strophe may be formed, by mixture of 
 Gayatra and (ragata padas, consisting of 28 syl- 
 lables, and commonly called Ush;nh ; likewise 
 between the Anush^ubh and the Vira^, a strophe 
 may be formed, consisting of ^6 syllables, and com- 
 monly called B/'ihati. 
 
 In a collection of hymns, however, like that of 
 the Rig-veda, where poems of different ages, dif- 
 ferent places, and different families have been put 
 together, we must be prepared for exceptions to 
 many rules. Thus, although the final turn of the 
 
civ PREFACE. 
 
 hendecasyllabic Traish^bha is, as a rule, the bacchius, 
 ^--, yet if we take, for instance, the 77th hymn 
 of the tenth Ma?ic?ala, we clearly perceive another 
 hendecasyllabic pada of a totally difierent structiu'e, 
 and worked up into one of the most beautiful 
 strophes by an ancient poet. Each line is divided 
 into two halves, the first consisting of seven syl- 
 lables, being an exact coimterpart of the first 
 member of a Saturnian verse (fato Eomse Metelli) ; 
 the second a dij ambus, answering boldly to the 
 broken rhythm of the first -member'"'. We have, m 
 fact, a Trish^ubh where the tiu-n or the three-step, 
 ^ — , instead of being at the end, stands in the 
 middle of the line. 
 
 X. 77, 1-5, in the Pada text: 
 I. abhra-prusha/i na vaH prusha vasu, 
 havishmanta/i na yo^gnUi vi-^4nushaA 1 
 
 * Professor Kuhn (vol. iii. p. 450) is inclined to admit the same 
 metre as varying in certain hymns with ordinary Traish<nl)ha 
 padas, but the evidence he brings forward is hardly sufficient. 
 Even if we object to the endings u-w- and — u-, v. 33, 4, 
 may be a (ragata, with vyiiha of dasa, the remark quoted from 
 the Pratisakhya being of no consequence on such points ; and 
 the same remedy would apply to v. 41, 5, with vyOha of eshe. 
 In vi. 47, 31, \-yiaha of asvaparnaiA; in i. 33, 9, vjuha of iudra 
 and n.dasi; in ii. 24, 5, vyuha of madbhi/i would produce the 
 same effect ; while in i. 121, 8, we must either admit the Traish- 
 fubha vritta - ^ - or scan dhukshim. In iii. 58, 6, I should 
 admit vyGha fur nara ; in iv. 26, 6, for mandriim ; in i. 100, 8, 
 
 for f/yoti/i, always suj)posing that we consider tlio ending u - 
 
 incompatible with a Trish^ubh verse. 
 
PREFACE. CV 
 
 su 
 
 ■mS,rutain na brahmS,?iam arhase, 
 
 ga7iam astoshi esh^m na sobhase n 
 
 2. SYije maryasa/i, afi(/iii Bki'invntsi, 
 su-mariitam na purvi/i ati kshapaA i 
 diva/i putr^saA etaA na yetire, 
 adityasa/i te akra/i- na vav^-idhuA n 
 
 3. pra ye dixsJi prithiYj^ na barhan^, 
 tniana riri^re abhrat na sfirya/i \ 
 pa^asvanta/^ na viraA panasyava/i, 
 risadasa^ na marya^ ablii-dyava/2. 11 
 
 4. yushmakam budlme apam na y^mani, 
 vithuryati na mahi sratharyati 1 
 visva-psu/i ya^naA arvak ayam su vaA, 
 prayasvantaA na satraZ;a/^ a gata 11 
 
 5. yuyam dhu/i-su pra-yu^/aA na rasmi-bhl/i, 
 
 __ __ •^ __iw_ y_ 
 ^yotishmantaA na bhasa vi-usb^ishu t 
 
 syenasaA na sva-yasasaA risadasaA, 
 
 pravasaA na pra-sitasaA pari-prusha/^, n 
 
 Another strophe, the nature of which has been 
 totally misapprehended by native metricians, occurs 
 in iv. 10. It is there called Padapankti and Mah4- 
 padapahkti ; nay, attempts have been made to 
 treat it even as an Ushnih, or as a kind of Gayatri. 
 The real character of that strophe is so palpable 
 that it is difficult to understand how it could have 
 been mistaken. It consists of two Hues, the first 
 
CVl PREFACE. 
 
 embracing three or four feet of five syllables each, 
 having the ictus on the first and the fourth syl- 
 lables, and resembhng the last line of a Sapphic 
 verse. The second line is simply a Trish^ubh. It 
 is what we should call an asynartete strophe, and 
 the contrast of the rhythm in the first and second 
 lines is very effective. I am not certain w^hether 
 Professor Bollensen, who has touched on tliis metre 
 in an article just published (Zeitschiift der D. M. G., 
 vol. xxii. p. 572), shares this opinion. He has clearly 
 seen that the division of the lines, as given in the 
 MSS. of the Sanhit^ text, is wi-ong ; but he seems 
 inclined to admit the same rhythm throughout, and 
 to treat the strophe as consisting of four lines of 
 five syllables each, and one of six syllables, which 
 last line is to submit to the prevailing rhythm 
 of the preceding lines. If we differ, however, as 
 to the mternal architecture of this strophe, we 
 agree in condemning the mterpretation proposed 
 by the Pratisakhya ; and I should, in comiection 
 with this, hke to caU attention to two important 
 facts : first, that the Sanhita text, m not changing, 
 for instance, the final t of martat, betrays itself as 
 clearly later than the elaboration of the ancient 
 theory of metres, later than the invention of such 
 a metre as the Padapankti ; and secondly, that 
 the accentuation, too, of the Sanhita is thus 
 proved to be posterior to the establishment of 
 these fanciful metrical divisions, and hence cannot 
 tliroughout claim so irrefragable an authority as 
 
PREFACE. evil 
 
 certainly belongs to it in many cases. I give the 
 Sanhita text : 
 
 1 . Agne tarn adya i a^'vayyt na stomai/i i ki-atuv/^ na bhadram, 
 
 hridisprisam ridlnama ta ohai/i. 
 
 2. Adlia liy agne i krator bhadrasya i dakshasya s^dhoA, 
 
 rathir ritasya briliato babb^tha. 
 
 3. Ebhir no arkair 1 bhav4 no arvan 1 svar nsb gjotik, 
 
 agne vi^vebhiA suman^ anikai/z. 
 
 4. Abhish ^e adya 1 girbhir griwanto i agne d^sema, 
 
 pra te divo na stanayanti sushma/t. 
 
 5. Tava svadislifAa 1 agne sa?nd/'ishdr, 
 
 ida ^id ahna 1 id^ Aid aktoA, 
 srije rukmo na roA^ata up^ke. 
 
 6. Ghr*ita7?i na piitam 1 taniir arepa^ 1 suki hira^^yam, 
 
 tat te iTikmo na roA'ata svadh^va/?,. 
 
 7. Krita7?i Hd dhi shma 1 sanemi dvesho 1 agna inoslii, 
 
 martad ittha yar/amanad ritava^. 
 
 8. /Siva na/i sakliya 1 santu bhratragne 1 devesliu yuslime, 
 
 s^ no nahhih sadane sasmin udhan. 
 
 Now it is perfectly true that, as a general rule, 
 the syllables composing the vritta or turn of the 
 different metres, and described by the Pratisakhya 
 as heavy or light, are in reality long or short. 
 The question, however, is this, have we a right, 
 or are we obliged, in cases where that syllable is 
 not either long or short, as it ought to be, so to 
 alter the text, or so to change the rules of pro- 
 
CVlll PREFACE. 
 
 nunciation, that the penultimate may again be what 
 we wish it to be ? 
 
 If we begin with the Gayatra pada, we have 
 not to read long before we find that it would be 
 hopeless to try to crush the Gayatri verses of the 
 Vedic i^ishis on this Procrustean bed. Even Pro- 
 fessor Kuhn very soon perceived that this was 
 impossible. He had to admit that in the Gayatri 
 the two first padas, at all events, were free from 
 this rule, and though he tried to retain it for the 
 third or final pada, he was obliged after a time to 
 give it up even there. Again, it is perfectly true, 
 that in the third pada of the Gayatri, and in the 
 second and fourth p^das of the Anush^ubh strophe, 
 greater care is taken by the poets to secure a short 
 syllable for the penultimate, but here, too, excep- 
 tions camiot be entirely removed. We have only 
 to take such a single hymn as i. 27, and we shall 
 see that it would be impossible to reduce it to 
 the uniform standard of Gayatri pddas, all ending 
 in a dij ambus. But what confirms me even more 
 in my view that such strict uniformity must not 
 be looked for in the ancient hymns of the i?ishis, 
 is the fact that in many cases it woidd be so very 
 easy to replace the irregular by a regular dipodia. 
 Supposmg that the original poets had restricted 
 themselves to the dij ambus, who could have put 
 in the place of that regular dij ambus an irregular 
 dipodia? Certainly not the authors of the Prati- 
 .s'tlkhya, for their ears had clearly discovered the 
 
PREFACE. CIX 
 
 general rhythm of the ancient metres ; nor their 
 predecessors, for they liad in many instances pre- 
 served the tradition of syUables lengthened in 
 accordance with the requirements of the metre. 
 I do not mean to insist too strongly on this argu- 
 ment, or to represent those who handed down the 
 tradition of the Veda as endowed with anything Hke 
 apaLurusheyatva. Strange accidents have happened 
 in the text of the Veda, but they have generally 
 happened when the sense of the hymns had ceased 
 to be miderstood ; and if anything helped to pre- 
 serve the Veda from greater accidents, it was due, 
 I beheve, to the very fact that the metre continued 
 to be understood, and that oral tradition, however 
 much it might fail in other respects, had at all 
 events to satisfy the ears of the hearers. I should 
 have been much less surprised if all irregularities 
 in the metre had been smoothed down by the flux 
 and reflux of oral tradition, a fact which is so 
 apparent in the text of Homer, where the gaps 
 occasioned by the loss of the digamma, were made 
 good by the insertion of unmeaning particles ; bu.t 
 I find it difficult to imagine by what class of men, 
 who must have lived between the original poets 
 and the age of the Pratisakhyas, the simple rhythm 
 of the Vedic metres should have been disregarded, 
 and the sense of rhythm, which ancient people 
 possess in a far higher degree than we ourselves, 
 been violated through crude and purposeless altera- 
 tions. I shall give a few specimens only. What 
 
ex • PREFACE. 
 
 but a regard for real antiquity could have induced 
 people in viii. 2, 8, to preserve the defective foot 
 of a Gdyatri verse, samane adhi bharman 1 Any 
 one acquainted with Sanskrit would naturally read 
 samane adhi bharma^d. But who would have 
 changed bharma?/i, if that had been there originally, 
 to bharman '? I believe we must scan samane adlii 
 bharman, or samane adhi bhannan, the pseon ter- 
 tius being a perfectly legitimate foot at the end 
 of a G^yatri verse. In x. 158, i, we can under- 
 stand how an accident happened. The original 
 poet may have said : Suryo no divas p4tu patu 
 vato antanksh^t, agnir na^ parthivebhya/i. Here 
 one of the two p4tu was lost. But if in the same 
 hymn we find in the second verse two feet of nine 
 instead of eight syllables each, I should not venture 
 to alter this except in pronunciation, because no 
 reason can be imagined why any one should have 
 put these irregular lines in the place of regular 
 ones. 
 
 In V. 41, 10, gri?iite agnir etari na siishai/^, soki- 
 shkeso ni rinati vana, every modern Pandit would 
 naturally read vanani instead of vana, in order to 
 get the regular Trish^ubh metre. But this being 
 the case, how can we imagine that even the most 
 ignorant member of an ancient Parishad shoidd 
 wilfully have altered vanani into van^ 1 What 
 surprises one is, that vana should have been spared, 
 in spite of every temptation to change it into 
 vanani : for I cannot doubt for one moment that 
 
PREFACE. CXI 
 
 vana is the right reading, only that the ancient 
 poets pronounced it vand,. Wherever we alter the 
 text of the Eig-veda by conjecture, we ought to 
 be able, if possible, to give some explanation how 
 the mistake which we wish to remove came to be 
 committed. If a passage is obscure, difhcult to 
 construe, if it contains words which occur in no 
 other place, then we can understand how, during 
 a long process of oral tradition, accidents may have 
 happened. But when everything is smooth and 
 easy, when the intention of the poet is not to be 
 mistaken, when the same phrase has occurred many 
 times before, then to suppose that a simple and 
 perspicuous sentence was changed into a compli- 
 cated and obscure string of words is more difficult 
 to understand. I know there are passages where 
 we cannot as yet account for the manner in which 
 an evidently faulty reading found its way into 
 both the Pada and Sanhita texts, but in those very 
 passages we cannot be too circumspect. If we read 
 viii. 40, 9, piirvish ^a indropam^taya^ purvir uta 
 prasastayaA, nothing seems more tempting than to 
 omit indra, and to read purvish ^a upamatayaA. 
 Nor woidd it be difficult to account for the inser- 
 tion of indra ; for though one would hardly venture 
 to call it a marginal gloss that crept into the text — 
 a case which, as far as I can see, has never hajD- 
 pened in the hymns of the Eig-veda — it might be 
 taken for an explanation given by an AHrya to his 
 pupils, in order to inform them that the ninth verse, 
 
CXU PREFACE. 
 
 different from the eighth, was addressed to Indra. 
 But however plausible this may sound, the question 
 remains whether the traditional reading could not 
 be maintained, by admitting synizesis of opa, and 
 reading purvish ia indropamatayaA. For a similar 
 synizesis of - v^ , see iii. 6, lo. pr^Ai adhvareva ta- 
 sthatii/?-, unless we read pra^y adhvareva. 
 
 Another and more difficult case of synizesis 
 occurs in 
 
 vii. 86, 4. ava tvanen^ namas^ tura(/0 iyam. 
 It would be easy to conjecture tvareyam instead 
 of tura ijkm, but tvareyam, in the sense of 'let 
 me hasten,' is not Vedic. The choriambic ending, 
 however, of Trish^ubha can be proved to be legi- 
 timate, and if that is the case, then even the 
 synizesis of tura, though hard, ought not to be 
 regarded as impossible. 
 
 In ii. 18, 5, 4 vimsaty^ tri??isat^ y^ij arv^n, 
 a Z:atvari'???sata haribhir jugMiah, 
 §L panZ:asat^ surathebhir indra, 
 ^ shashty^ saptaty^ somapeyam. 
 Professor Kuhn proposes to omit the Ci at the 
 begiunmg of the second line, in order to have 
 eleven instead of twelve syllables. By doing so 
 he loses the uniformity of the four pMas, which 
 all begin with a, while by admitting synizesis of 
 haribhir all necessity for conjectural emendation 
 <lis;ippears. 
 
 It iliu poets of the Veda had objected to a paeon 
 
PREFACE. CXm 
 
 quartus (v^ v^ ^ -) at the end of a Gayatri, what could 
 have been easier than to change iv. 52, i, divo adarsi 
 diihita, mto adarsi duhita divaJi? or x. 118, 6, ada- 
 bhya??i griliapatim, into grihapatim ad^bhyam'? 
 
 If an epitritus secimdus {-<^ — )>had been objec- 
 tionable in the same place, why not say vi. 61, 10, 
 stomya bhiit sarasvati, instead of sarasvati stomyi 
 bhiit ? Why not viii. 2, 11, revantam hi s?-iriomi 
 tva, instead of revantam hi tva sri^omi? 
 
 If an ionicns a minore (^ ^ — ) had been excluded 
 from that place, why not say i. 30, 10, (/arit?4bhyaA 
 sakhe vaso, instead of sakhe vaso (/aritribhya/^ ? or 
 i. 41, 7, vaiii?iasya mahi psara/i, instead of mahi 
 psaro varuTiasya'? 
 
 If a dispondeus ( ) was to be avoided, then 
 
 V. 68, 3, mahi wkm kshatram deveshu, might easily 
 have been replaced by deveshu \Sim kshatram mahi, 
 and viii. 2, 10, sukra isir&m yaA'ante, by sukra y4- 
 Z:anta asiram. 
 
 If no epitritus primus (^ ) was allowed, why 
 
 not say vi. 61, 11, nidas p4tu sarasvati, instead of 
 sarasvati nidas patu, or viii. 79, 4, dvesho y^vlr 
 aghasya /;it, instead of yavir aghasya Hd dvesha/i^ 
 
 Even the epitritus tertius ( — ^ -) might easily 
 have been avoided by dropping the augment of ap4m 
 in X. 119, 1-13, kuvit somasyapam iti. It is, in fact, 
 a variety of less frequent occurrence than the rest, 
 and might possibly be eliminated with some chance 
 of success. 
 
 Lastly, the choriambus {-^^-) could have been 
 VOL. I. h 
 
CXIV PREFACE. 
 
 removed in iii. 24, 5, sisihi na/i sfmumata/^ by reading 
 sAniimataA sTsihi naA, and in viii. 2, 31, sanad am?'ikto 
 dayate, by reading am/ikto dayate sanat. 
 
 But I am afraid the idea that regularity is better 
 than irregularity, and that in the Veda, where there 
 is a possibility, the regular metre is to be restored by 
 means of conjectural emendations, has been so ably 
 advocated by some of the most eminent scholars, 
 that a merely general argument would now be of 
 no avail. I must therefore give as much evidence 
 as I can bring together in support of the contrary 
 opinion ; and though the process is a tedious one, 
 the importance of the consequences with regard to 
 Vedic criticism leaves me no alternative. With 
 regard, then, to the final dipodia of Gayatri verses, 
 I stiU hold and maintain, that, although the dij am- 
 bus is by far the most general metre, the following 
 seven varieties have to be recognized in the poetry 
 of the Veda : 
 
 I. ^ - w -, 2. w v^ ^ -, 3. - .^ _ - 4. ^^--, 5. , 
 
 6. ^ , 7. --^-, 8. -^^-. 
 
 I do not pretend to give every passage in which 
 these varieties occur, but I hope I shall give a 
 vSufficient number in support of every one of them. 
 I have confined myself almost entirely to the final 
 dipodia of Gayatri verses, as the Anush^ubha verses 
 would have swelled the lists too much ; and in 
 order to avoid every possible objection, I liave 
 given the verses, not in their Pada, but in their 
 Sanhitd form. 
 
PREFACE. CXV 
 
 6 2. v_^ v^ c/ — . 
 
 i. 12, 9. tasmai pavaka mri^aya. (Instead of 
 m?'i/aya, it has been pro230sed to read marc?aya.) 
 
 i. 18, 9. divo na sadmamakhasam. 
 
 i. 42, 4. padabhi tish^/ia tapusliim. 
 
 i. 46, 2. dhiy^ dev^ vasuvida. (It would have 
 been easy to read vasuvida.) 
 
 i. 97, 1-8. apa neJi sosuhit agham. 
 
 iii. II, 3. artham hy asya tara^ii. 
 
 iii. 27, 10. ague suditim usi^am. 
 
 iv. 15, 7. aWik na hAta ud aram. 
 
 iv. ^2, 4. asm^n-asm^n id ud ava. 
 
 iv. 52, I. divo adarsi duliita. 
 
 V. 5, 9. ya^ne-ya^e na ud ava. 
 
 V. 7, 4. pra sma minaty a^araA. 
 
 V. 7, 5. bhum4 p?ish^/ieva ruridiu^. 
 
 V. 7, 7. anibhrish^atavishiA. 
 
 V. 9, 4. ague pasur na yavase. 
 
 v. 5:^, 12. ena ydmena maruta^. 
 
 V. 61, 3. putrakrithe na ^anaya/i. 
 
 V. 61, II. atra 5rava?)isi dadhire. 
 
 V. 64, 5. sakhinam kci vridhase. 
 
 V. 6^, 4. sumatir asti vidhata/i. 
 
 V. 82, 9. pra ksi suvati savita. 
 
 vi. 16, 17. tatr4 sada/i k?'i?zavase. 
 
 vi. 16, 18. atha duvo vanavase. 
 h 2 
 
CXVl PREFACE. 
 
 vi. 1 6, 45. 5oH vi bMhy a^ara. 
 vi. 45, 17. sa tvam na indra mri^aya. 
 vi. 61, 4. dliinam avitry avatu. 
 vii. 15, 14. pAr bhavd ssbtahhngih. 
 vii. 66, 2. asury^ya pramahas4. 
 viii. 6, ;^^. anuttamanyum a^aram. 
 viii. 6, 42. satarii vahantu barayaA. 
 viii. 32, 10. sadhu ki'i><!vantam avase. 
 viii. 44, 28. tasmai pavaka m?'i?aya. 
 viii, 45, 31. m^ tat kar indra m?i/aya. 
 A^iii, 72, 6. dam4 rathasya dad7ise. 
 viii. 72, 13. rasa dadbita v?"isbabbam. 
 viii. 80, I and 2. tva7?i na indra m?'i/aya. 
 viii. 83, 3. ytiyam ?^itasya ratbyaA. 
 viii. 93, 27. stot?'ibbya indra m7^i/aya. 
 ix. 61, 5. tebbir naA soma m?'i/aya. 
 ix. 64, I. vrisb^ dbarma>^i dadbisbe. 
 X. 118, 6. adabbyam gribapatim. 
 
 §3- - - - -• 
 i. 22,11. a^Minnapatr^A sa^ant^m. 
 i. 30, 13. ksbiimanto yabbir madema. 
 i. 41, 8. sumnair id va 4 viv^se. 
 i, 90, I. aryam^ devai/i sagosh^h. 
 i. 90, 4. p{isbfi bbago vandyasa/i. 
 i. 120, I. katba vidbdty apraJbet^/i. 
 V. 19, I. iipastlie mfitur vi ^asbie. 
 
PREFACE. CXVn 
 
 V. 70, 3. turyama dasy{iii taiiubhi^. 
 vi. 61, 10. sarasvati stomya bliAt. 
 viii. 2, 2. asvo na nikto nadishu. 
 viii. 2, 4. antar devan marty^ms ^a. 
 viii. 2, 5. apasp?-i?ivate suliA,rdam. 
 viii. 2, II. revanta^jz- hi tva smwmi. 
 viii. 2, 12. udhar na nagna ^arante. 
 viii. 2, 13. pred n hariva^ srutasya. 
 viii. 2, 14. na g^yatram giyam^nam. 
 viii. 2, 15. siksha saMvaA saMbhiA. 
 viii. 2, 16. kaJivS, ukthebhir ^arante. 
 
 Lin k A 1; 
 
 UNiVKusrrY 
 
 viii. 2,17. taved u stomam A;iketa. ' CALIFOI 
 
 viii. 2, 29. iadra kari^am vridhanta^,. " 
 
 viii. 2, 30. satra dadhire ssivhnsi. 
 
 viii. 2, 32. mah4n mahibhiA saMbhiA. 
 
 viii. 2, 33. anu ghen mandi maghona/i. 
 
 viii. 2, 36. satyo 'vit^ vidhantam. 
 
 viii. 2, 37. yo bliiit somai/i satyamadva. 
 
 viii. 7, 30. marcZikebhir nadhamanam. 
 
 viii. 7, ^^. vavritya^ii Mtrav%4n. 
 
 viii. II, 2. agne ratbir adhvarajiam. 
 
 viii. II, 3. adevir agne aratlA (or J 4). 
 
 viii. II, 4. nopa vesbi (yatavedaA. 
 
 viii. 16, 3. maho v^inam sanibhyaA. 
 
 viii. 16, 4. harshumantaA siirasatau. 
 
 viii. 16, 5. yesham indras te ^ayanti. 
 
 viii. 16, 7. maMn mahibhiA .saMbhiA. Cf. viii, 2, 32. 
 
CXVlll PREFACE. 
 
 viii. 46, 2. vidma datara?7^ rayl?2am. 
 
 viii. 71, 2. tvam id asi ksliap^van (or f 4). 
 
 viii. 81, I. mahahasti dakshiviena. 
 
 viii. 81, 3. bhimam na ga97i varayante. 
 
 viii. 81, 4. na radhas4 mardliishan nah. 
 
 viii. 81, 7. ad^sush^arasya veda/^. 
 
 viii. 81, 9. vasais ka makshu ^arante. 
 
 viii. 94, 2. siiryam^sa d?-ise kam. 
 
 ix. 62, 5. svadanti gavaA payobhiA. 
 
 X. 20, 4. kavir abhra7>i didy^naA. 
 
 X. 20, 7. adreA sdnum ayum aim/?. 
 
 § 4. ^ w . 
 
 i. 3, 8. usr4 iva svasara?ii. 
 i. 27, 4. ague deveshu pra \ohJi. 
 i. 30, 10. sakhe vaso ^aritribhyaA. 
 i. 30, 15. rhior aksham na sakihhih. 
 i. 38, 7. iniliawi k/ivivanty avatam. 
 i. 38, 8. yad eshawi v?-ishdr asar^/i. 
 i. 41, 7. mahi psaro varu«asya. 
 i. 43, 7. mahi sravas tuvinrim/wim. 
 ii. 6, 2. ena sAktena su^ata. 
 iii. 27, 3. ati dvesliawisi tarema. 
 V. 82, 7. satyasava»i savitaram. 
 vi. 16, 25. Argo napad am?-itasya. 
 vi. 16, 26. marta anrisa suvriktim. 
 vi. 61, 12. \^ge-v^ge liavyd bhiU 
 
PREFACE. CXIX 
 
 viii. 2, T. andbhayin rarima te. 
 
 viii. 2, 3. indra tvasmiiit sadliamade. 
 
 viii. 2, 8, sam^iie adhi bharman (see page ex). 
 
 viii, 2, 18. yanti pramadam atandraA. 
 
 viii. 2,19. mahan iva juYagsunh. 
 
 viii. 2, 21. trisliu ^^tasya mana??isi. 
 
 viii. 2, 22. ya^astara??? satamuteA. 
 
 viii. 2, 23. bhara piban narydya. 
 
 viii. 2, 26. ni yamate satamiitiA. 
 
 viii. 2, 35. ino vasu sa hi Yolhk. 
 
 viii. 16, 2. apam avo na samudre. 
 
 viii. 16, 6. esha indro varivaskrit. 
 
 viii. 16, 8. ekas A;it sann abbibhllti/i. 
 
 viii. 71, 9. sakhe vaso (/arit/ibhya/i. Cf. i. 30, 10. 
 
 viii. 79, 3. urn yantasi var^tham. 
 
 ix. 21, 5. yo asmabbyam arava (or arava). 
 
 ix. 62, 6. madhvo rasawi sadhamade. 
 
 ix. 66, 21. dadhad rayi^^i mayi posham. 
 
 x. 20, 5. miiivant sadma pura eti. 
 
 x. 185, 1. durddharsbam varuwasya. 
 
 X. 185, 2. ise ripur agbasamsa/^. 
 
 X. 185, 3. f/yotir yaMV^anty a^asram. 
 
 §5. . 
 
 i. 2, 7. dhiya?7i gbritaMm sadhanta. 
 i. 3, 4. a^ivibbis tana p^tasaA. 
 i. 27, 3. p^hi sadam id visvayuA. 
 
:X PREFACE. 
 
 i. 90, 2. vi'ata rakshante visvaha (or ^ 6). 
 
 ii. 6, 4. yiiyodhy asmad dveshdtJisi. 
 
 iii. 41, 8. indra svadhavo matsveha (or § 6). 
 
 V. 68, 3. mahi va??i, ksliatram deveshu. 
 
 V. 68, 4. adruli^ devau vardhete. 
 
 viii. 2, TO. 5ukra a.9ira77i ya/:ante. 
 
 viii. 2, 24. Yagam stot7'ibhyo gomantam (or ^ 6). 
 
 viii. 16, 1. naram nrisMLam ma??ihisli^/mm. 
 
 viii. 16, 12. aH'M Jca, na/i sumnawi neshi. 
 
 viii. 79, 2. prem andha/i khyan ni/i sro?iO bb^t. 
 
 ix. 66, 17. bhtiridabbyas Jciii ma7?ibiyan. 
 
 X. 20, 6. agnim dev4 vasimantam. 
 
 X. 20, 8. agnwi bavisba vardhantaA. 
 
 §6.^ . 
 
 i. 15, 6. 7'ituna ya^/nam asatbe. 
 
 i. 38, 2. kva vo gavo na ra??yanti (see page 70). 
 
 i. 38, 9. yat p7*itbivi7?i vyuiidanti. 
 
 i. 86, 9. vidbyata vidyuta raksba/i. 
 
 iii. 27, 2. sriisb^ivana?}! dbitavaiiam. 
 
 iii. 41, 3. vibi sura puro/asam. 
 
 iv. 32, 23. babbrti yameshu sobbete. 
 
 V. 68, 5. bribanta7?i gartam as^te. 
 
 V. 70, 2. vaya7/i te rudr^ sydma. 
 
 vi. 61, II. sarasvati nidas patu. 
 
 viii. 2, 20. asrira iva (/amata. 
 
 viii. 2, 25. soma7)i virdya si&raya. 
 
PKEFACE. CXXl 
 
 viii. 7, 32. stuslie liira/iyava^^ibhi/i. 
 viii. 26, 19. valiethe subhrayavan^. 
 viii. 79, 4. yavir aghasya ^'id dveshaA. 
 viii. 79, 5. vavri(9'yus t?'ishyata^ kamam. 
 ■\Tii. 81, 6. indra ma no vasor nir bMk. 
 X. 158, 4. sa??i kedam vi ka pasyema. 
 
 § 7- - - - -• 
 i. 10, 8. sum ga asmabhya^i- dhumilii. 
 i. 12, 5. agne tvaw rakshasvinaA. 
 i- 37> 15- visva?Ji ^nd ayur giv&se. 
 i. 43, 8. a na indo Y%e bha^a. 
 i. 46, 6. tarn asme rdsatham isham. 
 iii. 62, 7. asmdbliis tubhya?>i sasyate. 
 iv. 30, 21. dasan^m indro mayaya. 
 V. 86, 5. a7yiseva devdv arvate. 
 viii. 5, 32. purus^andr^ nasatya (or nasatya, § 8). 
 ^ii- 5j 35- dhi^avana nasatya. 
 X. 119, 1-13. kuvit somasyapam iti. 
 X. 144, 4. satal^akra?7i yo liyo vartani/i. 
 
 §8. - ^ w -. 
 i. 2, 9. daksham dadhate apasam (or § 2). 
 i. 6, 10. indra7?i maho va ra^asaA. 
 i. 27, 6. sadyo dasuslie ksharasi. 
 i. 30, 21. asve na Htre arushi (or § 2). 
 i. 41, 9. na duruktaya sprihayet (or § 2). 
 i. 90, 5. karti, naA svastimataA. 
 
CXXll PREFACE. 
 
 iii. 24, 5. sisihi nah s&numataA. 
 
 V. 19, 2. 4 drilhhn pura??^ vivisu/i. 
 
 V. 70, I. mitra va?rtsi va??i sumatim. 
 
 \. 70, 4. ma seshasa ma tanas^. 
 
 V. 82, 8. svi,dhir devaA savita. 
 
 viii. 2, 27. gii'bhi/^ sruta?)^ girva^iasam. 
 
 viii. 2, 31. sanad amrikto dayate (or § 2). 
 
 viii. 16, 9. indraiJi vardhanti kshitayaA (or § 2). 
 
 viii. ^^, 4. asvaso na A;ankramata. 
 
 viii. 67, 19. yuyam asmabhya»i mri/ata. 
 
 viii. 81, 5. ablii radhasa ^ugurat. 
 
 viii. 81, 8. asmabhi/i su tarn sanuhi. 
 
 ix. 47, 2. rink ka dhrish^Ris A;ayate. 
 
 But although with regard to the Gayatra, and 
 I may add, the Anushaibha padas, the evidence 
 as to the variety of their vrittas is such that it 
 can hardly be resisted, a much more determined 
 stand has been made in defence of the v>-itta of 
 the Traish^ubha and G^agata p4das. Here Professor 
 Kulm and those who follow him mamtam that the 
 rule is absolute, that the former must end in v^ - ^ , 
 the latter in ^ - v^ - , and that the eighth syllable, 
 immediately preceding these syllables, ought, if pos- 
 sible, to be long. Nor can I deny that Professor 
 Kuhn has brought forward powerful arguments in 
 support of his theory, and that his emendations of 
 the Vedic text recommend themselves by then' great 
 ingenuity and simplicity. If his theory could l)e 
 
PREFACE. CXXm 
 
 carried out, I should readily admit that we should 
 gain something. We should have throughout the 
 Veda a perfectly uniform metre, and wherever we 
 found any violation of it, we should be justified in 
 resorting to conjectural criticism. 
 
 The only question is at what price this strict 
 uniformity can be obtained. If, for instance, in 
 order to have the regular v?"ittas at the end of 
 Traishiubha and 6^gata lines, we were obliged to 
 repeal all rules of prosody, to allow almost every 
 short vowel to be used as long, and every long vowel 
 to be used as short, whether long by nature or by 
 position, we shoidd have gained very little, we should 
 have robbed Peter to pay Paul, we should have re- 
 moved no difficulty, but only ignored the causes which 
 created it. Now, if we examine the process by which 
 Professor Kuhn establishes the regularity of the 
 v?ittas or final syllables of Traish^ubha and (rdgata 
 padas, we find, in addition to the rules laid down 
 before, and in which he is supported, as we saw, to a 
 great extent by the Prati6'4khya and Pa^^iini, viz. the 
 anceps nature of e and o, and of a long final vowel 
 before a vowel, the following exceptions or metrical 
 licences, without which that metrical uniformity at 
 which he aims, could not be obtained : 
 
 I. The vowel o in the body of a word is to be 
 treated as optionally short : 
 
 ii- 39) 3- prati vastor usra (see Trish^. § 5). 
 
 Here the o of vasto/i is supposed to be short, 
 although it is the Guna of u, and therefore very 
 
CXXIV PREFACE. 
 
 different from the final e of sarve or aste, or the 
 final o of sarvo for sarvas or mano for manas*. 
 It should be remarked that in Greek, too, the final 
 diphthongs corresponding to the e of sarve and 
 aste are treated as short, as far as the accent is 
 concerned. Hence olttolkoi, rvTrreTat, and even yvwixai, 
 nom. pkir. In Latin, too, the old terminations of 
 the nom. sing, o and u, instead of the later us, are 
 short. (Neue, Formenlehre, ^ 23 seq.) 
 
 vi. 51, 15. gopa ama. 
 
 Here the o of gop4 is treated as short, in order 
 to get v^-w- instead of — v^-, which is perfectly 
 legitimate at the end of an Ush;nh. 
 
 2. The long i and u are treated as short, not 
 only before vowels, which is legitimate, but also 
 before consonants : 
 
 vii. 62, 4. dy^v^bh^mi adite trasithav?^ naA (see 
 Trish^. § 5). 
 
 The forms isiya and rdsiya in vii. 32, 18, occur 
 at the end of octosyllabic or Gayatra padas, and are 
 therefore perfectly legitimate, yet Professor Kuhn 
 would change them too, into isiya and rasiya. In 
 vii. 28, 4, even mayi is treated as mt^yi (see Trish^. J 5); 
 and in vii. 68, i, vitam as vitam. If, in explanation 
 
 * A very strong divergence of opinion is expressed on this point 
 l>y Professor Bollensen. He says : ' iind E erst spjiter in die 
 Sclirifttafcl aufgenommen, bewahren ihre Liinge durcli das ganze 
 imlisilie Schriftenthum bis ins Apabhramsa hinab. Selbstvcr- 
 stiindlich kaiin kurz o und e iiu Veda erst rccht nicht zugelassen 
 wcrdcn.' Zcitsclnift der D. ^l. O., vol. xxii. p. 574. 
 
PREFACE. CXXV 
 
 of this shortening of vitam, vihi is quoted, which 
 is identified with vihi, this can liardly be considered 
 as an argument, for vihi occurs where no short 
 syllable is required, iv. 48, i ; ii. 26, 2 ; and where, 
 therefore, the shortening of the vowel cannot be 
 attributed to metrical reasons. 
 
 3. Final m followed by an initial consonant is 
 allowed to make no position, and even in the 
 middle of a word a nasal followed by a liquid is 
 supposed to make positio debilis. Several of the in- 
 stances, however, given in support, are from Gayatra 
 padas, where Professor Kuhn, in some of his later 
 articles, has himself allowed greater latitude ; others 
 admit of different scanning, as for instance, 
 
 i. 117, 8. maha/i- kshor^asya asvina kawvaya. 
 
 Here, even if we considered the dispondeus as ille- 
 gitimate, we might scan ka?ivaya, for this scanning 
 occurs in other places, while to treat the first a as 
 short before no seems tantamount to surrendering 
 all rules of prosody. 
 
 4. Final n before semivowels, mutes, and double 
 n before vowels make no j)osition *. Ex, iii. 49, i. 
 yasmin visva (Trish^. J 5); i. 174, 5. yasmin Hkan; 
 i. 186, 4. sasmin(n) ^dhant. 
 
 * Professor Kuhn has afterwards (Beitrage, vol. iv. p. 207) 
 modified this view, and instead of allowing a final nasal followed 
 by a mute to make positio debilis, he thinks that the nasal should 
 in most cases be omitted altogether. 
 
 t Here a distinction should be made, I think, between an n 
 before a consonant, and a final n following a short vowel, which, 
 
CXXVl PREFACE. 
 
 5. Final Visarga before sibilants makes no posi- 
 tion*. Ex. iv. 21, 10. satya/i samra^ (Trish^. § 5). 
 Even in i. 6^, 4. kodih sakha (probably a (ragata), 
 and V. 82, 4. savi/i saubhagam (a Gay. § 7), the long 
 i is treated as short, and the short a of sakh^ is 
 lengthened, because an aspirate follows. 
 
 6. S before mutes makes no position. Ex. vi. 66, 11. 
 ugra aspridhran (Trish^. § 3). 
 
 7. S before k makes no position. Ex. visva- 
 sJcsindrkh; &c. 
 
 8. Mutes before s make no position. Ex. rakshas, 
 according to Professor Kuhn, in the seventh Maii- 
 c^ala only, but see i. 12, 5; kutsa, &c. 
 
 9. Mutes before r or v make no position. Ex. 
 susipra, dirghasrut. 
 
 10. Sibilants before y make no position. Ex. 
 dasy^n . 
 
 11. E followed by mutes or sibilants makes no 
 position. Ex. %ur ^vase, Mardi/i, varshish^Aam. 
 
 12. Words like smaddishdm &c. retain their vowel 
 short before two following consonants. 
 
 We now proceed to consider a number of pro- 
 
 according to the rules of Sandlii, is doubled, if a vowel follows. 
 In the latter case, the vowel before the n remains, no doubt, short 
 in many cases, or, more correctly, the doubling of the n does 
 not take place, e. g. i. 63, 4; 186, 4. In other places, the doubling 
 seems preferable, e.g. i. 33, 11, though Professor Kuhn would 
 remove it altogether. Kuhn, Beitrjige, vol. iii. p. 125. 
 
 * Here, too, according to later researches. Professor Kuhn would 
 ratluT omit tlio tinal sil)i]ant altogether, loc. cit. vol. iv. p. 207. 
 
TREFACE. CXXVll 
 
 sodial rules which Professor Kuhu proposes to repeal 
 in order to have a long syllable where the MSS. 
 supply a short : 
 
 1. The vowel ri is to be pronounced as long, or 
 rather as ar. Ex. i. 1 2, 9. tasmai pavaka mri/aya is to 
 be read mart^aya ; v. 33, 10. sa??ivara7msya HsheA is to 
 be read arsheA. But why not sa»2varanasya>isheA 
 (i. e. siarsheA) 1 
 
 2. The a privativum may be lengthened. Ex. 
 agaraJi, amrita/i. 
 
 3. Short vowels before Hquids may be long. Ex. 
 naraA, tarut^, tarati, marutam, hariva/^, arushi, dadhur 
 iha, suvita (p. 471). 
 
 4. Short vowels before nasals may be lengthened. 
 Ex. ^an4n, sard tar, tsumh, upa naJi. 
 
 5. Short vowels before the ma of the superlative 
 may be lengthened. Ex. nritama. 
 
 6. The short a in the roots sam and yam, and in am 
 (the termination of the accusative) may be lengthened. 
 
 7. The group ava is to be pronounced aua. Ex. 
 avase becomes auase; savit4 becomes sauita; nava 
 becomes nana. 
 
 8. The group aya is to be changed into aia or 
 ea. Ex. nayasi becomes naiasi. 
 
 9. The group va is to be changed into ua, and 
 this ua to be treated as a kind of diphthong and 
 therefore long. Ex. kaiivatama^ becomes kanuata- 
 ma^; varuna/i becomes uarunaA. 
 
 10. The short vowel in the reduplicated syllable of 
 perfects is to be lengthened. Ex. tatanaA, dadhire. 
 
CXXVm PREFACE. 
 
 11. Short vowels before all aspirates may be 
 lengthened. Ex. ratha^ becomes rathM; sakha be- 
 comes sakha. 
 
 12. Short vowels before h and all sibilants 
 may be lengthened. Ex. mahini becomes mahini;^ 
 iisir/am becomes ii5i(/am ; rishate becomes rishate ; 
 dasat becomes dasat. 
 
 13. The short vowel before t may be lengthened. 
 Ex. v4^avata/i becomes va^/avataA ; atithiA becomes 
 atithi/i. 
 
 14. The short vowel before d may be lengthened. 
 Ex. udaram becomes udaram ; ud ava becomes ud ava. 
 
 15. The short vowel before p may be lengthened. 
 Ex. ap^m becomes apam; tapushim becomes tapu- 
 shim; g?'ihapatim becomes grihapatim. 
 
 16. The short vowel before g and g may be length- 
 ened. Ex. sanushag asat becomes sanushag asat; 
 yuna^an becomes yuna^an. 
 
 Let us now turn back for one moment to look 
 at the slaughter which has been committed! Is 
 there one single rule that has been spared "? Is there 
 one single short syllable that must always remain 
 short, or a long syllable that must always remain 
 long'? If all restrictions of prosody are thus re- 
 moved, our metres, no doubt, become perfectly 
 regular. But it should be remembered that these 
 metrical rules, for which all this carnage has been 
 committed, are not founded upon any d _2J>7"o?7' 
 jirlnciples, but deduced by ancient or modern 
 metricians from those very ]^^nns which seem 
 
PREFACE. CXXIX 
 
 SO constantly to violate them. Neither ancient nor 
 modern metricians had, as far as we know, any evi- 
 dence to go upon besides the hymns of the Big-veda ; 
 and the philosophical speculations as to the origin 
 of metres in which some of them indulo'e, and from 
 which they w^ould fain derive some of their un^ 
 benchng rules, are, as need hardly be said, of no 
 consequence whatever. I cannot imderstand what 
 definite idea even modern writers connect with such 
 statements as that, for instance, the Trishiubh metre 
 sprang from the (ragati metre, that the eleven syl- 
 lables of the former are an abbreviation of the twelve 
 syllables of the latter. Surely, metres are not made 
 artificially, and by addition or subtraction. Metres 
 have a natural origin in the rhythmic sentiment 
 of different people, and they become artificial and 
 arithmetical in the same way as language with its 
 iimate princij^les of law and analogy becomes in 
 course of time grammatical and artificial. To derive 
 one metre from another is like deriving a genitive 
 from a nominative, wliich we may do indeed for 
 grammatical purposes, but which no one would ven- 
 ture to do who is at all acquainted with the natural 
 and independent production of grammatical forms. 
 Were we to arrange the Trishiubh and (ragati metres 
 in chronological order, I should decidedly place the 
 Trish^ubh first, for we see, as it were before our eyes, 
 how sometimes one foot, sometimes two and three feet 
 in a Trish^ubh verse admit an additional syllable at 
 the end, particularly in set phrases which would not 
 VOL. I. i 
 
CXXX PREFACE. 
 
 submit to a Trishmbh ending. The phrase Sfxm no 
 bhava dvipade sam A;atushpade is evidently a solemn 
 phrase, and we see it brought in without hesitation, 
 even though every other line of the same strophe or 
 hymn is Trishaibh, i. e. hendecasyllabic, not dodeca- 
 eyllabic. See, for instance, vi. 74, i; vii. 54, i; x. 
 85, 44; 165, I. However, I maintain by no means 
 that this was the actual origin of (jagati metres ; 
 I only refer to it in order to show the groundlessness 
 of metrical theories which represent the component ele- 
 ments, a foot of one or two or four syllables as given 
 first, and as afterwards compounded into systems of 
 two, three or four such feet, and who therefore would 
 wish us to look upon the hendecasyllabic Trish^ubh 
 as originally a dodecasyllabic 6^agati, only deprived 
 of its tail. If my explanation of the name of Trish- 
 tnhh, i. e. Three-step, is right, its origin must be 
 ascribed to a far more natural process than that 
 of artificial amputation. It was to accompany a 
 choros, i. e. a dance, which after advancing freely 
 for eight steps in one direction, turned back (vritta) 
 with three steps, the second of which was strongly 
 marked, and would therefore, whether in song or 
 recitation, be naturally accompanied by a long syl- 
 lable. It certainly is so in the vast majority of 
 Trish^ubhs which have been handed down to us. 
 But if among these verses we find a small number 
 in which tliis simple and palpable rhytlun is violated, 
 and which nevertheless were preserved from the 
 first in that imperfect form, although the temptation 
 
PREFACE. CXXXl 
 
 to set tliem right must have been us great to the 
 ancient as it has proved to be to the modern students 
 of the Veda, are we to say that nearly all, if not all, 
 the rules that determine the length and shortness 
 of syllables, and which alone give character to every 
 verse, are to be suspended '? Or, ought we not 
 rather to consider, whether the ancient choregic 
 poets may not have indulged occasionally in an 
 irregular movement 1 We see that this was so with 
 regard to Gayatri verses. We see the greater free- 
 dom of the first and second p4das occasionally extend 
 to the third ; and it will be impossible, without 
 intolerable violence, to remove all the varieties of 
 the last pada of a Gayatri of which I have given 
 examples above, pages cxv seq. 
 
 It is, of course, impossible to give here all the 
 evidence that might be brought forward in support 
 of similar freedom in Trish^ubh verses, and I admit 
 that the number of real varieties with them is 
 smaller than with the Gayatris. In order to make 
 the evidence which I have to bring forward in sup- 
 port of these varieties as unassailable as possible, 
 I have excluded nearly every pada that occurs only 
 in the first, second, or third line of a strophe, and have 
 restricted myself, with few exceptions, and those 
 chiefly referring to padas that had been quoted by 
 other scholars in support of their own theories, to 
 the final padas of Trish^ubh verses. Yet even with 
 this limited evidence, I think I shall be able to 
 establish at least three varieties of Trish^ubh. 
 i 2 
 
CXXXn PREFACE. 
 
 Preserving the same classification which I adopted 
 before for the G^yatris, so as to include the im- 
 portant eighth syllable of the Trish^ubh, which 
 does not properly belong to the v?itta, I maintain 
 
 that class 4. ^ v^ — , class 5. , and class 
 
 8 . - w v^ - must be recognized as legitimate endings 
 in the hymns of the Veda, and that by recognizing 
 them we are relieved from nearly all, if not all, the 
 most violent prosodial licences which Professor Kuhn 
 felt himself obliged to admit in his theory of Yedic 
 
 metres. 
 
 § 4. w v^ . 
 
 The verses which fall under § 4 are so numerous 
 that after those of the first Mandala, mentioned 
 above, they need not be given here in full. They 
 are simply cases where the eighth syllable is not 
 lengthened, and they cannot be supposed to run 
 counter to any rule of the Pratis4khya, for the 
 simple reason that the Pratisakhya never gave such 
 a rule as that the eighth syllable must be lengthened 
 if the ninth is short. Examples will be found in the 
 final pada of Trish^ubhs : ii. 30, 6; iii. ^6, 4; ^^, 15; 
 54, 12; iv. I, 16; 2, 7; 9; it; 4, 12; 6, i; 2; 4; 7, 7; 
 ", 5 ; 17, 3 ; 23, 6 ; 24, 2 ; 27, i ; 28, 5; 55^ 5 ; sy, 2 ; 
 V. I, 2 ; vi. 17, 10 ; 21, 8 ; 23, 7 ; 25, 5 ; 29, 6 ; ^^, 1 ; 
 62, I ; 63, 7 ; vii. 21, 5 ; 28, 3 ; 42, 4 ; 56, 15 ; 60, 10 ; 
 «4, 2 ; 92, 4 ; viii. i, ^^ ; 96, 9 ; ix. 92, 5 ; x. 61, 12 ; 
 ^3; 74,3; ii7> 7- 
 
 In support of f 5. , the number of cases is 
 
 smaller, but it should be remembered that it might 
 
PREFACE. CXXXIU 
 
 be considerably increased if I had not restricted 
 myself to the final pada of each Trish^ubh, while 
 the first, second, and third padas would have yielded 
 a much larger harvest : 
 
 §5. . 
 
 i. 89, 9. m4 no madhya ririshatayiu- ganto^. 
 
 i. 92, 6. supratikS, saumanasay%lga/i. 
 
 i. 114,5. 5arma varma Mardir asmabhyam ya7?isat. 
 
 i. 117, 2. tena nar^ vartir asmabhyam?!, yatam. 
 
 i. 122, 1, ishudhyeva maruto rodasyo^ (or rodasyoA). 
 
 i. 122, 8. asv^vato rathino mahyam s5ri^. 
 
 i. 186, 3. ishas ^'a parshad arigurta^ sSriA. 
 
 ii. 4, 2. devanam agnir aratir gira^sYSih. 
 
 iii. 49, 2. prithu^ay^ aminad ayur dasyo/i. 
 
 iv. 3, 9. (/amarye?za payasa pipaya. 
 
 iv. 26, 6. divo amushmdd uttarad adaya. 
 
 V. 41, 14. \idk vardhantam abhishata(/i) ar;^4/^. 
 
 vi. 25, 2. ary^ya \iso (a)va tarir daslA. 
 
 vi. 66, II. girayo napa ugra asp?-idhran. 
 
 vii. 8, 6. dyumad amiva^atanar/i rakshoh4. 
 
 vii. 28, 4. ava dvit^ varwio mdyi na^ s4t. 
 
 vii. 68, I. havy^ni Z;a pratibhnt^ vitawi na^. 
 
 vii. 71, 2. diva naktam madhvi tr^sitham naA. 
 
 vii. 78, I. ^yotishmata v^mam asmabhya??i vakshi. 
 
 vii. 93, 7^ akhhk mitra^^i. varuiiam indram \okeh. 
 
 ix. 90, 4. sam ^ikrado maho asmabhya?yi va^an. 
 
 X. II, 8. bhagam no atra vasumanta?>i vltat. 
 
CXXxlv PREFACE. 
 
 I do not wish to deny that in several of these 
 Unes it would be possible to remove the long 
 syllable from the ninth place by conjectural emen- 
 dation. Instead of ayur in i. 89, 9, we might read 
 ayu ; in i. 92, 6, we might drop the augment of 
 a^igar ; in ii. 4, 2, we might admit synizesis in 
 aratir, and then read giva-SLSvsJi, as m i. 141, 12. 
 In vi. 25, 2, after eliding the a of ava, we might 
 read d^si/i. But even if, in addition to all this, 
 we were to admit the possible suppression of final 
 m in asmabhyam, mahyam, and in the accusative 
 singular, or the suppression of s in the nominative 
 singular, both of which would be extreme measures, 
 we should still have a number of cases which could 
 not be righted without even more violent remedies. 
 Why then should we not rather admit the occa- 
 sional appearance of a metrical variation which 
 certainly has a powerful precedent in the dispon- 
 deus of G4yatris "? I am not now acquainted with 
 the last results of metrical criticism in Virgil, but, 
 unless some new theories now prevail, I well recol- 
 lect that spondaic hexameters, though small in 
 number, much smaller than in the Veda, were 
 recognized by the best scholars, and no emendations 
 attempted to remove them. If then in Virgil we 
 read, ' Cum patribus popidoque, penatibusque et 
 magnis dis,' why not follow the authority of the 
 best MSS. and the tradition of the Pratisakhyas 
 and admit a dispondeus at the end of a Trish^ubh 
 rather than suspend, in order to meet this single 
 
PREFACE. CXXXV 
 
 difficulty, some of the most fundamental rules of 
 prosody ? 
 
 I now proceed to give a more numerous list of 
 Traish^ubha padas ending in a clioriambus, - v^ ^ - , 
 again confining myself, with few exceptions, to final 
 padas : 
 
 & 8. — v^ ^ — . 
 
 i. 62, 3. sam usriyabhir vavasanta nara/i,, 
 
 i. 103, 4. yad dha simuA sravase nama dadhe. 
 
 i. 121, 9. sush??am anantai/^. pariyasi vadhai/^-. 
 
 i. 122, lo*^. sardhastaro nara?iii gurtasravd/^. 
 
 i. 173, 8. siiri?HS hid yadi dhisha veshi (/anan. 
 
 i. 186, 2. karant sushah4 vithuraiJi na snYSih. 
 
 ii. 4, 3. dakshayyo yo d^svate dama k (not dame a). 
 
 ii. 19, I. oko dadhe brahmanyantas ka naraA. 
 
 ii. ^^, 14. midhvas tok^ya tanay^ya mnZa. 
 
 iv. I, ig^. sukj iidho at?i?^an na gavdm*. 
 
 iv. 25, 4. nare naryaya nritamaya nmiam. 
 
 iv. 39, 2. dadathur mitravaru7i4 taturim. 
 
 V. 30, 12. praty agrabhishma nritamasya nrinkm.. 
 
 V. 41, 4. igim na ^agmur asvasvatamaA. 
 
 V. 41, 15. smat sLiribhir ^i^/uhastaTri^uvani/i. 
 
 vi. 4, 7. vayum p^i/zanti radhasa n?'itama/i-. 
 
 vi. 10, 5. suviryebhis Mbhi santi g^m^n. 
 
 * ' Nur eine Stelle habe icli mir angemerkt, wo das Metrum aara 
 verlangt.' Kuhn, Beitrage, vol. iv. p. 180 ; Bollensen, Zeitschrift 
 der D. M. G., vol. xxii. p. 587. 
 
CXXXVl PREFACE. 
 
 vi. II, 4. an^anti suprayasam pan^-a g^mJi. 
 vi. 13, i''. agne vi yanti vanino na vaya^. 
 vi. 13, i*^. divo vrishdr ulyo ritir apdm. 
 vi. 20, I*', tasthaii rayi/^ savasa pritsu ^anan. 
 vi. 20, i''. daddlii suno sahaso vHtratiiram. 
 vi. 29, 4. ukth^ sawsanto devavatatama/i. 
 vi. ^'^, 3. a p7'itsu darshi n?*i?ii,m n?itama. 
 vi. ^'^, 5. divi shyama parye gosliatama/i. 
 vi. 44, II. (/ahy asushvin pra v/'ilmpriiiataA. 
 vi. 49, 12. st?4bhir na naka??z va/:anasya vipaA. 
 vi. 68, 5. vamsad rayim rayivatas /:a ^andn. 
 vi. 68, 7. pra sadyo dyumn^ tirate taturi^. 
 vii. 19, 10. sakha Z:a smo Vita hd. nj'i^^am. 
 vii. 62, 4. ma mitrasya priyatamasya nri?i^m. 
 ix. 97, 26. hotaro na diviya^/o mandratama/i^ (?). 
 X. ^s, 8, sSro nir yudhadhamad dasyCm (?). 
 X, 99, 9. atka?)i yo asya sanitota n?'i7iam. 
 X. 108, 6. brihaspatir va ubhayd na mri/at. 
 X. 169, I. avasaya padvate rudra mri/a. 
 
 It is perfectly true that this sudden change in 
 the rhythm of Trish^ubh verses, making their ending 
 iambic instead of trochaic, grates on our ears. But, 
 I bcheve, that if we admit a short stop after the 
 seventli syllable, the intended rhythm of these verses 
 will become intelligible. We remarked a similar 
 lircak in the verses of hyam. x. 77, where the sudden 
 transition to an iambic metre was used with great 
 
PREFACE. CXXXVU 
 
 effect, and the choriarabic ending, though less 
 effective, is by no moans offensive. It should be 
 remarked also, that in many, though not in all cases, 
 a csesura takes place after the seventh syllable, and 
 this is, no doubt, a great help towards a better 
 delivery of these choriambic Trish^ubhs. 
 
 While, however, I contend for the recognition of 
 these three varieties of the normal Trish^ubh metre, 
 I am quite willing to admit that other variations 
 besides these, which occur from time to time in 
 the Veda, form a legitimate subject of critical 
 discussion, 
 
 § 2. ^ ^ w -. 
 
 Trish^ubh verses the final pMa of which ends in 
 w v^ v^ -, I should generally prefer to treat as ending 
 in a (ragata pada, in which this ending is more 
 legitimate. Thus I should propose to scan : 
 
 i. 122, II. prasastaye mahina rathavate. 
 iii. 20, 5. vasun rudr^n adityan iha huve. 
 V. 2, I. pura/i pasyanti nihitam (tam) aratau. 
 vi. 13, 5. vayo vrikayaraye ^/asuraye. 
 
 I should propose the same medela for some final 
 padas of Trish^ubhs apparently ending in ^ - v^ - . 
 We might indeed, as has been suggested, treat 
 these verses as single instances of that peculiar 
 
CXXXVlll PEEFACE. 
 
 metre which we saw carried out in the whole of 
 hymn x. 77, but at the end of a verse the admis- 
 sion of an occasional (rslgata pdda is more in accord- 
 ance with the habit of the Vedic poets. Thus I 
 should scan : 
 
 V. ^:^, 4. v?'isha samatsu d^sasya nama ^'it *. 
 
 V. 41, ^^\ rava eshe 'vase dadliita dhi^. 
 
 After what I have said before on the real cha- 
 racter of the teaching of the Praticsakhya, I need 
 not show again that the fact of Uva^a's counting 
 ta of dadhita as the tenth syllable is of no import- 
 ance in determining the real nature of these hymns, 
 though it is of importance, as Professor Kuhn re- 
 marks (Beitrage, vol. iii. p. 451), in showing that 
 Uva^a considered himself at perfect liberty in 
 counting or not coimting, for his own purposes, 
 the elided syllable of avase. 
 
 vii. 4, 6. mapsava/j- pari shadama maduvaA. 
 
 §6. ^ . 
 
 Final padas of Trish^ubhs ending in ^ are 
 
 very scarce. In vi. i, 4, 
 
 bhadr^lyam te ra?2ayanta samd^'ish^au, 
 it would be very easy to read bhadr^y^?)i te sa??i- 
 dnsh^aii ranayanta; and in x. 74, 2, 
 
 * Professor Kulm luia finally adopted the same scanniug, 
 Beitrage, vol. iv, p. 184. 
 
PREFACE. CXXXIX 
 
 dvam* iija, v4rebhiA k?nwavanta sval/i, 
 we may either recognize a 6^agata p^da, or read 
 
 dyaur na vdrebliiA kvi/iavanta svai/i, 
 which would agree with the metre of hymn x. 77. 
 
 § 7- - - - -• 
 
 Padas ending in — v^ - do not occur as final in 
 any Traish^ubha hymn, but as many G^agata padas 
 occur in the body of Tjaish^ubha hymns, we have 
 to scan them as dodecasyllabic : 
 
 i. 6^, 4^. tva??i ha tyad indra kodih sakha. 
 
 iv. 26, 6^. paravata/i sakuno mandram madam. 
 
 The adjective pavaka which frequently occurs at 
 the end of final and internal padas of Trish^ubh 
 hymns has always to be scanned pavaka. C£ iv. 
 51, 2; vi. 5, 2; 10, 4; 51, 3; vii. 3, i; 9; 9, i^; 56,12; 
 X. 46, 7^ 
 
 I must reserve what I have to say about other 
 metres of the Veda for another opportunity, but 
 I cannot leave tliis subject without referring once 
 more to a metrical licence which has been strongly 
 advocated by Professor Kuhn and others, and by 
 the admission of which there is no doubt that 
 many difficulties might be removed, I mean the 
 occasional omission of a final m and s, and the 
 subsequent contraction of the final and initial 
 vowels. The argimients that have been brought 
 forward m support of this are very powerful. 
 There is the general argument that final s and m 
 
Cxl PREFACE. 
 
 are liable to be dropt in other Aryan lang-uages, 
 and particularly for metrical purposes. There is 
 the stronger argument that in some cases final s 
 and m in Sanskrit may or may not be omitted, 
 even apart from any metrical stress. In Sanskrit 
 we find that the demonstrative pronoun sas appears 
 most frequently as sa (sa dadati), and if followed 
 by liquid vowels, it may coalesce with them even 
 in later Sanskrit. Thus we see saisha for sa esha, 
 sendraA for sa indra/i sanctioned for metrical pur- 
 poses even by Pdnini, vi. i, 134. We might refer 
 also to feminines which have s in the nominative 
 singular after bases in li, but drop it after bases 
 in i. We find in the Sanhit4 text, v. 7, 8, svddhitiva, 
 instead of svddhiti^-iva in the Pada text, sanctioned 
 by the Pratisakhya 259 ; likewise ix. 61, 10, Sanhita, 
 bhiimy a dade, instead of Pada, bht^mi/i a dade. But 
 before we draw any general conclusions from such 
 instances, we should consider whether they do not 
 admit of a grammatical instead of a metrical ex- 
 planation. The nominative singular of the demon- 
 strative pronoun was sa before it was sas ; by the 
 side of bh<lmi/i we have a secondaiy form bhtjfmi ; 
 and we may conclude from svddhiti-van, i. 88, 2, 
 that the Vedic poets knew of a form svddhiti, 
 by the side of sv^dhitiA. 
 
 As to the suppression of final m, however, we 
 see it admitted by the best authorities, or we see 
 at least alternate forms with or without m, in 
 tiibhya, which occurs frequently instead of tii- 
 
PREFACE. Cxli 
 
 bhyam*, and twice, at least, mtliout apparently 
 any metrical reason f. We find asmaka instead of 
 asmakam (i. 173, 10), yuslimaka instead of yuslim^- 
 kam (vii. 59, 9-10), yat/adliva instead of yd^adhvam 
 (viii. 2, 37) sanctioned both by the Sanhita and Pada 
 texts J. 
 
 If then we have such precedents, it may well 
 be asked why we should hesitate to adopt the 
 same expedient, the omission of final m and s, 
 whenever the Vedic metres seem to require it. 
 Professor Bollensen's remark, that Vedic verses can- 
 not be treated to all the licences of Latin scanning^, 
 is hardly a sufficient answer ; and he himself, though 
 under a slightly difierent form, w^ould admit as 
 much, if not more, than has been admitted on 
 this point by Professors Kuhn and Poth. On d 
 priori gromids I should by no means feel opposed 
 to the admission of a possible elision of final s or 
 m, or even n ; and my only doubt is whether it is 
 really necessary for the proper scanning of Vedic 
 metres. My own opinion has always been, that 
 if we admit on a larger scale what in single 
 words can hardly be doubted by anybody, viz. the 
 pronunciation, of two syllables as one, we need 
 
 * 1- 54, 9; 13S) 2j ui. 42, 8 J V. II, 5 J vii. 22, 7; viii. 51, 9; 
 76, 8; 82, 5; ix. 62, 27; 86, 30; x. 167, i. 
 
 t ii. II, 3; V. 30, 6. 
 
 X See BoUensen, Orient uud Occident, vol. iii. p. 459; Kuhn, 
 BeitrJige, vol. iv. p. 199. 
 
 § Orient und Occident, vol. iv. p. 449. 
 
Cxlii PREFACE. 
 
 not fall back on the elision of final consonants in 
 order to arrive at a proper scanning of Vedic 
 metres. On this point I shall have to say a few 
 words in conclusion, because I shall frequently avail 
 myself of this licence, for the purpose of righting 
 apparently conaipt verses in the hymns of the 
 E-ig-veda ; and I feel bound to explam, once for 
 all, why I avail myself of it in preference to other 
 emendations which have been proposed by scholars 
 such as Professors Benfey, Kuhn, Eoth, Bollensen, 
 and others. 
 
 The merit of havuig first pointed out some cases 
 where two syllables must be treated as one, be- 
 longs, I beheve, to Professor Bollensen in his article, 
 'Zur Herstellung des Veda,' published in Benfey 's 
 Orient und Occident, vol. ii. p. 461. He proposed, 
 for instance, to write hyana instead of hiy^na, 
 ix. 13, 6 ; dliyan6 instead of dhiy^no, viii. 49, 5 ; 
 sdhyase instead of sdhiyase, i. 71, 4; yano instead of 
 iy^n6, viii. 50, 5, &c. The actual alteration of these 
 words seems to me unnecessary; nor should we 
 think of resorting to such violent measures in Greek 
 where, as far as metrical purposes are concerned, 
 two vowels have not imfrequently to be treated 
 as one. 
 
 That iva counts in many passages as one syllable 
 is admitted by everybody. The only point on which 
 I differ is that I do not see why iva, when mono- 
 syllabic, should be changed to va, instead of being 
 pronounced quickly, or, to adopt the terminology 
 
PREFACE. cxliii 
 
 of Greek gTaiiimarians, by synizesis ^''. Synizesis is 
 well explained by Greek scholars as a quick pro- 
 nunciation of two vowels so that neither should be 
 lost, and as different thereby from synaloephe, which 
 means the contraction of two vowels into ouef. 
 This synizesis is by no means restricted to iva 
 and a few other words, but seems to me a very 
 frequent expedient resorted to by the ancient 
 i^ishis. 
 
 Originally it may have arisen from the fact that 
 language allows in many cases alternate forms of 
 one or two syllables. As in Greek we have double 
 forms Hke aXey eivog and aXyeivog, 'yaXaKTO(pdyo(} and 
 yXaKTOcpdyo^, Trerz/vo? and TTTtjvo^, TrvKivog and ttvkvo^ J, 
 and as in Latin we have the shortening or sup- 
 pression of 'vowels carried out on the largest scale §, 
 
 * SjTiizesis in Greek applies only to the quick pronunciation 
 of two vowels, if in immediate contact ; and not, if separated by 
 consonants. Samprasarawa might seem a more appropriate term, 
 but though the grammatical process designated in Sanskrit by 
 Samprasara?ia offers some analogies, it could only by a new defi- 
 nition be applied to the metrical process here intended. 
 
 f A. B. p. 835, 30. eVri Be iv roty Koivois (itrpois Ka\ 17 KoXovfjLevr] 
 (TvviK(paiVT}a-is fj Koi (Twi^rjais Xeyerai. "Orav yap (jxouijevTOiP (TraXkrjXos 
 ytvrjrai fj npocpopa, rore yiverai, fj <TVvi^T](Tis (h plav (TvK\a^r]v. Aiacjiepei 
 Si <Tvva\oi({)iis' f] piv yap ypnpparcov earrl Kkonf], fj 8e xpovcoV koi fj pev 
 avva\oi(j)fj, as Xeyerai, (fiaivfTai, fj 8e ov. Mehlhom, Griechische 
 
 Grammatik, § loi. Thus in NeoTrroXe/^or we have synizesis, in 
 'SovTTToXfpos synseresis. 
 
 X Cf. Mehlhorn, Griechische Grammatik, § 57. 
 
 § See the important chapters on ' Kiii'zung der Vokale ' and 
 
Cxliv PREFACE. 
 
 we find in Sanskrit, too, such double forms as 
 pritlivi or p?itliivi, adhi and dhi, ajDi and pi, ava 
 and va. The occurrence of such forms wliich have 
 nothing to do with metrical considerations, but 
 are perfectly legitimate from a grammatical point 
 of view, would encourage a tendency to treat two 
 syllables — and particularly two short syllables — as 
 one, whenever an occasion arose. There are, besides, 
 in the Vedic Sanskrit a number of forms where, as 
 we saw, long syllables have to be pronounced as 
 two. In some of these cases this pronunciation is 
 legitimate, i. e. it preserves an original dissyllabic 
 form which in course of time had become mono- 
 syllabic. In other cases the same process takes 
 place through a mistaken sense of analogy, where 
 we cannot prove that an original dissyllabic form 
 had any existence even in a preliistoric state of 
 language. The occurrence of a number of such 
 alternate forms would naturally leave a general 
 impression in the mind of poets that two short 
 syllables and one long syllable were under cer- 
 tain circumstances mterchangeable. So consider- 
 able a number of words in which a long syllable 
 has to be pronoimced as two syllables has been 
 collected by Professors Kulm, Bollensen, and 
 
 ' Tilgung dor Vokalc' in Coi'ssen's 'Ausspraohe dcs Latcinischen ;' 
 iiml more csi)ecially liis remarks on the so-called irrational vowels 
 in I'lautus, i])id. vul. ii. j). 70. 
 
PREFACE. Cxlv 
 
 others, that no doubt can remain on this subject. 
 Vedic poets, being allowed to change a semivowel 
 into a vowel, were free to say nasatya and ndsatya, 
 viii. 5, 32 ; pvithivyas and p7'ithivy4A ; pitro/^ and 
 ipitroh, i. 31, 4. They could separate compound 
 words, and pronounce ghritanna/i or ghrita-anna/^, 
 vii. 3, I. They could insert a kind of sliewa or 
 svarabhakti in words like samne or samne, viii. 6, 47; 
 dliamne or dhamne, viii. 92, 25 ; aTkv7iah and aravy^aA, 
 ix. 6^, 5, They might vary between p^nti and 
 panti, i, 41, 2 ; yathana and y^thana, i. 39, 3 ; ni- 
 dhatoA and nidhatoA, i. 41, 9 ; tredha and tredha, 
 i. 34, 8; devd/i and dev^/i (besides devasaA), i. 23, 24; 
 rodasi and rodasi, i. ^^, 9; 59, 4; 64, 9; and rodasyoA, 
 i- 33, 5'> 59» 2 ; 117, 10 ; vi. 24, 3 ; vii. 6, 2 ; x. 74, r\ 
 Need we wonder then if we find that, on the other 
 hand, they allowed themselves to pronounce prithivi 
 as prithivi, i. 191, 6 ; vii. 34, 7 ; 99, 3 ; dhi'ishnava 
 as dh7'ish?zava, v. 52, 14; suvana as suvina'? There 
 is no reason why we should change the spelling of 
 suvana into svana. The metre itself tells us at 
 once where suvdna is to be pronounced as two or 
 as three syllables. Nor is it possible to believe 
 that those who first handed down and afterwards 
 wrote down the text of the Vedic hymns, should 
 
 * Professor BoUensen in some of these passages proposes to read 
 rodasios. In i. 96, 4, no change is necessary if we read visani. 
 Zeitschrift der D. M. G., vol. xxii. p. 587. 
 VOL. T. k 
 
Cxlvl PREFACE. 
 
 have been ignorant of that freedom of pronnncia- 
 tion. Why, there is not one single passage in the 
 whole of the ninth Ma??c/ala, where, as far as I know, 
 suvana should not be pronounced as dissyllabic, 
 i. e. as suvana ; and to suppose that the scholars 
 of India did not know how that superfluous syllable 
 should be removed, is really taking too low an 
 estimate of men like Vya/i or /S'aunaka. 
 
 But if we once admit that in these cases two 
 syllables separated by a single consonant were pro- 
 nounced as one and were metrically coimted as 
 one, we can hardly resist the evidence in favour 
 of a similar pronunciation m a large number of 
 other words, and we shall find that by the ad- 
 mission of this rapid pronunciation, or of what in 
 Plautus we should call irrational vowels, many 
 verses assume at once their regular form without 
 the necessity of admitting the suppression of final 
 s, m, n, or the introduction of other prosodial 
 licences. To my mind the most convincing pas- 
 sages are those where, as in the Atyashd and 
 similar hymns, a poet repeats the same phrase 
 twice, altering only one or two words, but without 
 endeavouring to avoid an excess of syllables which, 
 to our mind, unless we resort to synizesis, would 
 completely destroy the uniformity of the metre. 
 Thus we read : 
 
 i. 133, 6. apurushaghno pratita sura satvabhiA, 
 
 trisaptai/i- sura satvabhi/<. 
 Hero no 'pra must be pronounced with one ictus 
 
PREFACE. Cxlvii 
 
 only, in order to get a complete agreement between 
 the two iambic diameters. 
 
 i. 134, 5. ugra isha;?anta bhurva?d, 
 ap4m islianta bhurv;uii. 
 
 As isbanta never occurs again, I suspect that the 
 original reading was isba^^anta in both lines, and 
 that in the second line isha/^anta, pronounced rapidly, 
 was mistaken for isbanta. Is not bhurva^i a locative, 
 corresponding to the dativcS in vane which are so 
 frequently used in the sense of infinitives ? See note 
 to i. 6, 8, page 34. In i. 138, 3, we must read : 
 
 aheZam^na urusamsa sari bhava, 
 Ykge-Y^ge sari bhava. 
 In i. 129, II, 
 
 adha hi tv4 ^anit^ gigsmsbd vaso, 
 
 raksboha??a?>i tva (/i^anad vaso, 
 we might try to remove the difficulty by omitting 
 vaso at the end of the refrain, but this would 
 be against the general character of these hymns. 
 We want the last word vaso, if possible, at the 
 end of both lines. But, if so, we must admit tw^o 
 cases of synizesis, or, if this seems too clumsy, we 
 must omit tva. 
 
 I shall now proceed to give a number of other 
 examples in which the same consonantal synizesis 
 seems necessary in order to make the rhythm of 
 the verses perceptible to our ears as it w^as to the 
 ears of the ancient i^ishis. 
 
 k2 
 
Cxlviii PREFACE. 
 
 The preposition ami takes synizesis in 
 
 i. 127, I. ghritasya vibhrashdm anu vashd 5o/;ish4. 
 Cf. X. 14, I. 
 
 The preposition abhi : 
 
 i. 91, 23. rayo bhagawi sahas4vann abhi yudhya. 
 Here Professor Kuhn changes sahasavan into saha- 
 sviih, which, no doubt, is a very simple and very 
 plausible emendation. But in altering the text of 
 the Veda many things have to be considered, and 
 in our case it might be objected that sahasvaA 
 never occurs again as an epithet of Soma. As an 
 invocation sahasva/i refers to no deity but Agni, 
 and even in its other cases it is apphed to Agni 
 and Indra only. However, I do not by any means 
 maintain that sahasvaA could not be applied to 
 Soma, for nearly the same arguments could be 
 used against sahasavan, if conjecturally put in the 
 place of sahasvaA; I only wish to point out how 
 everything ought to be tried first, before we resort 
 in the Veda to conjectural emendations. Therefore, 
 if in our passage there should be any objection 
 to admitting the synizesis in abhi, I should much 
 rather propose synizesis of sahasavan, than change 
 it into sahasva/?-. There is synizesis in maha, e. g. 
 i. 133, 6. avar maha indra d^drihi srudhi mxh. 
 Although this verse is quoted by the Pr4ti6-akhya, 
 Siitra 522, as one in which the lengthened syllable 
 dhi of srudhi does not occupy the tenth place, and 
 which therefore required special mention, the original 
 poet evidently thought otherwise, and lengthened 
 
PREFACE. Cxlix 
 
 the syllable, being ti syllable liable to be lengthened, 
 because it occupied the tenth place, and therefore 
 received a peculiar stress. 
 
 The preposition pari : 
 
 vi. ^2, 14. ma vo va^'a;«si pari/;akshya7ii vo^am, 
 sumneshv id vo antama madema. 
 Here Professor Kuhn (Beitriige, vol. iv. p. 197) begins 
 the last pada with vo^'am, but this is impossible 
 miless we change the accent of vo^'am, though even 
 then the separation of the verb from ma and the 
 accumulation of two verbs in the last line would 
 be objectionable. 
 
 Hari is pronounced as hari : 
 
 vii. 32, 12. ya indro harivan na dabhanti ta??i ripaA. 
 ii. 18, 5. 4 Z:atv4rimsat4 haribhir yuf/anaA. 
 Hence I propose to scan the difficult verse i. 167, j, 
 as follows : 
 
 sahasram ta indra-utayo naA, 
 sahasram isho liarivo gurtatam^/i '"% 
 sahasram rayo m^dayadhyai, 
 sahasri^ia upa no yantu vigkh. 
 That the final o instead of as is treated as a 
 short syllable we saw before, and in i. 133, 6, we 
 observed that it was liable to synizesis. We see 
 the same in 
 
 i. 175, 6. maya ivapo na t?ishyate babh^tha. 
 V. 61, 16. a ya^niyaso vavrittana. 
 
 * As to the scanning of the second line see page cxxxv. 
 
Cl PREFACE. 
 
 The prag>ihya i of the dual is known in the 
 Veda to be liable in certain cases to Sandlii. If 
 we extend this licence beyond the limits recognized 
 by the Pr^tisakhya, we might scan 
 
 vi. 52, 14. ubhe rodasy ap4m napa/; ksi manma, or 
 we might shorten the i before the a, and admitting 
 synizesis, scan : 
 
 ubhe rodasi apa77i napaX" ksi, manma. 
 
 In iii. 6, 10, we must either admit Sandhi between 
 praM and adhvareva, or contract the first two syl- 
 lables of adhvareva. 
 
 The and e of vocatives before vowels, when 
 changed into av or a(y), are liable to synizesis: 
 
 iv. 48, 1, vayav k kandrena, rathena (Anushiubh, c.) 
 
 iv. I, 2. sa bhr^tara/?! varu^^am agna a vavritsva. 
 
 The termination avsJi also, before vowels, seems 
 to count as one syllable in v. 52, 14, divo va 
 dhrish?iava o(/asa, which would render Professor 
 Bollensen's correction (Orient und Occident, vol. ii. 
 p. 480), dh?'ish?2uo^asa, unnecessary. 
 
 Like ava and iva, we find aya and iya, too, in 
 several words liable to be contracted in pronuncia- 
 tion ; e. g. vayam, vi. 23, 5 ; ayam, i. 177, 4 ; iyam, 
 vii. 66, 8^; i. 186, 11 (unless we read vo 'sme) ; 
 X. 129, 6. Professor Bollensen's proposal to change 
 iyam to im, and ayam to am (Orient und Occident, 
 vol. ii. p. 461), would only cause obscimty, without any 
 adequate gain, while other words would by a similar 
 supjn'ession of vowels or consonants become simply 
 
PREFACE. cli 
 
 irrecognizable. In i. 169, 6, for instance, ddlia lias 
 to be pronounced with one ictus ; in vi, 26, 7, 
 sadhavira is trisyllabic. In vi. 10, i, we must 
 admit synizesis in adhvare ; in i. 161, 8, either in 
 udakdm or in abravitana ; i. no, 9, in 7-ibhuman ; 
 viii, 79, 4, in divdh ; v. 4, 6, in n^^itama (unless we 
 read so gne); i. 164, 17, in para/^; vi. 15, 14, in 
 p^vaka ; i. 191, 6; vii. 34, 7; 99, 3, in prithivi' ; 
 ii. 20, 8, in pura/i; vi. 10, i, in prayati ; vi. 17, 7, in 
 b?'ilidt ; ix. 19, 6, in bhiydsam ; i. 133, 6, in malul/i ; 
 ii. 28, 6 ; iv. i, 2 ; vi. 'j^, 18, in varu«a ; iii. 30, 21, 
 in vrishabha ; vii. 41, 6, in va^/ina/i ; ii. 43, 2, in 
 sisumatiA ; vi. 51, 2, in sanutar ; vi. 18, 12, in sthd- 
 virasya, &c. 
 
 These remarks will, I hope, suffice in order to 
 justify the principles by which I have been guided 
 in my treatment of the text and in my translation 
 of the Rig-veda. I know I shall seem to some to 
 have been too timid in retaining whatever can pos- 
 sibly be retained in the traditional text of these 
 ancient hymns, while others wiU look ujoon the 
 emendations which I have suggested as unpardon- 
 able temerity. Let everything be weighed in the 
 just scales of argument. Those who argue for 
 victoiy, and not for truth, can have no hearmg 
 in our court. There is too much serious work to 
 be done to allow time for wrangling or abuse. 
 Any dictionary wiU supply strong words to those 
 who condescend to such warfare, but strong argu- 
 
clii PREFACE. 
 
 ments require honest labour, sound judgment, and, 
 above all, a genuine love of truth. 
 
 The second volume, which I am now preparing for 
 Press, will contain the remaining hymns addressed 
 to the Maruts. The notes will necessarily have to 
 be reduced to smaller dimensions, but they must 
 always constitute the more important part in a 
 translation or, more truly, in a decipheiing of 
 Vedic hymns. 
 
 F. MAX MULLER. 
 
 Parks End, Oxfokd 
 March, 1869. 
 
FIRST BOOK. 
 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
2 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 MAiVZ>ALA I, SUKTA 6. 
 
 AsHTAKA I, AdhyIya 1, Varga 11-12. 
 
 1. Yuii(/anti bradhnam arusliam Z;arantam pari 
 tastliusba/i, r(j/:ante ro^'an^ divi. 
 
 2. Yun^aiiti asya Hmya hari (Iti) vi-pakshasa rathe, 
 s6)vX dh?^ishnti (iti) mi-v^hasa. ■ 
 
 3. Ketiim kri?ivan aketdve pesaA marya/i apesase, 
 sdm nshat-bhiA a^A,yatbaA. 
 
 4. At aha svadham anu pilna/^ garbha-tvam a-irire, 
 dadhana/i nama ja.gmjam. 
 
 1 . Wilson : The circumstationed (inhabitants of the three 
 worlds) associate with (Indra)^ the mig-hty (Sun), the iude- 
 structive (fire), the moving- (wind), and the hg-hts that shine 
 in the sky. 
 
 Benfey : Die rothe Sonne schirr'n sie an, die wandelt um 
 die stehenden, Strahlen strahlen am Himmel auf. 
 
 Langlois : Places autour du (foyer, les hommes) preparent 
 le char (du dieu) brillant, pur et rapide ; (cependant) brillent 
 dans le ciel les feux (du matin). 
 
 2. Wilson : They (the charioteers) harness to his car his 
 two desirable coursers, placed on either hand, bay-coloured, 
 high-spirited, chief-bearing'. 
 
 Benfey : Die lieben Falben schirren sie zu beiden Seiten 
 des Wag-ens an, braune, kiihne, held-trag-ende. 
 
 Langlois : A ee char sont attele's ses deux coursiers, beaux, 
 hrillants, impetueux, roug-eatres, et dignes de porter un 
 heros. 
 
 3. Wilson ; Moi-tals, you owe your (daily) birth (to such 
 
MAiVZJALA I, SUKTA 6. 3 
 
 Hy:mn to Indra and the Maruts (the 
 Storm-gods). 
 
 1. Those who stand around him while he moves on, 
 harness the bright red steed ;^ the Hghts in heaven 
 sliine forth. - 
 
 2. They harness to the chariot on each side his 
 (Indra's)^ two favourite bays, the brown, the bold, 
 who can carry the hero. 
 
 3. Thou who Greatest light where there was no 
 light, and form, O men!^ where there was no form, 
 hast been born together with the dawns. ^ 
 
 4. Thereafter^ they (the Maruts), according to their 
 wont,^ assumed again the form of new-born babes,-^ 
 taking their sacred name. 
 
 an Indra), who wath the rays of the morning, gives sense to 
 the senseless, and to the formless, form. 
 
 Beis^fey : Licht machend — Manner! — das Dunkele und 
 kenntlieh das Unkenntliche, entsprangst du mit dem Mor- 
 genroth. 
 
 Langlois : O mortels, (voyez-le) mettant Fordre dans la 
 confnsion, donnant la forme au chaos. O Indra, avec les 
 rayons du jour tu viens de naitre. 
 
 4. WiLSOX : Thereafter, verily, those who bear names 
 invoked in holy rites, (the Maruts,) having- seen the rain 
 about to be engendered, instigated him to resume his embryo 
 condition (in the clouds). 
 
 Benfey : Sodann von freien Stiicken gleich erregen wieder 
 Schwangerschaft die heilgen Namen tragenden. 
 
 La2s^glois : A peine la formule de FofTrande a-t-elle ete 
 prononcee, que les (Marouts), dont le nom merite d'etre 
 invoque dans les sacrifices, viennent exciter (de leur souffle) 
 le feu }\ peine sorti du sein (de Tarani). 
 B 2 
 
4 HYMNS TO THE MAR UTS. 
 
 5. ViM Ht arur/atnu-blii/i giilia Ht iiidra vahni-bhiA, 
 aviudaA usriyaA anu. 
 
 6. Deva-yantaA yatlia matlm aH7ia vidat-vasum 
 gira/i, maham anushata srutam. 
 
 7. lndre?ia sam hi d?'ikshase sam-^agmana/i abi- 
 bhyusha, mandu (iti) samana-varX^asa. 
 
 8. AnavadyaiA abhldyu-bbi/i makba/i sahasvat ar- 
 ^ati, ga?iaiA indrasya kamyaiA. 
 
 9. AtaA pari-^/man a gabi diva/i va ro^^an^t adbi, 
 s^m asmm rihgate girah. 
 
 5. Wilson : Associated mth the conveying Maruts, the 
 travei'sers of places difficult of access^ thou, Indra, hast dis- 
 covered the cows hidden in the cave. 
 
 Benfey : Mit den die Festen brechenden, den Stiirmenden 
 fandst, Indra, du die Kiihe in der Grotte gar. 
 
 Langlois : Avec ces (Marouts), qui brisent tout rempart et 
 supportent (la nue) Indra, tu vas, du sein de la caverne, 
 delivrer les vaches (celestes). 
 
 6. Wilson : The reciters of praises praise the mighty 
 (troop of Maruts), who are celebrated, and conscious of the 
 power of bestowing wealth in like manner as they (glorify) 
 the counsellor (Indra). 
 
 Benfey : N.ach ihrer Einsicht verherrlichend besingen 
 Sanger den Schiitzeherrn, den beriihmten, gewaltigen. 
 
 Langlois : Voila pourquoi Thymne qui chante les dieux 
 celebre aussi le grand (dieu des vents), qui assiste (Indi-a) de 
 ses conseils, et decouvre les heureux tresors. 
 
 7. Wilson : May you be seen, Maruts, accompanied by the 
 undaunted (Indra); both rejoicing, and of equal splendour. 
 
MANDAIA I, S^KTA 6. 5 
 
 5. Thou, Indrn, with the swift Mnriits^ who break 
 even through the stronghold," hast found even in their 
 liiding-place the bright cows^ (the days). 
 
 6. The pious singers^ (the Maruts) liave, after their 
 own mind,^ shouted towards the giver of wealth, the 
 great, the glorious (Indra). 
 
 7. Ma vest thou^ (host of the Maruts) be verily seen^ 
 coming together with Indra, the fearless : you are 
 both happy-making, and of equal splendour. 
 
 8. With the beloved hosts of Indra, with the blame- 
 less, heavenward-tending (Maruts), the sacrificer^ cries 
 aloud. 
 
 ^ 9. From yonder, traveller (Indra), come hither, 
 or down from the light of heaven;^ the singers aU 
 yearn for it; — 
 
 Benfey : So lass mit Indra denn vereint, dem furchtlosen, 
 erbhcken dich, beide evfreii^nd unci glanzesgleich. 
 
 Langlois : Avec Fintrepide Indra^ (6 dieu,) on te voit ac- 
 courir; tous deux pleins de bonheur, tous deux egalement 
 resplendissants. 
 
 8. Wilson : This rite is performed in adoration of the 
 powerful Indra, along with the irreproachable, heavenward- 
 tending, and amiable bands (of the Maruts). 
 
 Bexfey : Durcli Indra's liebe Schaaren, die untadligen, 
 himmelstlirmenden, strahlet das Opfer machtiglich. 
 
 Langlois : Notre sacrifice confond, dans un homage aussi 
 empresse, Indra et la troupe (des Marouts) bienfaisante, irre- 
 procbable, et brillante des feux (du matin). 
 
 9. Wilson : Therefore circumambient (troop of Maruts), 
 come hither, whether from the reg-ion of the sky, or from the 
 solar sphere; for, in this rite, (the priest) fully recites your 
 praises. 
 
 Benfey : Von hier, oder vom Himmel komm ob dem 
 ^ther, Umkreisender ! zu dir streben die Lieder all. 
 
6 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 10. Ita/^ va satim fmahe divaA va partliivat adhi, 
 Indram mahdh va mgasRh. 
 
 Langlois : (Dieii des vents);, qui parcours le monde, viens 
 vers nous, ou de ton sejour habituel, on de la demeure celeste 
 de la lumiere ; notre voix aujourd^hni t'appelle. 
 
 10. Wilson : We invoke Indra, — whether he come from 
 this earthly region, or from the heaven above, or from the 
 vast firmament, — that he may give (us) wealth. 
 
 COMMENTARY. 
 
 This hymn is ascribed to Ka?iva, the son of Ghoi'a. The 
 metre is Gayatri throughout. ^ 
 
 Verse 1, note ^. The poet begins with a somewhat abrupt 
 description of a sunrise. Indra is taken as the god of the 
 bright day, whose steed is the sun, and whose companions 
 the Maruts, or the storm-gods. Arusha, meaning originally 
 red, is used as a proper name of the horse or of the rising 
 sun, though it occurs more frequently as the name of the 
 red horses or flames of Agni, the god of fire, and also of 
 the morning light. In our passage, Arusha, a substantive, 
 meaning the red of the morning, has taken bradhna as an 
 adjective, — bradhna meaning, as far as can be made out, 
 bright in general, though, as it is especially applied to the 
 Soma-juice, perhaps bright-brown or yellow. Names of 
 colour are difficult to translate from one language into 
 another, for their shades vary, and withdraw themselves 
 from sharp definition. We shall meet with this difficulty 
 again and again in the Veda. 
 
 The following passages will illustrate the principal mean- 
 ing of arushti, and justify the translation here adopted. 
 
 Arusha as an Adjective. 
 Arusha is used as an adjective in the sense of red : 
 vii. 97, 6. tam Mgmasa/?, arushasa/i asvaA brihaspatim 
 saha-vfiha/i vahanti, — nabha/* na rupani arusham vasana/*. 
 
MAA^Z)ALA I, SUKTA 6. 7 
 
 10. Or we ask Indra for help from here, or from 
 heaven, above the earth, or from the great sky. 
 
 Benfey : Vou hier, oder vom Himmel ob dor Erde begchren 
 Spende wir, oder, Indi-a ! aus weiter Luft. 
 
 Laxglois : Nous invoqnons aussi la Hberahte d^Indra ; 
 (qu'il nous entende), soit d'ici-bas, soit de Fair qui envcloppe 
 la terre, soit du vaste sejour de la lumiere. 
 
 / 
 L 
 
 Powerful red horses, drawing together ch'awliir 
 pati : horses clothed in red colour like the sky. 
 
 iii. I, 4. 5vetam ^a^^'iianam arusham mahi-tva. 
 
 Agni, the white, when born ; the red, by growth. 
 
 iii. 15, 3. krishwasu agne arushaA vi bhahi. 
 
 Shine, O Agni, red among the dark ones. 
 
 iii. 31, 21. antar (iti) krishwan arushaiA dhama-bhiA gat. 
 
 He (Indra) went among the dark ones with his red com- 
 panions. 
 
 vi. 27, 7. yasya gavau arusha. 
 
 He (Indra) whose two cows are red. 
 
 vii. 75, 6. prati dyutanam arushasaA asxkh k'ltrah adri^ran 
 ushasam vahantaA. 
 
 The red horses, the beautiful, were seen bringing to us 
 the bright dawn. 
 
 V. 43, 12. hirawya-varwam arusham sapema. 
 
 Let us worship the gold-coloured, the red, i. e. Brihaspati 
 (the fire). 
 
 i. 118, 5. pari vam isvah vapushaA patanga'/^ vaya/i va- 
 hantu arusha A abhike. 
 
 May the winged beautiful horses, may the red birds 
 bring you (the Asvins) back near to us. 
 
 iv. 43, 6. gh?'iwa vaya/t arushasa/i pari grnan. 
 
 The red birds (of the Asvins) came back by day. 
 
 V. 73, 5. pari vam arusha'A vayaA ghrina varante a-tapaA. 
 
 The red birds shield you (the Asvins) around by day 
 from the heat. 
 
8 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 i. 36, 9. VI dhumara agne arusham miyedhya sri^a. 
 
 Send off, O Agni, the red smoke, thou who art worthy of 
 sacrificial food, 
 
 vii. 3, 3. ikkha. dyam arushaA dhumaA eti. 
 
 The red smoke goes up to the sky. 
 
 vii. 16, 3. ut dhumasaA arushasa^ divi-spmaA. 
 
 The clouds of red smoke went up touching the sky. 
 
 X. 45, 7. iyarti dhumam arusham. 
 
 He (Agni) rouses the red smoke. 
 
 i. 141, 8. dyam angebhiA arushebhi/t iyate. 
 
 He (Agni) goes to the sky with his red limbs. 
 
 ii. 2, 8. sa/« idhanaA ushasaA ramya/i anu svaA na didet 
 arushewa bhanuna. 
 
 He (Agni), lit after the lovely dawns, shone like the sky 
 with his red splendour. 
 
 iii. 29, 6. a5va^ na va^i arushaA vaneshu a. 
 
 Like a stallion, the red one (Agni) appears in the 
 wood. 
 
 iv. 58, 7. arushaA na va^^ri' kash//«a/« bhindan. 
 
 Like a red stallion, breaking the bounds. 
 
 i. 114, 5. diva/« varaham arusham. 
 
 Him (Rudra), the boar of the sky, the I'ed. 
 
 V. 59, 5. asva^-iva it arushasa/*. 
 
 Like red horses, (O Maruts.) 
 
 V. 12, 2. ritam sapami arushasya vnshwaA. 
 
 I follow the rite of the red hero (Agni). The meaning 
 here assigned to vrishaa will be explained hereafter, see 
 note to i. 85, 12. 
 
 V. 12, 6. ntam ^{\h pati arushasya v7'ish7?a/<. 
 
 He observes the rite of the red hero (Agni). 
 
 vi. 8, I. prikshasya vrishwaA arushasya nu saha/(( pra mi 
 voA-am. 
 
 I celebrate the power of the quick red hero (Agni Vaisva- 
 nara). 
 
 vi. 48, 6. syavasu arushaA vrisha. 
 
 In the dark (nights) the red hero (Agni). 
 
 "^- 7> 5* ^i'liiJvnti vrish/m/i arushasya sevani. 
 
 They know the treasure of the red hero (of Agni). 
 
 In one passage vrishan arusha is intended for fire in the 
 shape of lightning. 
 
MANDAJ.A I, S^KTA 6. 9 
 
 X, 89, 9. Ill amitreshu vadham indra tumram vrishan 
 vnsha/iam arusham ^isihi. 
 
 Whet, O sti'ong Indra, the heavy strong red weapon, 
 against the enemies. 
 
 X. 43, 9. vit ^ayatam parasiiA ^yotisha saha — vi roA:atam 
 arushaA bhanuna suk\h. 
 
 May the axe (the thunderbolt) ap[)ear with the light — 
 may the red one blaze forth, bright with splendour. 
 
 X. I, 6. arusha/i gatdh pade i/ayaA. 
 
 Agni, born red in the place of the altar. 
 
 vi. 3, 6. naktam yah im arushaA yah diva. 
 
 He (Agni) being red by night and by day. 
 
 X. 20, 9. krishwa^ *veta^ arushaA yama/i asya bradhna^ 
 r'igrah uta sonah. 
 
 His (Agni's) path is black, white, red, bright, reddish, 
 and yellow. 
 
 Here it is extremely difficult to keep all the colours 
 distinct. 
 
 Arusha is frequently applied to Soma, particularly in the 
 9th Mandala. There we read : 
 
 ix. 8, 6. arusha/i hariA. 
 
 ix. 71, 7. arusha/i divah kaviA vrisha. 
 
 ix. 74, I. va^i arushaA. 
 
 ix. 82, I. arusha/i vrisha hari/«. 
 
 ix. 89, 3, harim arusham. 
 
 ix. Ill, I. arushaA hariA. See also ix. 25, 5; 61, 21. 
 In ix. 72, I, arusha seems used as a substantive in the sense 
 of red-horse. 
 
 Arusha as an Appellative. 
 
 Arusha is used as an appellative, and in the following 
 senses : 
 
 1 . The one red-horse of the Sun, the two or more red- 
 horses of Agni. 
 
 i. 6, I. yu%anti bradhnam arusham. 
 
 They yoke the bright red-horse (the Sim). 
 
 i. 94, 10. yat ayukthaA arusha rohita nithe. 
 
 When thou (Agni) hast yoked the two red-horses and the 
 two ruddy horses to the chariot. 
 
]0 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 i. 146, 2. rihanti udhah arushasaA asya. 
 
 His (Agni's) red-horses lick the udder. 
 
 ii, 10, 2. sruyaA agni/i — havam me — syava ratham vaha- 
 ta/i rohita va uta arusha. 
 
 Mayest thou, Agni, hear my call, ^vhether the two black, 
 or the two ruddy, or the two red-horses carry you. 
 
 Here three kinds of colours are clearly distinguished, 
 and an intentional difference is made between rohita and 
 arusha. 
 
 iv. 2, 3. arusha yu^anaA. 
 
 Agni having yoked the two red-horses. 
 
 iv. 6, 9. tava tye ague haritaA — rohitasa/i — arushasaA 
 vrishawa^. 
 
 To thee (Agni) belong these bays, these ruddy, these red- 
 horses, the stallions. 
 
 Here, again, three kinds of horses are distinguished — 
 Hants, Rohitas, and Arushas. 
 
 viii. 34, 17. ye riffrKh vata-ra^whasaA arushasa/i raghu- 
 syadaA. 
 
 Here arusha may be the subject and the rest adjectives ; 
 but it is also possible to take all the words as adjectives, 
 referring them to a5u in the next verse. The fact that ?'i^ra 
 likewise expresses a peculiar red colour is no objection, as 
 may be seen from i. 6, i; 94, 10. 
 
 vii. 16, 2. saA yo^ate arusha visva-bho^asa. 
 
 May he (Agni) yoke the tAvo all-nourishing red-horses. 
 
 vii. 42, 2. yunkshva — harita/i rohita/i ka ye va sadman 
 arusha/i. 
 
 Yoke (O Agni) the bays, and the ruddy horses, or the 
 red-horses which are in thy stable. 
 
 2. The cloud, represented as the enemy of Indra, as re- 
 taining, like Vritra, the waters which Indra and the Maruts 
 wish to liberate. 
 
 i. 85, 5. uta arushasya vi syanti dharaA. 
 
 (When you go to the battle, O Maruts), the streams of 
 the red enemy flow off, 
 
 V. 56, 7. uta sya^ va^i arusha/?. 
 
 This strong red-horse, — meant for the cloud, as it would 
 seem ; but possibly, too, for one of the horses of the 
 Maruts. 
 
MAiVDALA I, SUKTA 6. 
 
 Ariishd as the Proper Name of a Solar Deity. 
 
 Besides the passages in which arusha is used either as an 
 adjective, in the sense of red, or as an appellative, meaning 
 some kind of horse, there are others in Avhich, as I pointed 
 out in my Essay on Comparative Mythology*, Arusha 
 occurs as a proper name, as the name of a solar deity, as 
 the bright deity of the morning {Morgenroth). My inter- 
 pretation of some of these passages has been contested, nor 
 shall I deny that in some of them a different interpretation 
 is possible, and that in looking for traces of Arusha, as a 
 Vedic deity, representing the morning or the rising sun, and 
 containing, as I endeavoured to show, the first germs of the 
 Greek name of Eros, I may have seen more indications of 
 the presence of that deity in the Veda than others would 
 feel inclined to acknowledge. Yet in going over the same 
 evidence again, I think that even verses which for a time I 
 felt inclined to surrender, yield a better sense if we take the 
 word arusha which occurs in them as a substantive, as the 
 name of a matutinal deity, than if we look upon it as an 
 adjective or a mere appellative. It might be said that 
 wherever this arusha occurs, apparently as the name of a 
 deity, we ought to supply Agni or Indra or Surya. This is 
 true to a certain extent, for the sun, or the light of the 
 morning, or the bright sky are no doubt the substance and 
 subject-matter of this deity. But the same applies to many 
 other names originally intended for these conceptions, but 
 which, nevertheless, in the course of time, became inde- 
 pendent names of independent deities. In our passage 
 i. 6, I, yuii^anti bradhnam arusham, we may retain for 
 arusha the appellative power of steed or red-steed, but if we 
 could ask the poet what he meant by this red-steed, or if 
 we ask ourselves what we can possibly understand by it, 
 the answer would be, the morning sun, or the light of the 
 morning. In other passages, however, this meaning of red- 
 steed is no longer applicable, and we can only translate 
 Arusha by the Red, understanding by this name the deity 
 of the morning or of the morning sun. 
 
 * Chips from a German Workshop, 2nd ed., vol. ii. p. 137 seq. 
 
12 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 vii. 71, I. clpa svasu^ ushasa^ nak (^ihite ri^jiikti krishniA 
 anishaya pantharn. 
 
 The Night retires from her sister, the Dawn ; the Dark one 
 yiekls the path to the Red one, i. e. the red morning. 
 
 Here Arusha shares the same half-mythological character 
 as Ushas, and where we should speak of dawn and morning 
 as mere periods of time, the Vedic poet speaks of them as 
 living and intelligent beings, half human, half divine, as 
 powers of nature capable of understanding his prayers, and 
 ])owerful enough to reward his praises. I do not think 
 therefore that we need hesitate to take Arusha in this 
 passage as a proper name of the morning, or of the morning 
 sun, to whom the dark goddess, the Night, yields the path 
 when he rises in the East. 
 
 vi. 49, 2. divah sisum sahasaA sumim agnim ya^nasya 
 ketum arusham ya^adhyai. 
 
 To w'orship the child of Dyu, the son of strength, Agni, 
 the light of the sacrifice, the Red one (Arusha). 
 
 In this verse, where the name of Agni actually occurs, it 
 would be easier than in the preceding verse to translate 
 arusha as an adjective, referring it either to Agni, the god 
 of fire, or to ya^/uasya ketum, the light of the sacrifice. 
 1 had myself yielded* so far to these considerations that I 
 gave up my former translation, and rendered this verse by 
 ' to worship Agni, the child of the sky, the son of strength, 
 the red light of the sacrifice t.' But I return to my original 
 translation, and I see in Arusha an independent name, in- 
 tended, no doubt, for Agni, as the representative of the rising 
 sun and, at the same time, of the sacrificial fire of the 
 morning, but nevertheless as having in the mind of the poet 
 a personality of its own. He is the child of Dyu, originally 
 the offspring of heaven. He is the son of strength, origin- 
 ally generated by the strong rubbing of the arawis, i. e. the 
 wood for kindling fire. He is the light of the sacrifice, 
 whether as reminding man that the time for the morning 
 sacrifice has come, or as himself lighting the sacrifice on the 
 Eastern altar of the sky. He is Arusha, originally as 
 
 • Chips from a German Workshop, vol. ii. p. 1 39. 
 t Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1867, p. 204. 
 
MAiViJALA I, SUKTA G. 13 
 
 clothed in bright red colour, but gradually changed into the 
 representative of the morning. We see at once, if examin- 
 ing these various expressions, how some of them, like the 
 child of Dyu, arc easily carried away into mythology, while 
 others, such as the son of strength, or the light of the 
 sacrifice, resist that unconscious metamorphosis. That 
 Arusha was infected by mythology, that it had approached 
 at least that point where nomina become changed into 
 numitia, we see by the verse immediately following : 
 
 vi. 49, 3. arushasya duhitara virupe (iti vi-rupe) stri-bhi/i 
 anya pipi^e sura/^ anya. 
 
 There are two difterent daughters of Arusha; the one is clad 
 in stars, the other belongs to the sun, or is the wife of Svar. 
 
 Here Arusha is clearly a mythological being, like Agni 
 or Savitar or Vaisvanara ; and if Day and Night are called 
 his daughters, he, too, can hardly have been conceived 
 otherwise than as endowed with human attributes, as the 
 child of Dyu, as the father of Day and Night, and not as a 
 mere period of time, not as a mere cause or effect. 
 
 iv. 15, 6. tam arvantam na sanasim arusham na diva/* 
 sisum marmri^yante dive-dive. 
 
 They trim the fire day by day, like a strong horse, like 
 Arusha, the child of Dyu. 
 
 Here, too, Arusha, the child of Dyu, has to be taken as 
 a personal character, and, if the na after arusham is right, a 
 distinction is clearly made between Agni, the sacrificial fire, 
 to whom the hymn is addressed, and Arusha, the child of 
 heaven, the pure and bright moi'ning, here used as a simile 
 for the cleaning or trimming of the fire on the altar. 
 
 V. 47, 3. arusha/i su-parna/i. 
 
 Arusha, the morning sun, with beautiful wings. 
 
 The feminine Arushi as an Adjective. 
 
 Arushi, like arusha, is used as an adjective, in the same 
 sense as arusha, i. e. red : 
 
 iii. ^^, II. syavi ka. yat arushi ka svasarau. 
 As the dark and the red are sisters. 
 i. 92, I and 2. gava/« arushiA and arushi/f ga/(. 
 The red covis of the dawn. 
 
14 HYMNS TO THE MAR UTS. 
 
 i. 92, 2. nisantam bhanum arushi/i asisrajnh. 
 
 The red dawns obtained bright splendour. 
 
 Here ushasaA, the dawns, occur in the same line, so that we 
 may take arushiA either as an adjective, referring to the dawns, 
 or as a substantive, as a name of the dawn or of her cows. 
 
 i. 30, 21. a*ve na ^itre arushi. 
 
 Thou bright, red dawn, thou, like a mare. 
 
 Here, too, the vocative arushi is probably to be taken as 
 an adjective, particularly if we consider the next following 
 verse : 
 
 iv. 52, 2. a5va-iva Aitra arushi mata gavam rita-vari sakha 
 abhut asvmoh usha/i. 
 
 The dawn, bright and red, like a mare, the mother of the 
 cows (days), the never-failing, she became the friend of the 
 A*vins. 
 
 X. 5, 5. sapta svasriA arushiA. 
 
 The seven red sisters. 
 
 TTie feminine A^rushi as a Substantive. 
 
 If used as a substantive, arushi seems to mean the dawn. 
 It is likewise used as a name of the horses of Agni, Indra, 
 and Soma ; also as a name for mare in general. 
 
 It means dawn in x. 8, 3, though the text points here so 
 clearly to the dawn, and the very name of dawn is mentioned 
 so immediately after, that this one passage seems hardly 
 sufficient to establish the use of arushi as a recognized 
 name of the dawn. Other passages, however, would like- 
 wise gain in perspicuity, if we took arushi by itself as a 
 name of the dawn, just as we had to admit in several 
 passages arusha by itself as a name of the morning. Cf. 
 
 Arushi means the horses of Agni, in i. 14, 12 : 
 
 yukshva hi arushi^ rathe haritaA deva rohita//. 
 
 Yoke, O god (Agni), the red-horses to the chariot, the 
 bays, the ruddy. 
 
 i. 72, 10. pra nik\h ague arushi/< a//anan. 
 
 They knew the red-liorses, Agni, coming down. 
 
 In viii. 69, 5, arushi refers to the h.orses of Indra, whether 
 as a noun or an adjective, is somewhat doubtful : 
 
MAA'Z^ALA I, SUKTA 6. 15 
 
 a haraya/i sasri^rire arushi/<. 
 
 The bay horses were let loose, the red-horses ; or, possibly, 
 thy bright red-horses were let loose. 
 
 Soma, as we saw, was frequently spoken of as arushii/i 
 har'ih. 
 
 In ix. Ill, 2, tridhatu-bhi/i arushibhi^ seems to refer to the 
 same red-horses of Soma, though this is not quite clear. 
 
 The passages where arushi means simply a mare, without 
 any reference to colour, are viii. 68, i8, and viii. ^^, 3. 
 
 It is curious that Arusha, which in the Veda means red, 
 should in its Zendic form aurusha, mean white. That in 
 the Veda it means red and not white is shown, for instance, 
 by X. 20, 9, where 5veta, the name for white, is mentioned by 
 the side of arusha. ^lost likely arusha meant originally bril- 
 liant, and became fixed with different shades of brilliancy in 
 Sanskrit and Persian. Arusha presupposes a form ar-vas, and 
 is derived from a root ar in the sense of running or rushing. 
 See Chips from a German Workshop, vol. ii. pp. 135, 137. 
 
 Having thus explained the different meanings of arusha 
 and arushi in the Rig-veda, I feel it incumbent, at least for 
 once, to explain the reasons why I differ from the classifi- 
 cation of Vedic passages as given in the Dictionary pub- 
 lished by Messrs. Boehthngk and Roth. Here, too, the 
 passages in which arusha is used as an adjective are very 
 properly separated from those in which it appears as a 
 substantive. To begin with the first, it is said that ' arusha 
 means ruddy, the colour of Agni and his horses ; he (Agni) 
 himself appears as a red-horse/ In support of this, the 
 following passages are quoted : 
 
 iii. I, 4. avardhayan su-bhagam sapta yahviA 5vetam 
 ^a^^'nanam arusham mahi-tva, si^um na ^atam abhi kruh 
 asvah. Here, however, it is only said that Agni was born 
 brilliant-white*, and grew red, that the horses came to him 
 as they come to a new-born foal. Agni himself is not called 
 a red-horse. 
 
 iii. 7, 5. Here, again, vnshna/^ arushasya is no doubt 
 
 * See V. I, 4. svetdh xTigt ^ayate ;igre dhnam. x. i, 6. arushaA gCdii/i 
 padtS I/ayaA. 
 
16 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 meant for Agni. But vnshan by itself does not mean 
 horse, though it is added to different names of horses to 
 qualify them as male horses; of. vii. 69, i. a vam rathah 
 vnsha-bhi/« yatu Asvaih, may your chariot come near with 
 ))o\verful horses, i.e. with stalHons. See note to i. 85, 12. 
 We are therefore not justified in translating arusha vnshan 
 by red-horse, but only by the red male, or the red hero. 
 
 In iii. 31,3, agnih ffagne ^uhva riffumknah maha^ putran 
 arushasya pra-yakshe, I do not venture to say who is 
 meant by the niahaA putran arushasya, whether Adityas or 
 Maruts, but hardly the sons of Agni, as Agni himself is 
 mentioned as only born. But, even if it were so, the father 
 of these sons (putra) could hardly be intended here for 
 a horse. 
 
 iv. 6, 9. tava tye agne harita/i gh?'ita-sna'A rohitasa/^ 9-i^u- 
 ankah su-ankah, arushasaA vrishawaA ri^u-mushkaA. Here, 
 so far from Agni being represented as a red-horse, his 
 different horses, the Harits or bays, the Rohitas or ruddy, 
 and the arushasa^ vrishawa^, the red stallions, are distinctly 
 mentioned. Here vnshan may be translated by stallion, 
 instead of simply by male, because arusha is here a sub- 
 stantive, the name of a horse. 
 
 v. I, 5. ^anish/a hi ffenyah agre ahnam hitaA hiteshu 
 arusha^ vaneshu. Here arusha/i is simply an adjective, red, 
 referring to Agni who is understood throughout the hymn 
 to be the object of praise. He is said to be kind to those 
 who are kind to him, and to be red in the woods, i. e. 
 brilliant in the wood which he consumes ; cf. iii. 29, 6. 
 Nothing is said about his equine nature. 
 
 In V. 12, 2 and 6, vi. 48, 6, we have again simply 
 arusha vnshan, which does not mean the red-horse, but 
 the red male, the red hero, i. e. Agni. 
 
 In vi. 49, 2, divah ^isum sahasaA suniim agnini ya^nasya 
 ketiim arusham ya//adhyai, there is no trace of Agni being 
 conceived as a horse. He is called the child of the sky or 
 of Dyu, the son of strength (who is produced by strong 
 rubbing of wood), the light or the beacon of the sacrifice, 
 and lastly Arusha, which, for reasons stated above, I take to 
 be used here as a name. 
 
 Next follow the passages in which, according to Professor 
 
UANDAI.A I, SITKTA 6. 17 
 
 Roth, arusha is an adjective, is said to be applied to the 
 horses, co^vs, and other teams of the gods, particularly of 
 the dawn, the Asvins, and Bnhas])ati. 
 
 i. 1 18, 5. pari vam a.9va// vapusha// patanga/?, vaya//. 
 vahantu arusha'A abhi'kc. Here we find the \a.yah arusha/i 
 of the Ai'vins, which it is better to translate by red birds, as 
 immediately before the winged horses are mentioned. In 
 fact, w^henever arusha is appbed to the vehicle of the Asvins, 
 it is to be understood of these red birds, iv. 43, 6. 
 
 In i. 92, I and 2 (not 20), arushi occurs three times, 
 referring twice to the cows of the dawn, once to the daw^n 
 herself. 
 
 In iv. 15, 6, tam arvantam na sanasim arusham na diva// 
 m'um m arm n^y ante dive-dive, arusha does not refer to 
 the horse or any other animal of Agni. The verse speaks 
 of a horse by way of comparison only, and says that the 
 sacrificers clean or trim Agni, the fire, as people clean a 
 horse. We cannot join arusham in the next pada with 
 anantam in the preceding pada, for the second na would 
 then be without any construction. The construction is 
 certainly not easy, but I think it is safer to translate : 
 they trim him (Agni), day by day, as they clean a strong- 
 horse, as they clean Arusha, the child of Dyu. In fact, as 
 far as I know, arusha is never used as the name of the 
 one single horse belonging to Agni, but always of two or 
 more. 
 
 In iii. 31, 21, antar (iti) krishwan arushaiA dhama-bhi/i 
 gat, dhama-bhi/i is said to mean flames of lightning. But 
 dhaman in the Rig-veda does not mean flames, and it seems 
 better to translate, with thy red companions, seil. the 
 Maruts. 
 
 That arusha in one or two passages means the red cloud, 
 is true. But in x. 43, 9, arusha refers to the thunderbolt 
 mentioned in the same verse; and in i. 114, 5, everything 
 refers to Rudra, and not to a red cloud, in the proper 
 sense of the word. 
 
 Further on, where the meanings attributable to arushi in 
 the Veda are collected, it is said that arushi means a red 
 mare, also the teams of Agni and Ushas. Now, here, 
 surely, a distinction should have been made between those 
 
 VOL. I. c 
 
18 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 passages in which arushi means a real horse, and those 
 where it expresses the imaginary steeds of Agni. The 
 former, it should be observed, occur in one Ma.nda.\a. only, 
 and in places of somewhat doubtful authority, in viii. 
 55f 3' ^ Valakhilya hymn, and in viii. 68, i8, a dana- 
 stuti or panegyi'ic. Besides, no passage is given where 
 arushi means the horses of the dawn, and I doubt whether 
 such a passage exists, while the verse where arushi is really 
 used for the horses of Indra, is not mentioned at all. 
 Lastly, two passages are set apart where arushi is supposed 
 to mean flames. Now, it may be perfectly true that the 
 red-horses of Agni are meant for flames, just as the red- 
 horses of Indra may be the rays of the sun. But, in that 
 case, the red-horses of Agni should always have been thus 
 translated, or rather interpreted, and not in one passage 
 only. In ix. iii, 2, arushi is said to mean flames, but no 
 further light is thrown upon that very difficult passage. 
 
 Verse 1, note ^. A similar expression occurs iii. 6i, ^, 
 where it is said of Ushas, the dawn, that she lighted the 
 lights in the sky, pra roArana ruruA:e rawva-sandrik. 
 
 Verse 2, note^ Although no name is given, the pronoun 
 asya clearly refers to Indra, for it is he to whom the two 
 bays belong. The next verse, therefore, must likewise be 
 taken as addressed to Indra, and not to the sun or the 
 morning-red, spoken of as a horse in the first verse. 
 
 Verse 3, note\ The vocative maryCih, which I have trans- 
 lated by O men, had evidently become a mere exclamation 
 at a very early time. Even in our passage it is clear that 
 the poet does not address any men in particular, for he 
 addresses Indra, nor is marya used in the general sense of 
 men. It means males, or male offspring. It sounds more 
 like some kind of asseveration or oath, like the Latin 
 mehei'cle, or like the English O ye powers, and it is there- 
 fore (juoted as a nipata or particle in the Va^asan. Prati*. 
 ii. 1 6. It certainly cannot be taken as addressed to the 
 Maruts, though the Maruts are the subjcci of the next 
 verse. 
 
MA.VZ>ALA I, SUKTA G. 19 
 
 Verse 3, note ". Ushatlbhi/<, an instrumental plural which 
 attracted the attention of the author of the Yarttika to Vdii. 
 vii, 4, 48. It occurs but once, but the regular form, 
 ushobhiA, does not occur at all in the Rig-veda. The same 
 grammarian mentions mas, month, as changing the tinal s 
 of its base into d before bhis. This, too, is confirmed by 
 Rv. ii. 24, 5, where madbhi^ occurs. Two other words, 
 svavas, offering good protection, and svatavas, of independent 
 strength, mentioned together as liable to the same change, 
 do not occur with hhih in the Rig-veda, but the forms 
 svavadbhiA and svatavadbhi/i probably occurred in some 
 other Vedic writings. Svatavadbhya^ has been pointed out 
 by Professor Aufrecht in the Va^asan. Sanhita xxiv. 16, 
 and svatavobhyaA in /Satap, Br. ii. 5, i, 14. That the nom. 
 svavan, which is always trisyllabic, is not to be divided into 
 sva-van, as proposed by /Sakalya, but into su-avan, is implied 
 by Varttika to Pan. viii. 4, 48, and distinctly stated in the 
 Siddhanta-Kaumudi. That the final n of the nom. su-avan 
 disappeared before semi-vowels is confirmed by the /Sakala- 
 pratisakhya, Sutra 287; see alsoA^%asan. Pratis. iii. Sutra 135 
 (Weber, Ind. Stud. vol. iv. p. 206). On the proper division 
 of su-avas, see Aufrecht, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgen- 
 landischen Gesellschaft, vol. xiii. p. 499. 
 
 Verse 4, note ^. At must here take vyuha and be pro- 
 nounced as an iambus. This is exceptional w^ith at, but 
 there are at least two other passages where the same 
 pronunciation is necessary, i. 148, 4. at rotate vane a 
 vi-bha-va, though in the line immediately following it is 
 monosyllabic. Also in v. 7, 10. at ague apri^ata/t. 
 
 Verse 4, note ^. Svadha, literally one's own place, after- 
 wards, one's own nature. It was a great triumph for the 
 science of Comparative Philology that, long before the 
 existence of such a word as svadha in Sanskrit was known, 
 it should have been postulated by Professor Benfey in his 
 Griechische Wurzel-lexicon, published in 1839, and in the 
 appendix of 1842. Svadha was known, it is true, in the 
 ordinary Sanskrit, but there it only occurred as an excla- 
 mation used on presenting an oblation to the manes. It 
 C 2 
 
20 HYJINS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 was also explained to mean food offered to deceased ances- 
 tors, or to be the name of a personification of Maya or 
 Morldly illusion, or of a nymph. But Professor Benfey, 
 with great ingenuity, postulated for Sanskrit a noun svadha, 
 as corresponding to the Greek e0o? and the German sitte, 
 O. H. G. sit-u, Gothic sid-u. The noun svadha has since 
 been discovered in the Veda, where it occurs very fre- 
 quently ; and its true meaning in many passages where 
 native tradition had entirely misunderstood it, has really 
 been restored by means of its etymological identification 
 with the Greek eOof or tjOos. See Kuhn^s Zeitschrift, vol. ii. 
 p. 134, vol. xii. p. 158. 
 
 The expressions anu svadham and svadhara anu are of 
 frequent occurrence. They mean, according to the nature 
 or character of the persons spoken of, and may be translated 
 by as usual, or according to a person's wont. Thus in our 
 passage we may translate, The Maruts are born again, i. e. 
 as soon as Indra appeared with the dawn, according to their 
 wont ; they are always born as soon as Indra appears, for 
 such is their nature. 
 
 i. 165, 5. indra svadham anu hi nah babhutha. 
 
 For, Indra, according to thy wont, thou art ours. 
 
 viii. 20, 7. svadham anu sriyam nara/? — vahante. 
 
 According to their wont, the men (the Maruts) carry 
 splendour. 
 
 viii. 88, 5. anu svadham vavakshitha. 
 
 Thou hast grown (Indra) according to thy nature. 
 
 iv. 33, 6. anu svadham ribhava// ffagmnh etam. 
 
 According to their nature, the i?ibhus went to her, scil. 
 the cow ; or, according to this their nature, tliey came. 
 
 iv. 52, 6. ushaA anu svadham ava. 
 
 Dawn, help ! as thou art wont. 
 
 i. 33, II. anu svadham aksharan apa/% asya. 
 
 As usual, or according to his nature, i. e. his strength, the 
 waters flowed. 
 
 i. 88, 6, asam anu svadham. 
 
 According to the nature of these libations. 
 
 vii. 56, 13. anu svadham ayudhai// yakk/ianvduCifi. 
 
 According to tiicir nature, stretching forth with their 
 weapons. 
 
MAiVDALA I, Sl^KTA 6. 21 
 
 iii. 51, II. yah tc ami svadham asat sutc ni yakkha. 
 tanvam. 
 
 Direct thy body to that libation which is according to thy 
 nature, or better, according to thy taste. 
 
 In all these passages svadha may be rendered by manner, 
 habit, usage, and anu svadham would seem to correspond to 
 the Greek e^ eOous. Yet the history of these words in 
 Sanskrit and Greek has not been exactly the same. First 
 of all we observe in Greek a division between e0o9 and 
 ?/0o?, and whereas the former comes very near in meaning 
 to the Sanskrit svadha, the latter shows in Homer a much 
 more primitive and material sense. It means in Homer, 
 not a person's own nature, but the own place, for instance, 
 of animals, the haunts of horses, lions, fish ; in Hesiod, also 
 of men. Svadha in the Veda does not occur in that sense, 
 although etymologically it might take the meaning of one's 
 own place : cf. dha-man, familia, etc. Whether in Greek 
 »)^o?, from meaning lair, haunt, home, came, like ioiJi.6<s and 
 i^o/xo?, to mean habit, manner, character, which would be 
 quite possible, or w^hether ^Oo? in that meaning represents 
 a second start from the same point, which in Sanskrit was 
 fixed in svadha, is impossible to determine. In Sanskrit 
 svadha clearly shows the meaning of one's own nature, 
 power, disposition. It does not mean power or nature in 
 general, but always the power of some one, the peculiarity, 
 the individuality of a person. This will appear from the 
 following passages : 
 
 ii. 3, 8. tisraA deviA svadhaya barhiA a idam aMAidram 
 pantu. 
 
 May the three goddesses protect by their power the 
 sacred pile unbroken. 
 
 iv. 13, 5. kaya yati svadhaya. 
 
 By what inherent power docs he (the Sun) move on? 
 
 iv. 26, 4. aA:akraya svadhaya. 
 
 By a power which requires no chariot, i. e. by himself 
 without a chariot. 
 
 The same expression occurs again x. 27, 19. 
 
 In some places ' mad,' to delight, joined with svadhaya, 
 seems to mean to revel in his strength, proud of his 
 might. 
 
22 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 V. 32, 4. svadhaya madantam. 
 
 Vritra who delights in his strength. 
 
 vii. 47, 3. svadhaya madanti^. 
 
 The waters who delight in their strength. See x. 124, 8. 
 
 In other passages, however, as we shall see, the same 
 phrase (and this is rather unusual) requires to be taken in 
 a different sense, so as to mean to rejoice in food. 
 
 i. 164, 38. svadhiiya gribhitii//. 
 
 Held or grasped by his own strength. 
 
 iii. 17, 5. svadhaya ka. sambhu/i. 
 
 He who blesses by his own strength. 
 
 iii. 35, 10. indra piba svadhaya ^it sutasya agneA va pahi 
 ^ihvaya ya^atra. 
 
 Indra drink of the libation by thyself (by thy own power), 
 or with the tongue of Agni, O worshipful. 
 
 To drink witii the tongue of Agni is a bold but not 
 unusual expression, v. 51, 2. agneA pibata ^ihvaya. 
 
 X. 15, 3. ye svadhaya sutasya bha^anta pitva//. 
 
 Those who by themselves share in the offered draught. 
 
 i. 165, 6. kva sya vah maruta/i svadha asit yat mam ekam 
 sam-adhatta ahi-hatye. 
 
 Where was that custom of yours, O Mariits, that ye should 
 have joined me who stand alone in the fight with Ahi ? 
 
 vii. 8, 3. kt'iya naA ague vi vasa/< su-vnktim kam um (iti) 
 svadham »'i«ava/< sasyamanaA. 
 
 In what character dost thou light up our altar, and what 
 character dost thou assume when thou art praised ? 
 
 iv. 58, 4. venat ekam svadhaya xnh tatakshu//. 
 
 They (the gods) made one out of the sun, by their own 
 power. 
 
 iv. 45, 6. vi^van aim svadhaya ^etathaA patha^. 
 
 You (Asvins) look after all the paths by your own 
 strength. 
 
 i. 64, 4. sakam g^gmre svadhaya. 
 
 They (the Maruts) were born together according to their 
 nature ; very nuich like anu svadham, i. 6, 4. One can 
 liardly render it here by ' they were born by their own 
 strength,' or ' by spontaneous generation.' 
 
 In other passages, however,svadhay;i, meaning originally by 
 its own power, or nature, comes to mean, by itself, sponte sua. 
 
MAiViJALA I, sOkTA 6. 23 
 
 vii. 78, 4. a asthat ratham svadhaya, yvi//yamaiiam. 
 
 She, the dawn, mounted the chariot which was harnessed 
 by itself, by its own power, without requiring the assistance 
 of people to put the horses to. 
 
 X. 129, 2. anit avfitam svadhaya tat ekam. 
 
 That only One breathed breathlessly, by its own strength, 
 i. c. by itself. 
 
 In the same sense svadhabhiA is used in several passages : 
 
 i. 113, 13. am?-ita ^arati svadhabhi/i. 
 
 The immortal Dawn moves along by her own strength, 
 i. e. by herself. 
 
 viii. 10, 6. yat va svadhabhiA adhi-tishMatha/i ratham. 
 
 Or whether ye mount your chariot by your own strength, 
 ye Asvins. 
 
 i. 164, 30, g\\ih mritasya /tarati svadhabhi/f amartyaA 
 martyena sa-yoni//. 
 
 The living moves by the powers of the dead, the immortal 
 is the brother of the mortal. 
 
 iii. 26, 8. varshishMam ratnam akrita svadhabhi/i. 
 
 He (Agni) made the best jewel by his own powers, i. e. 
 by himself. 
 
 v. 60, 4. vara^-iva it raivatasa/i hira^zyaiA abhi svadhabhiA 
 tanva^ pipi^re. 
 
 Like rich suitors, they (the Maruts) by their own strength, 
 i. e. themselves, adorn their bodies with gold ornaments. 
 
 There are doubtful passages in which the meaning of 
 svadhabhi/j, too, is doubtful. Thus, i. 180, 6. In vi. 2, 8, 
 svadha looks like an adverb, instead of svadhaya, and would 
 then refer to pari^ma. The same applies to viii. 32, 6. 
 
 But svadha means also food, lit. one's own portion, the 
 sacrificial offering due to each god, and lastly, food in 
 general. 
 
 i. 108, 12. yat indragni (iti) ut-ita suryasya madhye divaA 
 svadhaya madayethe (iti). 
 
 Whether you, Indra and Agni, delight in your food at 
 the rising of the sun or at midday. 
 
 X. 15, 13. tvam agne il'xtdh ^ata-veda^ ava^ havyani su- 
 rabhmi k7'itvi, pra ada/i pitri-bhya/i svadhaya tc akshan addhi 
 tvam deva pra-yata havimshi. 13. ye /ca iha pitaraA ye k^ na 
 iha yan k^. vidma yan ixin (iti) /ca na pra-vidma^ tvam vettha 
 
24 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 yati te f/Cda-xcdah svadhabhiA ya^iiam su-kritam ^ushasva. 
 J 4. ye agni-dagdha'A ye anagni-dagdhaA madhye di\a.h sva- 
 dluiya madayante, tebhiA sva-raV asvi-nitim etam yatha-va- 
 5am tanvam kalpayasva. 
 
 12. Thou, O Agni Gatavedas, hast carried, \vhen implored, 
 the offerings which thou hast rendered sweet : thou hast given 
 them to the fathers, they fed on their share. Eat thou, O 
 god, the proffered oblations. 13. Our fathers M'ho are here, 
 and those who are not here, our fathers whom we know and 
 those whom we do not know, thou knowest how many they 
 are, O G'atavedas, accept the well-made sacrifice with the 
 sacrificial portions. 14. They who, whether burnt by fire 
 or not burnt by fire, rejoice in their offering in the midst 
 of heaven, give to them, O king, that life, and thy (their) 
 own body, according to thy will. 
 
 iii. 4, 7. sapta p?*iksha'sa/i svadhaya madanti. 
 
 The seven horses delight in their food. 
 
 X. 14, 7. ubha ra^fina svadhaya madanta. 
 
 The two kings dcHghting in their food. 
 
 ix. 113, 10, yatra kamaA ni-kama/i ka, yr.tra bradhnasya 
 vish^apam, svadha ka yatra tnptii^ ka. tiitra mam amritam 
 kridhi. 
 
 Where wishes and desires are, where the cup of the bright 
 Soma is, where there is food and rejoicing, there make me 
 immortal. 
 
 i. 154, 4. yiisya tri purwa madhuna padani akshiyama«a 
 svadhaya madanti. 
 
 He (Vishnu) whose three places, full of sweet, imperish- 
 able, delight or abound in food. 
 
 V. 34, I. svadha amita. 
 
 His unlimited portion or offering. 
 
 "• 35> /• dhenii/i svadliam pipaya. 
 
 The cow yields her food, her portion, her milk. 
 
 i. 168, 9. at it svadham ishiram pari apasyan. 
 
 Thereafter (the Maruts) saw the vigorous food. 
 
 i. 176, 2. anu svadha yam upyate. 
 
 After whom, or for whom, his food is scattered. 
 
 In the tenth book svadha is used very much as it occurs 
 'n the later Sanskrit, as the name of a peculiar sacrificial 
 rite. 
 
MAiVDALA I, SUKTA 6. 25 
 
 X. 14, 3. yan ka. devah vavridhuA ye ^a devan svahu anyc 
 svadhaya anye madanti. 
 
 Those whom the gods cherish, and those who cherish tiie 
 gods, the one delight in SvCdia, the others in Svadha ; or, in 
 praise and food. 
 
 Verse 4, note 'K The expression garbha-tvam a-irire is 
 matched by that of iii. 60, 3. saudhanvanasaA amrita-tvam 
 a irire, the Saudhanvanas (the Eibhus) obtained immor- 
 tahty. The idea that the Maruts assumed the form of a 
 garbha, ht. of an embryo or a new-born child, is only 
 meant to express that the storms burst forth from the womb 
 of the sky as soon as Indra arises to do battle against the 
 demon of darkness. As assisting Indra in this battle, the 
 Maruts, whose name retained for a long time its purely ap- 
 pellative meaning of storms, attained their rank as deities by 
 the side of Indra, or, as the poet expresses it, they assumed 
 their sacred name. This seems to be the whole meaning of 
 the later legend that the Maruts, like the iiibhus, were not 
 originally gods, but became deified for their works. 
 
 Vcihni. 
 
 Verse 5, note ^ Sayawa explains vahnibhi^ in the sense of 
 Marddbhi/i, and he tells the oft-repeated story how the cows 
 were carried off by the Pawis from the world of the gods, 
 and thrown into darkness, and how Indra with the Maruts 
 conquered them and brought them back. Everybody seems 
 to have accepted this explanation of Sayawa, and I myself 
 do not venture to depart from it. Yet it should be stated 
 that the use of vahni as a name of the Maruts is by no 
 means well established. Vahni is in fact a most difficult 
 word in the Veda. In later Sanskrit it means fire, and is 
 quoted also as a name of Agni, the god of fire, but we do 
 not learn why a word Mhich etymologically means carrier, 
 from vah, to carry, should have assumed the meaning of fire. 
 It may be that vah, which in Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin 
 means chiefly to carry, expressed originally the idea of 
 moving about (the German be-ivegen), in which case Vfih-ni, 
 fire, would have been formed with the same purpose as 
 
26 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 ag-ni, iff-nis, fire, from Sk. ag, uy-co, ag-o. But in Sanskrit 
 Agni is so constantly represented as the carrier of the 
 sacrificial oblation, that something may be said in favour 
 of the Indian scholastic interpreters who take vahni, as 
 appHed to Agni, in the sense of carrier. However that 
 may be, it admits of no doubt that vahni, in the Veda also, 
 is distinctly applied to the bright fire or light. In some 
 passages it looks very much like a proper name of Agni, 
 in his various characters of terrestrial and celestial light. 
 It is used for the sacrificial fire : 
 
 V. 50, 4. yatra vahni^ abhi-hita/^. 
 
 Where the sacrificial fire is placed. 
 
 It is applied to Agni : 
 
 vii. 7, 5. asadi vritaA vahni/i a-^aganvan agniA brahma. 
 
 The chosen light came nigh, and sat down, Agni, the priest. 
 
 Here Agni is, as usual, represented as a priest, chosen 
 like a priest, for the performance of the sacrifice. But, for 
 that very reason, vahni may here have the meaning of priest, 
 which, as we shall see, it has in many places, and the trans- 
 lation would then be more natural : He, the chosen minister, 
 came near and sat down, Agni, the priest. 
 
 viii. 23, 3. vahni/i vindate vasu. 
 
 Agni finds wealth (for those who offer sacrifices?). 
 
 More frequently vahni is applied to the celestial Agni, or 
 other solar deities, where it is difficult to translate it in 
 English except by an adjective : 
 
 iii. 5, T. apa dvara tamasa/i vahni^ avar (ity avaA). 
 
 Agni opened the two doors of darkness. 
 
 i. 160, 3. sii/i vahni/i putra/i pitr6/< pavitra-van punati 
 dhu'a/t bhiivanani mayaya. 
 
 That light, the son of the two parents, full of brightness, 
 the wise, brightens the world by his power. 
 
 Agni is even called vahni-tama (iv. i, 4), which hardly 
 means more than the brightest. 
 
 ii. 17, 4. at rodasi (iti) /jryotisha vahni/it a atanot. 
 
 Then the luminous (Indra) stretched out or filled heaven 
 and earth with his light. 
 
 ii. 38, I. lit um (iti) sya/i dcva/i savita — vahni/< astliat. 
 
 The bright Savitar, the luminous, arose. 
 
 Besides this meaning of light or fire, however, there are 
 
MAiVZ)ALA I, SUKTA 6. 27 
 
 clearly two other meaning-s of vahni which must bs admitted 
 in the Veda, first that of a carrier, vehicle, and, it may be, 
 horse ; secondly that of minister or priest, 
 
 vi. 57, 3- a^a/i anyasya viihnayaA hari (iti) anyasya sam- 
 bhrita. 
 
 The bearers of the one (Piishan) are goats, the bays are 
 yoked for the other (Indra). 
 
 i. 14, 6. ghrita-prish^/mA manah-yuf/ah ye tva vahanti 
 vahnaya/i. 
 
 The horses with shining backs, obedient to thy will, which 
 carry thee (Agni). 
 
 viii. 3, 23. yasmai anye dasa prati dhuram vahanti vahnaya/«. 
 
 A horse against whom other ten horses carry a weight ; 
 i. e. it requires ten horses to carry the weight which this 
 one horse carries. (See x. 11, 7. vahamanaA a.<fvai/^) 
 
 ii. 37, 3. medyantu te vahnaya/i yebhi/i iyase. 
 
 May thy horses be fat on which thou goest. 
 
 ii. 24, 13. uta asishthah anu mnvanti vahnaya/z. 
 
 The ver}^ quick horses (of Brahmawaspati) listen. These 
 may be the flames, but they are conceived as carriers or 
 horses. 
 
 i. 44, 13. srudhi srut-kar/^a vahni-bhi/<. 
 
 Agni, who hast ears to hear, hear, on thy horses. Unless 
 vahni-bhiA is joined with the words that follow, devaih 
 sayava-bhiA. 
 
 Hi. 6, 2. vaA-yantam te vahnaya/^ sapta-^ihvaA*. 
 
 May thy seven-tongued horses be called. Here vahnayaA 
 is clearly meant for the flames of Agni, yet I doubt whether 
 we should be justified in dropping the simile, as the plural 
 of vahni is nowhere used in the bald sense of flames. 
 
 In one passage vahni is used as a feminine, or at all 
 events applied to a feminine subject : 
 
 viii. 94, I. yukta vahni/* rathanam. 
 
 She is yoked as the drawer of the chariots. 
 
 The passages in which vahni is applied to Soma in the 
 9th and loth Man^alas throw little light on the subject. 
 (ix. 9, 6; 20, 5; 6;* s^, 2; 64, 19; 89, i; x. loi, 10.) 
 
 Instead of vi*am vispati/i, lord of men (vii. 7, 4), we find 
 
 * Cf. i. 58, 7. saptfi ^uhvaA. 
 
28 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 ix. io8, lo, v'lsaim vahniA na vbpati/z. One feels inclined to 
 translate here vahniA by leader, but it is more likely that 
 vjihni is here again the common name of Soma, and that it 
 is inserted between vi^am na vispati^, which is meant to 
 form one phrase. 
 
 In ix. 97, 34, tisra/i \aka.h irayati pra vahni/i, we may take 
 vahni as the common appellation of Soma. But it may also 
 mean minister or priest, as in the passages which we have 
 now to examine. Cf. x. ii, 6. 
 
 For besides these passages in which vahni clearly means 
 vector, carrier, drawer, horse, there is a large class of verses 
 in which it can only be translated by minister, i. e. officiating 
 minister, and, as it would seem, chiefly singer or reciter. 
 
 The verb vah was used in Sanskrit in the sense of carry- 
 ing out (ud-vah, ausfiihren), or performing a rite, particularly 
 as applied to the reciting of hymns. Hence such compounds 
 as uktha-vahas or stoma-vahas, offering hymns of praise. 
 Thus we read : 
 
 v. 79, 4. abhi ye tva vibha-vari stomaiA g/'i7?anti 
 vahnaya^. 
 
 The ministers who praise thee, splendid Dawn, with 
 hymns. 
 
 i. 48, II. ye tva griwanti vahnayaA. 
 
 The ministers who praise thee. 
 
 vii. 75, 5. usha'A ukkhail vahni-bhiA gn/aina. 
 
 The dawn lights up, praised by the ministers. 
 
 vi. 39, I. mandrasya kaveA divyasya vahne/(. 
 
 Of the sweet poet, of the heavenly priest .... 
 
 vii. 82, 4. yuvam it yut-su pntanasu vahnaya/i yuvam 
 kshemasya pra-save mita-^nava/i i^ana vasva/i ubhayasya 
 kaniva^ indravaruwa su-hava havamahe. 
 
 AVe, as ministers, invoke you only in fights and battles ; 
 we, as supplicants, (invoke) you for the granting of treasure ; 
 we, as poets, (invoke) you, the lords of twofold wealth, you, 
 Indra and Varuna, who listen to our call. 
 
 vi, 32, 3. s6.h vainii-bhi/f ?-ikva-bhi/f goshu ^a^vat mit%rnu- 
 hh'ih puru-kntva ^igaya. 
 
 lie (Indra) was victorious often among the cows, always 
 with celebrating and suppliant ministers. 
 
 I have placed these two passages together because they 
 
MANDAluV I, sAktA G. 29 
 
 seem to me to ilhistrate each other, and to show that 
 although in the second passage the celebrating and sup- 
 pliant ministers may be intended for the Maruts, yet no 
 argument could be drawn from this verse in favour of vahni 
 by itself meaning the Maruts. See also viii. 6, 2 ; 12, 15; 
 X. 114, 2. 
 
 iv. 21, 6. hota yah naA mahan sam-varaueshu vahni/<. 
 
 The Hotar who is our great priest in the sanctuaries. 
 
 i. 128, 4. vahni/i vedhaA a^ayata. 
 
 Because the wise priest (Agni) was born. 
 
 The same name which in these passages is applied to 
 Agni, is in others, and, as it will be seen, in the same 
 sense, applied to Indra. 
 
 ii. 21, 2. tuvi-graye vahnaye. 
 
 To the strong-voiced priest or leader. 
 
 The fact that vahni is followed in several passages by 
 ukthai/i would seem to show that the office of the vahni 
 was chiefly that of recitation or of addressing prayers to 
 the gods. 
 
 iii. 20, I. agnim ushasam asvina dadhi-kram vi-ush^ishu 
 havate vahni^ ukthai/?. 
 
 The priest at the break of day calls with his hymns Agni, 
 Ushas, the Asvins, and Dadhikra. 
 
 i. 184, I. ta vam adya tail aparam huvema ukkh-dntyiim 
 ushasi vahniA ukthai^. 
 
 Let us invoke the two Asvins to-day and to-morrow, the 
 priest with his hymns is there when the dawn appears. 
 
 In a similar sense, it would seem, as vahniA ukthai^, the 
 Vedic poets frequently use the words vahniA asa. This asa is 
 the instrumental singular of as, mouth, and it is used in other 
 phrases also of the mouth as the instrument of praise. 
 
 vi. 32, I. va^ri?ze 5am-tamani va/tamsi asa sthaviraya 
 taksham. 
 
 I have shaped with my mouth blessed words to the 
 wielder of the thunderbolt, the strong Indra. 
 
 X. 115, 3, asa vahnim na ^oMsha vi-rapsinam. 
 
 He who sings with his flame as the poet with his 
 mouth. See also i. 38, 14. mimihi ;?16kam asyS, make a 
 song in thy mouth. 
 
 Thus we find vahnim asa in the same place in the sixth 
 
30 HYMNS TO THE MATIITTS. 
 
 and seventh Manr/alas (vi. i6, 9; \di. 16, 9), in the phrase 
 vuhni/< asa viduA-tara^, applied to Agni in the sense of the 
 priest wise Avith his mouth, or taking vahniA asa as it ^vere 
 one word, the wise poet. 
 
 i. 129, 5. vahniA asa, vahni// na/< akkha. 
 
 Inth-a, as a priest by his hps, as a priest coming towards us. 
 
 From the parallelism of this passage it would seem that 
 Professor Roth concluded the meaning of asa* to be near, 
 or coram. 
 
 i. 76, 4. pra^a-vata va^asa vahniA asa a ka huve ni k^ 
 satsi iha devai/i. 
 
 With words in which my people join, I, the poet, invoke, 
 and thou (Agni) sittest down with the gods. 
 
 vi. II, 2. pavakaya ^uhva vahniA asa. 
 
 Thou, a poet with a bright tongue, O Agni ! 
 
 The question now arises in what sense vahni is used when 
 applied without further definition to certain deities. Most 
 deities in the Veda are represented as di-iving or ch-iven, and 
 many as poets or priests. When the Asinns are called vahni, 
 viii. 8, 12; \di. 73, 4, it may mean riders. But when the 
 Vi^ve Devas are so called, i. 3, 9, or the Tiibhus, the exact 
 
 * As, mouth, the Latin os, oris, has been derived from a root as, to breathe, 
 preserved in the Sanskrit as-u, spirit, asu-ra, endowed with spirit, living, the 
 living god. Tliough I agree with Curtius in admitting a primitive root as, to 
 breathe, from which as-u, breath, must have sprung, I liave always hesitated 
 about the derivation of as and asya, moutli, fi-om the same root. I do not 
 think, however, that the lengthening of the vowel in ds is so great a difficulty 
 a.s has been supposed (Kuhn, Zeitschrift, vol. xvii. p. 145). Several roots lengthen 
 their vowel a, when used as substantives without derivative suffixes. In some 
 cases this lengthening is restricted to the Anga base, as in anarfvah ; in others 
 to the Anga and Pada base, as in visvava^, visvavacHihi/t, &c. ; in others again 
 it pervades the whole declension, as in turilsha< ; (see Sanskrit Grammar, 
 §§ 2 10, 20S, 175.) Among ordinary words v&k offers a clear instance of a 
 lengthened vowel. In the Veda we find ritlsh;iham, vi. 14, 4, and ritlslutham 
 (Sanhita), i. 64, 15. We find vSh in apsu-vdh (Sdm. Ved.), indra-vah, ha\7a-vah. 
 Sah at the end of compounds, such as nri-sah, pritanii-sah, bhttri-sah, satra-sah, 
 vibh.l-sah, sad3,-sah, varies between a long and short il : (see Regnier, Etude 
 sur I'idiome du VtSdas, p. 111.) At all events no instance has yet been pointed 
 out in Sanskrit, showing the same contraction which we should have to admit 
 if, as has been projiosed, we derived Tvs from av-as, or from an-as. From an 
 we have in the Veda ruui, mouth or face, i. 52, 15. From as, to breathe, the 
 Latin omm, originally os-iiuu, a whisper, might likewise be derived. 
 
MAA'7)ALA I, SUKTA 6. 31 
 
 meaning is more doubtful. The Maruts are certainly riders, 
 and we can even prove that they were supposed to sit on 
 horseback and to have the bridle through the horse's nostrils 
 (v. 6 1, 2). But if in our verse i. 6, 5, we translate vjihni as 
 an epithet, rider, and not only as an epithet, but as a name of 
 the Maruts, we cannot su^jport our translation by independent 
 e\idence, but must rely partly on the authority of Saya/ia, 
 pai'tly on the general tenour of the text before us, where the 
 Maruts are mentioned in the preceding verse, and, if I am 
 right, in the verse following also. On the other hand, if 
 vahni can thus be used as a name of the Maruts, there is at 
 least one other passage which would gain in clearness by 
 the admission of that meaning, viz. 
 
 X. 138, I. tava tye indra sakhyeshu vahnayaA — vi adar- 
 diru^ valam. 
 
 In thy friendship, Indra, these Maruts tore asunder the 
 cloud. 
 
 Verse 5, note ^. I have translated viM by stronghold, 
 though it is only an adjective meaning firm. Dr. Oscar Meyer, 
 in his very able essay Quffistiones Homericae, specimen 
 prius, Bonna:, 1867, has tried to show that this vi/u is the 
 original form of "l\io?, and he has brought some further 
 evidence to show that the siege and conquest of Troy, as I 
 pointed out in my Lectures on the Science of Language, 
 vol. ii. p. 470, was originally described in language borrowed 
 from the siege and conquest of the dark night by the powers 
 of light, or from the destruction of the cloud by the weapons 
 of Indi'a. It ought to be considered, however, that vi/it in 
 the Veda has not dwindled down as yet to a mere name, 
 and that therefore it may have originally retained its purely 
 appellative power in Greek as well as in Sanskrit, and from 
 meaning a stronghold in general, have come to mean the 
 stronghold of Troy. 
 
 Verse 5, note ^, The bright cows are here the cows of 
 the morning, the dawns, or the days themselves, which are 
 represented as rescued at the end of each night by the 
 power of Inth'a, or similar solar gods. Indra's companions 
 in that daily rescue are the Maruts, the storms, or the 
 
32 HY^INS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 breezes of the morning, the same companions who act even 
 a more prominent part in the battle of Inch-a against the 
 (lark clouds ; two battles often mixed up together. 
 
 A''erse 6, note ^. The reasons why I take gira/i as a mas- 
 culine in the sense of singer or praiser, may be seen in a 
 note to i. 37, 10. 
 
 Verse 6, note ^. yatha matim, lit. according to their mind, 
 according to their heart's desire. Cf. ii. 24, 13. 
 
 Verse 7, note \ The sudden transition from the plural 
 to the singular is strange, but the host of the Maruts is 
 frequently spoken of in the singular, and nothing else can 
 here be intended. It may be true, as Professor Benfey 
 suggests, that the verses here put together stood originally 
 in a different order, or that they were taken fi'om different 
 sources. Yet though the Sama-veda would seem to sanction 
 a small alteration in the order of the verses, the alteration 
 of verses 7, 4, 5, as following each other, would not help us 
 much. The Atharva-veda sanctions no change in the order 
 of these verses. 
 
 The transition to the dual at the end of the verse is 
 likewise abrai)t, not more so, however, than we are prepared 
 for in the Veda. The suggestion of the Nirukta (iv. 12) 
 that these duals might be taken as instru mentals of the 
 singular, is of no real value. 
 
 Verse 7, note ^. Drikshase, a very valuable form, a second 
 person singular conjunctive of the First Aorist Atmanepada, 
 the termination * sase' corresponding to Greek arj, as the 
 conjunctive takes the personal terminations of the present 
 in both languages. Similar forms, viz. prikshase, x. 22, 7, 
 nia?7?sase, x. 27, 10; Ath. Veda \di. 20, 2—6, and possibly 
 vivakshase, x. 21, 1-8, 24, 1-3, 25, i-ii, will have to be 
 considered hereafter. (Nirukta, ed. Roth, p. 30, Notes.) 
 
 Verse 8, note ^ Ar/cati, which I have here translated by 
 he cries aloud, means literally, he celebrates. I do not 
 know of any passage where arA^ati, when used, as here. 
 
MA.VDALA I, S^KTA 6. 33 
 
 without an object, means to shine, as Professor Benfey 
 translates it. The real difficulty, however, lies in niakha, 
 \\hich Saya/m explains by sacrifice, and which I have 
 ventured to translate by priest or sacrificer. Makha, as an 
 adjective, means, as far as we can judge, strong or vigorous, 
 and is applied to various deities, such as Pushan i. 138, i, 
 Savitar vi. 71, i, Soma xi. 20, 7, Indra iii. 34, 2, the 
 Maruts i. 64, ii; -vi. 66, 9. By itself, makha is never 
 used as the name of any deity, and it cannot therefore, as 
 Professor Roth proposes, be used in our passage as a name 
 of Indi'a, or be referred to Indra as a significant adjective. 
 In i. 119, 3, makha is applied to men or wamors, but it 
 does not follow that makha by itself means warrior, though 
 it may be connected with the Greek iJ.ayo<} in cnjiuiju.a-^o^. 
 See Curtius, Grundziige, p. 293 ; Grassmann, in Kuhn's 
 Zeitschrift, vol. xvi. p. 164. 
 
 There are two passages where makha refers to an enemy 
 of the gods, ix, loi, 13; x. 171, 2. 
 
 Among the remaining passages there is one where makha 
 is used in parallelism with vahni, x. 11, 6. vivakti vahniA, 
 su-apasyate makhaA. Here I propose to translate, The poet 
 speaks out, the priest works well. The same meaning seems 
 to me applicable likewise to the phrase makhasya davane, 
 to the offering of the priest. 
 
 i. 134, I. a yahi davane, vayo (iti), makhasya davane. 
 
 Come, Vayu, to the offering, to the offering of the priest. 
 
 \dii. 7, 27. a na^ makhasya davane — devasa^ upa gantana. 
 
 Come, gods, to the offering of our priest. 
 
 Professor Roth proposes to render makha in these passages 
 by 'attestation of joy, celebration, praise,' and he takes 
 davane, as I have done, as a dative of davan, a nomen 
 actionis, meaning, the giving. There are some passages 
 where one feels inclined to admit a noun davana, and to 
 take davane as a locative sing. 
 
 vi. 71, 2. devasya vayam savituA savimani 
 
 sreshMe syama vasunaA ^a davane. 
 
 May we be in the favour of the god Savitar, and in the 
 best award of his treasure. 
 
 In ii. II, I, and ii. 11, 12, the locative would likewise 
 be preferable ; but there is a decided majority of passages 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
34 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 in which davane occurs and Avhere it is to be taken as a 
 dative*, nor is there any other instance in the Veda of a 
 nomen actionis being formed by vana. It is better, there- 
 fore, in vi, 71, 2, to refer ^resh^Ae to savimani, and to make 
 allowance in the other passages for the idiomatic use of such 
 phrases as davane vasunam or raya^ davane. 
 
 The termination vane explains, as has been shown by 
 Professor Benfey, Greek infinitives such as SoOvai, i. e. 
 Soevai or SoFevai = Sanskrit da-vane. The termination mane 
 in da-mane, for the purjjose of giving, explains, as the same 
 scholar has proved, the ancient infinitives in Greek, such 
 as So-juLemi. It may be added that the regular infinitives 
 in Greek, ending in evai, as XeXonr-evai, are likewise 
 matched by Vedic forms such as ix. 61, 30. dhurv-ane, or 
 vi. 61, 13. vibhv-ane. In the termination eiv, which stands 
 for evi, like €19 for ecri, we have, on the contrary, not a 
 dative, but a locative of an abstract noun in an, both cases, 
 as we see from their juxta-position in xi. 71, 2, being equally 
 applicable to express the relation which w^e are accustoiiied 
 to call infinitive. 
 
 Verses 9 and 10, note ^ Although the names for earth, 
 sky, and heaven vary in different parts of the Veda, yet the 
 expression divaA roA-anam occurs so fi-equently that we can 
 hardly take it in this place in a sense different from its 
 ordinaiy meaning. Professor Benfey thinks that roAana 
 may here mean ether, and he translates ' come from heaven 
 above the ether;' and in the next verse, 'come from heaven 
 above the earth,' At first, every reader would feel inclined 
 to take the two phrases, divaA va ro/ranat adhi, and divaA 
 vu parthivat adhi, as parallel ; yet I believe they are not 
 (juite so. 
 
 The following passages will show that the two words 
 roAauam divaA belong together, and that they signify the 
 light of heaven, or the bright place of heaven. 
 
 viii. 98, 3. SLgakk/nih roAanum di\a/i. 
 
 * Rv. i. 61, 10 ; 122, 5 ; 134, 2 ; 139. 6 ; ii. i, 10 ; iv. 29, 5 ; 32, 9 ; v. 59, 
 : 4 ; 65, 3 ; viii. 25, 20 ; 45, 10; (92, a6) ; 46, 25 ; 27 ; 63, 5 ; 69. 17 : 70, 
 i; ix. 93, 4; X. 32,5; 44, 7; 50, 7. 
 
MA.V/JALA I, S^KTA 6. 35 
 
 Thou (Indra) wcntest to the Hght of heaven. 
 
 i. 155, 3. adhi ro/tane diva//. 
 
 In the hght of heaven. 
 
 iii. 6, cS. uraii va ye antiirikshe — diva/i va ye ro^ane. 
 
 In the %vide sky. or in the hght of heaven. 
 
 viii. 82, 4. upame roAane diva//. 
 
 In the highest hght of heaven. 
 
 ix. 86, 27. tntrje pnshMe adhi roA:ane diva^. 
 
 On the third ridge, in the hght of heaven. See also i. 
 
 1^5, 5; ^^"- ^9, 3- 
 
 The very phrase which we find in our verse, only with kit 
 instead of va, occurs again, i. 49, i ; viii. 8, 7 ; and the 
 same sense must probably be assigned to viii. i, 18, adha 
 gmih adha va diva/i brihata/? ro^anat adhi. 
 
 Either from the earth, or from the light of the great 
 heaven, increase, O Indra ! 
 
 IvoA'ana also occurs in the plural : 
 
 i, 146, I. visva divaA roA'ana. 
 
 All the bright regions of heaven. 
 
 Saya/m: 'All the bright palaces of the gods.' See iii, 12, 9. 
 
 The same word roAana, and in the same sense, is also 
 joined with surya and naka. 
 
 Thus, i, 14, 9. suryasya roAanat visvan devan — hota iha 
 vakshati. 
 
 May the Hotar bring the Vi^ve Devas hither from the 
 light of the sun, or from the bright realm of the sun. 
 
 iii. 32, 3. yah roA:ane pai'astat suryasya. 
 
 The waters which are above, in the bright realm of the 
 sun, and those which are below, 
 
 i. 19, 6, ye nakasya adhi roAane, divi devasa/i asate. 
 
 They w^ho in the light of the firmament, in heaven, are 
 enthroned as gods. 
 
 Here divi, in heaven, seems to be the same as the light 
 of the firmament, nakasya roAane. 
 
 Thus ro/cana occurs also frequently by itself, when it 
 clearly has the meaning of heaven. 
 
 It is said of the dawn, i. 49, 4 ; of the sun, i. 50, 4 ; and 
 of Indi'a, iii. 44, 4. 
 
 visvam a bhati roAanam, they light up the whole sky. 
 
 We also read of three roAranas, where, though it is difficult 
 D 2 
 
36 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 to say what is really meant, we must translate, the three 
 skies. The cosmography of the Veda is, as I said before, 
 somewhat vague and varjHng. There is, of course, the 
 natural division of the world into heaven and earth (dyu and 
 bhumi), and the threefold di^nsion into earth, sky, and heaven, 
 where sky is meant for the region intermediate between 
 heaven and earth (prithivi', antariksha, dyu). There is also 
 a fourfold division, for instance, 
 
 viii, 97, 5. yat va asi ro^ane divaA 
 
 samudrasya adhi ^'ish/api, 
 
 yat parthive sadane v?-itrahan-tama, 
 
 yat antarikshe a gahi. 
 
 Whether thou, O greatest killer of Vritra, art in the light 
 of heaven, or in the basin of the sea, or in the place of the 
 earth, or in the sky, come hither ! 
 
 v. 52, 7. ye vavridhanta parthivaA ye uraii antarikshe a, 
 vri^ane va nadmam sadha-sthe va maha^ divaA. 
 
 The Maruts who grew, being on the earth, those who are 
 in the wide sky, or in the compass of the rivers, or in the 
 abode of the great heaven. 
 
 But very soon these three or more regions are each 
 spoken of as threefold. Thus, 
 
 i. 102, 8. tisra/i bhumi^ tr^^zi ro^ana. 
 
 The three earths, the three skies. 
 
 ii. 27, 9. tri ro/:ana divya dharayanta. 
 
 The Adityas support the three heavenly skies. 
 
 V. 69, I. tr? ro^ana varu»a tinn uta dyun tvmi mitra 
 dharayatha^ r%a??isi. 
 
 Mitra and Yaruwa, you support the three lights, and the 
 three heavens, and the three skies. 
 
 Here there seems some confusion, wliich Sayawa^s com- 
 mentary makes even worse confounded. What can roA:ana 
 mean as distinct from dyu and ra_5'as ? The fourth verse of 
 the same hymn throws no Hght on the subject, and I should 
 feel inclined to take ch\ya-parthivasya as one word, though 
 even then the cosmic division here adopted is by no means 
 clear. However, there is a still more complicated division 
 alhuled to in iv. ^^, 5 : 
 
 tri/j antariksham savita mahi-tvana tri* riu/iV)is\ pari-bhu// 
 trim ro/tana, tisni// divaA p?-ithivi'// tisra// invati. 
 
MA.VDALA I, sOkTA G. 37 
 
 Here we have the sky thrice, three welkins, three hghts, 
 three heavens, three earths. 
 
 A careful consideration of all these passages will show, I 
 think, that in our passage we must take diva/i va ro^anat 
 adhi in its usual sense, and that we cannot separate the 
 two words. 
 
 In the next verse, on the contrary, it seems equally clear 
 that divaA and parthivat must be separated. At all events 
 there is no passage in the Rig-veda where parthiva is joined 
 as an adjective with dyii. Parthiva as an adjective is fre- 
 quently joined with ray/as, never with dyu. See i. 81,5; 90, 
 7; viii. 88, 5; ix. 72, 8 : in the plural, i. 154, i; v. 81, 3; 
 vi. 31, 2; 49, 3. 
 
 Parthivani also occurs by itself, when it means the earth, 
 as opposed to the sky and heaven. 
 
 X. 32, 2. VI indra yasi di\yam roA-ana vi parthivani ra^asa. 
 
 Indra thou goest in the sky between the heavenly lights 
 and the earthly. 
 
 x'm. 94, 9. a ye visva parthivani paprathan roA:ana divaA. 
 
 The Maruts who stretched out all the earthly lights, and 
 the lights of heaven. 
 
 vi. 61, II. a-paprushi parthivani uru r%a/i antariksham. 
 
 Sarasvati filling the eai^thly places, the wide welkin, the 
 sky. This is a doubtful passage. 
 
 Lastly, parthivani by itself seems to signify earth, sky, 
 and heaven, if those are the three regions which Vish?iu 
 measured with his three steps ; or east, the zenith, and 
 west, if these were intended as the three steps of that 
 deity. For we read : 
 
 i. 155, 4. ya^ parthivani tri-bhiA it vigama-bhiA uru kra- 
 mish/a. 
 
 He (Vishnu) who strode wide with his three strides across 
 the regions of the earth. 
 
 These two concluding verses might also be taken as 
 containing the actual invocation of the sacrificer, which is 
 mentioned in verse 8. In that case the full stop at the 
 end of verse 8 should be removed. 
 
38 HY]MNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 Maa^ZJALA I, S^KTA 19. 
 
 AsHT-AKA I, Adhyaya 1, Yarga 36-37. 
 
 1. Prati tyam ^aram adhvaram go-pithaya pra 
 hiiyase, marut-bhi/^ agne a galii. 
 
 2. Nahl deva/i na martya/^ maha/i tava kratum 
 para/i, marut-bhi/i agne K gahi. 
 
 3. Ye maha/i rar^asa/i vidiiA visve devasaA adruha/^, 
 raariit-bhiA agne K gahi. 
 
 4. Y^ ugrKh arkdm an?'i^u^ dnadhrish^dsaA d^as^, 
 marut-bhi/i. agne K gahi. 
 
 1. Wilson : Earnestly art thou invoked to this perfect rite, 
 to drink the Soma juice : come, Agni, with the ^Maruts. 
 
 Benfey : Zu diesem schonen Opfer wirst du gerufen, zum 
 Trank der Milch ! — Mit diesen Marut^s, Agni ! komm ! 
 
 Langlois : Le sacrifice est prepare avec soin ; nous t^appe- 
 lons k venir gouter des nos libations : Agni, viens avec les 
 Marouts. 
 
 2. Wilson : No g-od nor man has power over a rite (dedi- 
 cated) to thee, who art mighty : come, Agni, with the 
 Maruts. 
 
 Benfey : Denn nicht ein Gott, kein Sterhlicher ragt iiber 
 dein, des Grossen, Macht — l\Iit diesen Mai-ut's, Agni ! 
 komm ! 
 
 Langlois : Aucun dieu, aucun mortel n'est assez fort pour 
 latter contre un etre aussi grand que toi : Agni, viens avec 
 les Marouts. 
 
MAA^i)ALA I, SUKTA 10. 39 
 
 Hymn to Agni (the god of Fire) and the 
 Maruts (the Storm-gods). 
 
 1. Tliou art called forth to this fair sacrifice for a 
 draught of milk ;^ with the Maruts come hither, 
 Agni ! 
 
 2. No god indeed, no mortal, is beyond the might ^ 
 of thee, the mighty one ; with the Maruts come 
 hither, Agni ! 
 
 3. They who know of the great sky,^ the Visve 
 Devas ^ without guile ; ^ with those Maruts come 
 hither, Agni ! 
 
 4. The wild ones who sing their song,^ unconquer- 
 able by force ; with the Maruts come hither, 
 Agni ! 
 
 3. Wilson : Who all are divine, and devoid of malignity, 
 and who know (how to cause the descent) of great waters : 
 come, Agni, with the Maruts. 
 
 Benfey : Die guten Gotter, welche all bestehen in dem 
 weiten Raum — Mit diesen Marut's, Agni ! komm ! 
 
 Langlois : Tous ces dieux bienfaiteurs (des hommes) con- 
 naissent ce vaste monde (ou regne la lumiere) : Agni, viens 
 avec les Marouts. 
 
 4. Wilson : Who are fierce, and send down rain, and 
 are unsurpassed in strength : come, Agni, with the Ma- 
 ruts. 
 
 Benfey : Die schrecklich-unbesiegbaren, die machtiglich 
 Licht angefacht — Mit diesen Marut's, Agni ! komm ! 
 
 Langlois : Mena9ants, doues d^une force invincible, ils 
 peuvent obscurcir la lumiere du soleil : Agni, viens avec les 
 Marouts. 
 
40 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 5. Ye 6-ubhra/i ghord-varpasa/i su-kshatr^saA risa- 
 daseJi, marut-bhiA agne a gahi. 
 
 6. Ye n^kasya adhi ^o^'ane divi devasaA asate, 
 marut-bhi/i agne & gahi. 
 
 7. Ye inkhayanti pai-vatan tiraA samudram arna- 
 vdm, marut-bhiA. agne H gahi. 
 
 8. A ye tanvd^nti rasmi-bhi/^ tira/i samiidrdm d^yasa, 
 marut-bhiA agne K gahi. 
 
 9. Abhi tva piirva-pitaye srigKmi somyam madhu, 
 mainit-bhi/i agne K gahi. 
 
 5. Wilson : Who are brilliant, of terrific forms, who are 
 possessors of great wealth, and are devourers of the malevo- 
 lent : come, Agni, with the Maruts. 
 
 Benfey : Die glanzend-g-rau^ngestaltigen, hochherrsehend- 
 feindvernichtenden — Mit diesen Marut^s, Agni ! komm ! 
 
 Lakglois : Resplcndissants, revetus d'une forme terrible, ils 
 penvent donner les richesses, comme ils peuvent aussi detruire 
 leurs ennemis : Agni, viens avec les Marouts. 
 
 6. Wilson : Who are divinities abiding in the radiant 
 heaven above the sun : come, Agni, with the Maruts. 
 
 Benfey : Die Gotter die im Himmel sind ob dem Lichtkreis 
 des Gottersitz^s — Mit diesen Marut's, Agni ! komm ! 
 
 Langlois : Sous la voute brillante du ciel, ces dieux s'elevent 
 et vont s'asseoir : Ag-ni, viens avec les Marouts. 
 
 7. Wilson : Who scatter the clouds, and agitate the sea 
 (with waves) : come, Agni, with the ]\Iaruts. 
 
 Benfey : Welche iiber das wogende INIcer hinjagen die Wol- 
 kenschaar — Mit diesen Marut's, Agni ! komm ! 
 
MA.V/)ALA I, St^KTA 19. 41 
 
 5. They who are brilHant, of awfal shape, powerful, 
 and devourers of foes ; with the Maruts come hither, 
 Agni ! 
 
 6. Thev who in heaven are enthroned as ffods, in 
 the Hght of the firmament ; ^ with the Maruts come 
 liither, Agni ! 
 
 7. They who toss the clouds^ across the surging 
 sea ;^ with the Maruts come hither, Agni ! 
 
 8. They who shoot with their darts across the 
 sea with might ; with the Maruts come hither, 
 Agni ! 
 
 9. I pour out to thee for the early draught the 
 sweet (juice) of Soma ; with the Maruts come hither, 
 Agni ! 
 
 Langlois : lis soulevent et poussent les montagnes (de 
 nuages) au-dessus de rabime des mers : Agni^ viens avec 
 les Marouts. 
 
 8. Wilson : Who spread (through the firmament), along 
 with the rays (of the sun), and, with their strength, agitate 
 the ocean : come, Agni, with the Maruts. 
 
 Benfey : Die mit Blitzen schleuderen machtig iiber das 
 Meer hinaus — Mit diesen Marut's, Agni ! komm ! 
 
 L-OiGLOis : lis etendent avec force les rayons h travers 
 rOeean (celeste) : Agni, viens avec les Marouts. 
 
 9. Wilson : I pour out the sweet Soma juice for thy 
 drinking, (as) of old : come, Agni, with the Maruts. 
 
 Benfey : Ich giesse zu dem ersten Trank fiir dieh des 
 Soma Honig aus — Mit diesen Marut's, Agni ! komm ! 
 
 Langlois : A toi cette premiere libation ; je t'otfre la douce 
 boisson du soma : Agni, viens avec les Marouts. 
 
42 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 COMMENTARY. 
 
 This hymn is ascribed to Medhatithi, of the family of 
 Kawva. The metre is Gayatri throughout. 
 
 Verse 1, note ^ Gopitha is explained by Yaska and 
 Sayana as drinking of Soma. I have kept to the hteral 
 signification of the word, a draught of milk. In the last 
 verse of our hymn the hbation offered to Agni and the 
 Maruts is said to consist of Soma, but Soma was commonly 
 mixed with milk. The other meaning assigned to gopitha, 
 protection, would give the sense : * Thou art called for the 
 sake of protection.^ But pitha has clearly the sense of 
 drinking in soma-pitha, Rv. i. 51, 7, and must therefore be 
 taken in the same sense in gopitha. 
 
 Verse 2, note ^. The Sanskrit kratu expresses po^^'er both 
 of body and mind. 
 
 Verse 3, note ^ The sky or welkin (ra^as) is the proper 
 abode of the Maruts, and ' they who know of means simply 
 ' they who dwell' in the great sky. The Vedic poets dis- 
 tinguish commonly between the three worlds, the earth, 
 p?-ithivi, f., or parthiva, n. ; the sky, ra^as ; and the 
 heaven, dyii : see i. 6, 9, note ^ The phrase maha// raya- 
 sa/i occurs i. 6, 10; 168, 6, &c. Saya??a takes r%as for 
 water or rain : see on this my article in Kuhn's Zeitschrift, 
 vol. xii. p. 28. The identification of ra^as with epe^o^ 
 (Leo Meyer, in Kxihn's Zeitschrift, vol. vi. p. 19) must remain 
 doubtful until stronger evidence has been brought forward 
 in support of a Greek /8 representing a Sanskrit ff, even 
 in the middle of a word. See my ai-ticle in Kuhn's Zeit- 
 schrifl, vol. xv. p. 215; Curtius, Grundzuge, p. 421. 
 
 Verse 3, note ^. The appellation Vi5ve deva/?, all gods 
 together, or, more properly, host-gods, is often applied to 
 the Maruts; of, i. 23, 8; 10. Benfey connects this line with 
 the preceding verse, considering Visve devafi, it seems, in- 
 appropriate as an epithet of the Maruts. 
 
 Verse 3, note "'. On adnib, Avithout gnile or deceit, 
 
MANDAhA I, SIJKTA 19. 43 
 
 without hatred, see Kuhn's excellent article, Zeitschrift 
 fur die Vergleichende Sprachforschung, vol. i, pp. 179, 193. 
 Adi'uh is applied to the Maruts again in viii. 46, 4, though 
 in connection with other gods. It is applied to the Visve 
 Devas, Rv, i, 3, 9 ; ix. 102, 5 : the Adityas, Rv. ^^ii. 19, 34 ; 
 67, 13 : the Rudras, Rv. ix. 73, 7 : to Heaven and Earth, 
 Rv. ii, 41, 21; iii. 56, i; iv, ^6, 2; vii. 66, 18: to Mitra 
 and Varuna, Rv. v. 68, 4 : to Agni, Rv. vi. 15, 7 ; viii. 44, 
 10, The form adhruk occurs in the sixth Mandala only. 
 
 Verse 4, note ^ Saya«a explains arka by water. Hence 
 Wilson : * Who are fierce and send down rain,' But arka 
 has only received this meaning of water in the artificial 
 system of interpretation first started by the authors of the 
 Brahma«as, who had lost all knowledge of the natural sense 
 of the ancient hymns. The passages in which arka is 
 explained as water in the Brahma«as are quoted by Sayana, 
 but they require no refutation. On the singing of the 
 Maruts see note to i. 38, 15. The perfect in the Veda, 
 like the perfect in Homer, has frequently to be rendered in 
 English by the present. 
 
 Verse 6, note ^ Naka must be translated by firmament, 
 as there is no other word in English besides heaven, and 
 this is wanted to render dyu. Like the Jewish firmament, 
 the IncUan naka, too, is adorned with stars ; cf. i. 68, 10. 
 pipe^a nakam stribhi^. Dyu, heaven, is supposed to be 
 above the ra^as, sky or welkin. Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. xii. 
 p. 28. 
 
 Sayarza : ' In the radiant heaven above the sun.' See note ^ 
 to i. 6, 9 ; p. 34. 
 
 Verse 7, note ^. That parvata (mountain) is used in the 
 sense of cloud, without any further explanation, is clear 
 from many passages : 
 
 i. 57, 6. tvam tam indra parvatam maham uriini \a.(/rena. 
 vayrin parva-5aA ^akartitha. 
 
 Thou, Indra, hast cut this great broad cloud to pieces 
 with thy lightning. Cf. i. 85, 10. 
 
 We actually find two similes mixed up together, such 
 
44 HYMNS TO THE MAHUTS. 
 
 as V. 32, 2, udha^ parvatasya, the udder of the cloud. In 
 the Edda, too, the rocks, said to have been fashioned out 
 of Ymir's bones, are supposed to be intended for clouds. 
 In Old Norse klakkr means both cloud and rock ; nay, the 
 Enfjlish -svord cloud itself has been identified with the 
 Anglo-Saxon dud, rock. See Justi, Orient und Occident, 
 vol. ii. p. 62. 
 
 Verse 7, note ^. Whether the surging sea is to be taken for 
 the sea or for the air, depends on the view which we take of 
 the earliest cosmography of theVedic i?ishis. Saya/^a explains : 
 ' They who make the clouds go, and stir the waterj' sea.' 
 AVilson remarks that the influence of the winds upon the sea, 
 alluded to in this and the following verse, indicates more 
 familiarity with the ocean than we should have expected from 
 the traditional inland position of the early Hindus, and it has 
 therefore been supposed that, even in passages hke our own, 
 samudra was meant for the sky, the waters above the firma- 
 ment. But although there are passages in the Rig-veda where 
 samudra may be taken to mean the welkin, this word shows 
 in by far the larger number of passages the clear meaning 
 of ocean. There is one famous passage, vii. 95, 2, w^hich 
 proves that the Vedic poets, who were supposed to have 
 known the upper courses only of the rivers of the Penjab, 
 had followed the greatest and most sacred of their rivers, 
 the Sarasvati, as far as the Indian ocean. It is well known 
 that, as early as the composition of the laws of the Manavas, 
 and possibly as early as the composition of the Sutras on 
 Avhich these metrical laws are based, the river Sarasvati had 
 changed its course, and that the place where that river 
 disappeared under ground was called Vinasana, the loss. 
 This Vina^ana forms, according to the laws of the Manavas, 
 the western frontier of Madhyade^a, the easteni fi'ontier 
 being formed by the confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna. 
 Madhyadcsa is a section of Arj-avarta, the abode of the 
 Aiyas in the widest sense. Aryavaila shares with Madhya- 
 desa the same frontiers in the north and the south, viz, the 
 Himalaya and Vindhya mountains, but it extends beyond 
 Madhyadesa to the west and east as far as the western 
 and eastern seas, A section of Madhyade.^a, again, is the 
 
MAA'DALA T, SUKTA 19. 45 
 
 country described as that of the Brahmars'his, which com- 
 prises only Kurukshetra, the countries of the Matsyas, 
 PaiiHlas (Kanyakub^a, according to Kulluka), and SCu'asenas 
 (Mathura, according to Kulluka). The most sacred spot 
 of all, however, is that section of the Brahmarshi coiuitry 
 which lies between the rivers Drishadvati and Sarasvati, 
 and which in the laws of the Manavas is called Brahmavarta. 
 I have not found any mention of the Vinasana of the Sara- 
 svati in any of those works which the author of the laws of 
 the Manavas may be supposed to have consulted. Madhya- 
 de^a is indeed mentioned in one of the Parisish^as (MS. 510, 
 Wilson) as a kind of model country, but it is there described 
 as lying east of Dasarwa*, west of Kampilyaf, north of 
 Pariyatra J, and south of the Himavat, or again, in a more 
 general way, as the Duab of the Ganga and Yamuna ^. 
 
 It is veiy curious that while in the later Sanskrit lite- 
 rature the disappearance of the Sarasvati in the desert is a 
 fact familiar to every writer, no mention of it should occur 
 during the whole of the Vedic period, and it is still more 
 cvirious that in one of the hymns of the Rig-veda we should 
 have a distinct statement that the Sarasvati fell into the sea : 
 
 vii. 95, 1-2. pra kshodasa dhayasa sasre esha sarasvati 
 dharu/mm ayasi puA, pra-babadhana rathya-iva yati \is\a.k 
 apa/i mahina sindhu/i anya/i. eka a^etat sarasvati nadinam 
 snkih yati giri-bhya/i a samudi'at, rajah A:etanti bhuvanasya 
 bhure/i ghritam paya/« duduhe nahushaya. 
 
 I. With her fertilizing stream this Sarasvati comes forth — 
 (she is to us) a stronghold, an iron gate. Moving along as 
 on a chariot, this river surpasses in greatness all other waters. 
 2. Alone among all rivers Sarasvati hstened, she who goes 
 
 * See Wilson's Vishwu-purana, ed. Hall, pp. 154, 155, 159, 160. 
 
 + See Wilson's VisliMU-pura,7za, ed. Hall, p. 161. 
 
 t 1. c. pp. 123, 127. 
 
 § Prag dasaniat pratyak kampilyad udak pariyatrad, dakshiwena hiinavata/t. 
 Gangayamunayor antaram eke madhyadesam ity aA-akshate. Medhatithi says 
 that Madhyadesa, the middle country, was not called so because it was in the 
 middle of the earth, but because it was neither too high nor too low. Albiruny, 
 too, remarks that Madhyadesa was between the sea and the northern mountains, 
 between the hot and the cold countries, equally distant from the eastern and 
 western frontiers. See Reinaud, M^moire sur I'lnde, p. 46. 
 
46 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 pure from the mountains as far as the sea. She who knows 
 of the manifold wealth of the world, has poured out to man 
 her fat milk. 
 
 Here we see samudra used clearly in the sense of sea, the 
 Indian sea, and we have at the same time a new mdication 
 of the distance which separates the Yedic age from that of 
 the later Sanskrit hterature. Though it may not be possible 
 to determine by geological evidence the time of the changes 
 which modified the southern area of the Penjab and caused 
 the Sarasvati to disappear in the desert, still the fact remains 
 that the loss of the Sarasvati is later than the Vedic age, and 
 that at that time the waters of the Sarasvati reached the 
 sea. Professor Wilson had observed long ago in reference 
 to the rivers of that part of India, that there have been, no 
 doubt, considerable changes here, both in the nomenclature 
 and in the courses of the rivers, and this remark has been 
 fully confirmed by later observations. I beheve it can be 
 proved that in the Vedic age the Sai-asvati was a river as 
 large as the Sutlej, that it was the last of the rivers of the 
 Penjab, and therefore the iron gate, or the real fi-ontier 
 against the rest of India. At present the Sarasvati is so 
 small a river that the epithets applied to the Sai*asvati in 
 the Veda have become quite inapplicable to it. The Vedic 
 7?ishis, though acquainted with numerous rivers, including 
 the Indus and Ganges, call the Sarasvati the mother of 
 rivers (vii. 0^6, 6. sarasvati saptathi sindliu-mata), the 
 strongest of rivers {\\. 6i, 13. apasfim apaA-tama), and in our 
 passage, vii. 95, 2, we have, as far as I can judge, conclusive 
 evidence that the old Sai-asvati reached in its course the 
 Indian sea, either by itself, or united with the Indus. 
 
 But this passage, though important as showing the appli- 
 cation of samudra, i. e. confluvies, to the Inchan sea, and 
 proving the acquaintance of the Yedic i?ishis with the 
 southern coast of India, is by no means the only one in 
 which samudra must be translated by sea. Thus we read, 
 vii. 49, 2 : 
 
 ya/^ apa/i divya/t uta va sravanti khanitrima/i iitii va ya'A 
 svayam-^a/(, samuch-a-arthaA ya/i AiiAaya// pavaka// ta7< apa/t 
 devr/i iha mam avantu. 
 
 The waters which ai'e from heaven, or those which flow 
 
MAiVi)ALA I, SUKTA 19. 47 
 
 after being diig;, or those which spring up by themselves, 
 the bright, pure waters that tend to the sea, may those 
 divine waters protect me here ! 
 
 i. 71, 7. agnim visvaA abhi {jriksha/^ sa^ante samudrani 
 na sravata/i sa})ta yahviVi. 
 
 All kinds of food go to Agni, as the seven rivers go to 
 the sea. 
 
 Cf. i. 190, 7. samuch'am na sravata/i r6dha-/takra/i, 
 
 V. 78, 8. yatha vataA yatlia vanam yatha samudi'aA e^ati. 
 
 As the wind moves, as the forest moves, as the sea moves 
 (or the sky). 
 
 In hymn x. 58, the same expression occurs which we have 
 in our hymn, and samudram ar;«avam there as here admits 
 but of one explanation, the surging sea. 
 
 Samudra in many passages of the Rig-veda has to be 
 taken as an adjective, in the sense of watery or flowing : 
 
 '^'i. 58, 3. yas te pushan navnh antaA samudre hirawyayi/i 
 antarikshe A:aranti. 
 
 Thy golden ships, O Pushan, which move within the 
 watery sky. 
 
 vii. 70, 2. ya^ vam samudi'an saritaA piparti. 
 
 He w^ho carries you across the watery rivers. 
 
 i. 161, 14. at-bhi/i yati yarwiah samudraiA. 
 
 Varu/m moves in the flowing waters. 
 
 In both these passages samudra, as an adjective, does 
 not conform to the gender of the noun. See Bollensen, 
 Orient und Occident, vol. ii. p. 467. 
 
 ii. 16, 3. na samuckai/i parvataiA indra te ratha/i (na 
 pari-bhve) . 
 
 Thy chariot, O Indra, is not to be overcome by the 
 watery clouds. 
 
 L 1 ii li A li V 
 
 UNiVKRSJTV OK 
 
 CALIFORNIA. 
 
 x 
 
48 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 MandALJl I, StKTA 37. 
 ASHTAKA I, AdHYIyA 3, Y AEG A 12-14. 
 
 1. KriMm vnh sardhaA raarutam anarva/iam rathe- 
 subham, kdJivaA abhl pra gayata. 
 
 2. Ye prishatibhi/i ?'ish^i-bhi/i sakdm vasibhiA a%i- 
 bhiA, d^ayanta sva-bhanavaA. 
 
 3. Ihd-iva si^inve esham kis^ hdsteshu jit vdddn, 
 ni yaman IcitrAm rmgsiiG. 
 
 4. Prd va/i sdrdhaya ghrishvaye tveshd-dyumndya 
 sushmi/^e, devdttam brdhma gayata. 
 
 1. Wilson: Celebrate, Kauwas, the aggregate strength of 
 the Maruts, sportive, without horses, but shining in their 
 car. 
 
 Benfey : Ka^ividen, auf ! begriisst mit Sang, die muntre 
 Heerschaar der Marut's, die raseh''ste, wagenglanzende. 
 
 Langlois : Enfants de Canwa, eelebrez la puissance des 
 Marouts que transporte un char brillant, (puissance) rapide 
 et inattaquable dont vous ressentez les effets. 
 
 2. Wilson : Who, borne by spotted deer, were born self- 
 radiant, with weapons, war-cries, and decorations. 
 
 Benfey : Die mit Hirschen und Speeren gleich mit 
 Donnern und mit Blitzen auch — selbststrahlende — geboren 
 sind. 
 
 Langlois : lis viennent de naitre, brillants de leur propre 
 eclat. (Voyez-vous) leurs armes, leurs parures, leur char traine 
 par les daims ? (entendez-vous) leurs clamours ? 
 
MA.NDAJ.A I, SUKTA 37. 49 
 
 Hymn to the Maruts (the Storm-gods). 
 
 1. Sing forth, O Ka?ivas, to the sportive host of 
 your Maruts, brilliant on their chariots, and un- 
 scathed,^ — 
 
 2. They who were born together, self-luminous, 
 with the spotted deer (the clouds),^ the spears, the 
 daggers, the glittering ornaments.^ 
 
 3. I hear their ^ whips, almost close by, as they 
 crack them in their hands ; they gain splendour ^ on 
 their way.^ 
 
 4. Sing forth your god-given prayer to the ex- 
 ultant ^ host of your Maruts, the furiously vigorous,^ 
 the powerful. 
 
 3. Wilson : I hear the cracking of the whips in their 
 ' hands, wonderfully inspiring (courage) in the fight. 
 
 Benfey : Schier hier erschallt der Peitsche Knall, wenn 
 sie in ihrer Hand erkling't; leuchtend fahr^n sie im Sturm 
 herab. 
 
 Langlois : Ecoutez^ c^est le bruit du fouet qu-'ils tiennent 
 dans leurs mains; c^est le bruit qui, dans le combat, anime 
 le courag-e, 
 
 4. Wilson : Address the god-given prayer to those who 
 are your strength, the destroyers of foes, the powerful, pos- 
 sessed of brilliant reputation. 
 
 Benfey : Singt eurer Schaar, der wiihlenden, der strahlen- 
 reichen, kraftigen ein gotterfiilletes Gebet ! 
 
 Langloi§ : A cette troupe (divine), qui detruit vos ennemis, 
 noble, forte et glorieuse, offrez la part d^hymnes et de sacrifices 
 , que lui donnent les Devas. 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 
50 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 5. Pr^ 5a?>isa g6shii agbnyam kri/am yat sardha/i 
 manitam, ^dmbhe rdsasya vav?'idhe. 
 
 6. Kd/i va/i varshishf/ia/i a nara/i diva/i ka, gmdh 
 yta dhdtayaA, jit sim dntam na dhunuthd. 
 
 7. Ni va/i yatmaya m^nusba/i dadhre ugi'aya man- 
 ydve, ^Ihlta pdrvataA giri/i. 
 
 8. YesMm %meshu prithivi ^u^urvUn-iva vispdtiA, 
 bhiyai yameshu rebate. 
 
 9. Stbirdm bi ^^nam esb4ni vayaA mki^h niA-etave, 
 vdt slm c4nu dvit^ sivsJi. 
 
 5. Wilson : Praise the sportive and resistless might of the 
 Maruts, who were born amongst kine, and whose strength 
 has been nourished by (the enjoyment of) the milk. 
 
 Benfey : Preist hoch die muntre Marutsehaar die unbe- 
 sieg'bar in den Kiih'n, im Schlund des Safts wuehs sie heran. 
 
 Langlois : Loue done cette puissance des Marouts, invul- 
 nerable et rapide^ qui regne au milieu des vaehes (celestes), 
 et ouvre avee force (leurs mamelles pour en faire couler) le 
 lait. 
 
 6. Wilson : Which is chief leader among you, agitators of 
 heaven and earth, who shake all around, like the top (of a 
 tree) ? 
 
 Benfey : Wer, Helden ! ist der erste euch — ihr Erd- und 
 Himmel-schiitterer ! — wenn ihr sie schiittelt Wipfeln gleich ? 
 
 Langlois : Parmi vous qui remuez si puissamment le ciel et 
 la terre, qui agitez celle-ci comme la cime (d^nl arbre), quel 
 est le plus vigoureux ? 
 
 7. Wilson : The householder, in dread of your fierce and 
 violent approach, has planted a firm (buttress) ; for the many- 
 ridged mountain is shattered (before you) . 
 
MAjNrZ)ALA I, Sl^KTA 37. 51 
 
 5. Celebrate the bull among the cows (the storm 
 among the clouds)/ for it is the sportive host of the 
 Maruts ; he grew as he tasted the rain.^ 
 
 6. Who, ye men, is the oldest among you here, 
 ye shakers of heaven and earth, when you shake 
 them like the hem of a garment "? ^ 
 
 7. At yoiu' approach the son of man holds himself 
 down ; the gnarled cloud ^ fled at your fierce anger. 
 
 8. They at whose racings^ the earth, like a hoary 
 king, trembles for fear on their ways, 
 
 9. Their birth is strong indeed : there is strength 
 to come foith from their mother, nay, there is vigour 
 twice enough for it.^ 
 
 Benpey : Vor eurem Gange beuget sich^ vor eurem wilden 
 Zorn der Mann; der Hiigel weichet und der Berg; 
 
 Langlois : Centre votre marehe impetueuse et terrible, 
 rhomme ne pent resister ; les collines et les montagnes 
 s'abaissent devant vous, 
 
 8. Wilson : At whose impetuous approach earth trembles ; 
 like an enfeebled monarch, throug-h dread (of his enemies). 
 
 Benfey : Bei deren Lauf bei deren Sturm die Erde zittert 
 voller Furcht, wie ein altergebeug-ter ]\Iann. 
 
 Langlois : Sous vos pas redoutables, la terre tremble de 
 erainte, telle qu'un roi accable par Fage. 
 
 9. Wilson : Stable is their birthplace, (the sky) ; yet the 
 birds (are able) to issue from (the sphere of) their parent : for 
 your strength is everywhere (divided) between two (regions, 
 — or, heaven and earth). 
 
 Benfey : Kaum geboren sind sie so stark, dass ihrer Mutter 
 sie entfliehn : ist ja doch zwiefach ihre Kraft. 
 
 Langlois : Le lieu de votre naissance est ferme et stable ; 
 vous pouvez, du sein de votre mere, vous elancer, tels que des 
 oiseaux ; car, des deux cotes, est un element solide. 
 E 2 
 
52 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 10. Ut hm (Iti) tye sunava/i giraA k^shthih ^gme- 
 shu atnata, vasraA abhi-^nu yatave. 
 
 11. Tydm kit gha dirghdm p>ithum milia/i napatam 
 ilm?idhram, prd, ^^yavayanti yama-bhi/i. 
 
 12. Mdruta^ yat ha vaA bdlam gin^m aAru^yavltana, 
 girin aA-u^yavitana. 
 
 13. Ydt ha yanti maruta/i sam ha bruvate ddhvan 
 ^, srindti kd/t X'it esh^m. 
 
 14. Prd y4ta siTDham asu-bhi/i sdnti H?iveshu va/^ 
 diiva/i, tdtro (iti) su madayadhvai. 
 
 1 0. Wilson : They are the generators of speech : they 
 spread out the waters in their courses : they urge the lowing 
 (cattle) to enter (the water), up to their knees, (to drink.) 
 
 Benfey : In ihrem Lauf erheben dann diese Sohne Getos 
 und Fluth, die bis zum Knie den Kiihen geht. 
 
 Langlois : Ces (dieux) repandent le son comme on repand 
 la libation. Leur souffle etend les voies du ciel ; (Feau tombe) 
 et la vache (en s'y desalterant) , y entre jusqu'aux genoux. 
 
 11. Wilson: They drive before them, in their course, the 
 long, vast, uninsurable, rain-retaining cloud. 
 
 Benfey : Dann treiben sie im Sturm hcran jenon langcn 
 und breiten Spross derWolke unerschopflichen. 
 
 Langlois : (Voyez-vous) ce long et large (nuage), fils de 
 Ponde (qui s'y amoncelle) ? (II semble) invulnerable. (Les 
 Marouts) savent le ehemin par lequel on arrive jusqu''a lui 
 pour Febranler. 
 
 12. Wilson : Maruts, as you have vigour, invi^oi-ate man- 
 kind : give animation to the clouds. 
 
MAiVDALA I, S1&KTA 37. 53 
 
 10. And these sons, the singers/ enlarged the 
 fences in their coursings ; ^ the cows had to walk 
 knee-deep. 
 
 11. They cause this long and broad unceasing 
 rain^ to fall on their ways. 
 
 12. Maruts, with such strength as yours, you 
 have caused men to fall,^ you have caused the moun- 
 tains to fall. 
 
 13. As the Maruts pass^ along, they talk together 
 on the way : does any one hear them ? 
 
 14. Come fast on your quick steeds ! there are 
 worshippers^ for you among the KaTivas : may you 
 well rejoice among them. 
 
 Benfey : O Marut's ! mit der Kraft, die ihr besitzt, vverft 
 ihr Geschojjfe um, die Berge vverft ihr um sogar. 
 
 Langlois : O Marouts, puisque vous avez la force, faites-la 
 sentir aux hommes, faites-la sentir aux collines. 
 
 13. Wilson : Wherever the Maruts pass, they fill the way 
 with clamour : every one hears their (noise). 
 
 Benfey : Wenn die Marut's des Weges ziehu, dann sprechen 
 mit einander sie imd mancher mag sie horen. 
 
 Langlois : Quand les Marouts sont en marche, le cliemin 
 retentit de leur voix : chaeun les entend. 
 
 14. Wilson : Come quickly, with your swift (vehicles). 
 The offerings of the Kan was are prepared. Be pleased with 
 them. 
 
 Benfey : Auf schnellen kommet schnell herhei, bei Kvluysl's 
 Spross sind Feste euch : da wollt euch schon ergotzen. 
 
 Langlois : Accourez, portez ici vos pas rapides. Les enfants 
 de Canwa vous attendent avec leurs offrandes ; ici vous serez 
 satisfaits. 
 
64 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 15. Asti hi sma mddaya \dJi smasi sma vaydm 
 esham, vlsvam kit sijuli ^ivase. 
 
 15. Wilson : The offering is prepared for your gratification : 
 we are your (worshippers), that we may live all our life. 
 
 Benfey : Geriistet ist fiir euren Rausch und wir gehoren, 
 
 COMMENTARY. 
 
 This hymn is ascribed to Kanva, the son of Ghora . The 
 metre is Gayatri. 
 
 Verse 1, note \ Wilson translates anars-a'»am by without 
 horses, though the commentator distinctly explains the 
 word by without an enemy. Wilson considers it doubtful 
 whether arvan can ever mean enemy. The fact is, that in 
 the Rig-veda an-arvan . never means without horses, but 
 always without hurt or free from enemies ; and the com- 
 mentator is perfectly right, as fai* as the sense is concerned, 
 in rendering the word by without an enemy, or unopposed 
 (apraty-rita). An-arvjin is not formed from arvat, horse, 
 racer, but from arvan ; and this is derived from the same 
 root which yields arus, n. a wound. The accusative of anar- 
 vat, without a horse, would be anarvantam, not anarva;2am. 
 
 The root ar, in the sense of hurting, is distantly connected 
 with the root mar: see Lectures on the Science of Lan- 
 guage, Second Series, p. 323. It exists in the Greek 
 oWv^i, corresponding to Sanskrit 7'i«omi, i. e. arnomi, I 
 hiu't, likewise in ouA>/, wound, which cannot be derived 
 from o\}] ; in ov\o^, ouXiog, hurtful, and 6X069, destructive : 
 see Curtius, Grundziige der Griechischen Etymologic (zweite 
 Ausgabe), pp. 59, 505. In the Yeda ar has the sense of 
 offending or injuring, particularly if preceded by upa. 
 
 X. 164, 3, yat cWasa ni/i-rasa abhi-^asa upa-arima ffK- 
 gi'ata/t yat svapanta/i, agni/* vi.9vani apa du//-k/-ita'ni %ushAani 
 are asmat dadhatu. 
 
MAiVi)ALA I, stjKTA 37. 55 
 
 15, Truly there is enough for your rejoicing. We 
 always are their servants, that we may live even the 
 whole of life. 
 
 traun ! eueh an fiir unser ganzes Lebelang. 
 
 Langlois : Agreez iiotre sacrifice, car nous vous sommes 
 devoues. Daignez nous assurer une longue existence. 
 
 If we have otFended, or whatever fault we have committed, 
 by bidding, blaming, or forbidding, while waking or while 
 sleeping, may Agni remove all wicked misdeeds far fi'om us. 
 
 Hence upara, injury, \di. 86, 6. asti ffjayan kaniyasaA 
 upa-are, the older man is there to injure, to offend, to mis- 
 lead, the young : (History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, 
 second edition, p. 541.) Roth translates vipara by Verfeh- 
 lung, missing. Ari, enemy, too, is best derived from this 
 root, and not from ra, to give, with the negative particle, 
 as if meaning originally, as Saya?za supposes, a man who 
 does not give. In ararivan, gen. ararushaA, hostile, Rosen 
 recognized many years ago a participle of a really redupli- 
 cated perfect of ar, and he likewise traced araru, enemy, 
 back to the same root: see his note to i. 18, 3. 
 
 From this root ar, to hurt, arvan, hurting, as well as 
 arus, wound, are derived in the same manner as both 
 dhanvan and dhanus, bow, are formed from dhan ; ya^van 
 and ya_^us from ya^, panan and parus from par. See 
 Kuhn, Zeitschrift, vol. ii. p. 233. 
 
 Anarvan, then, is the same as anarus, /Sat. P. Brahma/ia 
 iii. I, 3, 7 ; and from meaning originally without a wound 
 or without one who can wound, it takes the more general 
 sense of uninjured, invulnerable, perfect, strong, (cf. inte- 
 ger, intact, and entire.) This meaning is applicable to i. 
 94,2; 136, 5; ii. 6, 5; V. 49, 4; \ai. 20,3; 97, 5; x. 61, 
 ^3' ^D> 3- hi i. T16, 16, anarvan seems to be used as an 
 adverb; in i. 51, 12, as applied to sloka, it may have the 
 more general meaning of irresistible, powerful. 
 
56 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 There are two passages in which the nom. sing, an^an, 
 and one in which the ace. sing, arvawam, occur, apparently 
 meaning horse. But in i. 163, 13, and ix. 97, 25, ars'an 
 stands in the Pada text only, the Sanhita has ar^^a akkha. 
 and ar\'a iva. In x. 46, 5, the text hiri-^masrum na arvawam 
 dhana-arA-am is too doubtful to allow of any safe induction, 
 particularly as the Sama-veda gives a totally different read- 
 ing. I do not think therefore that anat, horse, admits in 
 the nom. and ace. sing, of any forms but arva and anan- 
 tam. Pa?^ini (vi. 4, 127) allows the forms ars'an and arva- 
 wam, but in ananan only, which, as we saw, has nothing 
 in common \\ith an^at, horse. Benfey : ' die rascheste 
 (keinen Renner habend, uneinholbar),' the quickest (having 
 no racer, hence not to be reached). 
 
 The masculine anan^awam after the neuter sardhas is 
 curious ; s-ardhas means might, but it is here used to 
 express a might or an aggregate of strong men or gods, 
 and the nom. plur. ye, who, in the next verse, shows the 
 same transition of thought, not only fi'om the singular to 
 the plural, but also from the neuter to the masculine, which 
 must be admitted in anarva^zam. It woidd be possible, if 
 necessary, to explain away the irregidarity of anarvawam by 
 admitting a rapid transition from the Maruts to Inch-a, the 
 eldest among the Maruts (cf. i. 23, 8. indra-yyeshMa^ marut- 
 ga;?a/<), and it would be easier still to alter 5ardhas into 
 sardham, as an accusative singular of the masculine noun 
 sardha, which has the same meaning as the neuter sardhas. 
 There is one passage, v. 56, 9, which would seem to give 
 ample countenance to such a conjecture : 
 
 tam yah siirdham rathe-;?ubham — a huve. 
 
 I call hither this your host, brilliant on chariots. 
 
 Again, ii. 30, 11, we read: 
 
 tam vah ^ardham marutam — gira lipa bruve. 
 
 I call with my voice on this your host of Maruts. 
 
 viii. 93, 16. srutam va// vritrahan-tamam pra sardham 
 A-arsha»ina'm, a .s'ushe. 
 
 I ])ant for the glorious, victorious, host of the quick 
 Maruts. 
 
 From this .vardha we have also the genitive .s-iirdhasya, 
 vii. 56, 8 (4) : 
 
MAN D ALA 1, SUKTA 37. 57 
 
 cfubhra/i vaA 5ushma/i kriidhini mana?wsi dhuni/t muniA- 
 iva sardhasya dh?-ish/M5//. 
 
 Your strength is brilliant, your minds furious ; the shout 
 of the daring host is like one possessed. 
 
 AVe have likewise the dative .s'ardhaya, the instrumental 
 .vardhena, and the ace. plur, ^ardlian ; and in most cases, 
 except in two or three where ^ardha seems to be used as 
 an adjective, meaning strong, these words are applied to the 
 host of the Maruts. 
 
 But the other word sardhas is equally well authenti- 
 cated, and we find of it, not only the nominative, accu- 
 sative, and vocative sing, ^ardhas, but likewise the nom. 
 plur. 6"ardha«isi. 
 
 The nominative singular occurs in our very hymn : 
 
 i- 37 > 5' kri/am yat ^ardhaA marutam. 
 
 Which is the sportive host of the Marvits, 
 
 i. 137, 6. saA hi sardhah na marutam tuvi-svani/<. 
 
 For he (Agni) is strong-voiced like the host of the Maruts. 
 
 iv. 6, 10. tuvi-svanasa/i marutam na sardhah. 
 
 Thy flames (Agni) are strong-voiced like the host of the 
 Maruts. 
 
 V, 46, 5. uta tyat naA marutam .<fardhaA a gamat. 
 
 May also that host of the Maruts come to us. 
 
 ii. I, 5. tvam naram ^ardha-^ asi puru-vasu/^. 
 
 Thou (Agni), full of riches, art the host of the men. 
 
 This host of men seems to me intended again for the 
 Maruts, although it is true that in thus identifying Agni 
 wdth different gods, the poet repeats himself in the next 
 verse : 
 
 ii. I, 6. tvam ^ardhaA marutam. 
 
 Thou art the host of the Maruts. 
 
 If this repetition seems offensive, the first naram sardhas 
 might be taken for some other company of gods. Thus 
 we find : 
 
 vii. 44, 5. srinotu na/i dahyam sardha/f agni/t sriwvantu 
 visve mahisha'A amura//. 
 
 May the divine host, may Agni, hear us, may the Vi.sve 
 hear us, the strong, the wise. 
 
 Or iii. 19, 4. sa^ a vaha deva-tatim yavish^//a i<»ardha/i 
 yat adya divyam ya^asi. 
 
58 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 Bring thou hither, O Agni, the gods, that vou mav 
 sacrifice to-day to the divine host. 
 
 Or i. 139, I. a nu tat ^ardhaA di\yam vri^amahe. 
 
 We chose for us now that cUvine host. 
 
 As in these last, so in many other passages, iardhas is 
 used as a neuter in the accusative. For instance, 
 
 i. 106, i; ii. II, 14. marutara irardhaA. 
 
 ii. 3, 3; vi. 3, 8. 5ardha// marutam. 
 
 The vocative occurs, 
 
 V. 46, 2. agne indi'a varu/m mitra devah sa.rdha.fi pra 
 yanta maruta uta vish/?o (iti). 
 
 Agni, India, Varu>/a, Mitra, gods, host of the Maruts, 
 come forth, and Vish;m ! 
 
 We see how throughout all these passages those in w hich 
 .sardlia and ^ardhas are applied to the Maruts, or to some 
 other company of gods, preponderate most decidedly. Yet 
 passages occur in the Rig-veda where both 5ardha and ^ar- 
 dhas are applied to other hosts or companies. Thus v. j^, 
 10, 5ardha refers to chariots, while in i, 133, 3, sardhas 
 is applied to evil sj)irits. 
 
 If the passages hitherto examined were all that occur in 
 the Rig-veda, we might still feel startled at the construction 
 of our verse, where ,*?ardhas is not only followed by mascu- 
 line adjectives in the singular, but, in the next verse, by a 
 pronoun in the plural. But if we take the last irregularity 
 first, we find the same construction, viz. sardhas followed 
 by ye, in iii. 32, 4: 
 
 indrasya .fardha// maruta/i ye asan. 
 
 The host of Indra, that Avas the Maruts. 
 
 As to the change of genders, we find adjectives in the 
 masculine after sardhas, in 
 
 V. 52, 8. sardhah marutam ut samsa satya-.<ravasam ribh- 
 vasam. 
 
 Celebrate the host of the Maruts, the truly vigorous, the 
 brilliant. 
 
 Here, too, the poet afterwards continues in the plural, 
 tliough as he uses the demonstrative, and not, as in our 
 passage, the reLitive j)ronoun, we cannot quote this in sup- 
 port of the irregularity which has here to be explained. 
 Anyhow the construction of our verse, though bold and 
 
MAiVZJALA 1, SUKTA 37. 59 
 
 unusual, is not so unusual as to force us to adojjt conjectiiral 
 remedies, and in v. 58, 2, we find ye after ga^m//. On the 
 Unibrian (^erfo Martio, as possibly the same as A^ardha-s 
 maruta-s, see Grassman, Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. xvi. p. 190. 
 
 Verse 2, note \ The spotted deer (p^ishati) are the 
 recognized animals of the Maruts, and were originally, as it 
 would seem, intended for the rain-clouds. Sayawa is per- 
 fectly aware of the original meaning of prishati, as clouds. 
 The legendarj'^ school, he says, takes them for deer 
 Avith white spots, the etymological school for the many- 
 coloured lines of clouds : (Rv. Bh. i. 64, 8.) This passage 
 shows that although pnshati, as Roth observes, may mean 
 a spotted cow or a spotted horse, — the Maruts, in fact, 
 are called sometimes prishat-a^va/;, having piebald horses, 
 vii. 40, 3, — yet the later tradition in India had distinctly 
 declared in favour of spotted deer. The Vedic poets, how- 
 ever, admitted both ideas, and they speak in the same 
 hymn, nay, in the same verse, of the fallow deer and of the 
 horses of the Maruts. Thus v. 58, i, the Maruts are 
 called asu-asva//, possessed of quick horses ; and in v. 58, 6, 
 we read yat pra ayasish/a p;-ishatibhiA asvaiA — rathebhiA, 
 where the gender of prishatibhiA would hardly allow us to 
 join it with isxaih, but where we must translate : When 
 you come with the deer, the horses, the chariots. 
 
 Verse 2, note "'. The spears and daggers of the Maruts 
 are meant for the thunderbolts, and the glittering ornaments 
 for the lightning. Saya/?a takes xasi in this passage for 
 war-cries on the authority of the Nirukta, where xasi is 
 given among the names of the voice. From other pas- 
 sages, however, it becomes clear that va^i is a weapon of 
 the Maruts ; and Sayana, too, explains it sometimes in 
 that sense: cf. v. 53, 4; 57, 2. Thus i. 88, 3, the vaVis 
 are spoken of as being on the bodies of the Maruts. In 
 V. 53, 4, the Maruts are said to shine in their ornaments 
 and their vasis. Here Saya??a, too, translates \asi rightly 
 by weapon ; and in his remarks on i. 88, 3, he says that 
 vast was a weapon commonly called ar.n, which is a shoe- 
 maker's awl. This reminds one offramea which at one time 
 
GO HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 was supposed to be connected with the German pfrieme. 
 See, however, Grimm (Deutsche Grammatik, vol. i. p. 128) 
 and Leo Meyer (Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. \\. p. 424). In 
 viii. 29, 3, the god Tvash/ar is said to cany an iron va*i in 
 his hand. Grassman (Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. xvi. p. 163) 
 translates v&i by axe. That aii^i is to be taken in the 
 sense of ornament, and not in the sense of ointment, is 
 shown by passages Hke viii, 29, i, where a golden ornament 
 is mentioned, an^i ankte hira/2yayam. Sakam, together, is 
 used with reference to the birth of the Maruts, i. 64, 4. It 
 should not be connected with va^ibhi^. 
 
 Verse 3, note \ Esham should be pronounced as a creti- 
 cus ; also in verses 9, 13, 15. This is a very common \yuha. 
 
 Verse 3, note ". I should have taken /titram as an adverb, 
 like Benfey, if ni rin^ were not usually construed with an 
 accusative. Rmg in the 3rd pers. plur. pres. Atm. is 
 treated hke a verb of the Ad-class. 
 
 Verse 3, note ^. The locative yaman is frequently used 
 of the path on which the gods move and approach the 
 sacrifice ; hence it sometimes means, as in our passage, in 
 the sky. Yamam in B, 11., s. v. ar^, is wrong. 
 
 Verse 4, note \ Benfey translates ghrish^-i by burrowing, 
 and refers it to the thunderbolt that uproots the earth. 
 He points out that ghrishvi means also, for the same 
 reason, the boar, as proved by Kuhn (Die Herabkunft des 
 Feuers, S. 202). I prefer, however, the general sense 
 assigned to the adjective ghnshu and ghrishvi, exuberant, 
 brisk, wild. See Kuhn in Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. xi. 
 p. 385. Wilson, after Saya?ia, translates destroyers of foes. 
 On the representation of the clouds as boai's, see Nir. v. 4. 
 
 Verse 4, note ^. Tvesha-dyumna is difficult to rcndei*. 
 Jioth tvesha and dyumna are derived from roots that mean 
 to shine, to be bright, to glow. Derivatives from tvish 
 express the idea of ficriness, fierceness, and fury. In iv. 
 17, 2, tvish is used correlatively with manyu, wrath. 
 
 I 
 
MAi\^i)ALA I, SUKTA 37. 61 
 
 Derivatives from dyii convey the idea of brightness and 
 briskness. Both quaUties are frequently apphed to the 
 Maruts. 
 
 Verse 5, note \ This translation is merely conjectural. 
 I suppose that the wind di'iving the clouds before him, is 
 here compared to a bull among cows, cf. v. 52, 3 : 
 
 te syandrasa/i na uksha?iaA ati skandanti ^arvariA. 
 
 They, the Maruts, like rushing oxen, mount on the dark 
 cows. 
 
 The last sentence states that the wind grows even stronger 
 after it has tasted the rain (i, 85, 2. te ukshitasa^ mahima- 
 nam a^ata). 
 
 Verse 5, note -. I take ^ambhe in the sense of ^ambhane. 
 (On the root ^abh and its derivatives, see Kuhn, Zeitschrift 
 flir vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft, vol. i. p. 123 seq.) It 
 would be better to read mukhe, instead of sukhe, in the 
 commentaiy. The Maruts were not born of milk for 
 Pmni, as Wilson says in a note, but fi'om the milk of 
 Pmni. Pmni is called their mother, Rudra their father : 
 (v. 52, 16; 60, 5.) 
 
 Benfey takes the cows for clouds in which the lightnings 
 dwell ; and the abyss of the sap is by him supposed to be 
 again the clouds. 
 
 Verse 6, note \ Xntam na, literally, like an end, is 
 explained by Saya/za as the top of a tree. Wilson, Langlois, 
 and Benfey accept that interpretation. Roth proposes, like 
 the hem of a garment, which I prefer ; for vastranta, the 
 end of a garment, is a common expression in later Sanskrit, 
 while anta is never apphed to a tree in the sense of the top 
 of a tree. Here agra would be more appropriate. 
 
 Verse 7, note ^ Saya»a translates : ' Man has planted a 
 firm buttress to give stability to his dwelhng.' Nidadhre 
 is the perfect Atmanepada, and expresses the holding down 
 of the head or the cowering attitude of man. I have 
 taken ugraya manyave over to ^ihita, because these words 
 could hardly form an apposition to yamaya. As the Vedic 
 poets speak of the veiy mountains as shaken by the 
 
ii'I HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 Storms, we might translate panato giri^ by the gnarled or 
 rocky mount ; but there is no authority for translating 
 ^ihita by it is shattered, and we should have to translate, the 
 mountain yielded or bent before your anger. Cf. v. 57, 3 : 
 
 ni va/i vana ^hate ya'mana/< bhiya. 
 
 The forests get out of your way fi'om fear. 
 
 V. 60, 2. A'ana kit ugra/i ^ihate ni va^ bhiya prithivi ^it 
 rebate parvataZt Ait. 
 
 Even the forests, ye fearful Maruts, yield from fear of 
 you ; even the earth trembles, even the mountains. 
 
 Verse 8, note ^ ^^^ma seems to express the act of 
 racing or running (like a^, race, battle), while yama is the 
 road itself where the racing takes place. A very similar 
 passage occurs in i. 87, 3. The comparison of the earth 
 (fem.) to a king (masc.) would be considered a grave offence 
 in the later Sanskrit literature. In i. 87, 3, vithura takes 
 the place of vi.<?pati. 
 
 Verse 9, note \ A veiy difficult verse. The birth of 
 the Maruts is frequently alluded to, as well as their sur- 
 passing strength, as soon as born. Hence the first sentence 
 admits of little doubt. But what follows is veiy abrupt. 
 Vayas may be the plural of vi, bird, or it may be vayas, the 
 neuter, meaning vital strength : see Kuhn's Zeitschrift, 
 vol. XV. p. 217. The Maruts are fi-equently compared to 
 birds (cf. i. 87, 2; 88, i), but it is usual to indicate the 
 comparison by na or iva. I therefore take vayas as a nom. 
 sing, neut., in the sense of vigour, life. Nir-i is used with 
 particular reference to the birth of a child (cf v. 78, 7 ; 9). 
 
 Verse 10, note ^ If we take sunavo gira/i in the sense of 
 the sons of voice, i. e. of thunder, the accent of gira/i will 
 have to be changed. Givah, however, occurs, at least once 
 more, in the sense of singers or poets, ix. 6^, 10, where 
 giraA can only be a vocative, O ye singers ! In i. 6, 6, the 
 translation of giraA by singers, i. e. the Maruts, may be 
 contested, but if we consider that gira^, in the sense of 
 hymns, is feminine, and is followed by the very word which 
 is here used, viz. devayiinta/*, as a feminine, viz. devayanti^, 
 
MAA'iJALA 1, 8i)ktA 37. G3 
 
 vii. 18, 3, we can hardly doubt that in i. 6, 6, girsih is a mascu- 
 line and means singers. The same applies to vi. 6;^, 10. In 
 vi. 52, 9, the construction is, of course, quite cUtferent. 
 
 Verse 10, note ^. The expression that the Maruts en- 
 larged or extended the fences of their race-coiu'se, can only 
 mean that they swept over the whole sky, and di'ove the 
 clouds away from all the corners. Kash/Aa may mean the 
 wooden enclosures (carceres) or the wooden poles that served 
 as turning and winning-posts {metce). The last sentence 
 expresses the result of this race, viz. the falHng of so much 
 rain that the cows had to walk up to their knees in water. 
 This becomes still clearer from the next verse. 
 
 Saya/m : ' These, the producers of speech, have spread 
 water in their courses, they cause the cows to walk up to 
 their knees in order to chnnk the water.' 
 
 Verse 11, note \ Rain is called the offspring of the cloud, 
 miho napat, and is then treated as a masculine. 
 
 Verse 12, note '. In viii. 72, 8, a/tuAyavit is explained by 
 vyadarayat, he tore open. AA'uA-yavitana is the Vedic form 
 of the 2nd pers. plur. of the reduplicated aorist. 
 
 Verse 13, note ^ Yanti has to be pronounced as an 
 amphibrachys. 
 
 Verse 14, note '. Benfey supposes that duva/i stands in 
 the singular instead of the plural. But why should the 
 plural have been used, as the singular (asti) would have 
 created no kind of difficulty ? It is better to take duva/i as 
 a nominative plural of a noun du, worshipper, derived from 
 the same root which yielded duvaA, worship. We certainly 
 find a-duvaA in the sense of not-worshipping : 
 
 vii. 4, 6. ma tva vayam sahasa-van avi'ra/i ma apsavaA pari 
 sadama ma aduva/*. 
 
 May we not, O hero, sit round thee like men without 
 strength, without beauty (cf. viii. 7, 7), without worship. 
 
 Here Saya??a explains aduva/< very well by pariArarana- 
 hina/<, which seems better than Roth's explanation ' zogernd, 
 ohne Eifer.' 
 
64 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 MA.Vi)ALA I, SfjKTA 38. 
 
 AsHTAKA I, Adhyaya 3, Varga 15-17. 
 
 1. K^t ha nuniim kacllia-priya/i * pitai putram nd 
 hastayoA, dadhidhve vrikta-barhishaA. 
 
 2. Kva nimdm kdt vaA drtham gdnta divd,A iid, 
 p7'ithivya/^ kva vaA gava/i na f ra«yauti. 
 
 3. Kva vaA sumn^ navya?Hsi marutaA kva suvit^, 
 kvo (Iti) visv^ni saiibliagcl,. 
 
 4. Yat yuydm prisni-matara/^ mart^sa/i sy^tana, 
 stota vaA am^^itaA syat. 
 
 5. Ma vaA m?'iga/^ na ydvase ^arita bliut a^oshyaA, 
 path^ yamdsya g4t ilpa. 
 
 G, M6 (iti) sii nah pdra-para ni^-?'itiA du/i-hd,n^ 
 vadhlt, padishM t7'lsli7?aya sahd. 
 
 7. Satytim tvesli^A dma-vanta/i dhanvan Z;it ^ 
 rudriy^saA, miham kri?ivanti avatam|. 
 
 8. V4srlL-iva vi-dyiit mimati vatsam na matat si- 
 •sakti, ydt eshdm Yr'ishtih dsar^/i. 
 
 9. Diva /I'it tdma/i kri^/vanti par(/dnyena uda- 
 vahena, ydt p?'ithivl'm vi-unddnti. 
 
 10. Adha svan^t mariitam vi5vam K sddma p^rthi- 
 vam, dre^anta prd, m^nushaA. 
 
 * kiUllia iiriy;i/i f Omit ii:( X jivatam 
 
MANDALA I, sfjKTA 38. 65 
 
 Hymn to the Maruts (the Storm-gods). 
 
 1. What then now ? When^ will you take (us) as 
 a dear father takes his son by both hands, ye gods, 
 for whom the sacred grass has been trimmed 1 ^ 
 
 2. Whither now 1 On what errand of yours are 
 you going, m heaven, not on earth V Where are your 
 cows sporting ? ^ 
 
 3. Where are your newest favours,^ O Maruts ? 
 Where the blessings 1 Where all delights "? 
 
 4. If you, sons of Prisni, were mortals, and your 
 worshipper an immortal,^ — 
 
 5. Then never ^ should your praiser be unwelcome, 
 hke a deer in pasture grass, ^ nor should he go on the 
 path of Yama.^ 
 
 6. Let not one sin^ after another, difficult to be 
 conquered, overcome us ; may it depart ^ together 
 with lust. 
 
 7. Truly they are furious and powerful ; even to 
 the desert the Rudriyas bring rain that is never 
 dried up/ 
 
 8. The lightning lows like a cow, it follows as a 
 mother follows after her young, that the shower (of 
 the Maruts) may be let loose, ^ 
 
 9. Even by day the Maruts create darkness with 
 the water-bearing cloud,^ when they drench the 
 earth. 
 
 10. From the shout of the Maruts over the whole 
 space of the earth/ men reeled forward. 
 
 VOL. I. F 
 
66 HYMXS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 11. Mdruta/i vi/upa/^i-blii^ * kitrKh rddliasvati/i 
 dnu, yatd, hn dkhidrayama-bhiA. 
 
 12. Sthirai/i va/i santu nemaya^ ratha/i dsvasa/i 
 esh^m, su-sa?nsk?'ita/i abhisava/i. 
 
 13. Akkh2k vada tdna gir^ ^arayai brd,hmawaA patim, 
 agnim mitrdm nd, darsatam. 
 
 14. Mimihi slokam asye parc/dnya/i-iva tatana/i, 
 g^ya g^yatrdm ukthyam. 
 
 15. Vd-ndasva m^rutam ga^idm tvesham panasyum 
 arkiTiam, asme (iti) vriddli^/<- asan ihd. 
 
 COMMENTARY. 
 
 This hymn is ascribed to Kam a, the son of Ghora, The 
 metre is Gayatri throughout. Several verses, however, end 
 in a spondee instead of the usual iambus. No attempt 
 should be made to improve such verses by conjecture, 
 for they are clearly meant to end in spondees. Thus in 
 verses 2, 7, 8, and 9, all the three padas ahke have their 
 final spondee. In verse 7, the ionicus a minore is with an 
 evident intention repeated thrice. 
 
 Verse 1, note \ Kadha-priyaA is taken in the Padapa/ha 
 as one word, and Saya«a explains it by delighted by or 
 delighting in praise, a nominative plural. A similar com- 
 pound, kadha-priya, occurs in i. 30, 20, and there too the 
 vocative sing, fem,, kadhapriye, is explained by Sayawa as 
 fond of praise. In order to obtain this meaning, kadha has 
 to be identified with katha, story, which is simply impos- 
 sible. There is another compound, adha-priya, nom. dual, 
 
 * vlMpa»ii-bhiA? 
 
MANDAhA T, SUKTA 38. 67 
 
 11. Mariits on jour strong-hoofed steeds^ go on 
 easy roads^ after those bright ones (the clouds), which 
 are still locked up.^ 
 
 12. May your felloes be strong, the chariots, and 
 tlieir horses, may your reins ^ be well-fashioned. 
 
 13. Speak out for ever with thy voice to praise 
 the Lord of prayer,^ Agni, who is hke a friend,^ the 
 bright one. 
 
 14. Fashion a hymn in thy mouth ! Expand like 
 a cloud !^ Sing a song of ^^raise. 
 
 15. Worship the host of the Maruts, the brisk, the 
 praiseworthy, the singers.^ May the strong ones stay 
 here among us.^ 
 
 which occurs viii. 8, 4, and which Sayarja explains either as 
 dehghted here below, or as a corruption of kadha-priya. 
 
 In Boehthngk and Roth's Dictionary, kadha-priya and 
 kadha-pri are both explained as compounds of kadha, an 
 inteiTogative adverb, and priya or pri, to love or delight, 
 and they ai'e explained as meaning kind or loving to whom ? 
 In the same manner adha-priya is explained as kind then 
 and there. 
 
 It must be confessed, however, that a compound like 
 kadha-pri, kind to whom ?, is somewhat strange, and it seems 
 preferable to separate the words, and to write kadha priya 
 and adha priya. 
 
 It should be observed that the compounds kadha-pri and 
 kadha-priya occur always in sentences where there is another 
 interrogative pronoun. The two interrogative s kat — kadha, 
 what — where, and kas — kadha, who — where, occurring in 
 the same sentence, an idiom so common in Greek, may 
 have puzzled the author of the Pada text, and the com- 
 pound once sanctioned by the authority of <Sakalya, Sayawa 
 would explain it as best he could. But if we admit the 
 double use of the interrogative in Sanskrit, as in Greek, 
 F 2 
 
68 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 then, in our passage, priyaA would be an adjective belong- 
 ing to pita, and we might translate : ' \Yhat then now ? 
 When will you take (us), as a dear father takes his son by 
 both hands, O ye Maruts?^ In the same manner we ought 
 to translate i. 30, 20 : 
 
 kaA te ushaA kadha priye bhu^e martaA amartye. 
 
 Who and where was there a mortal to be loved by thee, 
 O beloved, immortal Dawn ? 
 
 In viii. 7, 31, where the same words are repeated as in 
 our passage, it is Uke\Adse better to write : 
 
 kat ha nunam kadha priyaA yat indram %ahatana, ka/i 
 va/i sakhi-tve ohate. 
 
 What then now ? Where is there a friend, now that you 
 have forsaken Indra ? Who cares for your fidendship ? 
 
 Why in viii. 8, 4, adha priya should have been joined 
 into one word is more difficult to say, yet here, too, the 
 compound might easily be separated. 
 
 Kadha does not occur again, but would be formed in 
 analogy with adha. It occurs in Zend as kadha. 
 
 The words kat ha nunam commonly introduce an inter- 
 rogative sentence, literally. What then no\v? cf. x. 10, 4. 
 
 Verse 1, note ". Vrikta-barhis is generally a name of the 
 priest, so called because he has to trim the sacrificial grass. 
 ' The sacred Kusa grass (Poa cynosuroides), after ha%'ing had 
 the roots cut off, is spread on the Vedi or altar, and upon 
 it the libation of Soma-juice, or oblation of clarified butter, 
 is poured out. In other places, a tuft of it in a similar 
 position is supposed to form a fitting seat for the deity or 
 deities invoked to the sacrifice. According to Mr. Stevenson, 
 it is also strewn over the floor of the chamber in which the 
 worship is performed.* 
 
 Cf. vi. II, 5. vnii^e ha yat namasa barhi// agnail, ay ami 
 sriik ghrita-vati su-vrikti//. 
 
 When I reverentially trim the truss for Agni, when the 
 well-trimmed ladle, full of butter, is stretched forth. 
 
 In our passage, unless we change the accent, it must 
 be taken as an epithet of the Maruts, they for whom the 
 grass-altar has been prepared. They are again invoked by 
 the same name, viii. 7, 20 : 
 
MAJV/)ALA I, SUKTA 38. 69 
 
 leva nunam su-danava/t mjidatha vrikta-barhisha/i. 
 
 Where do ye rejoice now, you gods for whom the altar 
 is trimmed ? 
 
 Otherwise, vrikta-barhisha/i might, with a change of 
 accent, supjily an accusative to dadhidhve : ' Will you take 
 the worshippers in your arms?^ This, however, is not 
 necessary, as to take by the hand may be used as a 
 neuter verb. 
 
 Benfey : ' Wo weilt ihr gern ? was habt ihr jetzt — gleichwie 
 ein Vater seinen Sohn — in Handen, da das Opfer harrt?' 
 
 Wilson : ' Maruts, who are fond of praise, and for whom 
 the sacred grass is trimmed, when will you take us by both 
 hands as a father does his son V 
 
 Verse 2, note \ The idea of the first verse, that the 
 Maruts should not be detained by other pursuits, is carried 
 on in the second. The poet asks, what they have to do in 
 the sky, instead of coming down to the earth. The last 
 sentence seems to mean ' where tarry your herds ?' viz. the 
 clouds. Saya/?a translates : ' Where do worshippers, like 
 lowing cows, praise you?^ Wilson: 'Where do they who 
 worship you cry to you like cattle,' Benfey : ' Wo jauchzt 
 man euch, gleich wie Stiere ? (Ihre Verehrer briillen vor 
 Freude iiber ihre Gegenwart, wie Stiere.)' The verb 
 rawyati, however, when followed by an accusative, means 
 to love, to accept with pleasure. The gods accept the 
 offerings and the prayers : 
 
 V. 1 8, I. wvani yah amartyaA havya marteshu rawyati. 
 
 The immortal who deigns to accept all offerings among 
 mortals, 
 
 v, 74, 3, kasya brahmawi ranjathah. 
 
 Whose prayers do ye accept? 
 
 Followed by a locative rawyati means to delight in. 
 Both the gods are said to delight in prayers (viii. 12, 18; ^^, 
 16), and prayers are said to delight in the gods (viii. 16, 2), 
 I therefore take rawyanti in the sense of tarrying, disporting, 
 and na, if it is to Ibe retained, in the sense of not ; where 
 do they not sport ? meaning that they are to be found every- 
 where, except where the poet desires them to be. We thus 
 get rid of the simile of singing poets and lowing cows, which, 
 
70 HYI^INS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 though not too bold for Vedic bards, would here come in 
 too abruptl3\ It would be much better, however, if the 
 negative particle could be omitted altogether. If we retain 
 it, we must read : kva vaA | gavaA | na raw | yanti | . 
 But the fact is that through the whole of the Rig-veda 
 kva has always to be pronounced as two syllables, kuva. 
 There is only one passage, v. 6i, 3, where, before a vowel, 
 we have to I'ead kva : kuva vo 's\a.h, kvabhwava/i. In 
 other passages, even before vowels, we always have to 
 read kuva, e.g. i. i6i, 4. kuvet = kva it; i. 105, 4. 
 kuvartam = kva ritam. In i. 35, 7, we must read either 
 kuvedanim suryaA, making surya/i trisyllabic, or kuva idanim, 
 leaving a hiatus. In i. 168, 6, kvavaram is kuvavaram : 
 ♦Sakalya, forgetting this, and wishing to improve the metre, 
 added na, thereby, in reality, destroying both the metre and 
 the sense. Kva occurs as dissyllabic in the Rig-veda at 
 least forty-one times. 
 
 Verse 3, note ^ The meanings of sumna in the first five 
 Ma/?Y/alas are well explained by Professor Aufrecht in Kuhn's 
 Zeitschrift, vol. iv. p. 274. As to suvita in the plural, see 
 X. 86, 21, and viii. 93, 29, where Indra is said to bring all 
 suvita's. It frequently occurs in the singular : 
 
 X. 148, I. a na/i bhara suvitam yasya ^akan. 
 
 • Verse 4, note ^ One might translate : ' If you, sons of 
 Pri.9ni, were mortals, the immortal would be your wor- 
 shipper.' But this seems almost too deep and elaborate 
 a compliment for a primitive age. Langlois translates : 
 ' Quand vous ne seriez pas immortels, (faites toutefois) que 
 votrc panegyriste jouisse d'une longue vie.' Wilson's trans- 
 lation is obscure : ' That you, sons of Prisni, may become 
 mortals, and your panegyrist become immortal.' Sayawa 
 translates : ' Though you, sons of P7'i5ni, were mortal, yet 
 your worshipper would be immortal.' I think it best to 
 connect the fourth and fifth verses, and I feel justified in 
 so doing by other passages where the same or a similar 
 idea is expressed, viz. that if the god were the poet and the 
 poet the god, then the poet would be more liberal to the 
 god than the god is to him. Thus I translated a passage, 
 
MAA^iJALA I, SUKTA 38. 71 
 
 vii. 32, 18, ill my History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, 
 ]). 545 : ' If I were lord of as much as thou, I should support 
 the sacred bard, thou scatterer of wealth, I should not 
 abandon him to misery. I should award wealth day by day 
 to him who magnifies, I should award it to whosoever it be.' 
 Another parallel passage is pointed out by Mr. J. Muir. 
 (On the Interpretation of the Veda, p. 79,) viii. 19, 25: 
 ' If, Agni, thou wert a mortal, and I were an immortal, I 
 should not abandon thee to malediction or to wretchedness ; 
 my worshipper should not be miserable or distressed.' Still 
 more to the point is another passage, viii. 44, 23 : ' If I were 
 thou, and thou wert I, then thy wishes should be fulfilled.' 
 See also viii. 14, i, 2. 
 
 As to the metre it is clear that we ought to read 
 martasa/f syatana. 
 
 Verse 5, note ^ Ma, though it seems to stand for na, 
 retains its prohibitive sense. 
 
 Verse 5, note '". Yavasa is explained by Saya/m as grass, 
 and Wilson's Dictionary, too, gives to it the meaning of 
 meadow or pasture grass, whereas yava is barley. The 
 Greek "(^ed or ^em is likewise explained as barley or rye, 
 fodder for horses. See i. 91, 13. gavaA na yavaseshu, like 
 cows in meadows. 
 
 Verse 5, note ^The path of Yama can only be the path 
 that leads to Yama, as the ruler of the departed. 
 
 X. 14, 8. sam gaMAasva pitn-bhiA sam yamena. 
 
 Meet with the fathers, meet with Yama, (x. 14, 10 ; 15, 8.) 
 
 X. 14, 7. yamam pa^yasi varuwam ka. devam. 
 
 Thou wilt see (there) Yama and the divine Varuna. 
 
 x. 165, 4. tasmai yamaya namaA astu m/'ityave. 
 
 Adoration. to that Yama, to Death ! 
 
 Wilson : ' Never may your worshipper be indifferent "to 
 you, as a deer (is never indifferent) to pasture, so that he may 
 not tread the path of Yama.' Benfey : ' Wer euch besingt, 
 der sei euch nicht gleichgliltig, wie das Wild im Gras, nicht 
 wandl' er auf des Yama Pfad.' iV^oshya is translated insa- 
 tiable by Professor Goldstiicker. 
 
72 HYJklNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 Verse 6, note ^ One of the meanings of nirriti is sin. 
 It is derived from the same root which yielded rita, in the 
 sense of right. Nirriti was conceived, it would seem, as 
 going away from the path of right, the German Vergehen. 
 Nirriti was personified as a power of evil and destruc- 
 tion. 
 
 vii. 104, 9. ah aye va tan pra-dadatu somaA a va dadhatu 
 ni/i-rite// upa-sthe. 
 
 May Soma hand them over to Ahi, or place them in the 
 lap of Nirriti. 
 
 i. 117, 5. susupvamsam na mh-r\ieh upa-sthe. 
 
 Like one who sleeps in the lap of Nirriti. 
 
 Here Saya»a explains Nirriti as earth, and he attaches 
 the same meaning to the word in other places which will 
 have to be considered hereafter, Cf, Lectures on the 
 Science of Language, Second Series, pp. 515, 516. 
 
 Wilson treats Nirriti as a male deity, and translates the 
 last wordsj ' let him perish with our evil desires.^ 
 
 Verse 6, note '^. Padish/a is formed as an optative of the 
 Atmanepada, but with the additional s before the t, which, 
 in the ordinary Sanskrit, is restricted to the so-called bene- 
 dictive (Grammar, $ 385 ; Bopp, Kritische Grammatik, ed. 
 1834, ^ 329, note). Pad means originally to go, but in certain 
 constructions it gradually assumed the meaning of to perish, 
 and native commentators are inclined to explain it by pat, 
 to fall. One can watch the transition *of meaning from 
 going into perishing in such phrases as V. S. xi. 46. ma 
 pady ayusha/i pura, literally, ' may he not go before the 
 time,' but really intended for ' may he not die before the time.' 
 In the llig-veda padish^a is generally qualified by some words 
 to show that it is to be taken in malam partem. Thus 
 in our passage, and in iii, ^'^, 21 ; vu. 104, 16; 17. In i. 79, 
 II, however, padish^a saA is by itself used in a maledictory 
 sense, pereat, may he perish ! In another, vi. 20, 5, padi by 
 itself conveys the idea of perishing. This may have some 
 weight in determining the origin of the Latin pestis (Corssen, 
 Kritische Beitriige, p. 396), for it shows that, even without 
 ])rci)()sitions, such as d or vi, pad may have an ill-omened 
 meaning. In the Aitareya-brahmawa vii. 14 (History^ of 
 
MANDALA 1, SUKTA 38. 73 
 
 Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 471), pad, as applied to a 
 child's teeth, means to go, to fall out. With sam, however, 
 pad has always a good meaning, and this shows that origin- 
 ally its meaning was neutral. 
 
 Verse 7, note \ The only difficult word is avatam. Sayawa 
 explains it, ' without wind.' But it is hardly possible to 
 understand how the Maruts, themselves the gods of the 
 storm, the sons of Rudra, could be said to bring clouds 
 without wind. Langlois, it is true, translates without any 
 misgivings : ' Ces dieux peuvent sur un sol desseche faire 
 tomber la pluie sans I'accompagner de vent.' Wilson : ' They 
 send do^vn rain Avithout wind upon the desert.' Benfey saw 
 the incongruous character of the epithet, and explained it 
 away by saying that the winds bring rain, and after they 
 have brought it, they moderate their violence in order not to 
 drive it away again ; hence rain without wind. Yet even 
 this explanation, though ingenious, and, as I am told, particu- 
 larly truthful in an Eastern climate, is somewhat too artificial. 
 If we changed the accent, avatam, unchecked, unconquered, 
 would be better than avatam, windless. But avata, uncon- 
 quered, does not occur in the Rig-veda, except as applied 
 to persons. It occurs most frequently in the phrase vanvan 
 avata/^, which Sayawa explains well by himsan ahimsitah, 
 hurting, but not hurt: (\d. 16, 20; 18, i; ix. 89, 7.) 
 In ix. 96, 8, we read prit-su vanvan avataA, in battles 
 attacking, but not attacked, which renders the meaning of 
 avata perfectly clear. In vi. 64, 5, where it is applied to 
 Ushas, it may be translated by unconquerable, intact. 
 
 There are several passages, however, where avata occurs 
 with the accent on the last syllable, and where it is accord- 
 ingly explained as a BahmTihi, meaning either windless or 
 motionless, from vata, wind, or from vata, going, (i. 62, 10.) 
 In some of these passages we can hardly doubt that the 
 accent ought to be changed, and that we ought to read 
 avata. Thus in vi. 64, 4, avate is clearly a vocative applied 
 to Ushas, who is called avata, unconquerable, in the verse 
 immediately following. In i. 52, 4, the Maruts are called 
 avata/i, which can only be avata/*, unconquerable ; nor can 
 we hesitate in viii. 79, 7, to change avkWi into avata/*, as an 
 
74 HYMNS TO THE MAR UTS. 
 
 epithet applied to Soma, and preceded by ad>-iptakratu/i, of 
 unimpaired strength, unconquerable. 
 
 But even then we find no evidence that avata, uncon- 
 quered, could be applied to rain or to a cloud, and I there- 
 fore propose another explanation, though equally founded 
 on the supposition that the accent of avatam in our passage 
 should be on the first syllable. 
 
 I take vata as a Vedic form instead of the later vana, the 
 past participle of vai, to wither. Similarly we find in the 
 Veda ^ita, instead of ^ina, the latter form being sanctioned 
 by Pa/ani. Va means to get dry, to flag, to get exhausted ; 
 avata therefore, as applied to a cloud, would mean not dry, 
 not withered, as applied to rain, not dried up, but remain- 
 ing on the ground. It is important to remark that in one 
 passage, vi, 6y, 7, Sayawa, too, explains avata, as applied to 
 rivers, by asushka, not dry ; and the same meaning would 
 be applicable to avata'A in i. 62, 10. In this sense of not 
 withered, not dry, avatam in our passage would form a per- 
 fectly appropriate epithet of the rain, while neither windless 
 nor unconquered would yield an appropriate sense. In the 
 famous passage x. 129, 2, anit avatam svadhaya tat ekam, 
 that only One breathed breathless by itself, avatam might be 
 taken, in accordance with its accent, as windless or breath- 
 less, and the poet may have wished to give this antithetical 
 point to his verse. But avatam, as an adverb, would here 
 be equally appropriate, and we should then have to translate, 
 ' that only One breathed freely by itself 
 
 Verse 8, note ^ The peculiar structure of the metre in 
 the seventh and eighth verses should be noted. Though 
 we may scan 
 
 v^v^ I (^ w |*^~ WW I 
 
 by throwing the accent on the short antepenultimate, yet 
 the movement of the metre becomes far more natural by 
 throwing the accent on the long penultimate, thus reading 
 
 \^ \J — — I ^w — WW — — w — ^ww 
 
 w — — w — — ^w — — w \ ^ ~ WW — — 
 
 Saya;ia : ' Like a cow the lightning roars, (the lightning) 
 
MAiVi)ALA I, SUKTA 38. 75 
 
 attends (on the Maruts) as the mother cow on her calf, because 
 their rain is let loose at the time of lightning and thunder.' 
 
 Wilson: 'The lightning roars like a parent cow that 
 bellows for its calf, and hence the rain is set free by the 
 Maruts/ 
 
 Bcnfey : ' Es blitzt — w'le cine Kuh briillt es — die Mutter 
 folgt dem Kalb gleichsam — wenn ihr Rcgen losgelassen. 
 (Der Donner folgt dem Blitz, wie eine Kuh ihreni Kalbe.)' 
 
 Yasfra as a mascSline means a bull, and it is used as a 
 name of the Maruts in some passages, viii. 7, 3; 7. As 
 a feminine it means a cow, particularly a cow with a calf, 
 a milch cow. Hence also a mother, x. 119, 4. The lowing 
 of the Hghtning must be intended for the distant thunder, 
 and the idea that the lightning goes near or looks for 
 the rain is not foreign to the Vedic poets. See i. 39, 9 : 
 * Come to us, Maruts, with your entire help, as lightnings 
 (come to, i, e. seek for) the rain !' 
 
 Verse 9, note \ That par^anya here and in other places 
 means cloud has been wxU illustrated by Dr. Biihler, Orient 
 und Occident, vol. i. p. 221. It is interesting to watch the 
 personifying process which is very palpable in this word, 
 and by which Par^anya becomes at last a friend and com- 
 panion of Indra. 
 
 Verse 10, note \ Sadma, as a neuter, means originally 
 a seat, and is frequently used in the sense of altar : iv. 9, 3. 
 sa/i sadma pari niyate hota; vii. 18, 22. hota-iva sadma pari 
 emi rebhan. It soon, however, assumed the more general 
 meaning of place, as 
 
 X. I, I. agni^ bhanuna ru^ata visva sadmani apra^. 
 
 Agni with brilliant light thou filledst all places. 
 
 It is lastly used with special reference to heaven and 
 earth, the two sadmani, i. 185, 6 ; iii. ^^, 2. In our passage 
 sadma parthivam is the same as parthive sadane in viii. 97, 5. 
 Here the earth is mentioned together with heaven, the sea, 
 and the sky. Sayawa takes sadma as ' dwelling,' so do Wilson 
 and Langlois. Benfey translates ' der Erde Sitz,' and makes 
 it the subject of the sentence : ' From the roaring of the Maruts 
 the seat of the earth trembles, and all men tremble.' Sadman, 
 
76 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 with the accent on the last syllable, is also used as a masculine 
 in the Rig-veda, i. 173, i; vi. 51, 12. sadmanani divyam. 
 
 Verse 11, note \ I have translated vi/u-pambhi/;, as if it 
 were vi/u|3aMibhiA, for this is the right accent of a Bahuvrihi 
 compound. Thus the first member retains its own accent in 
 prithu-pa«i, bhuri-pa»i, vnsha-pa^i, &c. It is possible that 
 the accent may have been changed in our passage, because 
 the compound is used, not as an adjective, but as a kind of 
 substantive, as the name of a horse. Vani, hand, means, as 
 applied to horses, hoof: 
 
 ii. 31, 2. p?*ithivya7« sanau ^anghananta pam-bhiA. 
 
 When they strike with their hoofs on the summit of the 
 earth. 
 
 This meaning appears still more clearly in such com- 
 pounds as dravat-pa^ii : 
 
 viii. 5, 35. hira»yaye«a rathena dravatpawi-bhiA asxaifi. 
 
 On a golden chariot, on quick-hoofed horses. 
 
 The horses of the Maruts, which in our verse are called 
 vi/u-pawi, strong-hoofed, are called viii. 7, 27. hiranya-pawi, 
 golden-hoofed : 
 
 asvai/i hira/?yapa>a-bhiA devasa/i upa gantana. 
 
 On your golden-hoofed horses come hither, O gods. 
 
 Those who retain the accent of the MSS. ought to trans- 
 late, ' Maruts, with your strong hands go after the clouds.' 
 
 Verse 11, note ^. Rodhasvati is explained by Sayawa as 
 river. It does not occur again in the Rig-veda. Rodhas 
 is enclosure or fence, the bank of a river ; but it docs not 
 follow that rodhasvat, having enclosures or banks, is appli- 
 cable to rivers only. ii. 15, 8, it is said that he emptied or 
 opened the artificial enclosures of Bala, these being the 
 clouds conquered by Indra. Hence I take rodhasvati in 
 the sense of a cloud yet unopened, which is followed or 
 driven on by the Maruts. 
 
 J^itra, bright or many-coloured, is applied to the clouds, 
 v. 63, 3. kiirebh\h abhriii/i. 
 
 Verse 11, note ''\ Roth takes akhidrayaman for a name of 
 horse. The word does not occur again in the Rig-veda, 
 
MAA^i)ALA I, S^TKTA 38. 77 
 
 but the idea that the roads of the gods are easy (suga/i 
 adhva) is of frequent occurrence. 
 
 Wilson : ' Maruts, with strong hands, come along the 
 beautifully-embanked rivers with unobstructed progress.' 
 
 Benfey : ' Mit euren starken Iljinden folii;t den hehren 
 eingeschlossnen nach in unermiid'tem Gang, Maruts.' 
 
 Verse 12, note ^ Abhisu does not mean finger in the 
 Rig-veda, though Sayawa frequently explains it so, misled 
 by Yiiska who gives abhi^u among the names of finger. 
 Wilson : ' May your fingers be well skilled (to hold the reins).' 
 
 Verse 13, note \ Agni is frequently invoked together 
 with the Maruts, and is even called marut-sakha, the friend 
 of the Maruts, viii. 92, 14. It seems better, therefore, to 
 refer brahma«as patim to Agni, than, with Sayawa, to the 
 host of the Maruts (marildgawam). Brahma^^aspati and 
 Bnhaspati are both varieties of Agni, the priest and purohita 
 of gods and men, and as such he is invoked together with 
 the Maruts in other passages, i. 40, i. Tana is an adverb, 
 meaning constantly, always, for ever. Cf. ii. 2, i; viii. 40, 7. 
 
 Wilson : ' Declare in our pi-esence (priests), with voice 
 attuned to praise Brahmanaspati, Agni, and the beautiful 
 Mitra.' 
 
 Benfey : ' Lass schallen immerfort das Lied zu griissen 
 Brahmawaspati, Agni, Mitra, den herrlichen.' 
 
 Verse 13, note ^. Mitra is never, as far as I know, in- 
 voked together with the Maruts, and it is better to take 
 raitram as friend. Besides na cannot be left here untrans- 
 lated. 
 
 Verse 14, note \ The second sentence is obscure. Sayawa 
 translates : ' Let the choir of priests make a hymn of 
 praise, let them utter or expand it, like as a cloud sends 
 forth rain.' Wilson similarly : ' Utter the verse that is in 
 your mouth, spread it out like a cloud spreading rain.' 
 Benfey : ' Ein Preislied schaffe in dem Mund, ertone dem 
 Par^anya gleich.' He takes Par^anya for the god of thunder, 
 and supposes the hymn of praise to be compared to it on 
 
78 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 account of its loudness. TatanaA can only be the second 
 person singular of the conjunctive of the reduplicated 
 perfect, of which we have also tatanat, tatanama, tatanan, 
 and tatananta. TatanaA can be addressed either to the host 
 of the Maruts, or to the poet. I take it in the latter sense, 
 for a similar verse occurs viii. 21, 1 8. It is said there of a 
 patron that he alone is a king, that all others about the river 
 Sarasvati are only small kings, and the poet adds : * May he 
 spread like a cloud with the rain,^ giving hundreds and 
 thousands, (par^-anyaA-iva tatanat hi vrish^ya.) 
 
 Verse 15, note \ It is difficult to find an appropriate 
 rendering for arkin. It means praising, celebrating, singing, 
 and it is in the last sense only that it is applicable to the 
 Maruts. Wilson translates, ' entitled to adoration ;' Benfey, 
 ' flaming.' Boehthngk and Roth admit the sense of flaming 
 in one passage, but give to arkin in this place the meaning 
 of praising. If it simply meant, possessed of arka, i. e. songs 
 of praise, it would be a very lame epithet after panasyu. 
 But other passages, like i. 19, 4; 52, 15, show that the 
 conception of the Maruts as singers was most familiar to 
 the Vedic jRishis (i. 64, 10 ; Kuhn, Zeitschrift, vol. i. p. 521, 
 note) ; and arka is the very name applied to their songs 
 (i. 19,4). In the Edda, too, ' storm and thunder are repre- 
 sented as a lay, as the wondrous music of the wild hunt. 
 The dwarfs and Elbs sing the so-called Alb-leich which 
 carries off everything, trees and mountains.' See Justi in 
 Orient und Occident, vol. ii. p. 62. There is no doubt 
 therefore that arkm here means musician, and that the arka 
 of the Maruts is the music of the winds. 
 
 Verse 15, note ^. Vi-iddha, literally grown, is used in the 
 Veda as an honorific epithet, with the meaning of mighty 
 or great : 
 
 iii. 32, 7. ya^ama/i it namasa vriddham indram 
 brihantam rishvam a/^aram yuvanam. 
 
 We worship with praise the mighty Indra, the great, the 
 exalted, the immortal, the vigorous. 
 
 Here neither is vriddha intended to express old age, nor 
 yuvan young age, but both are meant as laudatory epithets. 
 
MAN D ALA I, Sl^KTA 38. 79 
 
 Asan is the so-called het of as, to be. This Le/ is 
 properly an imperative, which gradually sinks down to a 
 mere subjunctive. Of as, we find the following het forms : 
 belonging to the present, we have asasi, ii. 26, 2 ; asati, vi. 
 23, 9 ; iisatha//, vi. 6^, 1 ; and asatha, v. 61, 4 : belonging 
 to the imperfect, asaA, viii. 100, 2 ; asat, i. 9, 5 ; asama, i. 
 173, 9; asan, i. 89, i. Asam, a form quoted by Roth from 
 Rig-veda x. 27, 4, is really asam. 
 
 We find, for instance, asaA, with an imperative or opta- 
 tive meaning, in 
 
 viii. TOO, 2. asa/i ^a tvam dakshinataA sakha me 
 adha vritrawi _granghanava bhuri. 
 
 And be thou my friend on my right hand, and we shall 
 kill many enemies. 
 
 Here we see the transition of meaning from an imperative 
 to the conditional. In English, too, we may say, ' Do this 
 and you shall live,' which means nearly the same as, ' If you 
 do this, you will live.' Thus we may translate this passage : 
 * And if thou be my friend on my right side, then we shall 
 kill many enemies.' 
 
 X. 124, I. imam naA agne upa ya^iiam a ihi — 
 asah havya-vaf uta nah purah-gah. 
 
 Here we have the imperative ihi and the Le/ asah used 
 in the same sense. 
 
 Far more frequently, however, asah is used in relative 
 sentences, such as, 
 
 vi. ^6, 5. asah yatha nah ^avasa ^akana^. 
 
 That thou mayest be ours, delighting in strength. 
 
 vii. 24, I. asah yatha naA avita vridhe ^a. 
 
 That thou mayest be our helper and for our increase. 
 
 See also x. 44, 4 ; 85, 26 ; 36. 
 
 Wilson : ' May they be exalted by this our worship.' 
 Benfey : ' Mogen die Hohen hier bei uns sein.' 
 
 i( LIBj: 
 
80 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 MAA^iJALA I, SUKTA 39. 
 
 AsHTAKA I, AdhyAya 3, Varga 18-19. 
 
 1. Pra yat itha para-vata/^ sokih nd, manam asyatha, 
 kd-sya krdtv^ maruta^ kilsya varpas^ kdm yatha kdm 
 ha dhfitaya/L 
 
 2. Sthira va/i santu ayudha para-nude yilii uta 
 prati-skdbhe, yushm^ikam astu tdvishi paniyasi m.K 
 mdrtyasya mayina/i. 
 
 3. Pdia ha yat sthiram hathd ndra/i^ vartdyatha 
 guru, vi yathana vaninaA p/'ithivyai/i vi ^ssih pdrva- 
 tanam. 
 
 4. Nahi va/i 5d,tru/i vivide ddhi dydvi na bhtimy^m 
 risadasa/i, yushmakam astu tavishi tdna yuf/a rudr4- 
 saA nil ^it ^-dh?'ishe. 
 
 5. Prd vepayanti pdrvatan vi Yin^-anti vdnaspdtin, 
 pr(j (iti) arata marutaA durmdda/i-iva devasaA sarvaya 
 \isK. 
 
 6. Upo (iti) rdthesliu prishati/^ ayugdhvam prash- 
 tih vahati rohita/i, ^ vaA y^maya prithivi' X'it a^rot 
 dbibhayanta manush4/i. 
 
 7. A YSih makshii tdnaya kdm rudra/^- dva/^ vri?^!- 
 mahe, gdnta nfmdm naA dvas4 yatha pura itth^ kin- 
 vd,ya bibhyiishe. 
 
 8. Yushmai-ishita/i marutaA mdrtya-ishita/i ^ yd^ 
 nsJi dbhvaA fehate, vi tdni yuyota .sdvasa vi 6(/asa vi 
 yushm^k^bliiA Ati-bhiA. 
 
 9. Asami hi pra-ya^/yavaA kd/^vam dadd pra-Z;etasa/(', 
 dsS,rai-bhi7i marutaA a mih uti-bhi/i gdnta vrish^im nd 
 vi-dyiita/i<. 
 
MAiVDALA I, SUKTA 39. 81 
 
 Hymn to the Maruts (the Storm-gods). 
 
 1. When you thus from afar cast forwards your 
 measure^ like a blast of fire, through whose wisdom 
 is it, through whose design *? ^ To whom do you go, to 
 whom, ye shakers (of the earth) 1 
 
 2. May your weapons be firm to attack, strong 
 also to withstand. May yours be the more glorious 
 strength, not that of the deceitful mortal. 
 
 3. When you overtlu-ow what is firm, O ye men, 
 and whirl about what is heavy, you pass^ through the 
 trees of the earth, through the clefts of the rocks.- 
 
 4. No real foe of yours is known in heaven, nor 
 on earth, ye devourers of enemies ! May strength be 
 yours, together with your race,^ Rudras, to defy 
 even now.^ 
 
 5. They make the rocks to tremble, they tear 
 asunder the kings of the forest.^ Come on, Maruts, 
 like madmen, ye gods with your whole tribe. 
 
 6. You have harnessed the spotted deer to your 
 chariots, a red one draws as leader ; ^ even the earth 
 listened at your coming, and men were frightened. 
 
 7. O Rudras, we quickly desire your help for our 
 race. Come now to us with help, as of yore ; thus 
 now also, for the sake of the frightened Ka?iva.^ 
 
 8. Whatever fiend, roused by you or roused by 
 men, attacks us, tear him (from us) by your power, 
 by your strength, by your aid.^ 
 
 9. For you, worshipful and wise, have wholly pro- 
 tected^ Ka?iva. Come to us, Maruts, with your entire 
 help, as lightnings^ (go in quest of) the rain. 
 
 VOL. I. G 
 
82 HYIVINS TO THE MAHUTS. 
 
 10. ^s^mi og^li bibhritha su-danava/i- d,sanii dhu- 
 taya/i s6n2Ji, ?'ishi-dvishe maruta/i pari-manyave 
 Ishum nd. s/i^ata dvisham. 
 
 COMMENTARY. 
 
 This hymn is ascribed to Ka/iva, the son of Ghora. The 
 metre varies between Brihati and Satobrihati^ the odd verses 
 being composed in the former, the even verses in the latter 
 metre. Each couple of such verses is called a Barhata 
 Pragatha. The B?'ihati consists of 8 + 8 + 12 + 8, the 
 Satobrihati ofi2 + 8 + i2 + 8 syllables. 
 
 Verse 1, note ^. Mana, which I translate by measure, is 
 explained by Sayana as meaning strength. Wilson : ' When 
 you direct your awful vigour downwards from afar, as light 
 (descends from heaven).^ Benfey : ' Wenn ihr aus weiter 
 Feme so wie Strahlen schleudert euren Stolz (das worauf 
 ihr stolz seid : euren Blitz).' Langlois : ' Lorsque vous 
 lancez votre souffle puissant.' I doubt whether mana is 
 ever used in the Rig-veda in the sense of pride, which no 
 doubt it has, as a masculine, in later Sanskrit : cf. Hala- 
 yudha, ed. Aufrecht, iv. 37. Mana, as a masculine, 
 means frequently a poet in the Rig-veda, viz. a measurer, a 
 thinker or maker ; as a neuter it means a measure, or what 
 is measured or made. Thus v. 85, 5, we read : 
 
 manena-iva tasthi-van antarikshe vi yaA mame i)/"ithivim 
 suryewa. 
 
 He (Varuwa) who standing in the welkin has measured 
 the earth with the sun, as with a measure. 
 
 In this passage, as well as in oiu-s, we must take measure, 
 not in the abstract sense, but as a measuring line, which is 
 cast forward to measure the distance of an object, an image, 
 perfectly applicable to the Maruts, who seem with their 
 weapons to strike the trees and mountains when they them- 
 selves are still far off. Another explanation might be given, 
 
MANDALA I, SUKTA 39. 83 
 
 10. Bounteous givers, you possess whole strengtli, 
 whole power, ye shakers (of the world). Send, O 
 Maruts, against the wrathful enemy of the poets 
 an enemy, like an arrow.^ 
 
 if mana could be taken in the sense of measure, i. e. shape 
 or form, but this is doubtful. 
 
 Verse 1, note ^. Varpas, which generally means body or 
 form, is here explained by praise. Benfey puts fFerk (i. e. 
 Gesang, Gebet) ; Langlois, maison. Varpas, which, without 
 much reason, has been compared to Latin corjms, must here 
 be taken in a more general sense. Thus vi. 44, 14, asya 
 made purd varpamsi vidvan, is applied to Indi'a as knowing 
 many schemes, manj^ thoughts, many things, when he is 
 inspired by the Soma-juice. 
 
 Verse 3, note ^. Benfey takes vi yathana in a causative 
 sense, you destroy, you cause the trees to go asunder. But 
 even without assigning to ya a causative meaning, to go 
 through, to pierce, would convey the idea of destruction. 
 In some passages vi-ya is certainly used in the simple sense 
 of passing through, without involving the idea of destruction: 
 
 viii. 73, 13. ratha^ viyati rodasi (iti). 
 
 Your chariot which passes through or between heaven 
 and earth. 
 
 In other passages the mere passing across implies con- 
 quest and destruction : 
 
 i. 116, 20. vi-bhinduna .... rathena vi parvatan .... ayatam. 
 
 On your dissevering chariot you went across the moun- 
 tains (the clouds). 
 
 In other passages, however, a causative meaning seems 
 equally, and even more applicable : 
 
 viii. 7, 23. VI vritram parva-saA yayuA vi parvatan. 
 
 They passed through Vritra piecemeal, they passed through 
 the mountains (the clouds) ; or, they destroy ed Vritra, cutting 
 him to pieces, they destroyed the clouds. 
 G 2 
 
84 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 Likewise i. 86, lo, vi yata vi5vam atriwam. 
 
 Walk athwart every evil spirit, or destroy every evil spirit ! 
 
 We must scan vi yathana vanina/i prithivyah. 
 
 Verse 3, note ^. It might seem preferable to translate 
 asa.h parvatanam by the spaces of the clouds, for pan^ata 
 means cloud in many places. Yet here, and still more 
 clearly in verse 5, where parvata occurs again, the object of 
 the poet is to show the strength of the Maruts. In that 
 case the mere shaking or bursting of the clouds would sound 
 very tame by the side of the shaking and breaking of the 
 forest trees. Vedic poets do not shrink from the conception 
 that the Maruts shake even mountains, and Indra is even said 
 to have cut off the mountain tops: iv. 19, 4. ava abhinat kaku- 
 hhah parvatanam. In the later literature, too, the same idea 
 occurs: Mahabh. Vana-parva, v. 10974, dyau^ svit patati 
 kim bhumir diryate parvato nu kim, does the sky fall? is 
 the earth torn asunder, or the mountain ? 
 
 Verse 4, note ^ Sayawa was evidently without an autho- 
 ritative explanation of tana yu^a. He tries to explain it by 
 ' through the union of you may strength to resist be quickly 
 extended,' Wilson: 'May your collective strength be 
 quickly exerted.' Benfey takes tana as adverb and leaves 
 out yu^a : ' Zu alien Zeiten, O Furchtbarn ! — sei im Nu zu 
 iiberwalt'gen euch die Macht.' Yu^a, an instrumental, if 
 used together with another instrumental, becomes in the 
 Veda a mere preposition : cf. vii. 43, 5 ; 95, 4. raya yu^a ; 
 X. 83, 3. tapasa yu^a ; x. 102, 12. vadhriwa yu^a ; vii. 33, 20. 
 piiram-dhya yu^a ; vi. ^6, 2. sakhya yu^a ; viii. 68, 9. tva 
 yu^a. As to the meaning of tan, see B. 11. s. v., where 
 tan in our passage is explained as continuation. The off- 
 spring or race of the Maruts is mentioned again in the 
 next verse. 
 
 Verse 4, note ^. Nu kit a-dhrishe might possibly be taken 
 as an abrupt interrogative sentence, viz. Can it be defied? 
 Can it be resisted ? See v. 87, 2 : 
 
 tat vah marutaA na a-dhnshe 5ava/<. 
 
 Your strength, O Maruts, is not to be defied. 
 
MANDALA I, s(^KTA 39. 85 
 
 Verse 5, note ^ Large trees of the forest are called the 
 kings or lords of the forest. 
 
 Verse 6, note \ Prash^i is explained by Sayawa as a 
 sort of yoke in the middle of three horses or other animals, 
 harnessed in a cai' ; rohita as a kind of red deer. Hence 
 Wilson remarks that the sense may be, ' The red deer 
 yoked between them aids to drag the car.' But he adds 
 that the construction of the original is obscure, and ap- 
 parently rude and ungrammatical. Benfey translates, ' Sie 
 fiihrt ein flammenrothes Joch,' and remarks against Wilson 
 that Sayawa's definition of prash^i as yoke is right, but that 
 of rohita as deer, wrong. If Sayawa^s authority is to be 
 invoked at all, one might appeal from Saya^za in this place 
 to Sayawa viii. 7, 28, where prash^i is explained by him 
 either by quick or by pramukhe jugysLxnanah, harnessed in 
 front. The verse is 
 
 yat esham pnshatiA rathe prash^iA vahati rohita^. 
 
 When the red leader draws or leads their spotted deer in 
 the chariot. 
 
 vi. 47, 24. prashfih is explained as tripada adhara/* ; tad- 
 vad vahantiti prash^ayo 'swah. In i. 100, 17, prash/ibhiA, as 
 applied to men, means friends or supporters, or, as Sayawa 
 explains, par^vasthair anyair rishibhiA. 
 
 Verse 7, note \ Kawva, the author of the hymn. 
 
 Verse 8, note ^ A very weak verse, particularly the 
 second line, which Wilson renders by, ' W^ithhold from him 
 food and strength and your assistance.' Benfey translates 
 abhva very happily by Ungethum. 
 
 Verse 9, note \ The verb dada is the second pers. plur. of 
 the perfect of da, and is used here in the sense of to keep, to 
 protect, as is well shown by B. and R. s. v. da 4, base dad. 
 Saya^a did not understand the word, and took it for an 
 irregular imperative ; yet he assigned to the verb the proper 
 sense of to keep, instead of to give. Hence Wilson : 
 * Uphold the sacrificer Kaiiva.' Benfey, less correctly, 
 ' Den 'Kama gabt ihr,' as if Kanwa had been the highest 
 gift of the Maruts. 
 
86 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 Verse 9, note ^. The simile, as lightnings go to the 
 rain, is not very telling. It may have been suggested by 
 the idea that the lightnings run about to find the rain, 
 or the tertium comparationis may simply be the quickness 
 of lightning. Wilson : ' As the lightnings bring the rain.^ 
 Benfey : ' (So schnell) gleichwie der Blitz zum Regen 
 kbmmt.' Lightning precedes the rain, and may therefore 
 be represented as looking about for the rain. 
 
 Verse 10, note ^. Wilson : * Let loose your anger.' 
 Saya7ia : * Let loose a murderer who hates.' 
 
 Pari-manyu, which occurs but once in the Rig-veda, cor- 
 responds as nearly as possible to the Greek TrepiOv^o^. 
 Manyu, like Oujuog, means courage, spirit, anger; and in 
 the compound parimanyu, as in TreplOuiuo^, the preposition 
 pari seems to strengthen the simple notion of the word. 
 That pari is used in that sense in later Sanskrit is well 
 known ; for instance, in parilaghu, perlevis, parikshama, 
 withered away : see Pott, Etymologische Forschungen, 
 second edition, vol, i. p. 487. How pari, originally meaning 
 round about, came to mean excessive, is difficult to explain 
 with certainty. It may have been, because what surrounds 
 exceeds, but it may also have been because what is done all 
 around a thing is done thoroughly. Thus we find in the 
 Veda, viii. 75, 9, pari-dveshas, lit. one who hates all around, 
 then a great hater : 
 
 ma na// pari-dveshasaA amhati/i, urmiA na navam a vadhit. 
 
 May the grasp of the violent hater strike us not, as the 
 wave strikes a ship. 
 
 Again, pari-sp^-idh means literally one who strives round 
 about, then an eager enemy, a rival (fem.) : 
 
 ix. ^^, I. nudasva yaA pari-spndha/i. 
 
 Drive away those who are rivals. 
 
 Pari-kro5a means originally one who shouts at one from 
 every side, who abuses one roundly, then an angry reviler. 
 This word, though not mentioned in B. R.'s Dictionary, 
 occurs in 
 
 i. 29, 7. sarvam pari-kro5am ^ahi. 
 
 Kill every reviler ! 
 
 The same idea which is here expressed by pari-kro«a, is 
 
MAA^Z)ALA I, sfjKTA 39. 87 
 
 in other places expressed by pari-rap, lit. one who shouts 
 round about, who defies on every side, a calumniator, an 
 enemy. 
 
 ii. 23, 3. a vi-badhya pari-rapa/i. 
 
 Having struck down the enemies. 
 
 ii. 23, 14. vi pari-rapa^ ai'daya. 
 
 Destroy the enemies. 
 
 In the same way as words meaning to hate, to oppose, 
 to attack, are strengthened by this preposition, which con- 
 veys the idea of round about, we also find words expressive 
 of love strengthened by the same preposition. Thus from 
 pritaA, loved, we have pari-pritaA, lit. loved all round, then 
 loved very much : i. 190, 6. pari-pritaA na mitraA; cf. x. 
 27, 12. We also find ix. 72, i. pari-priyaA, those who 
 love fully or all around, which may mean great lovers, or 
 surrounding friends. 
 
 In all these cases the intensifying power of pari arises 
 from representing the action of the verb as taking place 
 on every side, thorovighly, excessively ; but in other cases, 
 mentioned by Professor Pott, particularly where this prepo- 
 sition is joined to a noun which implies some definite limit, 
 its magnifying power is no doubt due to the fact that what 
 is around, is outside, and therefore beyond. Thus in Greek 
 ireplfxerpo's expresses the same idea as vTrepjuerpo^ (loc. cit. 
 p. 488), but I doubt whether pari ever occurs in that sense 
 in Sanski-it compounds. 
 
88 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 M.ANDAJ.A I, SUKTA 64, 
 
 AsHTAKA I, AdhyIya 5, Varga 6-8. 
 
 1. Vrishwe sardh4ya su-makh4ya vedhase nodhaA 
 su-vriktim pra bhara mariit-bliyaA, apa/i.* na dM- 
 ra^ manasa su-hastyaA gira/i sam aii^e vidatheshu 
 a-bhuva/i. 
 
 2. Te ga^gnire diva/^ rishv^sa/i ukshinsih rudrasya 
 maryaA dsura/i arepasa/^, pavakasaA su^ayaA stirya/i,- 
 iva satv4naA na drapsina/i ghora-varpasa^. 
 
 3. YiivanaA rudraA a^ar^A abhok-h^na/?- vavaksM^ 
 4dhri-gava/i p^rvata^-iva, dri^Aa ^it visvk bhuvan^ni 
 parthiva pra Xyavayanti divygini mac/man^. 
 
 4. Kitraih an^i-bhiA vdpusbe vl annate vakshaA-su 
 rukman ddhi yetire siibhe, amseshu esMm ni mi- 
 m?*ikshii/i 7'ish^ayaA sakdm gsighire svadhaya divdA 
 ndraA. 
 
 5. f s^na-krita/i dhiinaya/i risaidasaA v^tan vi-dyiitaA 
 tdvishibhiA akrata, duhanti t^dha/i divyani dh^ts^y B.h 
 bhi](mim pin van ti pd-yasa pdri-^/rayaA. 
 
 6. Plnvanti apdA marutaA su-d^navaA p4yaA ghritd,- 
 vat viddtheshu a-bhuvaA, dtyam nd, milid vi nayanti 
 vd^lnam litsam duhanti standyantam dkshitam. 
 
 7. Mahish^saA maylnaA Z;itrd-bh4navaA girdyaA nd 
 
MAA^DALA I, SUKTA 64. 89 
 
 Hymn to the Maruts (the Storm-gods). 
 
 1. For the manly host, the majestic, the wise, for 
 the Maruts bring thou, Nodhas,^ a pure offering.^ "^ 
 Like a workman,^ wise in his mind and handy, I join 
 together words which are useful at sacrifices. 
 
 2. They are born, the tall bidls of Dyu^ (heaven), 
 the boys"^ of Rudra, the divine, the blameless, pure, 
 and bright Hke suns ; scattering rain-drops, of awful 
 shape, like giants.^ 
 
 3. The youthful Rudras, they who never grow old, 
 the slayers of the demon,^ have grown irresistible 
 like mountains. They shake with their strength all 
 beings, even the strongest, on earth and in heaven. 
 
 4. They deck themselves with gUttering ornaments ^ 
 for show ; on their chests they fix gold (chains) for 
 beauty ; ^ the spears on their shoulders pound to 
 pieces f they were born together by themselves,* the 
 men of Dyu. 
 
 5. They who confer power, ^ the roarers,^ the de- 
 vourers of foes, they made winds and lightnings by 
 their powers. The shakers milk the heavenly udders 
 (clouds), roaming around they fill the earth with 
 milk (rain). 
 
 6. The bounteous^ Maruts fill^ (with) the fat milk 
 (of the clouds) the waters, which are useful at 
 sacrifices. They seem to lead^ about the powerful 
 horse, the cloud, to make it rain ; they milk the 
 thundering, unceasing spring.* 
 
 7. Mighty you are, powerful, of wonderful splen- 
 dour, firmly rooted^ like mountains, (yet) lightly 
 
90 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 svd-tavasaA raghu-syada/i, m?iga/i-iva hastlna/i kh^- 
 datha vana vat aru?iisliu tdvishiA ayugdlivam. 
 
 8. Si^nhaA-iva nanadati pra-Z;etasaA pis^A-iva su- 
 pi'saA vi5vd,-vedasaA, kshapaA ^invantaA p^'ishati- 
 hhih rishti-hhiJi sam it sa-b^dha/i savasa ahi-ma- 
 nyavaA. 
 
 9. Rodasi (iti) ^ vadata ga^ia-sriyaA nri-s3,ksJi sur^A 
 savasa ahi-manyava/j, ^ vandhiiresliu amatiA na dar- 
 sat^ vi-dyut nd tasthau marataA ratheshu va/i. 
 
 10, Visvd-vedasa/i rayi-bhi/i- sdm-okasaA sdm-mi- 
 slasaA tavishlbhiA vi-rapsina/?, astaraA ishiun dadhire 
 gabhastyoA anantd-sushma/^ v?^isha-khadayaA naraA. 
 
 11. Hira/iydyebhi/i pavi-bhi/z. payaA-vridhaA lit 
 (/ighnante i-patliyaA nd pdrvatan, makh^A ayaisaA 
 sva-s?*itaA dhruva-^yuta/t dudhra-k7'itaA manita/i 
 bhr%at-7nshiaya/i. . 
 
 12. Ghrishum pdvakdm vaninam vl-l'arsha??im ru- 
 drdsya siiniim liavasa grbdmasi, rac/a/i-tiii'am tavd- 
 sam m^rutam gawdm rigishinam. vrishanam sasA;ata 
 
 13. Prd, mi sih mdrta/i sdvas^ (/dnan dti tasthaii 
 va/i iitt marutaA yam avata, arvat-blii/i v%am bha- 
 rate dhana n?'i-bliiA a-pri^^Myam krdtum K ksheti 
 piishyati. 
 
MAJVDAIjA I, SUKTA 64. 91 
 
 gliding along ; — you chew up foreste, like elephants,^ 
 when YOU have assumed vigour among the red flames,^ 
 
 8. Like lions they roar, the far-sighted Maruts, 
 they are handsome like gazelles/ the all-knowing. 
 By night - with their spotted deer (rain-clouds) and 
 with their spears (lightnings) they rouse the com- 
 panions together, they whose ire through strength 
 is like the ire of serpents. 
 
 9. You who march in companies, the friends of 
 man, heroes, whose ire through strength is like the 
 ire of serpents, salute heaven and earth !^ On the 
 seats on yoiu- chariots, O Maruts, the lightning stands, 
 visible like light.^ 
 
 10. All-knowing, surrounded with wealth, endowed 
 with vigour, singers,^ men of endless prowess, armed 
 with strong rings," they, the archers, have placed the 
 arrow on their arms. 
 
 11. The Maruts, who with their golden fellies, 
 increase the rain, stii' up the clouds like wanderers 
 on the road. They are brisk, indefatigable,^ they 
 move by themselves ; they throw down what is firm, 
 the Maruts with their brilliant spears make (every- 
 thing) to reel.^ 
 
 12. We invoke with prayer^ the offepring of Ku- 
 dra, the brisk, the bright, the worshipful,^ the active. 
 Cling'^ for happiness-sake to the strong host of the 
 Maruts, the chasers of the sky,^ the vigorous, the 
 impetuous.^ 
 
 13. The mortal whom ye, Maruts, protected with 
 your protection, he indeed surpasses people in strength. 
 He carries off food with his horses, treasures with his 
 men ; he acquires honourable^ strengtli,and he prospers.^ 
 
92 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 14. ^arkrityam maruta/i prit-su dustaram dyu- 
 mdntam sushmam maghd-vat-su dhattana, dhana- 
 sp?Ttam uktliyam vi6'vd.-Z;arsha;2iiii tokaiii pusliyema 
 tdnayam satdm hima/i. 
 
 15. Nu sthirdm maruta^ vira-vantam riti-sd,ham 
 rayim asm^su dbatta, sahasriviam satinam su5u-vam- 
 sam pratd/i makshii dhiya-vasu/i^ fjragamyat. 
 
 COMMENTARY. 
 
 This hymn is ascribed to Nodhas, of the family of Go- 
 tama. The metre fi'om verse i— 14 is G'agati, verse 15 is 
 Trish^ubh. 
 
 Verse 1, note ^. The first line is addressed by the poet 
 to himself. 
 
 Verse 1, note ^. Suvrikti is generally explained by a 
 hymn of praise, and it cannot be denied that in this place, 
 as in most others, that meaning uould be quite satisfactory. 
 Etymologically, however, suvrikti means the cleaning and 
 trimming of the grass on which, as on a small altar, the 
 oblation is offered : cf. vriktabarhis, i. 38, i, note ^, page 68. 
 Hence, although the same word might be metaphorically 
 applied to a carefully composed, pure and holy hymn of 
 praise, yet wherever the primary meaning is applicable it 
 seems safer to retain it : cf. iii". 61, 5 ; vi. 11, 5. 
 
 Verse 1, note^ Apas, with the accent on the last syllable, 
 is the accusative plural of ap, water, and it is so explained 
 by Sayawa. He translates : ' I show forth these hymns of 
 praise, like water, i. e. everywhere, as Par^anya sends down 
 rain at once in every place.' Benfey explains : * I make 
 these hymns smooth like water, i. e. so that they run smooth 
 
MAA'DALA I, Sx'iKTA G4. 93 
 
 14. Give, O Maruts, to the worshippers strength 
 glorious, invincible in battle, brilliant, wealth-confer- 
 ring, praiseworthy, known to all men.^ Let us foster 
 our kith and kin during a hundred winters. 
 
 15. Will^ vou then, O Maruts, grant unto us wealth, 
 durable, rich in men, defying all onslaughts ? ^ — wealth 
 a hunch'ed and a thousand-fold, always increasing? — 
 May he who is rich in prayers^ (the host of the 
 Maruts) come early and soon ! 
 
 like water.' He compares pvO/n-o^, as derived from pew. 
 Another explanation might be, that the hymns are powerful 
 like water, when it has been banked up. Yet all these 
 similes seem very lame, and I feel convinced that we ought 
 either to change the accent, and read apaA, or the last vowel, 
 and read apa/i!. In the former case the meaning would be, 
 ' As one wise in mind and clever performs his work, so do I 
 compose these hymns.^ In the second case, which seems 
 to me preferable, we should translate : ' Like a workman, 
 wise in mind and handy, I put together these hymns.' 
 
 Vei'se 2, note ^. It is difficult to say in passages like this, 
 whether Dyu should be taken as heaven or as a personified 
 deity. When the Maruts are called Rudrasya maryaA, the 
 boys of Rudra (^ii. ^6, i), the personification is always pre- 
 served. Hence if the same beings are called DivaA maryaA, 
 this too, I think, should be translated the boys of Dyu (iii. 
 54, 13 ; V. 59, 6), not the sons of heaven. The bulls of 
 Dyu is a more primitive and more vigorous expression for 
 what we should call the fertilising winds of heaven. 
 
 Verse 2, note ^. Marya is a male, particularly a young 
 male, a boy, a young man (i. 115, 2 ; iii. 33, 10 ; iv. 20, 5 ; 
 V. 61, 4, with vira) : 
 
 V. 59, 5. marya/^-iva su-v?-idha/i vavridhuA naraA. 
 
 Like boys that grow well they have grown men. 
 
94 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 When joined with narah (v. 53, 3), naraA marjaA are- 
 pasaA, it may be taken as an adjective, manly, strong. At 
 last marya assumes the general meaning of man : 
 
 i. 91, 13. marya/i-iva sve okyg. 
 
 Like a man in his own house. 
 
 Verse 2, note ^. The simile, like giants, is not quite clear. 
 Satvan means a strong man, but it seems intended here to 
 convey the idea of supernatural strength. Benfey translates, 
 ' like brave wari'iors ;' Wilson, ' like evil spirits.' Ghora- 
 varpas is an adjective belonging to the Maruts rather than 
 to the giants, and may mean of awful aspect, i. 19, 5, or of 
 cruel mind; cf. i. 39, i, note ^. 
 
 Verse 3, note \ Abhog-ghanaA, the slayers of the demon, 
 are the slayers of the clouds, viz. of such clouds as do not 
 yield rain. Abho^, not nurturing, is a name of the rainless 
 cloud, like Namu^i (na-mu^, not delivering rain), the name 
 of another demon killed by Indra ; see Benfey, Glossar, s. v. 
 The cloud which sends rain is called bhu^man : 
 
 viii. 50, 2. giriA na bhu^^ma maghavat-su pinvate. 
 
 Like a feeding cloud he showers his gifts on the wor- 
 shippers. 
 
 Verse 4, note \ The ornaments of the Maruts are best 
 described v. 54, 1 1 : 
 
 amseshu vaA rish/aya/^ pat-su khadaya/i vaksha/<-su ruk- 
 ma'A. 
 
 On your shoulders are the spears, on your feet rings, on 
 your chests gold ornaments. 
 
 Rukma as a masc. plur. is frequently used for ornaments 
 which are worn on the breast by the Maruts, but no hint is 
 given as to the exact nature of the ornaments. The Maruts 
 are actually called rukmavakshasa//, gold-breasted, (ii. 34, 2 ; 
 V. 55, I ; 57, 5-) 
 
 Verse 4, note ^ Vapushe and subhe, as parallel expres- 
 sions, occur also vi. 6^, 6. 
 
 Verse 4, note ^. Ni mimrikshur does not occur again in 
 the Rig-veda, and Roth has suggested to read ni mimikshur 
 instead ; see ni 4- mar^. He does not, however, give our 
 
MAiVZ)ALA I, SUKTA 64. 95 
 
 passage under rayaA', but under mraksh, and this seems 
 indeed preferable. No doubt, there is ample analogy for 
 mimikshu//., and the meaning would be, their spears stick 
 firm to their shoulders. But as the MSS. give mimrikshu/f, 
 and as it is possible to find a meaning for this, I do not 
 propose to alter the text. The question is only, what does 
 mimrikshuA mean ? Mraksh means to grind, to rub, and 
 Roth proposes to render our passage by 'the spears rub 
 together on their shoulders.' The objections to this trans- 
 lation ai-e the preposition ni, and the active voice of the verb. 
 I take mraksh in the sense of grinding, pounding, destroying, 
 which is likewise appropriate to mraksh a- k?ntvan (viii. 6i, lo), 
 and tuvi-mraksha (vi. i8, 2), and I translate, 'the spears on 
 their shoulders pound to pieces.' 
 
 Verse 4, note ^. The idea that the Maruts owe every- 
 thing, if not their birth, at least their strength (sva-tavasaA, 
 sva-bhanavaA, sva-snta/i), to themselves is of frequent occur- 
 rence in these hymns. 
 
 Verse 5, note \ They are themselves compared to kings 
 (i. 85, 8), and called i^ana, lords (i. 87, 4). 
 
 Vefse 5, note ^. Dhiini is connected with root dhvan, to 
 dun or to din. Sayawa explains it by bending or shaking, 
 and Benfey, too, translates it by Erschiitterer. Roth gives 
 the right meaning. 
 
 Verse 6, note \ I translate sudanavaA by bounteous, or 
 good givers, for, if we have to choose between the two 
 meanings of bounteous or endowed with liquid drops or 
 dew, the former is the more appropriate in most passages. 
 We might, of course, admit two words, one meaning, pos- 
 sessed of good water, the other, bounteous ; the former 
 derived from danu, neuter, water, or rain, the other from 
 danu, giving. It cannot be denied, for instance, that when- 
 ever the Maruts are called sudanava/i, the meaning, pos- 
 sessed of good rain, would be applicable: i. 40, i; 44, 14; 
 64, 6 ; 85, 10 ; ii. 34, 8 ; iii. 26, 5 ; v. 52, 5 ; S^, ^ > 57, 5; 
 viii, 20, 18; X. 78, 5; i. 15, 2 ; 23, 9; 39, 10. Yet, even 
 in these passages, while sudanavaA in the sense of possessed 
 
OG HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 of good rain is possible throughout, that of good giver would 
 sometimes be preferable, for instance, i. 15, 2, as compared 
 with i. 15, 3. 
 
 When the same word is applied to Indra, vii. 31, 2; 
 X. 23, 6 ; to Vishwu, viii. 25, 12 ; to the Asvins, i. 112, 11 ; 
 to Mitra and Varuwa, v. 62, 9 ; to Indra and Varuna, iv. 41, 
 8, the meaning of giver of good rain might still seem 
 more natural. But with Agni, vi. 2, 4; the Adityas, v. 67, 4; 
 viii. 18, 12; 19, 34; 67, 16; the Vasus, i. 106, i; x. 66, 
 12; the Visve, x. 6^, 11, such an epithet would not be 
 appropriate, while sudanavaA, in the sense of bounteous 
 givers, is applicable to all. The objection that danu, giver, 
 does not occur in the Veda, is of no force, for many words 
 occur at the end of compounds only, and we shall see 
 passages where sudanu must be translated by good giver. 
 Nor would the accent of danu, giver, be an obstacle, con- 
 sidering that the author of the U/?fidi-sutras had no Vedic 
 authority to guide him in the determination of the accent of 
 danu. Several words in nu have the accent on the first 
 syllable.' But one might go even a step further, and find 
 a more appropriate meaning for sudanu by identifying it 
 with the Zend hudanu, which means, not a good giver, 
 but a good knower, wise. True, this root da, to know, does 
 not occur in the ordinary Sanskrit, but as it exists both in 
 Zend and in Greek {Sdrj/ui, Sdeig), it may have left this one 
 trace in the Vedic word sudanu. This, however, is only a 
 conjecture ; what is certain is this, that apart from the 
 passages where sudanu is thus applied to various deities, in 
 the sense of bounteous or wise, it also occurs as applied to 
 the sacrificer, where it can only mean giver. This is clear 
 from the following passages : 
 
 i. 47, 8. isham p?'inA:anta su-k?-ite su-danave. 
 
 Bringing food to him who acts well and gives well. 
 
 vii. 96, 4. //ani-yantaA nii agrava/f putri-yanta/s su-dana- 
 va/i, sarasvantam havamahe. 
 
 We, being unmarried, and wishing for wives and wishing 
 for sons, offering sacrifices, call now upon Sarasvat. 
 
 viii. 103, 7. su-danava/i deva-yava//. 
 
 Offering sacrifices, and longing for the gods. Cf. x. 172, 
 2 ; 3 ; vi. 16, 8. 
 
MAiV/)ALA I, S^TKTA 64. 97 
 
 iv. 4, 7. sih it agne astu su-bhaga// su-danu// ynh tva 
 nityena havisha yah ukthai// piprishati. 
 
 O Agni, let the liberal sacrificcr be happy, who wishes 
 to please thee by perpetual offerings and hymns. See also 
 vi, 16, 8; 68, 5; x. 172, 2, 3. 
 
 It must be confessed that even the meaning of danu is 
 by no means quite clear. It is clear enough where it means 
 demon, ii. 11, 18; 12, ii; iv. 30, 7; x. 120, 6, the seven 
 demons. In i. 32, 9; iii. 30, 8, danu, demon, is applied to the 
 mother of Vntra. From this danu we have the derivative 
 danava, meaning again demon. Why the demons, con- 
 quered by Indra, were called danu, is not clear. It may 
 be in the sense of wise, or in the sense of powerful, for this 
 meaning is ascribed to danu by the author of the Uwadi- 
 siitras. If the latter meaning is authentic, and not only 
 deduced ex post from the name of Danu and Danava, it 
 might throw light on the Celtic dana, fortis, from which 
 Zeuss derives the name of the Danube. 
 
 But the sense of the neuter danu is by no means settled. 
 Sometimes it means Soma : 
 
 X. 43, 7. apaA na sindhum abhi yat sam-aksharan somasaA 
 indram kulya'A-iva hradam, vardhanti vipraA maha/i asya 
 sadane yavam na v;'ish^i/i divyena danuna. 
 
 When the Somas run together to Indra, like water to 
 the river, like channels to the lake, then the priests 
 increase his greatness in the sanctuary, as rain the corn, 
 by the heavenly Soma-juice. 
 
 In the next verse ^iradanu means the sacrificer whose 
 Soma is always alive, always ready. 
 
 In vi. 50, 13, however, danu papriA is doubtful. As an 
 epithet to Apam napat, it may mean he who wishes for 
 Soma, or he who grants Soma ; but in neither case is 
 there any tangible sense. Again, \dii. 25, 5, Mitra and 
 Varuna are called sripra-danu, which may mean possessed 
 of flowing rain. And in the next verse, sam ya danuni 
 yemathu/i may be rendered by Mitra and Varuwa, who 
 brought together rain. 
 
 The fact that Mitra-Varu?iau and the A^vins are called 
 danunaspati does not throw much more light on the sub- 
 ject, and the one passage where danu occurs as a feminine, 
 
 VOL. I. H 
 
98 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 i. 54, 7, danuA asmai upai'a pinvate diva/i, may be trans- 
 lated by rain pours forth for him, below the sky, but the 
 translation is by no means certain. 
 
 Danu^itra, applied to the dawn, the water of the clouds, 
 and the three worlds (v. 59, 8; 31, 6; i. 174, 7), means 
 most likely bright with dew or rain ; and danumat vasu, 
 the treasure conquered by Indra from the clouds, can be 
 translated by the treasure of rain. Taking all the evidence 
 together, we can hardly doubt that danu existed in the 
 sense of liquid, rain, or Soma ; yet it is equally certain that 
 danu existed in the sense of giver, if not of gift, and that 
 from this, in certain passages, at all events, sudanu must be 
 derived, as a synonym of sudavan, sudaman, &c. 
 
 Verse 6, note ^. Cf. vii. 50, 4, (nadya/«) payasa pinva- 
 mana^, the rivers swelling with milk. Pinvati is here 
 construed with two accusatives, the conception being that 
 they fill or feed the waters, and that the waters take the 
 food, viz. the rain. The construction is not to be com- 
 pared with the Greek rpecpeiv rpocprjv Tiva TOirjvde (Herod, 
 ii. 2), but rather w^ith SiSua-Keiv nva ri. 
 
 Cf. vi. 6^, 8. dhenum uah isham pinvatam asakram. 
 
 You filled our cow (with) constant food. 
 
 Similarly duh, to milk, to extract, is construed with two 
 accusatives: Paw. i. 4, ^i. gam dogdhi paya/^, he milks the 
 cow milk. 
 
 Rv. ix. 107, 5. duhana/j udha/^ divyam madhu priyam. 
 
 Milking the heavenly udder (and extracting from it) the 
 precious sweet, i.e. the rain. 
 
 Verse 6, note ^. The leading about of the clouds is 
 intended, like the leading about of horses, to tame them, 
 and make them obedient to the wishes of their riders, the 
 Maruts. i^tya/i va^i is a strong horse, possibly a stallion ; 
 but this horse is here meant to signify the cloud. Thus 
 we read : 
 
 V. 83, 6. diva/i na/< vrish/im maruta// raridhvam pra 
 pinvata vrishwaA asvasya dharii//. 
 
 Give us, O Maruts, the rain of heaven, pour forth the 
 streams of the stallion (the cloud). 
 
MAA^DALA I, SUKTA 64. 99 
 
 In the original the simile is quite clear, and no one re- 
 quired to be told that the atyaA va^i was meant for the cloud. 
 Yiiffm by itself means a horse, as i. 66, 2 ; 69, 3. v^i na 
 prita/i, like a favourite horse: i. 116, 6. paidva/i va^i, the 
 horse of Pedu. But being derived from va^a, strength, 
 va^in retained always something of its etymological meaning, 
 and was therefore easily and naturally transferred to the 
 cloud, the giver of strength, the source of food. Even with- 
 out the na, i.e. as if, the simile would have been understood 
 in Sanskrit, while in Enghsh it is hardly intelligible without 
 a commentary. Benfey discovers some additional idea in 
 support of the poet's comparison : ' Ich bin kein Pferde- 
 kenner,' he says, ' aber ich glaube bemerkt zu haben, dass 
 man Pferde, Avelche rasch gelaufen sind, zum Uriniren zu 
 bewegen sucht. So lassen hier die Maruts die durch 
 ihren Sturm rasch fortgetriebenen Wolken Wasser herab 
 stromen.' 
 
 Verse 6, note ^. U'tsa, well, is meant again for cloud, 
 though we should hardly be justified in classing it as a name 
 of cloud, because the original meaning of utsa, spring, is 
 really retained, as much as that of avata, w^ell, in i. 85, 10— 11. 
 The adjectives stanayantam and akshitam seem more appli- 
 cable to cloud, yet they may be applied also to a spring. 
 Yaska derives utsa from ut-sar, to go forth ; ut-sad, to go 
 out ; ut-syand, to well out ; or from ud, to wet. In v. 32, 2, 
 the wells shut up by the seasons are identified with the 
 udder of the cloud. 
 
 Verse 7, note ^ Svatavas means really having their own 
 independent strength, a strength not derived from the 
 support of others. The yet which I have added in brackets 
 seems to have been in the poet's mind, though it is not 
 expressed. In i. 87, 4, the Maruts are called sva-snt, going 
 by themselves, i. e. moving freely, independently, wherever 
 they list. See i. 64, 4, note \ 
 
 Verse 7, note I Mrigah hastinaA, wild animals with a 
 hand or a trunk, must be meant for elephants, although it 
 has been doubted whether the poets of the Veda were 
 H 2 
 
100 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 acquainted with that animal. Hastin is the received name 
 for elephant in the later Sanskrit, and it is hardly appli- 
 cable to any other animal. If they are said to eat the 
 forests, this may be understood in the sense of crushing or 
 
 Verse 7, note '\ The chief difficulty of the last sentence 
 has been pointed out in B. and R.'s Dictionary, s. v. aruwi. 
 Arum does not occur again in the whole of the Rig-veda. 
 If we take it with Saya/m as a various reading of arwn, then 
 the Aru/ns could only be the ruddy cows of the dawn or of 
 Indra, with whom the Maruts, in this passage, can have no 
 concern. Nor would it be inteUigible why they should be 
 called arum in this one place only. If, as suggested by 
 B. and R., the original text had been yada ai'u;nshu, it 
 would be difficult to understand how so simple a reading 
 could have been corrupted. 
 
 Another difficulty is the verb ayugdhvam, which is not 
 found again in the Rig-veda together with tavishi. Tavishi, 
 vigour, is construed with dha, to take strength, v. 32, 2. 
 adhattha/i; v. ^^, 2. dadhidhve; x. 102, 8. adhatta; also with 
 vas, iv. 16, 14; with pat, x. 113, 5, &c. But it is not 
 likely that to put vigour into the cows could be expressed 
 in Sanskrit by ' you gain vigour in the cows.' If tavishi 
 must be taken in the sense which it seems always to possess, 
 viz. vigour, it would be least objectionable to translate, 
 ' when you joined vigour, i. e. when you assumed vigour, 
 while being among the Aruwis.' The Aruwis being the cows 
 of the dawn, arumshu might simply mean in the morning. 
 Considering, however, that the Maruts are said to eat up 
 forests, aruwi, in this place, is best taken in the sense of 
 red flames, viz. of fire or forest-fire (davagni), so that the 
 sense would be, ' When you. Storms, assume vigour among 
 the flames, you eat up forests, like elephants.* Benfey : 
 ' Wenn mit den rothen eure Kraft ihr angeschirrt. Die 
 rothen sind die Antilopen, das Vehikel der Maruts, wegen 
 der Schnelligkeit derselben.* 
 
 Verse 8, note \ As p'lsa. does not occur again in the Rig- 
 veda, and as Sayawa, without attempting any etymological 
 
MAN D ALA 1, St^KTA 64. 101 
 
 arguments, simply gives it as a name of deer, it seems best 
 to adopt that sense till something better can be discovered. 
 Supijs', too, does not occur again. In vii. i8, 2, pis is ex- 
 plained by gold, &c. ; vii. 57, 3, the Maruts are called 
 y'lsvapis. 
 
 Verse 8, note ". Kshapa/t can only be the accusative 
 plural, used in a temporal sense. It is so used in the 
 expression kshapaA usra/i ka, by night and by day, lit. nights 
 and days (vii. 15, 8), In vi. 52, 15, we find kshapaA usraA 
 in the same sense, iv. ^;^, 7. kshapabhi^ aha-bhiA, by night 
 and by day. i. 44, 8, the loc. plur. vyushdshu, in the 
 mornings, is followed by kshapa//, the ace. plur., by night, 
 and here the genitive kshapaA would certainly be preferable, 
 in the sense of at the brightening up of the night. The 
 ace. plur. occurs again in i. 116, 4, where tisraA is used as 
 an accusative (ii. 2, 2 ; viii. 41, 3). KshapaA, with the 
 accent on the last, must be taken as a genitivus temporalis, 
 like the German Nachts (i. 79, 6). In viii. 19, 31, kshapaA 
 vastushu means at the brightening up of the night, i.e. in 
 the morning. Thus, in iii. 50, 4, Indra is called kshapam 
 vasta ^anita suryasya, the lighter up of nights, the parent 
 of the sun. In viii. 26, 3, ati kshapaA, the genitive may 
 be governed by ati. In iv. 16, 19, however, the accusative 
 kshapa^ would be more natural, nor do I see how a genitive 
 could here be accounted for : 
 
 dyava^ na dyumnai/? abhi santa/i aryaA kshapa/j madema 
 5arada/i ^a purvi/(. 
 
 May we rejoice many years, overcoming our enemies as 
 the days overcome the nights by splendour. 
 
 The same applies to i. 70, 4, where kshapaA occurs with 
 the accent on the last syllable, whereas we expect kshapaA 
 as nom. or ace. plural. Here B, and R. in the Sanskrit 
 Dictionary, s. v. kshap, rightly, I believe, suppose it to be a 
 nom. plur. in spite of the accent. 
 
 Verse 9, note ^ Rodasi, a dual, though frequently fol- 
 lowed by ubhe (i. 10, 8 ; 33, 9 ; 54, 2), means heaven and 
 earth, excluding the antariksha or the air between the 
 two. Hence, if this is to be included, it has to be added : 
 
102 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 i. 73, 8. apapri-van rodasi antariksham. Cf. v. 85, 3. We 
 must scan rodasi. See Kuhn, Beitrage, vol. iv. p. 193. 
 
 Verse 9, note ^. The comparison is not quite distinct. 
 Amati means originally impetus, then power, e. g. v. 69, i : 
 
 vavridhanau amatim kshatriyasya. 
 
 Increasing the might of the warrior. 
 
 But it is most frequently used of the effulgence of the 
 sun, (iii. 38, 8 ; v. 45, 2 ; 62, 5 ; vii. 38, i; 2 ; 45, 3.) See 
 also V. ^6, 8, w^here the same companion of the Maruts is 
 called Rodasi. The comparative particle na is used twice. 
 
 Verse 10, note ^ See i. 38, 14, p. 78. 
 
 Verse 10, note ^. In vrisha-khadi the meaning of khadi 
 is by no means clear. Saya«a evidently guesses, and pro- 
 poses two meanings, weapon or food. In several passages 
 where khadi occurs, it seems to be an ornament rather than 
 a weapon, yet if derived from khad, to bite, it may origin- 
 ally have signified some kind of weapon. Roth translates 
 it by ring, and it is certain that these khadis were to be 
 seen not only on the arms and shoulders, but likewise on 
 the feet of the Maruts. There is a famous weapon in India, 
 the Arakra or quoit, a ring with sharp edges, which is thrown 
 from a great distance with fatal effect. Bollensen (Orient 
 und Occident, vol. ii. p. 46) suggests for vrishan the meaning 
 of hole in the ear, and then translates the compound as 
 having ean'ings in the hole of the ear. But vnshan does 
 not mean the hole in the lap of the ear, nor has V7'ishabha 
 that meaning either in the Veda or elsewdiere. Wilson gives 
 for V7'ishabha, not for V7'ishan, the meaning of orifice of the 
 ear, but this is very different from the hole in the lap of 
 the ear. Benfey suggests that the khadis were made of the 
 teeth of w^ild animals, and hence their name of biters. Vri- 
 shan conveys the meaning of strong, though possibly with 
 the implied idea of rain-producing, fertilising. See p. 121. 
 
 Verse 11, note ^ Formerly explained as ' zum Kampfe 
 wandelnd.' See Kuhn, Zeitschrift, vol. iv. p. 19. 
 
 Verse 11, note ^. Wilson: ' Augmenters of rain, they 
 
MAA^DALA I, S^KTA 64. 103 
 
 drive, with golden wheels, the clouds asunder ; as elephants 
 (in a herd, break down the trees in their way). They arc 
 honoured with sacritices, visitants of the hall of offering, 
 spontaneous assailers (of their foes), subverters of what 
 are stable, immovable themselves, and wearers of shining 
 weapons.' 
 
 Benfcy : ' Weghemnmissen gleich schleudern die Fluth- 
 mehrer mit den goldnen Felgen das Gewolk empor, die nie 
 miiden Kampfer,frei schreitcnd-fcstessturzcnden,die schweres 
 thu'nden, lanzcnstrahlenden Maruts.' 
 
 Verse 12, note ^ Havasa, instead of what one should 
 expect, havasa, occurs but once more in another Marut 
 hymn, vi. 66, ii. 
 
 Verse 12, note ^. Vanin does not occur again as an 
 epithet of the Maruts. It is explained by Sayana as a 
 possessive adjective derived from vana, water, and Benfey 
 accordingly translates it by fluthversehn. This, however, is 
 not confirmed by any authoritative passages. Vanin, unless it 
 means connected with the forest, a tree, in which sense it oc- 
 curs frequently, is only applied to the w orshippers or priests in 
 the sense of venerating or adoring (cf. venero, venustus, he.) : 
 
 iii. 40, 7. abhi dyumnani vanma/i indram saArante akshita. 
 
 The inexhaustible treasures of the worshipper go towards 
 Indra. 
 
 viii. 3, 5. indram vanina/i havamahe. 
 
 We, the worshippers, call Indra. 
 
 Unless it can be proved by independent e\ddence that 
 vanin means possessed of water, we must restrict vanin to 
 its two meanings, of which the only one here applicable, 
 though weak, is adoring. The Maruts are fi'equently repre- 
 sented as singers and priests, yet the epithets here applied to 
 them stand much in need of some definite explanation, as 
 the poet could hardly have meant to string a number of 
 vague and ill-connected epithets together. If one might 
 conjecture, svaninam instead of vaninam would be an im- 
 provement. It is a scarce word, and occurs but once more 
 in the Veda, iii. 26, 5, where it is used of the Maruts, in 
 the sense of noisy, turbulent. 
 
104 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 Verse 12, note ^. Sa^Arata, which I have here translated 
 hterally by to cling, is often used in the sense of following 
 or revering {colere) : 
 
 ii. I, 13. tvam rati-sa^a/i adhvareshu sa^-^ire. 
 
 The gods who are fond of offerings cling to thee, follow 
 thee, at the sacrifices. 
 
 The Soma libation is said to reach the god : 
 
 ii. 22, I. sa/< enam sa^A-at deva^ devam. The gods too are 
 said to chng to their worshippers, i. e. to love and protect 
 them : iii. 16, 2 ; ^di. 18, 25. The horses are said to follow 
 their drivers: vi. 36, 3; vii. 90, 3, &c. It is used very much 
 like the Greek oTra'^a). 
 
 Verse 12, note ^. Ra^astu^ may mean rousing the dust 
 of the earth, a very appropriate epithet of the Maruts. 
 Sayana explains it thus, and most translators have adopted 
 his explanation. But as the epithets here are not simply 
 descrijjtive, but laudator)^, it seems preferable, in this place, 
 to retain the usual meaning of ra^as, sky. When Soma is 
 called ra^astuA, ix. 108, 7, Sayana too explains it by te^asam 
 prerakam, and ix. 48, 4, by udakasya prerakam. 
 
 ^'erse 12, note °. i?i^ishin, derived from ?'i^isha. i?i^isha 
 is what remains of the Soma-plant after it has once been 
 squeezed, and what is used again for the third libation. 
 Now as the Maruts are invoked at the third libation, they 
 were called ri^ishin, as drinking at their later libation the 
 juice made of the n//isha. This, at least, is the opinion 
 of the Indian commentators. But it is much more likely 
 that the Maruts were invoked at the third libation, because 
 originally they had been called ri^ishin by the Vedic poets, 
 this 7-i//ishin being derived from n^isha, and ?-i^isha from rig, 
 to strive, to yearn, like purisha from pri, manisha from 
 man ; (see U^adi-sutras, p. 273.) This rig is the same 
 root which we have in opiyeiv, to reach, opyi), emotion, and 
 npym, furious transports of worshippers. Thus the Maruts 
 from being called ri^ishin, impetuous, came to be taken for 
 drinkers of righha, the fermenting and overflo^ving Soma, and 
 were assigned accordingly to the third libation at sacrifices. 
 /?i//ishin, as an epithet, is not confined to the Maruts ; it 
 
MA.VZ>ALA I, SUKTA G4. 105 
 
 is given to Indi'a, with whom it could not have had a pnrely 
 ceremonial meaning (viii. 76, 5). 
 
 Verse 13, note ^ Aprikkhya, literally to be asked for, to 
 be inquii'ed for, to be greeted and honoured, A word of an 
 apparently modern character, but occurring again in the 
 Rig-veda as apphed to a prince, and to the vessel containing 
 the Soma. 
 
 Verse 13, note ^. Pushyati might be joined with kratu 
 and taken in a transitive sense, he increases his strength. 
 Rut pushyati is also used as an intransitive, and means he 
 prospers ; 
 
 i. 83, 3. asam-yataA vrate te ksheti pushyati. 
 
 Without let he dwells in thy sendee and prospers. 
 
 Roth reads asa»iyatta^, against the authority of the MSS. 
 
 Verse 14, note \ The difficulty of this verse arises from 
 the uncertainty whether the epithets dlianasp?-itam, ukthyam, 
 and visvaA-arshamm belong to sushma, strength, or to toka, 
 kith and kin. Roth and Benfey connect them with toka. 
 Now dhanasprit is applicable to toka, yet it never occurs 
 joined with toka again, while it is used with 5ushma, 
 vi. 19, 8. Ukthya, literally to be praised with hymns, is 
 not used again as an epithet of toka, though it is quite 
 appropriate to any gift of the gods. Lastly, \isvakar&hsim 
 is never applied to toka, while it is an epithet used, if not 
 exactly of the strength, ;sushma, given by the gods, yet of 
 the fame given by them : 
 
 X. 93, 10. dhatam vireshu vi*va-/tarsham sravaA. 
 
 Give to these men world-wide glory. Cf iii. 2, 15. 
 
 The next difficulty is the exact meaning of visva-Zrarsha/ii, 
 and such cognate words as vi^va-krish^i, visva-manusha. 
 The only intelligible meaning I can suggest for these words 
 is, known to all men ; originally, belonging to, reaching to 
 all men ; as we say, world-wide or European fame, meaning 
 by it fame extending over the whole of Europe, or over the 
 whole world. If Indra, Agni, and the Maruts are called by 
 these names, they mean, as far as I can judge, known, wor- 
 shipped by all men. Benfey translates allverstdndig. 
 
106 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. . 
 
 Verse 15, note \ Riti, the first element of nti-saham, 
 never occurs by itself in the Rig-veda. It comes from the 
 root ar, to hurt, which was mentioned before (p. 54) in 
 connection with ar-van, hurting, arus, wound, and ari, 
 enemy. Sam-riti occurs i. 32, 6. /^iti therefore means hurt- 
 ing, and riti-sah means one who can stand an attack. In our 
 passage rayim vira-vantam riti-saham means really wealth 
 consisting in men who are able to withstand all onslaughts. 
 
 The word is used in a similar sense, vi. 14, 4 : 
 
 agniA apsam riti-saham viram dadati sat-patim, yasya 
 trasanti 5avasa/i sam-Hkshi 5atrava/« bhiya. 
 
 Agni gives a strong son who is able to withstand all 
 onslaughts, from fear of whose strength the enemies tremble 
 when they see him. 
 
 In other passages riti-sah is applied to Indra : 
 
 viii. 45, ^^. bibhaya hi tva-vataA ugrat abhi-prabhanginaA 
 dasmat aham nti-saha^. 
 
 For I stand in fear of a powerful man like thee, of one 
 who crushes his enemies, who is strong and withstands all 
 onslaughts. 
 
 viii. 68, 1. tuvi-kui'mim riti-saham indra .<favish^^a 
 sat-pate. 
 
 Thee, O most powerful Indra, of mighty strength, able 
 to withstand all onslaughts, 
 
 viii. 88, I. tam vaA dasmam riti-saham — indram glh-hhih 
 navamahe. 
 
 We call Indra the strong, the resisting, with our songs. 
 
 Verse 15, note ^. The last sentence finishes six of the 
 hymns ascribed to Nodhas. It is more appropriate in a 
 hymn addressed to single deities, such as Agni or Indra, 
 than in a hymn to the Maruts. We must supply ^ardha, 
 in order to get a collective word in the masculine singular. 
 
 Nu, as usual, should be scanned nu. 
 
 Verse 15, note ^. Dhiya-vasu, as an epithet of the gods, 
 means rich in prayers, i. e. invoked by many worshippers. 
 It does not occur frequently. Besides the hymns of Nodhas, 
 it only occurs independently in i. 3, 10 (Sarasvati), iii. 3, 2, 
 iii. 28, I (Agni), these hymns being all ascribed to the 
 
MAA^DALA 1, S^KTA 64. 107 
 
 family of Vi«vamitra. In the last verse, which forms the 
 burden of the hymns of Nodhas, it may have been intended 
 to mean, he who is rich through the hymn just recited, he who 
 rejoices in the hymn, the god to whom it is addressed. 
 
 Nodhas, the poet, belongs, according to the Anukramam, 
 to the family of Gotama, and in the hymns which are 
 ascribed to him, i. 58—64, the Gotamas are mentioned 
 several times : 
 
 i. 60, 5. tarn tva vayara patim ague rayiwam pra saiusk- 
 mah mati-bhiA gotaraasaA. 
 
 We, the Gotamas, praise thee with hymns, Agni, the 
 lord of treasures. 
 
 i. 61, 16. eva te hari-yo^ana su-vnkti indra brahmawi 
 gotamasaA akran. 
 
 Truly the Gotamas made holy prayers for thee, O Indra 
 with brilliant horses ! See also i. 6^, 9. 
 
 In one passage Nodhas himself is called Gotama : 
 
 i. 62, 13. sana-yate gotamaA indra navyam 
 atakshat brahma hari-yo^anaya, 
 su-nithaya usJi ^avasana nodha'A — 
 -pratah makshu dhiya-vasuA ^agamyat. 
 
 Gotama made a new song for the old (god) with brilliant 
 horses, O Indra ! May Nodhas be a good leader to us, O 
 powerful Indra ! May he who is rich in prayers (Indra) 
 come early and soon ! 
 
 I feel justified therefore in following the Anukramam and 
 taking Nodhas as a proper name. It occurs so again in 
 
 i. 61, 14. sadyaA bhuvat viryaya nodha/^. 
 
 May Nodhas quickly attain to power ! 
 
 In i. 124, 4, nodhaA-iva may mean like Nodhas, but more 
 likely it may have the more general meaning of poet. 
 
 L 1 i> it A it 1 
 
 UKIVEIUSITY n 
 
 califoi:ma. 
 
108 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 MajVZ)ALA I, StjKTA 85. 
 
 AsHTAKA I, Adhyaya 6, Varga 9-10. 
 
 1. Pra ye sumbhante ^anaya/i na saptayaA yaman 
 riidrd,sya simava/? su-damsasaA, rodasi (iti) hi maru- 
 ta/i ^akrire v?'idhe madanti vir sih vidittheshu ghri- 
 shvaya^. 
 
 2. Te ukshitasa/i mahimanam asata divi rudr^sa^ 
 adhi ^akrire sadaA, ar^anta^ arkdm ^anayanta/i 
 indriydm d,dhi sriyaA dadhire p7-lsni-m4tara/i. 
 
 3. Gd-mataraA yd,t subhayante an^/i-bhiA tantishu 
 subhr£i/i dadhire virukmataA, vatdhante visvam abhi- 
 matinam apa vd-rtmani eshdm d^nu riyate ghritdm. 
 
 4. Vi ye bhr%ante su-makhasaA nshti-hhih pra- 
 AjyavdyantaA ikyuti kit o^asa, mana^-^iiva^ y4t 
 marutaA rdtheshu K v>-isha-vrat4sa/i prishati^ ayug- 
 dhvam. 
 
 5. Pra yat ratheshii p^-lshatiA ayugdhvam vai^e 
 adrim marutaA ramhdyantaA uta arushjisya vi syanti 
 dh^iM Hrma-iva udd,-bhiA vi undanti bhiXma. 
 
 6. A va/i vahantu saptaya/i, raghu-syddaA raghu- 
 pd,tvanaA prd ^igata bahii-bhi/i, si'data K barhiA uru 
 va/<^ sddaA k?^tdm m4dd,yadhvam niaruta/? rnddhvaA 
 iindhiis-dh. 
 
 7. Td avardhanta svil-tavasaA mahi-tvaric^ a nakam 
 
MAA^/JALA I, SUKTA 85. 109 
 
 Hymn to the Maruts (the Storm-gods). 
 
 1. Those who glance forth like wives and yoke- 
 fellows/ they are the powerful sons of Kiulra on 
 their way. The Maruts have made heaven and 
 earth to grow," they, the strong and wild, delight 
 in the sacrifices. 
 
 2. When grown up,^ they attained to greatness ; 
 the Rudras have established their abode in the sky. 
 While singing their song and increasing their vigour, 
 the sons of P?4sni have clothed themselves in beauty.- 
 
 3. When these sons of the cow (Prisni) ^ adorn 
 themselves with glittering ornaments, the brilliant - 
 ones put bright weapons on their bodies.^ Tli^J 
 hurl away every adversary;^ fatness (rain) runs 
 along their paths ; — 
 
 4. When you,^ the powerful, who glitter with 
 your spears, shaking even what is unshakable by 
 strength ; when you, Maruts, the manly hosts,^ 
 had yoked the spotted deer, swift as thought, to 
 your chariots ; — 
 
 5. When you had yoked the spotted deer before 
 your chariots, stirring ^ the cloud to the battle, then 
 the streams of the red enemy ^ rush forth : like a skin^ 
 with water they water the earth. 
 
 6. May the swift-gliding, swift-winged horses carry 
 you hither ! Come forth with your arms ! ^ Sit down 
 on the grass-pile ; a mde place has been made for you. 
 Rejoice, O Maruts, in the sweet food.- 
 
 7. Thev who have their own strength, grew ^ with 
 
110 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 tasthuA urn A'akrire sdda/?, vishnuh ydt ha avat 
 vrisha?iam mada-^yutam vaya^ nd, sidan ddhi bar- 
 hishi priyd. 
 
 8. A^tira/i-iva it yiiyudhaya/i nd ^dgmaya^ srava- 
 sydvaA nd, pritanasu yetire, bhdyante visva bhuvan^ 
 marut-bliya/i r%4na/i-iva tveslid-sand/TsaA ndra/i. 
 
 9. Tvasli^a ydt vd^ram su-kritam hirawydyam 
 sahdsra-blirislidm su-dpa/i^ dTartayat, dhatte Indra/i 
 ndri dpa??isi kdrtave dhan V9'itrdm ni/i apaim aub^at 
 ar?iavdm. 
 
 10. Urdhvdm niinudre avatdm te 6^asa dad?'!- 
 M?idm kit bibhiduA vl pdrvatam, dhdmanta^ va- 
 ?idm maruta/i su-d^nava/i mdde s6masya rd?iy4ni 
 A;akrire. 
 
 11. 6rihmdm nunudre avatdm tdya disa dsin^an 
 litsam gdtamdya tr\s\\ni,-ge, K ga^-A7^anti im dvas^ 
 A;itrd-bhanava/i kamam viprasya tarpayanta dh^ma- 
 hhHi. 
 
 12. Y^ va/i sdrma sasaman^a sdnti tri-dh^tiini 
 dasushe ya^Mata ddhi, asmdbhyam t^ni maruta/^ vi 
 yanta rayim nah dhatta viishawa/? su-viram. 
 
 COMMENTARY. 
 
 This hymn is ascribed to Gotama, The metre is (ragati, 
 except in verses 5 and 12, which are Trish/ubh. 
 
 Verse 1, note '. The phrase ga.na\ah na saptaya/< is 
 obscure. As ^ani has ahvays the meaning of wife, and 
 sapti in the singular, dual, and plural means horse, it might 
 
MAA^ZJALA I, S^KTA 85. Ill 
 
 might ; they stepped to the fii'inament, they made 
 their phace wide. When Vish^iu^ descried the 
 em'apturing Soma, the Maruts sat down Hke birds 
 on their beloved altar. 
 
 8. Like heroes indeed thirsting for fight they rush 
 about ; like combatants eager for glory they have 
 struggled in battles. All beings are afraid of the 
 Maruts ; they are men awful to behold, like kings. 
 
 9. When the clever Tvashfar^ had turned the 
 well-made, golden, thousand- edged thunderbolt, Indra 
 took it to perform his manly deeds ; ^ he slew V/itra, 
 he forced out the stream of water. 
 
 10. By their power they pushed the well^ aloft, 
 they clove asmider the cloud, however strong. Send- 
 mg forth their voice' the beneficent Maruts performed, 
 w^iile drunk of Soma, their glorious deeds. 
 
 11. They drove the cloud athwart this way, they 
 poured out the well to the thirsty Gotama. The 
 bright-shining Maruts approach him with help, they 
 mth their clans fulfilled the desire of the sage. 
 
 12. The shelters which you have for him who 
 praises you, grant them threefold to the man who 
 gives ! Extend the same to us, Maruts ! Give 
 us, ye heroes,^ wealth with excellent ofispring ! 
 
 be supposed that ganaxah could be connected with saptaya//, 
 so as to signify mares. But although ^ani is coupled with 
 patni, i. 62, 10, in the sense of mother-wife, and though 
 sapti is most commonly joined with some other name for 
 horse, yet ^anayaA saptaya/^ never occurs, for the simple 
 reason that it would be too elaborate and almost absurd an 
 expression for var/ava^. We find sapti joined with va^in, 
 
112 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 i. 162, 1; with rathya, ii. 31, 7; atyam na saptim, iil. 
 22, I ; sapti hari, iii. ^5, 2; asva sapti-iva, vi. 59, 3. 
 
 We might then suppose the thought of the poet to have 
 been this : What appears before us like race-horses, viz. the 
 storms coursing through the sky, that is really the host of 
 the Maruts. But then g6.na.ya.h remains unexplained, and 
 it is impossible to take gannyah na saptayaA as two similes, 
 like unto horses, like unto wives. 
 
 I believe, therefore, that we must here take sapti 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. Sapti, therefore, could never be 
 a wild horse, but always a tamed horse, a horse that will 
 go in harness. Cf. ix. 21, 4. hita/i na saptayaA rathe, like 
 horses put to the chariot ; or in the singular, ix. 70, 10. 
 hita/i na sapti^, like a harnessed horse. The I'oot is sap, 
 which in the Veda means to folloM-, to attend on, to 
 worship. But if sapti means originally animals that will 
 go together, it may in our passage have retained the sense 
 of yoke-fellow {crvCvyo^), and be intended as an adjective 
 to //anaya/<, wives. There is at least one other passage 
 where this meaning would seem to be more appropriate, 
 viz. 
 
 viii. 20, 23. yuyam sakhaya/i saptayaA. 
 
 You (Maruts), friends and followers ! or you, friends and 
 comrades ! 
 
 Here it is hardly possible to assign to sapti the sense of 
 horse, for the Maruts, though Hkened to horses, are never 
 thus barely invoked as saptaya/< / 
 
 If then wc 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. Whether in the phrase patim na 
 //anaya/i or //anaya/< na garbham, the </anis, the wives or 
 
MAiV£>ALA I, Si)kTA 85. 113 
 
 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 if 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.^ 
 
 Verse 1, note ^ 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 larger and wider. It afterwards takes a more 
 general sense of increasing, strengthening, blessing. 
 
 Verse 2, note \ Ukshita is here a participle of vaksh or 
 uksh, to grow, to wax ; not from uksh, to sprinkle, to 
 anoint, to inaugurate, as explained by Saya/«a. Thus it is 
 said of the Maruts, v. ^^, 3. sakam ^ata'A — sakam ukshita^, 
 born together, and grown up together. 
 
 Verse 2, note ^. The same expression occurs viii. 28, 5. 
 sapto (iti) adhi sr\yah dhire. See also i. 116, 17 ; ix. 68, i. 
 
 Verse 3, note \ G6-mat9'i, like go-^ata, a name of the 
 Maruts. 
 
 Verse 3, note ^. -Subhra applied to the Maruts, i. 19, 5. 
 
 Verse 3, note ^. VirukmataA must be an accusative 
 plural. It occurs i. 127, 3, as an epithet of o^as ; 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. sitrun a^riwat 
 \'irukmata, Indra tore his enemies with the bright weapon, 
 
 VOL. I. I 
 
114 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 In viii. lo, \i, where rukma occurs as a masculine plural, vi 
 bhr%ante rukmasaA adhi bahushu, their bright things shine 
 on their arms, it seems likewise to be meant for weapons ; 
 according to Sayawa, for chains. In v. r^^, 3 ; x. 78, 3, the 
 Maruts are called \-i-rokina^, bright like the rays of the sun 
 or the tongues of fire. 
 
 Verse 3, note ^. Observe the short syllable in the tenth 
 syllable of this Pada. 
 
 Verse 4, note \ The sudden transition from the third to 
 the second person is not unusual in the Vedic hymns, the 
 fact 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. 
 
 Verse 4, note ^. Vnsha-vrata is untranslatable for reasons 
 stated p. 121 seq. ; it means consisting of companies of vn- 
 shan^s in whatever sense that word be taken. Wilson in his 
 translation mistakes aA-yuta for dLkyuikh, 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 Saya?m. V?'isha-%Tata occurs 
 twice in the Rig-veda as an epithet of Soma only, ix. 62, 
 1 1 ; 64, I . 
 
 Verse 5, note \ Ramh, to stir up, to urge, to make go : 
 
 V. 32, 2. tvam litsan ritu-bhi/i badbadhanan ara?«haA. 
 
 Thou madest the springs to run that had been shut up 
 by the seasons. 
 
 viii. 19, 6. tasya it arvantaA rawhayante a^ava//. 
 
 His horses only run quick. 
 
 i^dri, which I here prefen-ed to translate by cloud, means 
 originally stone, and it is used in adriva//, wielder of the 
 thunderbolt, a common vocative addressed to Indra, in the 
 sense of a stone-weapon, or the thunderbolt. If we could 
 ascribe to it the same meaning here, we might translate, 
 ' hurling the stone in battle.' This is the meaning adopted 
 by Benfey. 
 
 Verse 5, note ^. The red enemy is the dark red cloud, 
 but arusha has almost become a ])roper name, and its 
 
M AND ALA I, SI>KTA 85. 115 
 
 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 Vntra, Dasyn, etc., 
 may never have had the sense of redness, but been formed 
 straight from ar, to hurt, from which arvan, arus, etc., 
 (see p. 54.) It would then mean simply the hurter, the 
 enemy, (see p. 17.) 
 
 Verse 5, note ^. Saya»a 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 : 
 ' xVlors les gouttes d'eau, per9ant comme la peau de ce 
 (nuage) bienfaisant Adennent inonder la terre.' Benfey : 
 ' Dann stiirzen reichlich aus der rothen (Gewitterwolke) 
 Tropfen, mit Fluth wie eine Haut die Erde netzend. (Dass 
 die Erde so durchnasst 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 Hrma-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 (dhara^) 
 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 enemy, 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. 139, 3) makes 
 the comparison still more natural. 
 
 One other explanation might suggest itself, if the sin- 
 gular of Mi'ma should be considered objectionable on 
 account of the plural of the verb. Vedic poets speak 
 of the skin of the earth. Thus : 
 
 X. 68, 4. bhumya/^ udna-iva vi tva^am bibheda. 
 I 2 
 
116 HYMNS TO THE MAKUTS. 
 
 He (Brihaspati) ha\dng driven the cows from the cave, 
 cut the skin of the earth, as it were, with water, i. e. 
 saturated it with rain. 
 
 The construction, however, if we took ^arma in the sense 
 of surface, would be very in-egular, and we should have 
 to translate : They moisten the earth with water like a skin, 
 i. e. skin-deep. 
 
 We ought to scan AiarmevodabhiA vi undanti bhuma, 
 for ^armeva udabhiA vyundanti bhvima would give an 
 unusual caesura. 
 
 Verse 6, note \ With your arms, i, e, according to 
 Sayawa, with armfuls of gifts. Though this expression 
 does not occur again so baldly, we read i. 166, 10, of the 
 Maruts, that there are many gifts in their strong arms, 
 bhuri/ii bhadra naryeshu bahushu; nor does bahu, as used 
 in the pkiral, as far as I am able to judge, ever convey 
 any meaning but that of arms. The idea that the Maruts 
 are carried along by their arms as by wings, does not rest 
 on Vedic authority, otherwise we might join raghupatvana^ 
 with bahubhiA, come forth swiftly flying on your arms ! 
 As it is, and with the accent on the antepenultimate, we 
 must refer raghupatvjina/f to saptaya^, horses. 
 
 Verse 6, note ^. The sweet food is Soma. 
 
 Verse 7, note \ The initial ' a ' of avardhanta must be 
 elided, or ' te a ^ be pronounced as two short syllables equal 
 to one long. 
 
 Verse 7, note ^. Vish/zu, whose character in the hymns 
 of the Veda is very different from that assumed by him in 
 later periods of Hindu religion, must here be taken as the 
 friend and companion of Indra. Like the Maruts, he 
 assisted Indra in his battle against V/-itra and the conquest 
 of the clouds. When Indra was forsaken by all the gods, 
 Vish?/,u came to his help. 
 
 iv. 18, II. uta mata mahisham anu avenat ami (iti) tva 
 ^ahati putra devaA, 
 
 iitha abravit vritram iiitha// hanishyiin sakhe vishz/o (iti) 
 vi-taram vi kramasva. 
 
MA.V/>ALA I, Sl^KTA 85. 117 
 
 The mother also called after the bull, these gods forsake 
 thee, O son ; then, when going to kill Vntra, Iiidra said. 
 Friend, Vishwu, ste^j forward ! 
 
 This stepping of Vishnu is emblematic of the rising, the 
 culminating, and setting of the sun; and in viii. 12, 27, 
 Vishnu is said to perform it through the power of Indra. 
 In vi. 20, 2, Indra is said to have killed Vritra, assisted by 
 Vishwu (vishnuwa saHnaA). Vishwu is therefore invoked 
 together with Indra, vi, 69, 8 ; vii. 99 ; with the Maruts, 
 V. 87 ; \'ii. ^6, 9. In vii. 93, 8, Indra, Vish;m, and the 
 Maruts are called upon together. Nay, maruta, belonging 
 to the Maruts, becomes actually an epithet of Vishwu, 
 V. 46, 2. mai'uta uta \dshwo (iti); and in i. 156, 4, marutasya 
 vedhiisaA has been pointed out by Roth as an appellation of 
 Vishnu. The mention of Vishnu in our hymn is therefore 
 by no means exceptional, but the whole purport of this 
 verse is nevertheless very doubtful, chiefly owing to the fact 
 that several of the words occurring in it lend themselves to 
 different interpretations. 
 
 The translations of Wilson, Benfey, and others have not 
 rendered the sense which the poet intends to describe at all 
 clear. Wilson says : ' May they for whom Vishnu defends 
 (the sacrifice), that bestows all desires and confers delight, 
 come (quickly) like birds, and sit down upon the pleasant 
 and sacred grass.' Benfey : ' Wenn Vishnu schiitzt den 
 rauschtriefenden tropfenden (Soma), sitzen wie Vogel sie 
 auf der geHebten Streu.' Langlois : ' Quand Vichnou 
 vient prendre sa part de nos enivrantes libations, eux, 
 comme des oiseaux, arrivent aussi sur le cousa qui leur 
 est cher.' 
 
 Whence all these varieties? First, because avat may 
 mean, he defended or protected, but likewise he descried, 
 became aware. Secondly, because vrishan is one of the 
 most vague and hence most difficult words in the Veda, 
 and may mean Indra, Soma, or the cloud : (see the note on 
 Vnshan, p. 121.) Thirdly, because the adjective belonging 
 to vnshan, which generally helps us to determine which 
 vrishan is meant, is here itself of doubtful import, and 
 certainly applicable to Indra as well as to Soma and the 
 A.fvins, possibly even to the cloud. Mada-A'yut. is readily 
 
118 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 explained by the commentators as bringing down pride, 
 a meaning which the word might w-ell have in modern 
 Sanskrit, but which it clearly has not in the Veda. Even 
 where the thunderbolt of Indra is called mada^yut, and 
 where the meaning of ' bringing dow^n pride' would seem 
 most appropriate, we ought to translate ' wdldly rushing 
 down.' 
 
 viii, 96, 5. a yat va^ram bahvoA indra dhatse mada- 
 Aryutam ahaye hantavai \vn (iti). 
 
 When thou tookest the wildly rushing thunderbolt in 
 thy arms in order to slay Ahi. 
 
 When applied to the gods, the meaning of mada^yut 
 is by no means certain. It might mean rushing about 
 fiercely, reehng with delight, this delight being produced 
 by the Soma, but it may also mean sending dow n delight, 
 i. e. rain or Soma. The root kyu is particularly applicable 
 to the sencUng down of rain ; cf. Taitt. Sanh, ii. 4, 9, 2 ; 
 10, 3 ; iii. 3, 4, I ; and Indra and his horses, to w^hom this 
 epithet is chiefly applied, are frequently asked to send 
 down rain. However, madaAyut is also applied to real 
 horses (i. 126, 4) where givers of rain would be an inappro- 
 priate epithet. I should therefore translate madaAyut, 
 when applied to Indi'a, to his horses, to the A^vins, or 
 to horses in general by furiously or wildly moving about, 
 as if ' made .^yavate,' he moves in a state of delight, or in a 
 state of intoxication such as was not incompatible with 
 the character of the ancient gods. Here again the difficulty 
 of rendering Vedic thought in English, or any other modern 
 language, becomes apparent, for we have no poetical w^ord 
 to express a high state of mental excitement produced by 
 ch'inking the intoxicating juice of the Soma or other plants, 
 which has not something opprobrious mixed up with it, while 
 in ancient times that state of excitement was celebrated as 
 a blessing of the gods, as not unworthy of the gods them- 
 selves, nay, as a state in which both the warrior and the 
 poet would perform their highest achievements. The German 
 Rausch is the nearest approach to the Sanskrit mada. 
 
 viii. I, 21. visvesham tarutaram mada-A-yutam made hi 
 sma dadati nah. 
 
 Indra, the conqueror of all, who rushes about in 
 
MA.YZJALA 1, SUKTA 85. 110 
 
 rapture, for in rapture he bestows gifts upon us. Cf. 
 i. 51, 2. 
 
 The horses of Indra are called mada/tyut, i. 81, 3 ; viii. ^^, 
 18; 34, 9. Ordinary horses, i. 126, 4. 
 
 It is more suqjrising to see this epithet applied to the 
 Asvins, who are generally represented as moving about with 
 exemplary steadiness. However we read: 
 
 A-iii. 22, 16. mana/i-^avasa vrisha^/a mada-^yuta. 
 
 Ye two Amns, quick as thought, powerful, wildly 
 moving ; or, as Saya^m proposes, liberal givers, humblers 
 of your enemies. See also viii. ;^^, 19. 
 
 Most fi'equently mada^yitt is appHed to Soma, x. ;^o, 9 ; 
 ix. 32, I ; 53, 4; 79, 2; 108, II ; where particularly the last 
 passage deserves attention, in which Soma is called mada- 
 /ryiitam sahasra-dharam vrishabham. 
 
 Lastly, even the wealth itself which the Maruts are asked 
 to send down from heaven, most likely rain, is called, viii. 
 7, 13, rayim mada-/:yutam puru-kshiim \d5va-dhayasam. 
 
 In all these passages we must translate mada-A'yut by 
 brmging delight, showering down delight. 
 
 We have thus arrived at the conclusion that vnshawam 
 mada-A-yutam, as used in our passage i. 85, 7, might be 
 meant either for Indi*a or for Soma. If the Asvins can be 
 called vrisha/iau mada-A:yuta, the same expression would 
 be even more applicable to Indra. On the other hand, 
 if Soma is called vrishabhaA mada-Ayut, the same Soma 
 may legitimately be called vrisha mada-A:yvit. In deciding 
 whether Indra or Soma be meant, we must now have 
 recourse to other hymns, in which the relations of the 
 Maruts with Vishwu, Soma, and Indra are alluded to. 
 
 If Indra were intended, and if the first words meant 
 ' When Vishwu perceived the approach of Indi'a,' we shovdd 
 expect, not that the Maruts sat down on the sacrificial 
 pile, but that they mshed to the battle. The idea that 
 the Maruts come to the sacrifice, like birds, is common 
 enough : 
 
 viii. 20, 10. v?-ishawa5vena maruta/i v/-isha-psuna rathena 
 vrisha-nabhina, a 5yenasa^ na pakshi«a/i vritha narnh havya 
 na^ vitaye gata. 
 
 Come ye Maruts together, to eat our otferings, on your 
 
120 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS, 
 
 strong-horsed, strong -shaped, strong-naved chariot, hke 
 winged hawks ! 
 
 But when the Maruts thus come to a sacrifice it is to 
 participate in it, and particularly in the Soma that is 
 offered by the sacrificer. This Soma, it is said in other 
 hymns, was prepared by Vishnu for Indra (ii. 22, i), and 
 Vishnu is said to have brought the Soma for Indra (x. 
 113, 2). If we keep these and similar passages in mind, 
 and consider that in the preceding verse the Maruts have 
 been invited to sit down on the sacrificial pile and to rejoice 
 in the sweet food, we shall see that the same train of 
 thought is carried on in our verse, the only new idea being 
 that the keeping or descrying of the Soma is ascribed to 
 Vishnu. 
 
 Verse 9, note ^ Tvash^ar, the workman of the gods, 
 frequently also the fashioner and creator. 
 
 Verse 9, note ^. Nari, the loc. sing, of nri, but, if so, 
 with a wrong accent, occurs only in this phrase as used 
 here, and as repeated in \dii. 96, 19. nari apawsi karta sa^ 
 vritra-ha. Its meaning is not clear. It can hardly mean 
 ' on man,' Avithout some more definite application. If nri 
 could be used as a name of Vritra or any other enemy, 
 it would mean, to do his deeds against the man, on the 
 enemy. Nn, however, is ordinarily an honorific term, 
 chiefly applied to Indra, iv. 25, 4. nare naryaya nri-tamaya 
 nrinam, and hence its application to Vritra would be 
 objectionable. vSayana explains it in the sense of battle. I 
 believe that nari stands for narya, the ace. plur. neut. of narj'a, 
 manly, and the fi-equent epithet of apas, and I have trans- 
 lated accordingly. Indra is called narya-apas, viii. 93, i. 
 
 Verse 10, note \ Avata, a well, here meant for cloud, 
 like utsa, i. 64, 6. 
 
 Verse 10, note ^. DhamantaA vanam is translated by 
 Sayana as playing on the lyre, by Benfey as blowing the 
 flute. Such a rendering, particularly the latter, would 
 be very appropriate, but there is no authority for va«a 
 meaning cither lyre or flute in the Veda. Vana occurs 
 
MAA^Z>ALA I, sflKTA 85. 121 
 
 five times only. In one passage, viii. 20, 8, gobhiA va«a/i 
 a^yate, it means arrow ; the arrow is sent forth from the 
 bow-strings. The same meaning seems appHcable to ix. 
 50, I. va/?asya ^odaya pavim. In another passage, ix. 97, 8, 
 pra vadanti va«am, they send forth their voice, is applied 
 to the Marnts, as in our passage ; in iv. 24, 9, the sense 
 is doubtful, but here too vana clearly does not mean a 
 musical instrument. See iii. 30, 10. 
 
 Vrishan. 
 
 Verse 12, note \ In vrishan we have one of those words 
 which it is almost impossible to translate accurately. It 
 occurs over and over again in the Vedic hymns, and if we 
 once know the various ideas which it either expresses or 
 implies, we have little difficulty in understancUng its import 
 in a vague and general way, though we look in vain for 
 corresponding terms in any modern language. In the 
 Veda, and in ancient languages generally, one and the 
 same word is fi'equently made to do sendee for many. 
 Words retain their general meaning, though at the same 
 time they are evidently used with a definite purpose. This 
 is not only a peculiar phase of language, but a peculiar 
 phase of thought, and as to us this phase has become 
 strange and unreal, it is very difficult to transport ourselves 
 back into it, still more to translate the pregnant 'terms of 
 the Vedic poets into the definite languages which we have 
 to use. Let us imagine a state of thought and speech in 
 which virtus still meant manliness, though it might also be 
 applied to the \drtue of a woman ; or let us try to speak 
 and think a language which expressed the bright and the 
 divine, the brilhant and the beautiful, the straight and the 
 right, the bull and the hero, the shepherd and the king by 
 the same terms, and we shall see how difficult it would be to 
 translate such terms without losing either the key-note that 
 was still sounding, or the harmonics which were set vibrating 
 by it in the minds of the poets and their hsteneis. 
 
 Vrishan, being derived fi'om a root vrish, spargere, 
 meant no doubt originally the male, whether applied to 
 animals or men. In this sense vrishan occurs frequently 
 
122 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 in the Veda, either as determining the sex of the animal 
 which is mentioned, or as standing by itself and meaning 
 the male. In either case, however, it implies the idea of 
 strength and eminence, which we lose whether we translate 
 it by man or male. 
 
 Thus asva is horse, but vii. 69, i, we read ; 
 
 a vam ratha^ — vnsha-bhiA yatu asvaiA. 
 
 May your chariot co:^e near with powerfid horses, i.e. 
 with stallions. 
 
 The Haris, the hor-es of Indra, are frequently called 
 vnshawa : 
 
 i. 177, 1. yuktva hari (iti) vnshawa. 
 
 Having yoked the bay stallions. 
 
 Wishabha, though itself originally meaning the male 
 animal, had become fixed as the name of the bull, and in 
 this process it had lost so much of its etymological import 
 that the Vedic poet did not hesitate to detine vrishabha itself 
 by the addition of vnshan. Thus we find : 
 
 viii. 93, 7, sa/i vrisha vHshabha/i bhuvat. 
 
 May he (Indra) be a strong bull. 
 
 i. 54, 2. vj-isha vrisha-tva vrishabha//. 
 
 Indi'a by his strength a strong bull ; but, literally, Indi'a 
 by his manliness a male bull. 
 
 Even vrishabha loses again its definite meaning ; and as 
 bull in bull-calf means simply male, or in bull-trout, large, 
 so vjishabha is added to atya, horse, to convey the mean- 
 ing of large or powerful : 
 
 i. 177, 2. ye te vrishawa// vnshabhasa^ indra — atya//. 
 
 Thy strong and powcrfiil horses; literally, thy male bull- 
 horses. 
 
 When vnshan and vnshabha are used as adjectives, 
 for instance with ^ushma, strength, they hardly differ in 
 meaning : 
 
 vi. 19, H. a nah bhara vrisha??am sushmam indra. 
 
 Bring us thy manly strength, O Indra. 
 
 And in the next verse : 
 
 vi. 19, 9. a te A'ltshma^ vnshabha/t etu. 
 
 May thy manly strength come near. 
 
 Vay//saga, too, which is clearly the name for bull, is 
 defined by vnshan, i. 7, 8 : 
 
MA.VDALA I, S^KTA 85. 123 
 
 vnsha yutha-iva va/«sugaA. 
 
 As the strong bull scares the herds. 
 
 The same applies to varalia, which, though by itself 
 meaning boar, is determined again by vnshan : 
 
 X. 67, 7. vrisha-bhi/( varahaiA. 
 
 With strong boars. 
 
 In iii. 2, Ti, we read : 
 
 vrisha — nanadat na si»?haA. 
 
 Like a roaring lion. 
 
 If used by itself, vrishan, at least in the Uig-veda, can 
 hardly be said to be the name of any special animal, though 
 in later Sanskrit it may mean bull or horse. Thus if we 
 read, x. 43, 8, vnsha na kruddha/i, we can only translate 
 like an angry male, though, no doubt, like a wild bull, 
 would seem more appropriate. 
 
 i. 186, 5. yena napatam apam ^unama mauaA-yuva/i 
 vrisha«a/i yam vahanti. 
 
 That we may excite the son of the water (Agni), whom 
 the males, quick as thought, carry along. 
 
 Here the males are no doubt the horses or stallions of 
 Agni. But, though this follows from the context, it would 
 be wrong to say that vnshan by itself means horse. 
 
 If used by itself, vnshan most frequently means man, and 
 chiefly in his sexual character. Thus : 
 
 i. 140, 6. vrisha-iva patniA abhi eti roruvat. 
 
 Agni comes roaring like a husband to his wives. 
 
 i. 179, I. api um (iti) nu patniA vnshawaA ^agamyuA. 
 
 Will the husbands now come to their wives ? 
 
 ii. 16, 8. saknt sii te sumati-bhiA — sam patnibhiA na 
 vnsha??aA nasimahi. 
 
 May we for once cling firmly to thy blessings, as hus- 
 bands cling to their wives. 
 
 V. 47, 6. upa-prakshe yrishanah modamfmaA diva/i patha 
 vadhvaA yanti akkha. 
 
 The exulting men come for the embrace on the path of 
 heaven towards their wives. 
 
 In one or two passages vnshan would seem to have a 
 still more definite meaning, particularly in the fornuda 
 suraA dmike \rish.ana.h ka. paumsye, which occurs iv. 41, 6; 
 X. 92, 7. See also i. 179, i. 
 
124 HYMNS TO THE MAKUTS. 
 
 Ill all the passages which we have hitherto examined 
 vnshan clearly retained its etymological mekning, though 
 even then it was not always possible to translate it by 
 male. 
 
 The same meaning has been retained in other languages 
 in which this word can be traced. Thus, in Zend, arshan 
 is used to express the sex of animals in such expressions 
 as a.stpahe arshno, gen. a male horse ; varazahe arshno, gen. 
 a male boar ; geus arshno, gen. a male ox ; but Ukewise in 
 the sense of man or hero, as arsha huirava, the hero 
 Husrava. In Greek we find apcrijv and appi]v used in the 
 same way to distinguish the sex of animals, as apcreveg 'iTnroi, 
 ^ovv aprreva. In Latin the same word may be recognized 
 in the proper name Van'o, and in raro and bdro. 
 
 We now come to another class of passages in which 
 v/ ishan is clearly intended to express more than merely the 
 masculine gender. In some of them the etymological 
 meaning of spargere, to pour forth, seems to come out 
 again, and it is well known that Indian commentators are 
 very fond of explaining vrishan by giver of rain, giver of 
 good gifts, bounteous. The first of these meanings may 
 indeed be admitted in certain passages, but in others it is 
 more than doubtful. 
 
 i. 18 1, 8. v?nsha vam meghaA may be translated, your 
 raining cloud. 
 
 i. 129, 3. dasma^i hi sma v>-isha»am pin\Tasi tvaA'am. 
 
 Thou art strong, thou fillest the rainy skin, i. e. the 
 cloud. 
 
 See also iv. 22, 6; and possibly v. 83, 6. 
 
 It may be that, when applied to Soma too, vnshan 
 retained something of its etymological meaning, that it 
 meant gushing forth, poured out, though in many places 
 it is impossible to render vnshan, as applied to Soma, by 
 anything but strong. All we can admit is that vnshan, 
 if translated by strong, means also strengthening and invi- 
 gorating, an idea not entirely absent even in our expression, 
 a strong drink. 
 
 i. 80, 2. sa/i tva amadat vrisha mada//, soma/i — suta/f. 
 
 This strong ch'aught inspirited thee, the poured out 
 Soma-juicc. 
 
MAiViJALA I, SUKTA 85. 125 
 
 i. 91, 2. tvam v/nshri vrisha-tvebhi/i. 
 
 Thou, Soma, art stron<^ by strength. 
 
 i. 175, I. vnsha te vnsh//e induA va/71 sahasra-satama//. 
 
 For thee, the strong one, there is strong drink, powerful, 
 omnipotent. 
 
 In the ninth Ma»f/ala, specially dedicated to the praises 
 of Soma, the inspiriting beverage of gods and men, the 
 repetition of vrishan, as applied to the juice and to the god 
 who drinks it, is constant. Indo vrisha or vrisha indo 
 are incessant invocations, and become at last perfectly 
 meaningless. 
 
 There can be no doubt, in fact, that already in the 
 hymns of the Veda, vrishan had dwindled away to a mere 
 epHheton ornans, and that in order to understand it cor- 
 rectly, we must, as much as possible, forget its etymological 
 colouring, and render it by hero or strong. Indi'a, Agni, 
 the As\dns, Vish^m, the i?ibhus (iv. -^^j 6), all are vnshan, 
 which means no longer male, but manly, strong. 
 
 In the following passages vrishan is thus applied to 
 Indra : 
 
 i. 54, 3. jih dli?'ishwuna ^avasa rodasi (iti) ubhe (iti) vvi- 
 sha vnsha-tva vnshabha/t ni-rin^ate. 
 
 (Praise Indira) who by his daring strength conquers both 
 heaven and earth, a bull, strong in strength. 
 
 i. 100, I. sa^ ykh vrisha vnshwyebhiA sam-okaA maha/t 
 cUvaA prithivya'A A:a sam-ra^ satina-satva havya^ bhareshu 
 marutvan na/t bhavatu indi'a/i utu 
 
 He who is strong, w^edded to strength, who is the king 
 of the great sky and the earth, of mighty might, to be 
 invoked in battles, — may Indra with the Maruts come to 
 our help ! 
 
 i. 16, I. a tva vahantu haraya/* vrisha?7am soma-pitaye, 
 indra tva sura-^akshasa//. 
 
 May the bays bring thee hither, the strong one, to the 
 Soma-di-aught, may the sunny-eyed horses (bring) thee, O 
 Inch'a ! 
 
 iv. 16, 20. eva it indraya vrishabhaya vrishwe brahma 
 akarma bhngava/i na rath am. 
 
 Thus we have made a hymn for Indra, the strong bull, 
 as the Bhngus make a chariot. 
 
126 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 X. I 53, 2. tvam vrishan vrisha it asi. 
 
 Thou, O hero, art indeed a hero ; and not, Thou, O 
 male, art indeed a male ; still less. Thou, O bull, art indeed 
 a bull. 
 
 i. loi, I. avasvava/i vrishawam va_^-a-dakshi»am marut- 
 vantam sakhyaya havamahe. 
 
 Longing for help we call as our friend the hero who 
 wields the thunderbolt, who is accompanied by the 
 Maruts, 
 
 viii. 6, 14. ni sush/?e indra dhar/?asim va^rram ^aghantha 
 dasya^^, vrisha hi ugi'a snmishe. 
 
 ^JThou, Indra, hast struck the strong thunderbolt 
 against ^S'ushwa, the fiend ; for, terrible one, thou art called 
 hero ! 
 
 viii. 6, 40. vav?•idhana/^ vlpa dyavi vrisha va_{/ri aroravit, 
 vritra-ha soma-patama//. 
 
 Growing up by day, the hero with the thunderbolt has 
 roared, the Vntra-killer, the great Soma-diinker. 
 
 v. ^^, 4. vrisha hi asi radhase ^a/jfnishe vnsh??i te shvuJi. 
 
 Thou (Indra) art a hero, thou wast born to be bounteous; 
 in thee, the hero, there is might. 
 
 It is curious to watch the last stage of the meaning of 
 vrishau in the comparative and superlative varshiyas and 
 varshishMa. In the Veda, varshish/Aa stiU means excellent, 
 but in later Sanskrit it is considered as the superlative of 
 vriddha, old, so that we see vrishan, from meaning origin- 
 ally manly, vigorous, young, assuming in the end the 
 meaning of old. (M. M., Sanskrit Grammar, ^ 252.) 
 
 Yet even thus, when vrishan means simply strong or 
 hero, its sexual sense is not always forgotten, and it breaks 
 out, for instance, in such passages as, 
 
 i. 32, 7. vrishwaA vadhrii^ prati-manam biibhiishan puru- 
 tra vritra^ a.<fayat vi-asta^. 
 
 Vritra, the eunuch, trying to be like unto a man (like 
 imto Indra), was lying, broken to many pieces. 
 
 The next passages show vrishan as applied to Agni : 
 
 iii. 27, 15. vrishariam tva vayam v?-ishan vrisharni// siim 
 idhimahi. 
 
 O, strong one, let us the strong ones kindle thee, the 
 strong ! 
 
MA..V7MLA 1, .sflKTA 85. 127 
 
 V. I, 12. avoArama kavaye medhyaya ydkah vaiularii yn- 
 shabhaya vrishwe. 
 
 We have spoken an adoring; speech for the worshipful 
 poet, for the strong bnll (Agni). 
 
 Vishwu is called vnshan, i. 154, 3 : 
 
 pra vishwave susham etu manma giri-kshite uru-g-ayaya 
 v?*ishwe. 
 
 May this hymn go forth to Vish/ai, he who dwells in 
 the mountain (cloud), who strides wide, the hero ! 
 
 Rudra is called \> ishan : 
 
 ii. 34, 2. rudra/i yat vaA maruta//, rukma-vakshasa/^ vrisha 
 %ani pmnyaA iukre udhani. 
 
 When Rudi-a, the strong man, begat you, O Maruts with 
 brilliant chests, in the bright bosom of Pmni. 
 
 That the Maruts, the sons of Rudra, are called vrishan, 
 we have seen before, and shall see frequently again, 
 (i, 165, i; ii. ^;^, 13; vii. ^6, 20; 21; 58, 6.) The whole 
 company of the Maruts is called v^-isha gana/i, the strong 
 or manly host, i. e. the host of the Maruts, without any 
 further qualification. 
 
 Here lies, indeed, the chief difficulty which is raised 
 by the common use of vnshan in the Veda, that wlien it 
 occurs by itself, it often remains doubtful who is meant 
 by it, Indra, or Soma, or the Maruts, or some other deity. 
 We shall examine a few of these passages, and first some 
 where vrishan refers to Indra : 
 
 iv. 30, 10. apa usha^ anasaZs sarat sam-pish/at aha 
 bibhytishi, ni yat sim si^nathat vrisha. 
 
 Ushas went away from her broken chariot, fearing lest 
 the hero should do her violence. 
 
 Here vnshan is clearly meant for Indra, who, as we 
 learn from the preceding verse, was trying to conquer 
 Ushas, as Apollo did Daphne ; and it should be obsei-ved 
 that the word itself, by which Indra is here designated, is 
 pai-ticularly appropriate to the circumstances. 
 
 i. .103, 6. bhuri-karmawe vrishabhaya vrishwe satya-^ush- 
 maya sunavama somam, yah a-dritya paripanthf-iva surah 
 aya^vanaA vi-bha^an eti veda//. 
 
 Let us pour out the Soma for the strong bull, the per- 
 former of many exploits, whose strength is true, the hero 
 
128 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 who, watching Uke a footpad, comes to us dividing the 
 wealth of the infidel. 
 
 Here it is clear again ti'om the context that Indra only- 
 can be meant. 
 
 But in other passages this is more doubtful : 
 
 iii, 6i, 7, ritasya budhne ushasam isha^^yan vrisha mahi 
 (iti) rodasi (iti) a \dvei'a. 
 
 The hero in the depth of the heaven, yearning for the 
 dawns, has entered the great sky and the earth. 
 
 The hero who yearns for the dawns, is generally Indra; 
 here, however, considering that Agni is mentioned in the 
 preceding verse, it is more likely that this god, as the light 
 of the morning, may have been meant by the poet. That 
 Agni, too, may be called vrishan, \dthout any other epithet 
 to show that he is meant rather than any other god, is clear 
 from such passages as, 
 
 vi, 3, 7, v/isha rukshaA oshadhishu nunot. 
 
 He the wild hero shouted among the plants. 
 
 In vii. 60, 9, v/'isha/mu, the dual, is meant for Mitra and 
 Varuwa ; in the next verse, vrisha«aA, the plural, must 
 mean the same gods and their companions. 
 
 That Soma is called simply vrishan, not only in the 
 ninth Mandala, but elsewhere, too, we see from such 
 passages as, 
 
 iii, 43, 7. indi-a piba v?-isha-dhutasya v7nsh?mA (a yam te 
 sjenn/i vuate ^abhara), yasya made ^yavayasi pra krish/i'A 
 yasya made apa gotra vavartha, 
 
 Indra drink of the male (the strong Soma), bruised by 
 the males (the heavy stones), inspirited by whom thou 
 makest the people fall down, inspirited by whom thou hast 
 opened the stables. 
 
 Here Sayawa, too, sees rightly that ' the male bruised by 
 the males ' is the Soma-plant, which, in order to yield the 
 intoxicating juice, has to be bruised by stones, which stones 
 are again likened to two males. But unless the words, 
 enclosed in brackets, had stood in the text, words which 
 clearly point to Soma, I doubt whether Sayawa w'ould 
 have so readily admitted the definite meaning of vnshan 
 as Soma. 
 
 i. 109, 3. ma /://edma ra^mm iti nadhamanaA pitrmam 
 
MAJVDALA I, S^KTA 85. 129 
 
 saktih anu-ya/:A7mmana/(!, inclragni-bhyam kam vnsha?m/i 
 madanti ta hi adri (iti) dhisha//aya/i upa-sthe. 
 
 We pray, let us not break the cords (which, by means of 
 the sacrifices offered by each generation of our forefathers, 
 unite us with the gods) ; we strive after the powers of our 
 fathers. The Somas rejoice for Indra and Agni ; here are 
 the two stones in the lap of the vessel. 
 
 First, as to the construction, the fact that participles are 
 thus used as finite verbs, and particularly when the subject 
 changes in the next sentence, is proved by other passages, 
 such as ii. ii, 4. The sense is that the new generation 
 does not break the sacrificial succession, but offers Soma, 
 like their fathers. The Soma-plants are ready, and, when 
 pressed by two stones, their juice flows into the Soma- 
 vessel. There may be a double entendre in dhishawayaA 
 upa-sthe, which Sanskrit scholars will easily perceive. 
 
 When v?*ishan is thus used by itself, we must be chiefly 
 guided by the adjectives or other indications before we deter- 
 mine on the most plausible translation. Thus we read : 
 
 i. ^^, 4. saA it vane namasyu-bhiA vaA'asyate karu ^aneshu 
 pra-bruva?iaA indi'iyam, vrisha khanduh bhavati haryata/i 
 vrisha ksheme/^a dhenam magha-va yat invati. 
 
 In the first verse the subject is clearly Indra : ' He alone 
 is praised by worshippers in the forest, he who shows forth 
 among men his fair power.' But who is meant to be the 
 subject of the next verse ? Even Sayawa is doubtful. He 
 translates first : ' The bounteous excites the man who 
 wishes to sacrifice; when the sacrificer, the rich, by the 
 protection of Indra, stirs up his voice.' But he allows 
 an optional translation for the last sentences : ' when the 
 powerful male, Indra, by his enduring mind reaches the 
 praise offered by the sacrificer.' 
 
 According to these suggestions, Wilson translated : ' He 
 (Inch-a) is the granter of their wishes (to those who soHcit 
 him) ; he is the encourager of those who desire to worship 
 (him), when the wealthy offerer of oblations, enjoying his 
 protection, recites his praise.' 
 
 Benfey: 'The bull becomes friendly, the bull becomes 
 desirable, when the sacrificer kindly advances praise.' 
 
 Langlois : ' When the noble Maghavan receives the 
 VOL. I. K 
 
130 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 homage of our hymns, his heart is flattered, and he 
 responds to the wishes of his servant by his gifts/ 
 
 As far as I know, the adjective /r^andu does not occur 
 again, and can therefore give us no hint. But haryata, 
 which is appUed to vnshan in our verse, is the standing 
 epithet of Soma. It means dehcioiis, and occurs very 
 frequently in the ninth ^landala. It is Hkewise appHed 
 to Agni, Pushan, the Haris, the thunderbolt, but wherever 
 it occurs our 6rst thought is of Soma. Thus, without 
 quoting from the Soma-Ma»f/ala, we read, x. 96, 1, harya- 
 tam madam, the delicious draught, i. e. Soma. 
 
 X. 96, 9. pitva madasya haryatasya iindhasa^, means 
 having drunk of the draught of the delicious Soma. 
 
 viii. 72, 18. padam haryatasya ni-dhanyam, means the 
 place where the delicious Soma resides. 
 
 iii. 44, I. haryataA soma^. 
 
 Delicious Soma. 
 
 ii. 21, 1. bhara indraya somam ya^ataya haryatam. 
 
 Bring delicious Soma for the holy Indra. 
 
 i. 130, 2. madaya haryataya te tuvi/^-tamaya dhayase. 
 
 That thou mayest drink the delicious and most powerful 
 draught, i. e. the Soma. 
 
 If, then, we know that vrishan by itself is used in the 
 sense of Soma, haryata v?-ishan can hardly b^e anything 
 else, and we may therefore translate the second line of 
 i. ^S) 4} ' the strong Soma is pleasing, the strong Soma is 
 delicious, when the sacrificer safely brings the cow.' 
 
 That Indi-a was thu'sting for Soma had been said in the 
 second verse, and he is again called the Soma-chinker in the 
 seventh verse. The bringing of the cow alludes to the often 
 mentioned mixtvu'e with milk, which the Soma undergoes 
 before it is ofllcred. 
 
 That the Maruts are called vrishan, without further ex- 
 planations, will appear from the following passages : 
 
 i. 85, 12. rayim na/^ dhatta vnsha/?a// su-vu'am. 
 
 Give us wealth, ye heroes, consisting of good offspring. 
 
 viii. 96, 14. ishyami vaZ; vrisha??a// yildhyata a^ji'au. 
 
 I wish for you, heroes (Maruts), fight in the race ! 
 
 In all the passages which we have hitherto examined, 
 vnshan was always applied to living beings, whether 
 
MANDALA I, SUKTA 85. 131 
 
 animals, men, or gods. But as, in Greek, apptjv means 
 at last simply strong, and is applied, for instance, to 
 the crash of the sea, KTVTrog (ipa-tjv irovrov, so in the 
 Veda vrishan is applied to the roaring of the storms and 
 similai' objects. 
 
 V. 87, 5. svanaA v?-isha. 
 
 Your powerful sound (O Maruts). 
 
 X. 47, I. ^agribhma te dakshi?mm indra hastam vasu- 
 yava/i vasu-pate vasunam, vidma hi tva go-patim sura gonam 
 asmabhyam A:itram vnsha?2am rayim da/j. 
 
 We have taken thy right hand, O Inch'a, wishing for trea- 
 sures, treasm'er of treasures, for we know thee, O hero, to be 
 the lord of cattle ; give us bright and strong wealth. 
 
 Should Idikk here refer to treasures, and vnshan to 
 cattle ? 
 
 X. 89, 9. ni amitreshu vadham inch'a tumram vnshan 
 vnshawam arusham sisihi. 
 
 "Wliet, O hero, the hea%'y strong red weapon, against the 
 enemies. 
 
 The long a in vrishawam is certainly startling, but it 
 occurs once more, ix. 34, 3, where there can be no doubt 
 that it is the accusative of vnshan. Professor Roth takes 
 vnshan here in the sense of bull (s. v. tumra), but he does 
 not translate the whole passage. 
 
 iii. 29, 9. k.rm6i2i dhumam v?'isha>?am sakhayaA. 
 
 Make a mighty smoke, O friends ! 
 
 Strength itself is called vnshan, if I am right in trans- 
 lating the phrase vnsha»am .sushmam by manly strength. 
 It occurs, 
 
 iv. 24, 7. tasmin dadhat vrishawam sushmam indraA. 
 
 May Indra give to him manly strength. 
 
 vi. 19, 8. a na^ bhara vnshawam sushmam indra. 
 
 Bring to us, O Indra, manly strength. 
 
 vii. 24, 4. asme (iti) dadhat vnsha/?am *ushmam inch'a. 
 
 Giving to us, O Indra, manly strength. 
 
 See also ^A. 19, 9, sushma/^ vnshabhaA, used in the same 
 sense. 
 
 This constant play on the word v»'ishan, which we have 
 observed in the passages hitherto examined, and which 
 give by no means a full idea of the real frequency of its 
 K 2 
 
132 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 occurrence in the Veda, has evidently had its influence on 
 the Vedic i^ishis, who occasionally seem to dehght in the 
 most silly and unmeaning repetitions of this word, and 
 its compounds and derivatives. Here no language can 
 supply any adequate translation ; for though we may 
 translate words which express thoughts, it is useless to 
 attempt to render mere idle play with words. I shall 
 give a few instances : 
 
 i. 177, 3. a tish^//a ratham vnsha^am vnsha te sutaA 
 somaA pari-sikta madhuni, yuktva vrisha-bhyam vrishabha 
 kshitinam hari-bhyam yahi pra-vata upa madi'ik. 
 
 Mount the strong car, the strong Soma is poured out for 
 thee, sweets are sprinkled round; come down tow^ards us, thou 
 bull of men, with the strong bays, having yoked them. 
 
 But this is nothing yet compared to other passages, when 
 the poet cannot get enough of vrishan and vrishabha. 
 
 ii. 16, 6. v/-isha te \agrah uta te vrisha rathaA vrishawa 
 hari (iti) v?'ishabha'«i ayudha, v/-ish«a/< madasya vnshabha 
 tvam i^ishe indra somasya vrishabhasya tripwuhi. 
 
 Thy thunderbolt is strong, and thy cai' is strong, strong 
 are the bays, the w capons are poiverful, thou, bull, art lord of 
 the strong draught, Indra rejoice in the powerful Soma! 
 
 V. 36, 5. vrisha tva vrisha>/am vardhatu dyaviA vrisha vri- 
 sha-bhyam vahase hari-bhyam, saA nah vrisha vrisha-rathaA 
 su-^ipra vrisha-krato (iti) v?'isha va^rin bhare dha/i. 
 
 May the strong sky increase thee, the strong ; a strong 
 one thou art, carried by two strong bays ; do thou who art 
 strong, \\\i\\ a strong car, O thou of strong might, strong 
 holder of the thunderbolt, keep us in battle ! 
 
 v. 40, 3—3. vrisha grava vrisha madaA vrislui soma/i ayam 
 suta/i, vrishan inch'a vrisha-bhiA vritrahan-tama, v/-isha tva 
 vrisha^am huve. 
 
 The stone is strong, the draught is strong, this Soma 
 that has been poured out is strong, O thou strong Indra, 
 who killest Vritra with the strong ones (the Maruts), I, 
 the strong, call thee, the stro7ig. 
 
 viii. 13, 31—33. vrisha ayam indra te riitha/f uto (iti) te 
 vrishawa hari (iti), vrisha tvam 5ata-krato (iti) vrisha hava//. 
 vrisha grava vrisha mada/« vrisha soma// ayam suta/i, vrisha 
 yagii-dh yam invasi vrisha hava//. vrisha tva vrishawam 
 
MAA^i>ALA I, SI^KTA 85. 133 
 
 huve va^in ^itrabhi/i uti-bhiA, vavantha hi prati-stutim 
 vrisha hava//. 
 
 This thy car is strong^ O Indra, and thy bays arc strong; 
 thou art strong, O omnipotent, our call is strong. The 
 stone is strong, the draug^ht is strong, the Soma is strong, 
 which is here poured out ; the sacrifice which thou ordcrest, 
 is strong, our call is strong. I, the strong, call thee, the 
 strong, thou holder of the thunderbolt, with manifold 
 blessings ; for thou hast desired our praise ; our call is 
 strong. 
 
 There are other passages of the same kind, but they are 
 too tedious to be here repeated. The commentator, through- 
 out, gives to each vrishan its full meaning either of 
 showering down or bounteous, or male or bull ; but a word 
 which can thus be used at random has clearly lost its 
 definite power, and cannot call forth any definite ideas in 
 the mind of the listener. It cannot be denied that here 
 and there the original meaning of v>-ishan would be appro- 
 priate even where the poet is only pouring out a stream of 
 majestic sound, but we are not called upon to impart sense 
 to what are verba et praterquam nihil. When we read, 
 i. 122, 3, vata/i apam vrisha^i-van, we are justified, no 
 doubt, in translating, ' the wind who pours forth water ; ^ 
 and X. 93, 5, apam v?-ishan-vasu (iti) surj^amasa, means ' Sun 
 and Moon, givers of Avater.' But even in passages where 
 vrishan is followed by the verb vrish, it is curious to observe 
 that vrish is not necessarily used in the sense of raining or 
 pouring forth, but rather in the sense of di'inking. 
 
 vi. 68, II. indravaruwa madhumat-tamasya vrishwa^ s6- 
 masya vrishawa * a vrishetham. 
 
 * The dual vrishaMau occurs only when the next word begins with a vowel. 
 Before an initial a, a, i, the au is always changed into av in the SanhitS, 
 (i. 108, 7-12; 116, 21 ; 117, 19; 153, 2; 157, 5; 158, i; 180, 7; vii. (n, 5). 
 Before u the preceding au becomes a in the Sanhita, but the Pada gives au, 
 in order to show that no Sandhi can take place between the two vowels 
 (vii. 60, 9 ; X. 66, 7). Before consonants the dual always ends in t, both in 
 the Sanhita and Pada. But there are a few passages where the final a occurs 
 before initial vowels, and where the two vowels are allowed to form one 
 syllable. In four passages this happens before an initial a (i. 108, 3 ; vi. 68, 
 II ; i. 177, I : ii. 16, 5). Once, and once only, it happens before u, in viii. 
 
134 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 Indra and Varuwa, you strong ones, may you drink of 
 the sweetest strong Soma. 
 
 That a-vrish means to drink or to eat, was known to 
 Saya»a and to the author of the /S'atapatha-brahma7?a, who 
 paraphrases a vnshayadhvam by asniia, eat. 
 
 The same phrase occurs i. io8, 3. 
 
 i, 104, 9. uru-vya^-aA ffnthare a vrishasva. 
 
 Thou of vast extent, drink (the Soma) in thy stomach. 
 
 The same phrase occurs x. 96, 13. 
 
 viii. 61, 3, a vnshasva — sutasya indra andhasa^. 
 
 Drink, Indra, of the Soma that is poured out. 
 
 In conclusion, a few passages may be pointed out in 
 which vrishan seems to be the proper name of a pious 
 worshipper : 
 
 i. 36, 10. yam tva devasaA manave dadhuA iha ya^ish^Aam 
 havya-vahana, yam kanvah medhya-atithiA dhana-spntam 
 yam vrisha yam upa-stutaA. 
 
 Thee, O Agni, whom the gods placed here for man, the 
 most worthy of worship, O carrier of oblations, thee whom 
 Ka?jva, thee whom Medhyatithi placed, as the giver of 
 wealth, thee whom Vrishan placed and Upastuta. 
 
 Here the commentator takes Vrishan as Indra, but this 
 would break the symmetry of the sentence. That Upa- 
 stuta/^ is here to be taken as a proper name, as Upastuta, 
 the son of Vrish^ihavya, is clear from verse 1 7 : 
 
 agni/i pra avat mitra uta medhya-atithim agniA sata upa- 
 stutam. 
 
 Agni protected also the two fiiends, Medhyatithi and 
 Upastuta, in battle. 
 
 The fact is that whenever upastuta has the accent on the 
 last syllable, it is intended as a proper name, while, if used 
 as a participle, in the sense of praised, it has the accent on 
 the first. 
 
 viii. 5, 25. yatha ^it kawvam avatam priya-medham upa- 
 stutam. 
 
 As you have protected Ka«va, Priyamedha, Upastuta. 
 Cf. i. 113, 15. 
 
 viii. 103, 8. pra mamhish^Aaya gayata — lipastutasa/i ag- 
 niiye. 
 
 Sing, O Upastutas, to the worthiest, to Agni ! 
 
MAiVZJALA 1, SUKTA 85. 135 
 
 X. 115, 9. iti tv;\ ague vrish^i-havyasya putra'A upa- 
 stutasaA rishaya/i avoA:an. 
 
 By these names, O Agni, did the sons of Vrish^ihavya, 
 the Upastutas, the iJishis, speak to you. 
 
 Vrishan occurs once more as a proper name in vi. 16, 
 14 and 15 : 
 
 tam um (iti) tva dadhyan rishiA putra/f idhe atharvana^, 
 vritra-hanam puram-daram. 
 
 tarn uin (iti) tva pathyaA vnsha sam idhe dasyuhan- 
 tamam, dhanam-yayam rawe-rawe. 
 
 Thee, O Agni, did Dadhya^ kindle, the iiishi, the son of 
 Atharvan, thee the killer of Vritra, the destroyer of towns. 
 
 Thee, O Agni, did V/'ishan Pathya kindle, thee the best 
 killer of enemies, the conqueror of wealth in every battle. 
 
 Here the context can leave no doubt that DadhyaA- as 
 well as VHshan were both intended as proper names. Yet as 
 early as the composition of the /Satapatha-brahma^m, this 
 was entirely misunderstood. Dadhya^, the son of Atharvan, 
 is explained as speech, Vrishan Pathya as mind {Sat. Br. 
 '^- 3} 3j 4)- ^^ this Mahidhara, in his remarks on Va^. 
 Sanh. xi. 34, improves still further. For though he allows 
 his personality to DadhyaA', the son of Atharvan, he says 
 that Pathya comes from pathin, path, and means he who 
 moves on the right path ; or it comes from pathas, which 
 means sky, and is here used in the sense of the sky of the 
 heart. He then takes vrishan as mind, and translates the 
 mind of the heart. Such is the history of the rise and fall 
 of the Indian mind ! 
 
136 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 M.ANDALA I, SUKTA 86. 
 
 AsHTAKA I, Adhyaya 6, Varga 11-12. 
 
 1. MarutaA y^sya hi kshaye patha diva/i vi-maha- 
 asih, sa/i su-gopatama/i ginsJi. 
 
 2. Ya^nai/i va ya^na-vahasa/?, viprasya va matin^m, 
 mdrutaA s?i7iuta lic4vam. 
 
 3. Uta va yasya va^ma^ ami Aapram dtakshata, 
 saA ganta g6-mati vra^e. 
 
 4. Asya virasya barhishi siitaA somaA divishdshu, 
 uktharn madaA ^a sasyate. 
 
 5. Asyd sroshantu a bhuva/i * visva/^ jsih ka,rsha,n'Oi 
 abhi, sljfram kit sasrushi/i isha/i. 
 
 6. Piirvi'bhi7i hi dadasima sarat-bhiA marutaA 
 vayam, ava/i-bhi/i /:arsha;anam. 
 
 7. Su-bhdgaA saA pra-ya^ava/i maruta/? astu 
 martya/i, yasya prdy4»isi parshatha. 
 
 8. ASa^amanjlsya va nara/i svedasya satya-6'avasaA, 
 vidd k^masya venataA. 
 
 9. Ytiydm tdt satya-savasa/i avi/i karta mahi-tvan^, 
 vidhyata vi-dyiiU rdksha^. 
 
 10. Gtjfhata giihyam iAmsJi vi yata vis vam atriwam, 
 gy6iih karta ydt usmdsi. 
 
 * a-bhdvaA 
 
MANDAIjA 1, 8UKTA 86. 137 
 
 Hymn to the Maruts (the Storm-gods). 
 
 1. Maruts, that man in whose dweUing you drink 
 (the Soma), ye mighty (sons) of heaven, he indeed has 
 the best guardians.^ 
 
 2. You who are propitiated ^ either by sacrifices 
 or from the prayers of the sage, hear the call, 
 Maruts ! 
 
 3. Aye, the strong man to whom you have granted 
 a sage, he will live in a stable rich in cattle.^ 
 
 4. On the altar of that strong man Soma is jDoiu^-ed 
 out in daily sacrifices ; praise and joy are sung. 
 
 5. To him let the strong ^ Maruts listen, to him 
 who surpasses all men, as the flowing rain-clouds^ 
 pass over the sun. 
 
 6. For we, Maruts, have sacrificed in many a 
 harvest, through the mercies ^ of the swift gods (the 
 storm-gods). 
 
 7. May that mortal be blessed, worshipful 
 Maruts, whose offerings you carry off.^ 
 
 8. You take notice either of the sweat of him who 
 praises you, ye men of true strength, or of the desire 
 of the suppliant.^ 
 
 9. O ye of true strength, make this manifest by 
 your greatness ! strike the fiend ^ with your thunder- 
 bolt! 
 
 10. Hide the hideous darkness, destroy ^ every 
 tusky^ spirit. Create the light which we long 
 for!*^ 
 
138 UYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 COMMENTARY. 
 
 This hymn is ascribed to Gotama. The metre is Gayatri 
 throughout. 
 
 Verse 1, note \ Vimahas occurs only once more as an 
 epithet of the Maruts, v. 87, 4. Being an adjective derived 
 from mahas, strength, it means veiy strong. The strong 
 ones of heaven is an expression analogous to i. 64, 2. divaA 
 /■ishvasa/i ukshawa/^ ; i. 64, 4. diva^ naraA. 
 
 Verse 2, note \ The construction of this verse is not 
 clear. Ya^iia-vahas has two meanings in the Veda. It is 
 appUed to the priest who can'ies or perfonns the sacrifice : 
 
 iii. 8, 3, and 24, i. \a.rkah dliaA ya^na-vahase. 
 
 Grant splendour to the sacrificer ! 
 
 But it is also used of the gods who accept the sacrifice, 
 and in that case it means hardly more than worshipped or 
 propitiated; i. 15, 11 (Asvinau) ; iv. 47, 4 (Indra and 
 Vayu) ; viii. 12, 20 (Indra). In our verse it is used in 
 the latter sense, and it is properly construed with the in- 
 strumental ya^naiA. The difficulty is the gen. plur. mati- 
 nam, instead of matibhi/i. The sense, however, seems to 
 allow of but one construction, and we may suppose that the 
 genitive depends on the ya^na in ya^navahas, ' accepting 
 the worship of the prayers of the priest.^ Benfey refers 
 yn(/haVi to the preceding verse, and joins havam to viprasya 
 matinam : ' Durch Opfer — Opferfcirdrer ihr ! — oder ihr hort 
 — Maruts — den Ruf der Lieder die der Priester schuf.' 
 
 The Sanhita text lengthens the last syllable of 5ri«uta, as 
 suggested by the metre. 
 
 Verse 3, note ^ The genitive yasya vayinaA depends on 
 vipra. Anu-taksh, like anu-grah, anu-^rna, seems to convey 
 the meaning of doing in behalf or for the benefit of a person. 
 Ganta might also be translated in a hostile sense, he will 
 go into, lie will conquer many a stable full of cows. 
 
 Verse .5, note '. I have altered a bhuvaA into abhuva//. 
 
MAA'Z>ALA 1, 8UKTA 86. 130 
 
 for I do not think that bhuva/i, the second pers. sing., 
 even if it were bhiivat, the third pers., could be joined with 
 the relative pronoun yCih in the second pada. The phrase 
 \{s\\ih \(\h Aarsha?«i'/i abhi occurs more than once, and is 
 never preceded by the verb bhuva/i or bhuvat. Abhuva/?, 
 on the contrary, is applied to the Maruts, i. 64, 6, vidii- 
 tlieshu abhuva/i ; and as there can be no doubt who are 
 the deities invoked, abhuva/?, the strong ones, is as appro- 
 priate an epithet as viinahas in the first verse. 
 
 Verse 5, note ". Sasrushi/* isha/i, as connected with sura, 
 the sun, can only be meant for the flowing waters, the 
 rain-clouds, the givers of ish or vigour. They are called 
 di\ya7i isha/t .• 
 
 viii. 5, 21. uta naA divya/i ishaA uta sindhun varshathaA. 
 
 You rain down on us the heavenly waters and the rivers. 
 
 Wilson translates : ' May the Maruts, victorious over all 
 men, hear (the praises) of this (their worshipper) ; and may 
 (abundant) food be obtained by him who praises them.' 
 
 Benfey : ' Ihn, der ob alle Menschen ragt, sollen horen 
 die Labungen, und nahn, die irgend Weisen nahn.' 
 
 Langlpis : ' Que les Marouts ecoutent favorablement la 
 priere ; qu'ils acceptent aussi les ofFrandes de ce (mortel) que 
 sa position eleve au-dessus de tons les autres^ et meme 
 jusqu'au soleil.' 
 
 -Sroshantu does not occur again ; but we find sroshan, 
 i. 68, 5; ^roshamana, iii. 8, 10; vii. 51, i ; vii. 7, 6, 
 
 Verse 6, note ^ The expression avobhiA, with the help, 
 the blessings, the mercies, is generally used with reference 
 to divine assistance; (i. 117, 19; 167, 2; 185, 10; 11; 
 iv. 22, 7; 41, 6; v. 74, 6; vi. 47, 12; vii. 20, i; 2>5y i? ^c.) 
 It seems best therefore to take ^arsham as a name or 
 epithet of the Maruts, although, after the invocation of the 
 Maruts by name, this repetition is somewhat unusual. One 
 might translate, ' with the help of our men, of our active 
 and busy companions,' for ^arsham is used in that sense 
 also. Only avobhiA would not be in its right place then. 
 
 Verse 1 , note \ Par, with ati, means to carry over, 
 
140 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 (i. 97, 8; 99, i; 174, 9; iii. 15, 3; 20, 4; iv. 39, i; v. 25, 
 9; ^^, 8; vii. 40, 4; 97, 4; viii. 26, 5; 67, 2, &c.) ; with 
 apa, to remove, (i. 129, 5); \A\k\. niA, to throw down. Hence, 
 if used by itself, unless it means to overrun, as frequently, 
 it can only have the general sense of carrying, taking, 
 accepting, or accomplishing. 
 
 Verse 8, note ^ Vida as second pers. plur. perf. is 
 frequent, generally with the final ' a ' long in the Sanhita, 
 i. 156, 3; V. 41, 13; ^^, 2. 
 
 Verse 9, note ^ Observe the long penultimate in rakshaA, 
 instead of the usual short syllable. Cf. i. 12, 5, and see 
 Kuhn, Beitriige, vol. iii. p. 456. 
 
 Verse 10, note ^ See note to i. 39, 3, note ^ 
 
 Verse 10, note ^, Atrin, which stands for attrin, is one 
 of the many names assigned to the powers of darkness and 
 mischief. It is derived from atra, which means tooth or jaw, 
 and therefore meant originally an ogre with large teeth or 
 jaws, a devourer. Besides atra, we also find in the Veda 
 atra, with the accent on the first syllable, and meaning what 
 serves for eating, or food : 
 
 X. 79, 2. atrawi asmai pa/-bhi/i sam bharanti. 
 
 They bring together food for him (Agni) with their feet. 
 
 With the accent on the last syllable, atra in one passage 
 means an eater or an ogre, like atrin : 
 
 V. 32, 8. apadam atram — mndhra-vaAram. 
 
 Indra killed the footless ogre, the babbler. 
 
 It means tooth or jaw : 
 
 i. 129, 8. svayam sa rishayadhyai ya naA upa-ishe atraiA. 
 
 May she herself go to destruction who attacks us with 
 her teeth. 
 
 It is probably from atra in the sense of tooth (cf. ohovr^^i = 
 e^o'i/Tc?) that atrin is derived, meaning ogre or a devouring 
 devil. In the later Sanskrit, too, the Asuras are represented 
 as having large tusks, Mahabh. v. 3572, damsh^ri??o bhi- 
 mavega^ A-a. 
 
 Thus wo road i. 21, 5, that Indra and Agni destroy the 
 Rakshas, and the poet continues : 
 
MAiV/>ALA I, stjKTA 8G. 141 
 
 (xpragkh santu atrinnh. 
 
 May the ogres be without offspring ! 
 
 ix. S6, 48. ^ahi vi^van rakshasa/i indo (itl) atrma/t. 
 
 Kill, O Soma, all the tusky llakshas. Cf. ix. 104, 6 ; 
 105, 6. ^ ^ ^ 
 
 vi. 51, 14. ^ahi ni atriwam pamm. 
 
 Kill, O Soma, the tusky Pawi. 
 
 i. 94, 9. vadhaiA du/i-samsan apa duA-dhya/t ^ahi 
 dure va ye anti va ke kit atvinah. 
 
 Strike with thy blows, O Agni, the evil- spoken, evil- 
 minded (spirits), the ogres, those who are far or who are 
 near. 
 
 See also i. ^6, 14; 20; vi. 16, 28; vii. 104, i ; 5 ; viii. 
 12, i; 19, 15; X. 36, 4; 118, I. 
 
142 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 MAATiJALA I, StjKTA 87. 
 
 AsHTAKA I, AdhyAya 6, Yarga 13. 
 
 1. Pra-tvakshasa/i pra-tavasa^ vi-rapsma/i anana- 
 Wi avithura/i ri^islii?za/i, ^sh^a-tamdsa/i nri-ta- 
 masaA an^i-bhiA vi ana^e ke Ht usr^A-iva stri- 
 bhi/i. 
 
 2. Upa-hvareshu yat aHdhvam yayim vayaA-iva 
 manita/i kena /;it patha, sX'otanti kosa/i upa ysJi 
 ratheshu £i gh?it(lm uksliata mddbu-varizam dj"- 
 /:ate. 
 
 3. Prd esbam %mesbu vithura-iva rebate bh<imi/i 
 yameshii yat ha yim^d-te subbe, te hcilijah dhiina- 
 ya/i bhraL^at-?'isb^aya/« svaydm mabi-tvilm panayanta 
 dbtj(taya/L 
 
 4. Sdh hi sva-srit prishat-a.9vaA yiiv4 gsinsih 
 aya isanii/i tdvisbibbi/i^ a-v>'ita/i, dsi satya/i n?ia- 
 yava {InedyaA asy£i/< dhiyd/i pra-avita dtba vrisbd 
 ga^^aA. 
 
 5. Pitii/i pratndsya ^anmana vadamasi somasya 
 gihyK prd gig^ti /:dksbasa, ydt im indram sdmi 
 rikvavia/i asata at it n^mani ya^yniydni dadhire. 
 
 6. ^riydse kdm bhS,nii-bbiA sdm mimikshire t^ 
 rasmi-bhi/i t^ rikva-bbi/i su-kbadtlya/i, te vM- 
 iiianta/i ishmi7?a/^ dbbirava/^ vidre priydsya m^ruta- 
 sya db^mna/i. 
 
MAN D ALA I, SUKTA 87. 143 
 
 Hymn to the Maruts (the Storm-gods). 
 
 1. The active, the strong, tlie singers, the never 
 flinching, the immovable, the wild, the most beloved 
 and most manly, they have shown themselves with 
 their glittering ornaments, a few only,^ like the 
 heavens with the stars. 
 
 2. When you see your way through the clefts, you 
 are hke birds, O Maruts, on whatever road it be.' 
 The clouds drop (rain) on your chariots everywhere ; 
 pour out the honey-like fat (the rain) for him who 
 praises you. 
 
 3. At their ravings the earth shakes, as if broken,' 
 when on the (heavenly) paths they harness (their 
 deer) for victory.^ They the sportive, the roaring, 
 with bright spears, the shakers (of the clouds) have 
 themselves praised their greatness. 
 
 4. That youthful company (of the Maruts), with 
 their spotted horses,' moves by itself; hence ^ it 
 exercises lordship, and is invested with powers. 
 Thou art true, thou searchest out sin,^ thou art 
 without blemish. Therefore thou, the strong host, 
 thou wilt cherish this prayer. 
 
 5. We speak after the kind of our old father, our 
 tongue goes forth at the sight ' of the Soma : when 
 the shouting Maruts had joined Indra in the work,^ 
 then only they received sacrificial honours; — 
 
 6. For their glory ^ these well-equipped Maruts 
 obtained splendours, they obtained ^ rays, and men to 
 praise them ; nay, these well-armed, nimble, and fear- 
 less beings found the beloved home of the Maruts.^ 
 
144 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 COMMENTARY. 
 
 This hymn is ascribed to Gotama. The metre is Gagati 
 throuf^hout. 
 
 Verse 1, note ^ Ke kit refers to the Maruts, who are 
 represented as gradually rising or just showing themselves, 
 as yet only few in number, like the first stars in the sky. 
 Ke Ait, some, is opposed to sarve, all. The same expres- 
 sion occurs again, v. 52, 12, where the Maruts are compared 
 to a few thieves. B. and R. translate usra'A iva stn-bhi/* 
 by ' like cows marked with stars on their foreheads/ Such 
 cows no doubt exist, but they can hardly be said to become 
 visible by these frontal stars, as the Maruts by their orna- 
 ments. We must take usra'A here in the same sense as 
 dyava/i ; ii. 34, 2, it is said that the Maruts were perceived 
 dyava/i na stri-bhi//, like the heavens with the stars. 
 
 i. 166, II. dure-dma/i ye divya'A-iva stn-bhi//. 
 
 Who are visible far away, like the heavens (or heavenly 
 beings) by the stars. 
 
 And the same is said of Agni, ii. 2, 5. dyau/t na stH-bhiA 
 A-itayat rodasi (iti) anu. Stribhi^ occurs i. 68, 5 ; iv. 7, 3 ; 
 vi. 49, 3; 12. It always means stars, and the meaning 
 of rays {strahl) rests, as yet, on etymological authority 
 only. The evening sky would, no doubt, be more appro- 
 priate than usra/^, which applies chiefly to the dawn. But 
 in the Indian mind, the two dawns, i. e. the dawn and the 
 gloaming, are so closely united and identified, that their 
 names, too, are frequently interchangeable. 
 
 Verse 2, note '. 1 translate yayi not by a goer, a 
 traveller, i. e. the cloud, (this is the explanation proposed 
 by Saya/m, and ado])ted by Professor Benfey,) but by path. 
 Etymologically yayi may mean either. But in parallel pas- 
 sages yayi is clearly replaced by yama. Thus : 
 
 viii. 7, 2. yat — yamam subhraA aAidhvam. 
 
 When you, bright Maruts, have seen your way. 
 
 See also viii. 7, 4. yiit yamam yanti vayii-bhi/^ 
 
 AVhen they (the Maruts) go on their path with the winds. 
 
MAiVDALA I, SUKTA 87. 145 
 
 viii. y, 14. adhi-iva yat giri/iam yamam «ubhra/i aAridhvam. 
 
 When you, bright Maruts, had seen your way, as it were, 
 along the mountains. 
 
 The same phrase occurs, even without yama or yayi, in 
 
 '^'- 55) 7- ^^3, parvataA na nadyaA varanta yah yatra 
 aA:idlivam marutaA gdkkhata it u tat. 
 
 Not mountains, not rivers, keep you back ; where you 
 have seen (your way), there you go. 
 
 Though yayi does not occur fi'equently in the Rig-veda, 
 the meaning of path seems throughout more appUcable than 
 that of traveller. 
 
 V. 87, 5. tveshaA yayiA. 
 
 Your path, O Maruts, is brilliant. 
 
 V. 73, 7. ugraA vam kakuhaA yajih. 
 
 Fearful is your pass on high. 
 
 i. 51, II. ugraA yayim ni^ apaA srotasa as/'i^at. 
 
 The fearful Indra sent the waters forth on their way 
 streaming. 
 
 X. 92, 5. pra — yayina yanti sindhava/i. 
 
 The waters go forth on their path. 
 
 Verse 3, note ^ Cf. i. 37, 8, page 51, There is no 
 authority for Saya?2a's explanation of vithura-iva, the earth 
 trembles like a widow. Vithura occurs several times in 
 the Rig-veda, but never in the sense of widow. Thus : 
 
 i. 168, 6. yat Aryavayatha vithura-iva sam-hitam. 
 
 When you, Maruts, shake what is compact, like brittle 
 things. 
 
 i. 186, 2; vi. 25, 3; 46, 6; viii. 96, 2; x. yj, 4 (vi- 
 thuryati). The Maruts themselves are called avithura in 
 verse i. As to a^ma and yama, see i. 37, 8, page 62. 
 
 Verse 3, note ^. Suhh. is one of those words to which it 
 is very difficult always to assign a definite special meaning. 
 Being derived from 5ubh, to shine, the commentator has 
 no difficulty in explaining it by splendour, beauty ; some- 
 times by water. But although suhh. means originally 
 splendour, and is used in that sense in many passages, 
 yet there are others where so vague a meaning seems very 
 inappropriate. In our verse Saya«a proposes two trans- 
 
 VOL. I. L 
 
146 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 lations, either, ' When the Maruts harness the clouds,' or, 
 * When the Maruts harness their chariots, for the bright 
 rain-water.' Now the idea that the Maruts harness their 
 chariots in order to make the clouds yield their rain, can 
 hardly be expressed by the simple word subhe, i. e. for 
 brightness' sake. As the Maruts are frequently praised for 
 their glittering ornaments, their splendour might be intended 
 in this passage as it certainly is in others. Thus : 
 
 ^' ^5j 3* y^t 5ubhayante a%i-bhiA tanushu subhra/i 
 dadhire virukmataA. 
 
 When the Maruts adorn themselves with glittering 
 ornaments, the brilliant ones put bright weapons on their 
 bodies. 
 
 vii. ^6, 6. 5ubha ^obhish^AaA, *riya sara-mi^laA, 6gah-hh\h 
 ugraA. 
 
 The most brilliant by their brilliancy, united with 
 splendour, terrible by strength. 
 
 In i. 64, 4, I have translated vakshaA-su rukman adhi 
 yetire 5ubhe by ' they fix gold (chains) ou their chests for 
 beauty.' And the same meaning is applicable to i. 117, 5, 
 5ubhe rukmam na dar^atam ni-khatam, and other passages : 
 iv. 51, 6; vi. 6^, 6. 
 
 But in our verse and others which we shall examine, beauty 
 and brilliancy Mould be very weak renderings for 5ubhe. 
 ' When they harnessed their chariots or their deer for the sake 
 of beauty,' means nothing, or, at least, very little. I take, 
 therefore, subhe in this and similar phrases in the sense of 
 triumph or glory or victory. ' When they harness their chariots 
 for to conquer,' implies brilliancy, glory, victory, but it con- 
 veys at the same time a tangible meaning. Let us now see 
 whether the same meaning is appropriate in other passages : 
 
 i. 23, II. //ayatam-iva tanyatuA mariltam eti dhrish/iu-ya 
 yat subham yathana naraZs. 
 
 The thundering voice of the Maruts comes fiercely, like 
 that of conquerors, when you go to conquer, O men ! 
 
 Sayawa : ' When you go to the brilliant place of sacrifice.' 
 Wilson: 'When you accept the auspicious (olfering).' 
 Benfcy : ' Wenn ihr euren Schmuck nehmt.' 
 
 V. 57, 2. yathana subham, you go to conquer. Cf. v. ^^, i. 
 
 Sayawa : ' For the sake of water, or, in a chariot.' 
 
MANDAhA I, StjKTA 87. 147 
 
 V. 52, 8. sardha/i marutam ut sainsa — uta sma tc snhhe 
 nara// pra syandra^ yuyata tmaua. 
 
 Praise the host of the Maruts, and they, the men, the 
 quickly moving, will harness by themselves (the chariots) 
 for conquest. 
 
 Saya?ia : ' For the sake of water.' Cf. x. 105, 3. 
 
 V. 57, 3. 5ubhe yat ugra/« pnshatiA ayugdhvam. 
 
 When you have harnessed the deer for conquest. 
 
 Saya;?a : ' For the sake of water.' 
 
 V. 63, 5. ratham yun^ate mariita^ subhe su-kham surah 
 na — go-ish/ishu. 
 
 The Maruts harness the chariot meet for conquest, hke 
 a hero in battles. 
 
 Sayawa : ' For the sake of water.' 
 
 i. 88, 2. subhe kam yanti — asvaiA. 
 
 The Maruts go on their horses towards conquest. 
 
 Saya?m : ' In order to brighten the worshipper, or, for 
 the sake of water.' 
 
 i. 119, 3. sam yat mitha/f paspridhanasa/i agmata 5ubhe 
 makha/i amitaA gajaxah rhie. 
 
 When striving with each other they came together, for 
 the sake of glory, the brisk (Maruts), immeasurable (in 
 strength), panting for \dctory in the fight. 
 
 Saya?/a : ' For the sake of brilliant wealth.' 
 
 vii. 82, 5. marut-bhi/i ugraA ^libham anya/i iyate. 
 
 The other, the fearful (Indra), goes with the Maruts to glory, 
 
 Saya/ia : ' He takes brilliant decoration.' 
 
 iii. 26, 4. 5ubhe — prishatiA ayukshata. 
 
 They had harnessed the deer for victory. 
 
 Sfiyawa : ' They had harnessed in the water the deer 
 together (with the fires).' 
 
 i. 167, 6. a asthapayanta yuvatim yuvanaA 5ubhe ni- 
 mislam. 
 
 The Maruts, the youths, placed the maid (lightning 
 on their chariot), their companion for victory, (^ubhe 
 nimi^lam). 
 
 Saya/?a : ' For the sake of water, or, on the brilliant 
 chariot.' Cf. i. 127, 6; 165, i. 
 
 vi. 62, 4. ^libham priksham isham urijram vahanta. 
 
 The Asvins bringing glory, wealth, drink, and food. 
 L 2 
 
148 HY]yiNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 viii. 26, 13, suhhe ^akrate, you bring him to glory. 
 Subham-yavan is an epithet of the Maruts, i. 89, 7 ; 
 V. 61, 13. Cf. 5ubhra-yavana, \dii. 26, 19 (Asvinau). 
 /Subham-yaj of the wind, iv. 3, 6. 
 >S'ubham-yu, of the rays of the dawn, x. 78, 7. 
 
 Verse 4, note \ Sayana : ' With spotted deer for their 
 horses.' See i. 37, 2, note ^, page 59. 
 
 Verse 4, note ^. Aya is a word of veiy rare occurrence 
 in the Rig-veda. It is the instrum. sing, of the feminine 
 pronominal base a or i, and as a pronoun followed by a 
 noun it is frequently to be met with ; v. 45, 1 1 . aya dhiya, 
 &c. But in our verse it is irregular in form as not entering 
 into Sandhi with isanah. This irregularity, however, which 
 might have led us to suppose an original aya'A, indefatigable, 
 coiTcsponding with the following asi, is vouched for by the 
 Pada text, in such matters a better authority than the San- 
 hita text, and certainly in this case fully borne out by the 
 Pratisakhya, i. 163, 10. We must therefore take aya as 
 an adverb, in the sense of thus or hence. In some passages 
 where aya seems thus to be used as an adverb, it would be 
 better to supply a noun from the preceding verse. Thus in 
 ii. 6, 2, aya refers to samidham in ii. 6, i. In vi. 17, 15, a 
 similar noun, samidlia or gira, should be supplied. But 
 there are other passages where, unless we suppose that the 
 verse was meant to illustrate a ceremonial act, such as the 
 placing of a samidh, and that aya pointed to it, we must 
 take it as a simple adverb, like the Greek tm : Rv. iii. 
 12, 2; ix. ^^, 2; 106, 14. In x. 116, 9, the Pada reads 
 aya/(!-iva, not aya, as given by Roth ; in vi. 66, 4, aya nu, 
 the accent is likewise on the first. 
 
 Verse 4, note ^. iJiwa-yavan is well explained by B. and 
 R. as going after debt, searching out sin. Saya/m, though 
 he explains ri/?a-yavan by removing sin, derives it neverthe- 
 less correctly from rina and ya, and not from yu. The 
 same formation is found in 5ubham-yavan, &c. ; and as 
 tVre is ri//a-ya besides ri?m-yavan, so we find A'ubham-ya 
 besides subham-yavan. 
 
MAN DAL A I, SUKTA 87. 149 
 
 Verse 5, note \ The Soina-juice inspires the poet Avith 
 eloquence. 
 
 Verse 5, note -. Siim'i occurs again in ii. 31, 6; iii. 55, 
 3 ; viii. 45, 27; X. 40, I. In our passage it must be taken 
 as a locative of *am, meaning work, but with special refer- 
 ence to the toil of the battle-field. It is used in the same 
 sense in 
 
 viii. 45, 27, vi ana^ turvawe sami. 
 
 He (Indra) was able to overcome in battle, lit. he reached 
 to, or he arrived at the overcoming or the victory in battle. 
 
 But, like other words which have the general meaning of 
 working or toiling, 5am is hkewise used in the sense of 
 sacrifice. This meaning seems more applicable in 
 
 X. 40, I. vastoA-vasto/i vahamanam dhiya sami. 
 
 Your chariot, O A5\dns, which through prayer comes 
 every morning to the sacrifice. 
 
 ii. 31, 6, apam napat asu-hema dhiya sami. 
 
 Apam napat (Agni) who through prayer comes quickly 
 to the sacrifice. 
 
 In these two passages one feels inclined, with a slight 
 alteration of the accent, to read dhiya-^ami as one word. 
 Dhiya-5am would mean the sacrificer who is engaged in 
 prayer; cf. dhiya-^itr, v. 43, 15. Thus we read: 
 
 vi. 2, 4. jah te su-danave dhiya martaA ^asamate. 
 
 The mortal who toils for thee, the liberal god, with 
 prayer. 
 
 There is no necessity, however, for such a change, and 
 the authority of the MSS. is certainly against it. 
 
 In iii. ^^, 3, 5ami is an ace. plur. neut. : 
 
 sami akkha didye purvyawi. ^ 
 
 I glance back at the former sacrifices. See B. R. s. v. di. 
 
 From the same root we have the feminine sami, meaning 
 work, sacrificial work, but, as far as we can see, not simply 
 sacrifice. Thus the J?ibhus and others are said to have 
 acquired immortality by their work or works, sami or 
 samibhi^, i. 20, 2; 110, 4; iii. 60, 3; iv. 33, 4. Cf. iv. 
 22, 8; 17, 18; v. 42, 10; 77, 4; vi. 52, i; viii. 75, 14; 
 ix. 74, 7 ; X, 28, 12. In vi. 3, 2, we read: 
 
 i^e ya^nebhi^ sasame simihh'ih. 
 
150 HYIVINS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 I have sacrificed with sacrifices, I have worked with 
 pious works. 
 
 Here the verb 5am must be taken in the sense of 
 working, or performing ceremonial worship, while in other 
 places (iii. 29, 16; v. 2, 7) it takes the more special sense 
 of singing songs of praise. The Greek kclix-voo, to work, to 
 Ifibour, to tire (Sanskrit samyati), the Greek kojuiS^ and 
 KofjLii^cD, to labour for or take care of a person, and possibly 
 even the Greek /cw/xoy, a song or a festival (not a village 
 song), may all find their explanation in the Sanskrit root 
 5am. 
 
 The idea that the Mai'uts did not originally enjoy divine 
 honours will occur again and again: cf. i. 6, 4 ; 72, 3. 
 A similar expression is used of the Eibhus, i. 20, 8, &c. 
 Ya^niya, properly ' worthy of sacrifice,' has the meaning 
 of divine or sacred. The Greek ay 109 has been compared 
 with yayya, sacrijicio colendus, not a Vedic word. 
 
 Verse 6, note \ ^S^riyase kam seems to be the same as the 
 more frequent A'riye kam. iS^riyase only occurs twice more, 
 V, 59, 3. The chief irregularity consists in the absence of 
 Gu7?a, which is provided for by Pacini's kasen (iii. 4, 9). 
 Similar infinitives, if they may so be called, are bhiyase, 
 V. 29, 4 ; vridhase, v. 64, 5 ; dhruvase, vii. 70, i ; tu^ase, 
 iv. 23, 7; ri%ase, viii. 4, 17; vmi^ase, viii. 76, i; r'lkase, 
 vii. 61, 6. In vi. 39, 5, riHse may be a dat. sing, of the 
 mascuHne, to the praiser. 
 
 Verse 6, note ^. Mimikshire from myaksh, to be united 
 with. Rajjmi, rays, after bhanu, splendour, may seem 
 weak, but it is impossible . to assign to ra^mi any other 
 meaning, such as reins, or strings of a musical instru- 
 ment. In v. 79, 8, ra^mi is used in juxta-position with 
 arki. 
 
 Verse 6, note ^. The bearing of this concluding verse is 
 not quite clear, unless we take it as a continuation of the 
 preceding verse. It was there said that the Maruts (the 
 rikxiinah) obtained their sacrificial honours, after having 
 joined Indra in his work. Having thus obtained a place 
 
MAiVDALA I, SUKTA 87. 151 
 
 in the sacrifice, they may be said to have won at the same 
 time splendour and worshippers to sing their praises, and 
 to have estabhshed themselves in what became afterwards 
 known as their own abode, their own place among the gods 
 who are invoked at the sacrifice. 
 
 The metre requires that we should read dhamanaA. 
 
 Benfey translates : ' Gedeih'n zu spenden woU'n die schon- 
 geschmiicketen mit Lichtern, Strahlen mit Lobsangern 
 regenen ; die briillenden, furchtlosen stiirmischen, sie sind 
 bekannt als Glieder des geliebten Marutstamms.' 
 
 Wilson : ' Combining with the solar rays, they have 
 willingly poured down (rain) for the welfare (of mankind), 
 and, hymned by the priests, have been pleased partakers 
 of the (sacrificial food). Addressed with praises, moving 
 swiftly, and exempt from fear, they have become possessed 
 of a station agreeable and suitable to the Maruts/ 
 
152 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 Mandala I, SUKTA 88. 
 AsHTAKA I, AdhyIya 6, Varga 14. 
 
 1. A vidyunmat-bhi/i. marutaA su-arkai/i rathebliiA 
 yata 7'ishdmdt-bbi7i * dsva-parwai^, ^ varsbishi/iaya 
 na/i isba vd,ya/i nd paptata su-ni^jaJi. 
 
 2. Te Rrmiehhih vdram ^ pisdngai/i 5ubhe kdm 
 y^nti ratbatt^/i-bbi/i asvai^, rukma/i na kitrdh-f sva- 
 dhiti-van pavy^ rdthasya ^angbananta bb^ma. 
 
 3. Sriye kdm va/i adbi tanusbn \Ksih medb^j; 
 vdna nd krinavante tjrdbv^, yusbmabbyam kam 
 maruta^ s,VL-gktkh tuvi-dyumnaLsaA dbanayante 
 ddrun. 
 
 4. Abani gridbraA pdri ^ va/i K agnh im^m dbiyam 
 v^rk^ryam ^^a dev^m, brdbma kn?ivantaA g6tam4sa^ 
 arkal^ tirdbvdm nunudre utsa-dliim pibadbyai. 
 
 5. Etdt tydt nd yq^^anam a^'eti sasvaA ba yat 
 maruta/i g(5tama/i va,h, pdsyan bira?iya-Z'akraii dya/i- 
 damsb^rdn vi-db^vata/i var^illn. 
 
 6. Esb^ sy^ va/i maruta/i anu-bbartri' prdti sto- 
 bbati vagbdtaA nd vKni, dstobbayat V7'itba 4sam dnu 
 svadh^m gdbbastyo^. 
 
 * rishfi-mantaA? f kitr&h eshfim? t medh^h 
 
UANDA-LA I, SUKTA 88. 153 
 
 Hymn to the Maruts (the Storm-gods). 
 
 1. Come hither, Maruts, on your chariots charged 
 with lightning, resounding with beautiful Bongs,^ 
 stored with spears, and winged with horses ! Fly^ 
 to us like birdsj with your best food,^ you mighty 
 ones ! 
 
 2. They come gloriously on their red, or, it may 
 be, on their tawny horses which hasten their chariots. 
 He who holds the axe^ is brilliant like gold; — 
 with the felly ^ of the chariot they have struck the 
 earth. 
 
 3. On your bodies there are daggers for beauty; 
 may they stir up our minds ^ as they stir up the forests. 
 For your sake, well-born Maruts, you who are 
 full of vigour, they (the priests) have shaken^ the 
 stone (for distilling Soma) . 
 
 4. Days went round you and came back,^ hawks, 
 back to this prayer, and to tliis sacred rite ; the 
 Gotamas making prayer with songs, have pushed up 
 the lid of the well (the cloud) for to drink. 
 
 5 . No such hymn ^ was ever known as this which 
 Gotama sounded for you, Maruts, when he saw you 
 on golden wheels, wild boars ^ rushing about with 
 iron tusks. 
 
 6 . This refreshing draught of Soma rushes towards 
 you, like the voice of a suppliant : it rushes freely 
 from our hands as these libations are wont to do. 
 
154 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 COMMENTARY. 
 
 This hymn is ascribed to Gotama, the son of Rahugana. 
 The metre varies. Verses i and 6 are put down as 
 Prastara-pankti, i. e. as 13 + 12 + 8 + 8. By merely count- 
 ing the syllables, and dissolving semivowels, it is just 
 possible to get twenty-four syllables in the first line of 
 verses i and 6. The old metricians must have scanned 
 verse i : 
 
 a vidyunmat-bhiA maruta/* su-arkaiA 
 rathebhiA yata'^rish^imat-bhiA a*va-parwai^. 
 Again verse 6 : esha sya va^ maruta^ anu-bhartri 
 
 prati stobhati vaghataA na vani. 
 But the general character of these lines shows that they 
 were intended for hendecasyllabics, each ending in a 
 bacchius, though even then they are not free from irregu- 
 larities. The first verse would scan : 
 
 a vidyunmat-bhiA marutaA su-arkai/« 
 rathebhiA yata^nsh^imat-(bhiA) asva-parwaiA. 
 And verse 6 : esha sya va^ marutaA^anu-bhartri 
 
 prati stobhati vaghata^ na vam. 
 Our only difficulty would be the termination bhiA of rish/i- 
 mat-bhiA, I cannot adopt Professor Kuhn's suggestion to 
 drop the Visarga of hhih and change i into y (Beitrage, 
 vol. iv. p. 198), for this would be a license without any 
 parallel. It is different with sah, originally sa, or with 
 feminines in ih, where parallel forms in i are intelli- 
 gible. The simplest correction would be to read rathebhiA 
 yata^rish^i-manta/i^a5va-parwai/i. One might urge in sup- 
 port of this reading that in all other passages where rish/imat 
 occiu-s, it refers to the Maruts themselves, and never to their 
 chariots. Yet the difficidty remains, how coukl so simple 
 a reading have been replaced by a more difficult one ? 
 
 In the two Gayatri pfulas which follow I feel equally 
 reluctant to alter. I therefore scan 
 
 a, varshish^Aaya uah isha vayaA na paptata su-mayaA, 
 taking the dactyl of paptata as representing a spondee, and 
 
MANDAJ.A 1, SUKTA 88. 155 
 
 admitting- the exceptional bacchius instead of the amphimaccr 
 at the end of the line. 
 
 ^rhe last line of verse 6 should be scanned : 
 
 astobhayat vritha'^asam anu svadham 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. xVgain, I say, it would be most 
 easy to insert one of the many tetrasyllable epithets of the 
 Maruts. But this would have been equally easy for the 
 collectors of the Veda. Now the authors of the Anukra- 
 ma;?is distinctly state that this fifth verse is virac?rupa, i. e. 
 that one of its padas consists of eight syllables. How 
 they would have made eight syllables out of vi-dhavataA 
 varahun 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-dhavataA varahun. 
 
 Lastly, there is the third pada of the second verse, 
 rukmaA na A:itra^ svadhiti-van. It would not be possible 
 to get eleven syllables out of this, unless we admitted vyuha 
 not only in svadhitivan or svadhiti-van, but also In kitrah. 
 Nothing would be easier than to insert esham after X:itra^, 
 but the question occurs again, how could esham be lost, 
 or why, if by some accident it had been lost, was not so 
 obvious a correction made by Saunaka and Katyayana? 
 
 Verse 1, note ^. Alluding to the music of the Maruts, 
 and not to the splendour of the lightning which is men- 
 tioned before. See Wolf, Beitrage zur Deutschen Mytho- 
 logie, vol. ii. p. 137. 'Das Ross und den Wagen des 
 Gottes begleitet munterer Hornerschall, entweder stosst er 
 selbst ins Horn, 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 m idealisirter Art.^ Ibid. p. 158. 
 
 Verse 1, note ^, Varshish^Aa, which is generally ex- 
 plained as the superlative of vriddha, old, (Pan. vi. 4, 157,) 
 has in most passages of the Rig-veda the more general 
 meaning of strong or excellent : vi. 47, 9. isham a vakshi 
 isham varshish^/«am ; iii. 13, 7 (vasu) ; iii. 26, 8 (ratna); 
 
156 HYMNS TO THE MABUTS. 
 
 iii. i6, 3 (rai); iv. 31, 15; viii. 46, 24 {sravah); iv. 22, 9 
 (nrimna); v. 67, i (kshatra); vi. 45, 31 (murdhan). In 
 some passages, however, it may be taken in the sense of 
 oldest (i. 37, 6 ; v. 7, i), though by no means necessarily. 
 Varshish//m is derived in reality from vrishan, in the sense 
 of strong, excellent. See note to i. 85, 12, page 126. 
 
 Verse 1, note ^. Paptata, the second person plural of the 
 Le/ of the reduplicated base of pat. It is curiously Hke 
 the Greek ir'nrreTe, 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 Rig-veda, 
 papta^ and paptan : 
 
 ii. 31, 1. pra yat vaya/i na paptan. 
 
 That they may fly to us like birds. 
 
 vi. 6-^, 6. pra vam vaya/i — anu paptan. 
 
 May your birds fly after you. 
 
 X. 95, 15. pururavaA ma mnthaA ma pra paj)taA. 
 
 Pururavas, do not die, do not fly away ! 
 
 Verse 2, note \ 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 na tegase. 
 
 They adorned ^gni like an axe to shine or to cut. 
 
 The svadhiti 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. In V. 32, 10, a dcvi svadhitiA is mentioned, possibly 
 the lightning, the companion of Indi'a and the Maruts. 
 
 Verse 2, note ^. The felly 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. uta pavya rathanam adrim bhindanti o^asa. 
 
 They cut the mountain (cloud) with the felly of their 
 chariot. 
 
 i. 166, 10. pavishu kshura/i adhi. 
 
 On their fellies are sharp edges. 
 
MAA^DALA I, sOktA 88. 157 
 
 In V. 31, 5, fellies arc mentioned without horses and 
 chariot, which were turned by Indra against the Dasyus, 
 (i. 64, II.) I doubt, however, whether in India or else- 
 where the fellies or the wheels of chariots were ever used 
 as weapons of attack, as detached from the chariot ; (see 
 M. M., On Pavirava, in Beitriige zur vergleichcnden Sprach- 
 forschung, vol. iii. p. 447.) If we translate the figurative 
 language of the Vedic poets into matter-of-fact terms, the 
 fellies 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 con- 
 tinuation 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 ^. That the vasis are small weapons, knives 
 or daggers, we saw before, p. 59. Sayawa here explains va,si 
 by a weapon commonly called ara, or an awl. In x. 10 1, 10, 
 vasis are mentioned, made of stone, a^man-mayi. 
 
 The difficulty begins with the second half. Medha, as 
 here written in the Pada text, could only be a plural of a 
 neuter medham, but such a neuter does nowhere exist in 
 the Veda. We only find the masculine medlia, sacrifice, 
 which is out of the question here, on account of its accent. 
 Hence the passage iii. 58, 2, urdhva'A bhavanti pitara-iva 
 medha^, is of no assistance, unless we alter the accent. 
 The feminine medha means will, thought, prayer: i. 18, 6; 
 ii. 34, 7; iv. ;^^, 10; v. 27, 4; 42, 13; vii. 104, 6; viii. 
 6, 10 ; 52, 9 ; ix. 9, 9 ; 26, 3 ; 32, 6; 6^, 16; 107, 25 ; 
 X. 91, 8. The construction does not allow us to take 
 medha as a Vedic instrumental instead of medhaya, nor 
 does such a form occur anywhere else in the Rig-veda. 
 Nothing remains, I believe, than to have recourse to con- 
 jecture, and the addition of a single Visarga in the Pada 
 would remove all difficulty. In the next line, if tuvi-dyum- 
 nasa/< be the subject, it would signify the priests. This, 
 however, is again without any warrant fi-om 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 
 
158 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 adjective in the nominative, following the vocatives maruta^ 
 su-^ata^. The conception that the Maruts stir up the 
 forests is not of unfrequent occurrence in the Rig-veda : 
 cf i. 171, 3 : V. 59, 6. That urdhva is used of the mind, 
 in the sense of roused, may be seen in i. 119, 2; 134, i; 
 144, I ; 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. 
 
 Verse 3, note ^, On dhan in the sense of to agitate, 
 see B. and R. s. v. 
 
 Verse 4, note \ The first question is, which is the 
 subject, ahani or gndhra^P If gridhra^ were the subject, 
 then we should have to translate it by the eager poets, 
 and take ahani in the sense of visva. ahani. The sense 
 then might be : ' Day by day did the eager poets sing 
 around you this prayer.' There would be several objec- 
 tions, however, to this rendering. First, gridhrah never 
 occurs again as signifying poets or priests. One pas- 
 sage only could be quoted in support, ix. 97, ^J, kavayaA 
 na g?-klhraA (not gndhra'A), Uke greedy poets. But even 
 here, if this translation is right, the adjective is explained 
 by kavi, and does not stand by itself. Secondly, ahani 
 by itself is never used adverbially in the sense of day after 
 day. The only similar passage that might be quoted is 
 iii. 34, 10, and that is very doubtful. To take ahani as a 
 totally different word, viz. as a + hani, without ceasing, 
 without wearying, would be too bold in the present state 
 of Vedic interpretation. If then we take ahani as the 
 subject, gridhra/i would have to be taken as a vocatiA'e, 
 and intended for the Maruts. Now, it is perfectly true, 
 that by itself gndhra, hawk, does not occur again as a 
 name of the Manits, but ^yena, hawk, and particularly a 
 strong hawk (ix. 96, 6), is not only a common simile applied 
 to the Maruts, but is actually used as one of their names : 
 
 vii. ^6, 3. abhi sva-pubhi/t mithii// vapanta vata-svanasa// 
 syeniih aspridhran. 
 
 They plucked each other with their beaks (?), the hawks, 
 rushing like the wind, strove together. 
 
MAA^DALA I, SUKTA 88. 159 
 
 Agu/i might be the aorist of gai, to sing, or of gu, 
 to go : 
 
 i. 174, 8. Sana ta tc indra navya/< a aguA. 
 
 New poets, O Indra, sang these thy old deeds. 
 
 iii. 56, 2. gava/i a agu/j. 
 
 The co\vs approached. 
 
 If then the sense of the first line is, ' Days went and 
 came back to you,' the next question is whether we are 
 to extend the construction to the next words, imam dhiyam 
 varkaryam ^a devim, or whether these words are to be 
 joined to kriwvantaA, like brahma. The meaning of 
 varkarya is, of course, unknown. Sayawa's interpretation 
 as ' what is to be made by means of water' is merely 
 etymological, and does not help us much. It is true that 
 the object of the hymn, which is addressed to the Maruts, 
 is rain, and that literally varkfaya might be explained as 
 'that the effect of which is rain.' But this is far too 
 artificial a word for Yedic poets. Possibly there was some 
 other word that had become unintelligible and which, by 
 a slight change, was turned into varkarya, in order to 
 give the meaning of rain-producing. It might have been 
 ^arkarj'a, glorious, or the song of a poet called Varkara. 
 The most likely supposition is that varkarya was the name 
 given to some famous hymn, some paean or song of triumph 
 belonging to the Gotamas, possibly to some verses of the 
 very hymn before us. In this case the epithet devi would 
 be quite appropriate, for it is frequently used for a sacred 
 or sacrificial song: iv. 43, i. devim su-stutim ; iii. 18, 3. 
 imam dhiyam sata-seyaya devim. See, however, the note 
 to verse 6. 
 
 The purport of the whole line would then be that many 
 days have gone for the Maruts as well as for the famous 
 hymn once addressed to them by Gotama, or, in other 
 words, that the Gotamas have long been devoted to the 
 Maruts, an idea frequently recurring in the hymns of the 
 Veda, and, in our case, carried on in the next verse, where 
 it is said that the present hymn is like one that Gotama 
 composed when he saw the Maruts or spoke of them as 
 wild boars with iron tusks. The pushing up the lid of the 
 well for to drink, means that they obtained rain from the 
 
160 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 cloud, \vhich is here, as before, represented as a covered 
 vveU. 
 
 See another explanation in Haug, tJber die urspriingliche 
 Bedeutung des Wortes Brahma, 1868, p. 5. 
 
 Verse 5, note ^. Yo^ana commonly means a chariot : 
 
 vi. 62, 6. arewu-bhi/i yo^g^anebhiA bhu^anta. 
 
 You who possess dustless chariots. 
 
 viii. 72, 6. a^va-vat yo^anam b^'ihat. 
 
 The great chariot with horses. 
 
 It then became the name for a distance to be accom- 
 plished without unharnessing the horses, just as the Latin 
 jugian, a yoke, then a juger of land, ' quod uno jugo boum 
 uno die exarari posset/ Pliny xviii. 3, 3, 9. 
 
 In our passage, however, yo^ana means a hymn, lit. a 
 composition, which is clearly its meaning in 
 
 viii. 90, 3. brahma te indi'a girva^aA kriyante anatid- 
 bhuta, ima ^ushasva hari-asva yoyana indra ya te 
 amanmahi. 
 
 Unequalled prayers are made for thee, praiseworthy 
 Indra ; accept these hymns w^hich we have devised for 
 thee, O Indra with bright horses ! 
 
 Verse 5, note ". Varahu has here the same meaning as 
 varaha, wild boar, (viii. 77, 10; x. 28, 4.) It occurs once 
 more, i. 121, 11, as applied to Vritra, who is also called 
 varaha, i. 61, 7 ; x. 99, 6. In x. 67, 7, vnsha-bhi/i varahai/i 
 (with the accent on the penultimate) is intended for the 
 Maruts*. Except in this passage, varaha has the accent on 
 the last syllable : ix. 97, 7, varaha is applied to Soma. 
 
 Verse G. This last verse is almost unintelligible to me. 
 I give, however, the various attempts that have been made 
 to explain it. 
 
 "Wilson : ' This is that praise, Maruts, which, suited (to 
 your merits), glorifies every one of you. The speech of the 
 
 * See Genthe, Die "Windgottlieiten, 1861, p. 14 ; Grimm, Deutsche Mytho- 
 logie, p. 689. Grimm mentions ebui^rung (boar-throng") as a name of Orion, 
 the star that betokens storm. 
 
MANDAhA I, SI&KTA 88. 161 
 
 priest has now glorified you, ^vithollt difficulty, with sacred 
 verses, since (you have j)laced) food in our hands.' 
 
 Benfey : ' Dies Lied — Maruts! — das hinter euch empor- 
 strebt, es klingt zurlick gleich eines Beters Stimme Miihlos 
 schuf solche Lieder er, cntsprechend eurer Arme Kraft. 
 (Note : Der zum Himmel schallende Lobgesang findet 
 seinen Widerhall (wirklich, " bebt zuruck") in dem Sturm- 
 geheul der Maruts, uelches mit dem Geheul des Betenden 
 verglichen ^Yird.)' 
 
 Langlois : ' O Marouts, la voix qui s'eleve aujourd'hui 
 vers vous, vous chante avec non moins de raison que celle 
 qui vous celebra (jadis). Oui, c'est avec justice que nous 
 vous exaltons dans ces (vers), tenant en nos mains les mets 
 sacres.' 
 
 My own translation is to a great extent conjectural. 
 It seems to me from verse 3, that the poet offers both a 
 hymn of praise and a libation of Soma. Possibly varkarya 
 in verse 4 might be taken in the sense of Soma-juice, and 
 be derived from valkala, which in later Sanskrit means the 
 bark of trees. In that case verse 5 would again refer to 
 the hymn of Gotama, and verse 6 to the libation which is 
 to accompany it. Anu-bhartri does not occur again, but 
 it can only mean Mhat supports or refreshes, and therefore 
 would be applicable to a libation of Soma which supports 
 the gods. The verb stobhati would well express the rushing 
 sound of the Soma, as in i. 168, 8, it expresses the rushing 
 noise of the waters against the fellies of the chariots. The 
 next line adds little beyond stating that this libation of 
 Soma rushes forth freely from the hands, the gabhastis 
 being specially mentioned in other passages where the 
 crushing of the Soma-plant is described : 
 
 ix. 71, 3. adri-bhiA sutaA pavate gabhastyo/i. 
 
 The Soma squeezed by the stones runs from the hands. 
 
 On svadha see p. 19. 
 
 VOL. I. M 
 
1G2 HY^INS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 MAiV^Z)ALA I, SUKTA 165. 
 
 AsHTAKA II, Adhyaya 3, Varga 24-26. 
 
 IndraA. 
 
 1. Kaya .subha sa-vayasa/i sd-nil4/i sam^ny^ mani- 
 ta/i sdm mimikshuA, kijk mati kiitaA ^-iiissJi ete 
 ar^^anti sushmam vrishansJi vasu-yaL. 
 
 Indra/i. 
 
 2. Kasya brahmani ^u^ushuA yiivanaA kaA adhvare 
 mariita/i a vavarta, syenatn-iva dhrd,^ata/i antdrikshe 
 kdua maha mdnasa riramama. 
 
 MarutaA. 
 
 3. Kiita/i tvdm indra mKhmah sdn dkaA yasi sat- 
 pate kirn te itth^, sdm priZ:Mase sam-ara»d/i 6"ubh4- 
 nai/i Yokeh td,t naA hari-vaA ydt te asm^ (Iti). 
 
 1 . Wilson : (ludra speaks) : With what auspicious fortune 
 have the Maruts, who are of one age, one residence, one 
 dig-nity, watered (the earth) together : with what intention : 
 whence have they come : Showerers of rain, they venerate, 
 tlirough desire of wealth, the energy (that is generated in the 
 world by rain)? 
 
 Langlois : Quel eclat ces Marouts qui parcourent, qui 
 habitent ensemble (les espaces de Fair) repandent par tout (le 
 monde) ! Que veulent-ils ? d^oil viennent-ils, genereux et 
 riches, chercher les offrandes ? 
 
 2. Wilson : Of whose oblations do the youthful (Maruts) 
 approve : who attracts them to his (own) sacrifice (from the 
 
MAA^DALA I, SUKTA 165. 169 
 
 Hymn to the Maruts and Indra. 
 
 The Prologue, 
 The sacrificer speaks : 
 
 1. With what sjolendour are the Maruts all equally^ 
 endowed," they who are of the same age, and dwell 
 in the same house ? With what thoughts ? From 
 whence are they come V Do these heroes sing forth 
 their (oA\ai) strength ^ because they wish for wealth ? 
 
 2. Whose prayers have the youths accepted '? Who 
 has turned the Maruts to his own sacrifice ? By 
 what strong devotion^ may we delight them, they 
 who float through the air hke hawks 1 
 
 The Dialogue. 
 The Maruts speak : 
 
 3. From whence,^ Indra, dost thou come alone, 
 thou who art mighty ? lord of men,^ what has 
 thus happened to thee "? Thou greetest (us) ^ when 
 thou comest together with (us), the bright (Maruts).'' 
 Tell us then, thou with thy bay horses, what thou 
 hast against us ! 
 
 rites of others) : with what powerful praise may we propitiate 
 (them), wandering like kites in the mid-air ? 
 
 Langlois : Quel est celui qui, par ses hommages, plait a ces 
 jeunes (divinites)? qui, par son sacrifice, attire les Marouts? 
 Par quelle priere parviendrons-nous a retenir ces (dieux qui) 
 comme des eperviers, parcourent les airs ? 
 
 3. Wilson: (The Maruts): Indra, lord of the good, whither 
 dost thou, who art entitled to honour, proceed alone : what 
 means this (absence of attendance) : when followed (by us), 
 thou requirest (what is rig-ht). Lord of fleet horses, say to us, 
 with pleasant words, that which thou (hast to say) to us. 
 
 Langlois : (Les Marouts parlent) : Indra, maitre des 
 M 2 
 
164 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 IndraA. 
 ■ 4. Brdhma?n me matdyaA sdm sutasa/i siisbma/i 
 iyarti prd-bli^-ita/^ me Mrih, a s^sate prati haiyanti 
 uktha ima hdri (iti) vahata/^ ta na/^^ 6.Wi'<\. 
 
 Maruta^. 
 
 5. Ata/i vayd,m antamebhi/i yugin^h sva-ksbatre- 
 bbi/i tanva/i sumbhamanaA mdba/i-bbi/i etan iipa jaif/- 
 mabe nii indra svadbam anu bl ivah babbutba. 
 
 IndrsJi. 
 
 6. Kva sya va/i maruta/i svadbai asit ydt m^m 
 ekam sam-ddbatta abi-bdtye, abdm bi ugraA tavi- 
 sbd,/i tuvisbmau visvasya satroA aiiamam vadba- 
 snai'/i. 
 
 hommes pieux, d'ou viens-tu, grand et unique? Que veux- 
 tu? Toi qui est notre compag-uon, tu peux nous repondre 
 avec bonte. O dieu, traiue par des coursiers azures, dis-nous 
 ce que tu nous veux. 
 
 4. Wilson.: (Indra) : Sacred rites are mine : (holy) praises 
 give me pleasure : libations are for me : my vigorous thunder- 
 bolt, hurled (against my foes), goes (to its mark): me, do (pious 
 worshippers) propitiate : hymns are addressed to me ; these 
 horses bear us to the presence (of those worshippers, and 
 worship). 
 
 Langlojs : (Indra parle): Les ceremonies, les prieres, les 
 hymnes, les libations, les ofTrancIes, tout est h. moi. Je porte 
 lu f'oudre. Dcs invocations, des chants se sont fait entendre. 
 Mes chevaux m'amenent. Voilii ce que je veux ici. 
 
 5. Wilson : (The Maruts) : Therefore we also, decorating 
 our persons, are ready, with our docile and nigh-standing 
 
MANDALA I, SiGktA 165. 165 
 
 Indra speaks : 
 
 4. The sacred songs are mine, (mine are) the 
 prayers;^ sweet ^ are the libations! My strength 
 rises,^ my thunderbolt is hurled forth. They call for 
 me, the prayers yearn for me. Here are my horses, 
 they carry me towards them. 
 
 The Maruts speak : 
 
 5. Therefore, in company with our strong friends,^ 
 having adorned our bodies, we now harness our fallow 
 deer^ with all our might ;^ — for, Indra, according to 
 thy custom, thou hast been with us. 
 
 Indra speaks : 
 
 6. Where, Maruts, was that custom of yours, 
 that you should join me who am alone in the killing 
 of Ahi 1 I indeed am terrible, strong, powerful, — I 
 escaped from the blows of every enemy.^ 
 
 steeds, (to attend tliee) with all our splendour, to those rites ; 
 verily, Indra, thou appropriatest our (sacrificial) food. 
 
 Langlois : (Les Marouts parlent) : Et nous, sur les puis- 
 sants coursiers que voici, pla9ant nos corps legers et brillants, 
 nous joignons nos splendeurs aux tiennes. Et tu veux, Indra, 
 t'approprier notre offrande ? 
 
 6. Wilson: (Indra): Where, Maruts, has that (sacrificial) 
 food been assigned to you, which, for the destruction of Ahi, 
 was appropriated to me alone; for I indeed am fierce and 
 strong and mighty, and have bowed down all mine enemies 
 with death-dealing shafts. 
 
 Langlois : (Indra parle): Et comment cette off'rande serait- 
 elle pour vous, 6 Marouts, quand vous reconnaissez ma supe- 
 riorite en reclamant mon secours pour la mort d'Ahi ? Je suis 
 grand, fort et redoutable, et de mes traits, funestes k tons mes 
 ennemis, j^ai tue Ahi. 
 
166 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 MarutaJi. 
 
 7. Bhtiri Z:akartha yugjehhih asme (iti) samane- 
 bhi/i V7'ishablia pau??isyebhiA, bMrini hi kn?iav£ima 
 savish^/ia indra kratva maruta/i yat vdsama. 
 
 Indra^. 
 
 8. Vadhim vi-itram marutaA indriye?ia svena 
 bli^mena tavisha/i babhiivaii, aham eWi raanaye vi- 
 sva-^^andraA su-gaA apaA ^^akara va^ra-baliu/i. 
 
 Maruta/i. 
 
 9. Anuttam ^ te magha-van naki/i nil na tva-van 
 asti devdta vidanaA, na ^ayamana/i na^^ate na gsiisih 
 yaini karishya * kri?Mdii pra-vriddha. 
 
 Indra/i. 
 
 10. Ekasya Z;it me vi-bhu astu ogiih ya nii 
 
 7. Wilson: (Maruts): Showerer (of benefits) thou hast 
 done much ; but it has been with our united equal energ-ies ; 
 for we, too, most powerful Indra, have done many things^ and 
 by our deeds (we are, as) we desire to be, Maruts. 
 
 Langlois : (Les Marouts parlent) : Tu as beaueoup fait, 
 (dieu) g-enereux en venant nous seconder dc ta force heroi'que. 
 Mais, 6 puissant Indra, nous pouvons aussi beaueoup, quand, 
 nous autres Marouts, nous voulons prouver notre vaillance. 
 
 8. Wilson : (Indra) : By my own prowess (Maruts) I, 
 mig-hty in my wrath, slew Vritra ; armed with my thunder- 
 bolt, I created all these pellucid, gently- flowing waters for 
 (the good of) man. 
 
 * karisliyS^/i .' 
 
MAA^i>ALA I, sOkTA 165. 1(J7 
 
 The Maruts spealc : 
 
 7. Thou hast achieved much with us as coni- 
 panions.^ With the same valour, hero! let us 
 achieve then many things, thou most powerful, 
 Indi-a! whatever we, Maruts, wish with our heart.^ 
 
 Indra speaks: 
 
 8. I slew Vritra, Maruts, with (Indra's) might, 
 havhig grown strong through my own vigour ; I, who 
 hold the thunderbolt in my arms, I have made these 
 all-brilHant waters to flow freely for man.^ 
 
 The Maruts speak: 
 
 9. Nothing, powerful lord, is strong before thee: 
 no one is known among the gods ^ like unto thee. No 
 one Avho is now born ^ will come near, no one who 
 has been born. Do what has to be done,^ thou who 
 art grown so strong. 
 
 Indra speaks : 
 
 10. Almighty power be mine alone, whatever I 
 
 Langlois : (Indra park) : Marouts, j'ai tue Vritra, ct je 
 n^ai eu besoin que de ma colere et de ma force d^Indra. C'est 
 moi, qui, la foudre a la main, ai ouvert un chemin a ces ondes 
 qui font le bonheur de Manou. 
 
 9. Wn.S0N : (Maruts) : Verily, Maghavat, nothing (done) 
 by tliee is unavailing, there is no divinity as wise as thou ; no 
 one being born, or that has been born, ever surpasses the 
 glorious deeds which thou, mighty (Indra), hast achieved. 
 
 Langlois : (Les Marouts parlent) : O Maghavan, nous 
 n^attaquons pas ta gloire. Personne, 6 dieu, quand on connait 
 tes exploits, ne pent se croire ton egal. Aucun etre, present 
 ou passe ne saurait te valoir. Tu es grand, fais ce que tu 
 dois faire. 
 
 10. Wilson : (Indra) : May the prowess of mc alone be 
 
168 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 dadh?'ishvan kri?;avai manisha, aliam hi ugrih maru- 
 taA vicMna^ jKni lyavam indra/i it ise esham. 
 
 Indra/?. 
 
 11. Amandat ma maruta^ stoma/^ atra yat me 
 nara/i sriityam brdhma Z:akra, iiidraya v?'isli?ie su- 
 makhaya mahyam sdkhye sakhaya/i- tanve tanu- 
 hhih. 
 
 Indra/i. 
 
 12. Evd it ete prdti m4 r6Z;amana/i anedya/i * 
 Slovak K ishaA dadhana/^, sam-Hkshya maruta^ 
 l'andra-var?iaA dMAanta me Madayatha ^^a iiA- 
 nilm. 
 
 Agastya/i. 
 
 13. Kd,^ nil atra maruta/z. mamahe vaA pra yat ana 
 
 irresistible, may I quickly accomplish whatever I contemplate 
 in my mind, for verily, Maruts, I am fierce and sagacious, 
 and to whatever (objects) I direct (my thoughts), of them I 
 am the lord, and rule (over them). 
 
 Laxglois : (Indra parle) : Ma force est assez g-rande, pour 
 que, seul, je puisse executer ce que je veux tenter. Je suis 
 redoutable, 6 Marouts, je sais ce que j^ai a faire, moi, Indra, 
 maitre de vous tons. 
 
 11. Wilson: Maruts, on this occasion praise delights me; 
 that praise which is to be heard (by all), which men have 
 offered me. To Indra, the showerer (of benefits), the object 
 of pious sacrifice; to me, (endowed) "with many forms, (do 
 you) my friends (offer sacrifices) for (the nourishment of my) 
 person. 
 
 * aiiedv.xm ? 
 
MA.VOALA I, SUKTA 105. I(i9 
 
 may do, daring in my heart ;^ for I indeed, O Marnts, 
 am known as terrible : of all that I threw do^\^l, I, 
 Indra, am the lord, 
 
 Indra speaks : 
 
 11. Maruts, now yonr praise has pleased me, 
 the glorious hymn which you have made for me, ye 
 men ! — for me, for Indra, for the powerful hero, as 
 friends for a friend, for your own sake and by your 
 own efforts.^ 
 
 Indra speaks : 
 
 12. Truly, there they are, shining towards me, 
 assuming blameless glory, assuming vigour. 
 Maruts, wherever I have looked for you, you have 
 appeared to me in bright splendour : appear to me 
 also now ! 
 
 The Ei^ilocjue. 
 The sacrificer speaks : 
 
 13. Who has magnified you here, Maruts? Come 
 
 Langlois : O Marouts, Teloge que vous avez fait de moi 
 m^a flatte et surtout votre attention a me laisser votre part du 
 sacrifice. Indra est genereux, et fete par de nombreux hom- 
 mages. Soyez mes amis, et developpez vos corps (legers). 
 
 12. Wilson : Maruts, verily, glorifying me, and enjoying 
 boundless fame and food (through my favour), do you, of 
 golden colour, and invested with glory, cover me in requital, 
 verily, (with renown.) 
 
 Laxglois : Ainsi brillant a mes cotes, prenez dans les 
 offrandes et dans les hymnes la part conforme a votre rang, 
 O Marouts, vos couleurs sont merveilleuses. Resplendissons 
 ensemble, et couvrez-moi (de vos corps) comme vous Favez 
 fait jusqu'a present. 
 
 13. Wilson : (Agastya) : What mortal, Maruts, worships 
 you in this world : hasten, friends, to the presence of your 
 
170 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 s^khin {ihkhci sakhayaA, manmani Mtr4/z. api-v4ta- 
 yanta/i eshaim bhiita nd,ved4A me ?ntanam. 
 
 Agastya/^. 
 
 14. A ydt duvasy^t duvdse na karii/i asman A^akre 
 manydsya medha, 6 (iti) sii varta marutaA vipram 
 dkkJm ima brahma?u c/arita va/i ar^^at. 
 
 Agastya/i. 
 
 15. EslidA vaA stomaA maruta/z iyam gi'A mandar- 
 yd,sya m4nyd,sya karo/z, a isha vasisli^a tanve vayam 
 vidy^ma ishdm vri^dnam ^ira-danum. 
 
 friends; wonderful (divinities), be to them the means of ac- 
 quiring riches ; and be not uncognisant of ray merits. 
 
 Langlois : (Le poete parle) : Quel est celui qui vous chante 
 en ce moment, 6 Marouts ? Soyez-nous agreables, et venez 
 vers des amis. D'un souffle propice favorisez nos vcbux. Pos- 
 sesseurs de biens varies, daignez visiter notre sacrifice. 
 
 14. Wilson : Since the experienced intellect of a venerable 
 (sage), competent to bestow praise upon (you), who deserve 
 praise, has been exerted for us : do you, Maruts, come to the 
 presence of the devout (worshipper) who, glorifying (you), 
 worships you with these holy rites. 
 
 Langlois : Si la science d^in sage nous a, comme un 
 
 COMMENTARY. 
 
 According to the Anukrama?aka this hymn is a dialogue 
 between Agastya, the Maruts, and Indra. A careful consi- 
 deration of the hymn would probably have led us to a similar 
 conclusion, but I doubt whether it would have led us to 
 adopt the same distribution of the verses among the poet, 
 I lie Maruts, and India, as that adopted by the author of the 
 
MA.VDALA I, sfMvTA 165. 171 
 
 hither, O friends, towards your friends. Ye brilliant 
 Maruts, cherish^ these prayers, and be mindful of 
 these my rites. 
 
 14. The wisdom of M^nya has brought us to this, 
 that he should help as the poet helps the performer 
 of a sacrifice : bring (them) hither quickly! Maruts, 
 on to the sage ! these prayers the singer has recited 
 for you.^ 
 
 15. This your praise, O Maruts, this your song 
 comes from Mandarya, the son of Mana,^ the poet. 
 Come hither with rain ! May we find for ourselves 
 oflfspring,^ food, and a camp ^ with running water. 
 
 artiste habile, fayonnes au ciilte pompeux que nous vous 
 rendons, 6 jNIarouts, traitez avec bonte Fhomme qui, par ses 
 prieres et ses chants, vous a honores. 
 
 15. Wilson : This praise, Maruts, is for you : this hymn 
 is for you, (the work) of a venerable author, capable of con- 
 ferring delight (by his laudations). May the praise reach you^ 
 for (the good of your) persons, so that we may (thence) obtain 
 food, strength, and long life. 
 
 Langlois : O Marouts, cet eloge et cet hymne d^un respec- 
 table poete s^addressent a vous. II a voulu vous plaire. Venez 
 avec Fabondance, en etendant vos reseaux. Que nous con- 
 naissions la prosperite, la force et Theureuse vieillesse ! 
 
 Anukramawika. He assigns the first two verses to Indra, 
 the third, fifth, seventh, and ninth to the Maruts, the 
 fom-th, sixth, eighth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth to Indra, 
 and the three concluding verses to Agastya. I think that 
 the two verses in the beginning, as well as the three con- 
 cluding verses, belong certainly to Agastya or to whoever 
 else the real performer of the sacrifice may have been. The 
 two verses in the beginning cannot be ascribed to Indra, 
 
172 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 who, to judge from his language, would never say : ' By 
 what strong devotion may we delight the Maruts?' Tt 
 might seem, in fact, as if the three following verses, too, 
 should be ascribed to the sacrificer, so that the dialogue 
 between Indra and the Maruts would begin only with the 
 sixth verse. The third verse might w^ell be addressed to 
 Indra by the sacrificer, and in the fourth verse we might 
 see a description of all that he had done for Indra. What 
 is against this view, however, is the phrase prabhritaA me 
 adri^. If used by the sacrificer, it might seem to mean, 
 ' my stone, i. e. the stone used for squeezing the Soma, has 
 been brought forth.^ But though Professor Roth assigns 
 this meaning to prabh>nta in our passage, I doubt whether, 
 in connection with adri, or with va^ra, prabh^'ita can mean 
 anything but hurled. Thus we read : 
 
 i. 6i, 12. asmai it iini (iti) pra bhava — vntraya vayram. 
 
 Hurl thou, Indra, the thunderbolt against this V?'itra. 
 
 V. 32, 7. yat im va//rasya prii-bh^'itau dadabha. 
 
 When Indra conquered him in the hurling of the 
 thunderbolt. 
 
 I therefore suppose the dialogue to begin with verse 3, 
 and I find that Langlois, though it may be from different 
 reasons, arrived at the same conclusion. 
 
 There can be little doubt that the other verses, to verse 
 12, are rightly apportioned between Indra and the JMaruts. 
 Verse 12 might perhaps be attributed again to the wor- 
 shipper of the Maruts, but as there is no absolute necessity 
 for assigning it to him, it is better to follow the tradition 
 and to take it as the last verse of Indra's speech. It would 
 seem, in fact, as if these ten verses, from 3 to 12, formed 
 an independent poem, which was intended to show the 
 divine power of the Maruts. That their divine power was 
 sometimes denied, and that Indra^s occasional contempt of 
 them was well known to the Vedic poets, will become 
 evident from other hymns. This dialogue seems therefore 
 to have been distinctly intended to show that, in spite of 
 occasional misunderstandings between the INIarnts and the 
 all-powerful Indra, Indra himself had fully recognized their 
 power and accepted their friendship. If we suppose that 
 lliis dialogue was repeated at sacrifices in honour of the 
 
MAA^jDALA I, sffKTA 165. 173 
 
 IMaruts, or that possibly it was acted by two parties, one 
 representing- Indra, the other tlie Maruts and their followers, 
 then the two verses in the beginning and the three at the 
 end ought to be placed in the mouth of the actual sacrificer, 
 whoever he was. He begins by asking, mIio has attracted 
 the Maruts to his sacrifice, and by what act of praise and 
 worship they can be delighted. Then follows the dialogue 
 in honour of the Maruts, and after it the sacrificer asks 
 again, 'Who has magnified the Maruts, i.e. have not we 
 magnified them?' and he implores them to grant him their 
 friendship in recognition of his acts of worship. If then 
 we suppose that the dialogue was the work of Mandarya 
 Manya, the fourteenth verse, too, would lose something of 
 its obscurity. Coming fi'om the mouth of the actual sacri- 
 ficer, it would mean, ' the wisdom, or the poetical genius, of 
 Manya has brought us to this, has induced us to do 
 this, i.e. to perform this dialogue of Manya, so that he, 
 Manya, should assist, as a poet assists the priest at a 
 sacrifice.' If Manya himself was present, the words 6 sii 
 varta, ' bring hither quickly,' would have to be taken as 
 addressed to him by the sacrificer ; the next, ' Maruts, on 
 to the sage !' would be addressed to the Maruts, the sage 
 (vipra) being meant for Manya ; and in the last words, too, 
 ' these prayers the singer has recited for you,' the singer 
 (^arita) might again be Manya, the powerful poet whose 
 services the sacrificer had engaged, and whose famous 
 dialogue between Indra and the Maruts was considered a 
 safe means of winning their favour. It would be in keeping 
 with all this, if in the last verse the sacrificer once more 
 informed the Maruts that this hymn of praise was the work 
 of the famous poet Mandarya, the son of Mana, and if he 
 then concluded with the usual prayer for safety, food, and 
 progeny. 
 
 Verse 1, note ^ As samani occurs in the Veda as the 
 feminine of samana (cf. iv. 51, 9; x. 191, 3; 4), samanya 
 might, no doubt, be taken as an instrumental, belonging to 
 5ubha. We should then have to translate: 'With what 
 equal splendour are the Maruts endowed?' Saya/?a adopts 
 the same explanation, while Wilson, who seems to have 
 
174 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 read saraanya^, translates ' of one dignity.' Professor Roth, 
 s, V. myaksh, would seem to take samanya as some kind of 
 substantive, and he refers to another passage, i. 167, 4, 
 sadharawya-iva mariitaA mimikshuA, without, however, 
 detaiUng his interpretation of these passages. 
 
 It cannot be said that Saya/ja's explanation is objection- 
 able, yet there is something awkward in qualifying by an 
 adjective, however indefinite, what forms the subject of an 
 interrogative sentence, and it w^ould be possible to avoid 
 this, by taking samanya as an adverb. It is clearly used 
 as an adverb in iii. 54, 7 ; viii. 83, 8. 
 
 Verse 1, note -. MimikshuA is the perfect of myaksh, in 
 the sense of to be firmly joined with something. It has 
 therefore a more definite meaning than the Latin miscere 
 and the Greek /nia-yeti', which come from the same source, 
 i. e. from a root niik or mig, in Sanskrit also mi^ in mi.9-ra ; 
 (see Curtius, Grundziige, p. 300.) There may be indeed one 
 or two passages in the Veda where myaksh seems to have 
 the simple meaning of mixing, but it will be seen that they 
 constitute a small minority compared with those where 
 myaksh has the meaning of holding to, sticking to ; I 
 mean 
 
 X. 104, 2. mimikshuA yam adrayah indra tiibhyam. 
 
 The Soma w^hich the stones have mixed for thee. 
 
 This form cannot be denved from mimiksh, but is the 
 3rd pers. plur. perf. Parasm. of myaksh. It may, however, 
 be translated, 'This Soma which the stones have grasped or 
 squeezed for thee,' as may be seen from passages quoted here- 
 after, in which myaksh is construed with an accusative. 
 
 ii. 3, II. ghritam mimikshe. 
 
 The butter has been mixed. 
 
 This form cannot be derived from mimiksh, but is the 
 3rd pers. sing. perf. vltm. of myaksh. If the meaning of 
 mixing should be considered inadmissible, we might in this 
 verse translate, ' The butter has become fixed, solid, or 
 coagulated.' 
 
 Leaving out of consideration for the present the forms 
 which are derived from mimiksh, we find the following 
 passages in which myaksh occurs. Its original meaning 
 
MA.VZ^ALA I, SUKTA 1G5. 175 
 
 must have been to be mixed with, to be joined to, and in many 
 passages that original sense is still to be reeognized, only with 
 the additional idea of being firmly joined, of sticking to, or, 
 in an active sense, laying hold of, grasping firmly. 
 
 1. Without any case : 
 
 i. 169, 3. amyak sa te indra rhhtih asme (iti). 
 
 This thy spear, O Indra, sits firm for us. 
 
 This would mean that Indra held his weapon well, as a 
 soldier ought to hold his spear, i^myak is the 3rd pers. 
 sing, of a second aor. Parasm., amyaksham, amyak(sht); 
 (Say. prapnoti.) Cf. viii. 61, 18. 
 
 2. With locative: 
 
 X. 44, 2. mimyaksha va^ra/< n?'i-pate gabhastau. 
 
 In thy fist, O king, the thunderbolt rests firmly. 
 
 i. 167, 3. mimyaksha yeshu sit-dhita — r'lshtih. 
 
 With whom the spear (lightning) rests well placed {ffid 
 eingelegt), i. e. the Maruts who hold the spear firmly, so 
 that it seems to stick fast to them. (Say. sa/»gatabhut.) 
 
 vi. 50, 5. mimyaksha yeshu rodasi nu devi'. 
 
 To whom the goddess Rodasi clings. (Say. samgaA:^Aate.) 
 
 vi. II, 5. amyakshi sadma sadane prithivya/^. 
 
 The seat was firmly set on the seat of the earth. (Say. 
 gamyate, parigrihyate). It is the 3rd pers. sing. aor. pass. 
 
 vi. 29, 2. a yasmin haste naryaA mimikshu/i a rathe 
 hira??yaye rathe-stha/i, a rasmaya^ gabhastyoA sthurayo/( a 
 adhvan a^vasaA vnshawa/i yuga,na.h. 
 
 To whose hand men cling, in whose golden chariot the 
 di'ivers stand firm, in whose strong fists the reins are well 
 held, on whose path the harnessed stallions hold together. 
 (Say. asi/tyante, apuryante ; or asiilAranti, purayanti.) 
 
 X. 96, 3. indre ni rupa harita miniikshire. 
 
 Bright colours stuck or clung or settled on Indra. (Say. 
 nishiktani babhuvu^ ; miheA sanantat karma/ii rupam.) 
 
 3. With instrumental : 
 
 i. 165, I. kaya subha maruta^ sam mimikshu/i. 
 
 To what splendour do the Maruts cling ; or, what 
 splendour clings to them ? 
 
 V. 58, 5. svaya maty a mariita// sam mimikshuA. (See 
 also i. 165, I.) 
 
176 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 The Maruts cling to their own thought or will. (Say. 
 vnsh^ya samyak sinAranti.) 
 
 i. 167, 4. yavya (i. e. yaviya) sadhara«ya-iva maruta/^ 
 mimikshuA. 
 
 A difficult passage which receives little light from i. 173, 
 12 ; viii. 98, 8; or vi. 27, 6. 
 
 i. 87, 6. bhanii-bhiA sam mimikshire. 
 
 The Maruts were joined with splendour. (Say. med/nim 
 iManti.) 
 
 4. With accusative : 
 
 viii. 61, 18. ni ya va^ram mimikshatu^. 
 
 Thy two arms which have firmly grasped the thunder- 
 bolt. (Say. parigrihmtaA.) 
 
 Here I should also prefer to place vii. 20, 4, if. we might 
 explain mimikshan as a participle present of myaksh in the 
 Hu-class : 
 
 ni va^ram indraA mimikshan. 
 
 Grasping firmly the thunderbolt. (Say. ^atrushu pra- 
 payan.) 
 
 vi. 29, 3. mye te pada diiva/i a mimikshuA. 
 
 Thy servants embrace thy feet for their happiness. (Say. 
 asiilitanti, samarpayanti.) 
 
 Like other verbs which mean to join, myaksh, if accom- 
 panied by prepositions expressive of separation, means to 
 separate. (Cf. vi-yukta, se-junctus.) 
 
 ii. 28, 6. apo (iti) su myaksha varu?«a bhiyasam mat. 
 
 Remove well from me, O Yaru«a, ten-or. (Say. apa- 
 gamaya.) 
 
 Quite distinct from this is the desiderative or inchoative 
 verb mimiksh, from mih, in the sense of to sprinkle, or to 
 shower, chiefly used with reference to the gods who are 
 asked to sprinkle the sacrifice with rain. Thus we read : 
 
 i. 142, 3. madhva ya_{/iiam mimikshati. 
 
 (Nara5a?><sa) sprinkles the sacrifice with rain. 
 
 ix. 107, 6. madhva ya^niim mimiksha na//. 
 
 Sprinkle (O Soma) our sacrifice with rain. 
 
 i. 34, 3. tri/i adya ya^nam mtidhuna miniikshatam. 
 
 O Asvins, sprinkle the sacrifice with rain thrice to-day ! 
 
 i. 47, 4. madhva ya//nam mimikshatam. 
 
 O Ai'vins, sprinkle the sacrifice with rain ! 
 
MANDAhA I, st)KTA 165. 177 
 
 5. Without mtidhu : 
 
 i. 32, 13. mahi dyauA pnthivi ^a na// imam ya^rfiam 
 mimikshatam. 
 
 May the great heaven and earth sprinkle this our sacrifice. 
 
 6. With madliu in the accusative : 
 
 vi. 70, 5. madhu na// dyavaprithivi (iti) mimikshatam. 
 May heaven and earth shower down rahi for us. 
 Very frequently the Ai?vins are asked to sprinkle the 
 sacrifice with their whip. This whip seems originally, like 
 the Mhip of the Maruts, to have been intended for the 
 cracking noise of the storm, preceding the rain. Then as 
 whips had probably some similarity to the instruments used 
 for sprinkling butter on the sacrificial viands, the Asvins 
 are asked to sprinkle the sacrifice with their whip, i. e. to 
 give rain : 
 
 i. 157, 4. madliu-matya naA kasaya mimikshatamr. 1 -^ 
 
 O A^vins, sprinkle us with your rain-giving whip/ -*-* J-V A /|* 
 
 i. 22, 3. taya ya^ilam mimikshatam. I' V r » 
 
 O A^vinsj sprinkle the sacrifice with it (your wEip). '"' '^ iS J '{^ y 
 
 7. Lastly, we find such phrases as, 'L ^ALj/?'( )/ » v I 
 
 i. 48, 16. sam na^ ray a — mimikshva, ^ ' ' 
 
 Sprinkle us with wealth, i. e. shower wealth down upon 
 
 us. Here mih is really treated as a Hu-verb in the 
 
 Atmanepada. 
 
 As an adjective, mimikshii is applied to Indra (iii. 50, 3), 
 
 and mimiksha to Soma (vi. 34, 4). 
 
 Verse 1, note ^. I do not see how etasaA can here be 
 taken in any sense but that suggested by the Pada, a-itasaA, 
 come near. Professor Roth thinks it not impossible that it 
 may be meant for etah, the fallow deer, the usual team of 
 the Maruts. These Etas are mentioned in verse 5, but 
 there the Pada gives quite coiTcctly etan, not a-itan, and 
 Say ana explains it accordingly by gantun. 
 
 Verse 1, note ^. The idea that the Maruts proclaim their 
 own strength occurred before, i. 87, 3. It is a perfectly 
 natural conception, for the louder the voice of the wind, the 
 greater its strength, 
 
 VOL. I. N 
 
178 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 Verse 2, note ^ Manas here, as elsewhere, is used in the 
 sense of thought preceding speech, devotion not yet ex- 
 pressed in prayer. See Taitt. Sanh. v. i, 3, 3. yat purusho 
 manasabhigaA'ArAati tad vaAa vadati, what a man grasps in 
 his mind that he expresses by speech. Professor Roth 
 suggests an emendation which is ingenious, but not neces- 
 sary, viz. maha namasa, with great adoration, an expression 
 which occurs, if not in vi. 52, 17, at least in vii. 12, i. We 
 find, however, the phrase maha manasa in 
 
 \i. 40, 4. a yahi sa^vat usata yaj^atha indi'a maha manasa 
 soma-peyam, 
 
 upa brahmam sr'ma\ah ima nah atha te ya^naA tanv? 
 vayaA dhat. 
 
 Come hither, thou hast ahvays come, Indra, to our 
 libation through our yearning great devotion. May est 
 thou hear these our prayers, and may then the sacrifice 
 place vigour in thy body. 
 
 It is curious to observe that throughout the Rig- 
 veda the instrumental singular maha is always used 
 as an adjective belonging to some term or other for 
 praise and prayer. Besides the passages mentioned, we 
 find: 
 
 ii. 24, I. aya vidhema na^aya maha gira. 
 
 Let us sacrifice with this new great song. 
 
 vi. 52, 17. su-uktena maha namasa a vivase. 
 
 I worship with a hymn with great adoration, or I worship 
 with a great hymn in adoration. 
 
 viii. 46, 14. gaya gira maha vi-Aretasam. 
 
 Celebrate the wise Inch-a with a great song. 
 
 Verse 3, note ^ We ought to scan kutaA tvam indra 
 mahinaA san, because yasi, being anudatta, could not begin 
 a new pada. It w'ould be more natural to translate kutaA 
 by why ? for the Maruts evidently M'ish to express their 
 surprise at Indi-a's going to do battle alone and without 
 their assistance. I do not think, however, that in the 
 Rig-veda, even in the latest hymns, kuta// has ever a causal 
 meaning, and I have therefore translated it in the same 
 sense in M'hich it occurs before in the }>oet^s address to 
 the Maruts, 
 
MAiViJALA I, SI)kTA 165. 179 
 
 Verse S, note ^. Sat-pati, lord of men, means lord of 
 real men, of heroes, and should not be translated by good 
 lord. Sat by itself is frequently used in the sense of 
 heroes, of men physically rather than morally good : 
 
 ii. I, 3. tvam ague indi'a/j v/ishabha/i satam asi. 
 
 Thou, Agni, art Indra, the hero among heroes. 
 
 i' ^73) 7- samat-su tva sum satara uraMam, 
 
 Thee, O hero, in battles the protector of (good and 
 true) men. 
 
 Verse 3, note ^. The meaning of sam iprikkhase is very 
 much the same as that of sam vadasva in i. 1 70, 5. 
 
 Verse 3, note ^. -Subhana evidently is meant as a name 
 for the Maruts, who thus speak of themselves in the third 
 person. This is by no means unusual in the Rig-veda ; 
 see, for instance, 
 
 i. 170, 2. tebhiA kalpasva sadhu-ya ma nah sam-arawe 
 vadhiA. 
 
 Be thou good with these (with us, the Maruts), do not 
 kill us in battle ! 
 
 Verse 4. Indra certainly addresses his old friends, the 
 Maruts, very unceremoniously, but this, though at first 
 startling, was evidently the intention of the poet. He 
 wished to represent a squabble between Indra and the 
 Maruts, such as they were familiar with in their own 
 village life, and this was to be followed by a reconciliation. 
 The boorish rudeness, selfishness, and boastfulness here 
 ascribed to Indra may seem offensive to those who cannot 
 divest themselves of the modern meaning of deities, but 
 looked upon fi'om the right point of view, it is really full 
 of interest. 
 
 Verse 4, note \ Brahmawi and matayaA are here men- 
 tioned separately in the same way as a distinction is made 
 between brahman, stoma, and uktha, iv. 22, i ; vi. 23, i ; 
 between brahma^i and gira/i, iii. 51, 6 ; between brahma, 
 gira/i, and stoma/*, vi. 38, 3; between brahma, gira//, uktha, 
 and manma, vi. 38, 4, &c. 
 
 N 2 
 
180 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 Verse 4, note ^, Sam, which 1 have here translated by- 
 sweet, is a difficult word to render. It is used as a sub- 
 stantive, as an adjective, and as an adverb ; and in several 
 instances it must remain doubtful whether it was meant 
 for one or the other. The adverbial character is almost 
 always, if not always, applicable, though in Enghsh there 
 is no adverb of such general import as sam, and we must 
 therefore render it differently, although we are able to 
 perceive that in the mind of the poet it might still have 
 been conceived as an adverb, in the sense of 'well.'' I shall 
 arrange the principal passages in which *am occurs accord- 
 ing to the verbs with which it is construed. 
 
 1. Withbhu: 
 
 viii. 79, 7. bhava nah soma sam h^'ide. 
 
 Be thou, Soma, well (pleasant) to our heart. Cf. viii. 82, 3. 
 
 viii. 48, 4. sam. nah bhava h^ide a pita^ indo (iti). 
 
 Be thou well (sweet) to our heart, when drunk, O Soma ! 
 Cf. X. 9, 4. 
 
 i. 90, 9. 5am na^ bhavatu aryama. 
 
 May Aryaman be well (kind) to us ! 
 
 vi. 74, I. sam nah bhutam dvi-pade 5am HtuA-pade. 
 
 May Soma and Rudra be well (kind) to otir men and cattle. 
 
 Here sam might be rendered as an adverb, or as an 
 adjective, or even as a substantive, in the sense of health 
 or blessing. 
 
 Cf. vii. 54, I ; ix. 69, 7. The expression dvipad and 
 ^atu//-pad is curiously like what occurs in the prayers of 
 the Eugubian tables, Fisovie Sansie, ditu ocre Fisi, tote 
 Jovine, ocrer Fisie, totar Jovinar dupursus, peturpursus fato 
 fito, (Urabrische Sprachdenkmaler, von Aufrecht, p. 198.) 
 
 ii. 38, II. *am yat stotn-bhya/^ apaye bhavati. 
 
 What may be well (a pleasure) for the praisers, for 
 the friend. 
 
 X. 37, 10. sam nah bhava Aakshasa. 
 
 Be kind to us with thy light ! 
 
 2. With as. 
 
 viii. 17, 6. s6ma/i sam astu te h?'ide. 
 
 May the Soma be well (agreeable) to thy heart ! 
 
 i. 5, 7. sam. te santu prii-Aretase. 
 
 May the Somas be well (pleasing) to thee, the Avise ! 
 
MAiVDALA I, S^KTA 165. 181 
 
 V. II, 5. tubhyain manisha iyam astu .^am hride. 
 
 May this prayer be Avell (acceptable) to thy heart ! 
 
 i. 114, I. yatha 5am asat dvi-patle A-atu/<-pade. 
 
 That it may be well for our men and cattle, Cf. x. 
 165,1; 3- 
 
 vii. 86, 8. sixm nah ksheme 5am lim (iti) yoge nah astu. 
 
 May it be well with us in keeping and acquiring ! 
 
 V. 7, 9. a yaA te — agne 5am asti dhayase. 
 
 He who is lief to thee to support, i, e. he whom thou 
 likest to support. 
 
 V. 74, 9. sa.m um (iti) su vam — asmakam astu A:arknti/i. 
 
 Let there be happiness to you — glory to us ! 
 
 3. With as or bhu understood : 
 vi. 45, 22. 5am yat gave na 5akine. 
 
 A song which is pleasant to the mighty Indra, as food 
 to an ox. 
 
 viii. 13, II. 5am it hi te. 
 
 For it is well for thee. 
 
 X. 86, 15. manthaA te indra 5am hride. 
 
 The mixture is pleasant to thy heart, O Indi*a ! 
 
 X. 97, 18, aram kamuya, 5am hride. 
 
 Enough for love, pleasant to the heart. 
 
 vi. 34, 3. 5am tat asmai. 
 
 That is pleasant to him. 
 
 vi. 21, 4. kaA te jaffnah manase sam varaya. 
 
 What sacrifice seems to thy mind pleasant to select ? 
 
 4. With kar : 
 
 i. 43, 6. 5am na^ karati arvate. 
 
 May he do well to our horse, i. e. may he benefit our horses. 
 Iv, I, 3. tokaya tu^e — 5am kridhi. 
 
 Do good to our children and progeny, or bless us for 
 the procreation of children. 
 
 viii. 18, 8. 5am na/i karata/« a5vina. 
 May the two A5vins do us good ! 
 
 5. With vah : 
 
 i. 157, 3. 5am na^ a vakshat dvi-pade MtuA-pade. 
 May he bring blessing to us for man and cattle, 
 viii. 5, 20. tena na^ — pasve tokaya 5am gave, vahatam 
 pivari/i isha^. 
 
182 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 Bring to us rich food, a blessing to cattle, to children, 
 and to the ox. 
 
 6, With other verbs, such as pu, va, and others, where 
 it is clearly used as an adverb : 
 
 ix. II, 3. saA naA pavasva sam gave sam ^anaya *am 
 arvate, 5am ra^an oshadhibhya^. 
 
 Do thou, king Soma, stream upon us, a blessing for the 
 ox, a blessing for man, a blessing for the horse, a blessing 
 for the plants. Cf. ix. 11, 7 ; 60, 4 ; 61, 15 ; 109, 5. 
 
 vii, 35, 4. sam naA ishira/i abhi vatu vataA. 
 
 May the brisk wind blow kindly upon us, or blow a 
 blessing upon us. 
 
 vii. ^^, 6. sam na/i tvash/a gnabhi^ iha 5?'i;zotu. 
 
 May Tvash/ar with the goddesses hear us here well, i. e. 
 auspiciously ! 
 
 vii. ;^^, 8. 5am nah surjah — lit etu. 
 
 May the sun rise auspiciously for us ! 
 
 viii. 18, 9. sam naA tapatu suryaA. 
 
 May the sun warm us well ! 
 
 iii. 13, 6. 5am na^ soka. — ague. 
 
 Shine well for us, O Agni ! 
 
 Sam also occurs in a phrase that has puzzled the inter- 
 preters of the Veda very much, viz. 5am j6h. These are 
 two words, and must both be taken as substantives, though 
 originally they may have been adverbs. Their meaning 
 seems to have been much the same, and in English they 
 may safely be rendered by health and wealth, in the old 
 acceptation of these words : 
 
 i. 93, 7. dhattam ya^amanaya 5am yoh. 
 
 Give, Agni and Soma, to the sacrificer health and 
 wealth. 
 
 i. 106, 5. 5am yoh yat te manu/«-hitam tat imahe. 
 
 Brihaspati, we ask for health and wealth which thou 
 gavest to Manu. 
 
 i. 114, 2. yat 5am ^a yoh ka manu/i a-ye^e pita tat 
 a5yama tava rudra pra-nitishu. 
 
 Rudra, the health and wealth which Manu, the father, 
 obtained, may we reach it under thy guidance. 
 
 ii. 33, 13. yani manuA avrimta pita na/i ta 5am ka yoh ka 
 rudrasya vasmi. 
 
MAA''Z)ALA I, st>KTA 165. 183 
 
 The medicines which our father Manu chose, those I 
 desire, the health and AveaUh of Riuh-a. 
 
 i. 189, 2. bhava tokaya tanayaya sam yoh. 
 
 Be to our offspring health and wealth ! 
 
 iv. 12, 5. ja.kkha, tokaya tanayaya 5am yoh. 
 
 Give to our offspring health and wealth ! 
 
 V. 69, 3. lie tokaya tanayaya 5am yo^. 
 
 I ask for our offspring health and wealth. 
 
 vi. 50, 7. dhata tokaya tanayaya 5am yoh. 
 
 Give to our offspring health and wealth ! 
 
 X. 182, I. atha karat y%amanaya 5am yoh. 
 
 May he then produce for the sacrificer health and 
 wealth. 
 
 vii. 69, 5. tena naA 5am yo^ — ni a5vina vahatam. 
 
 On that chariot bring to us, A5vins, health and wealth. 
 
 iii. 17, 3. atha bhava ya_5ramanaya 5am yoh. 
 
 Then, Agni, be health and wealth to the sacrificer. 
 
 iii. 18, 4. b?*ihat vayaA 5a5amaneshu dhehi, revat ague 
 vi5vamitreshu 5am yoh. 
 
 Give, Agni, much food to those who praise thee, give to 
 the Vi5vamitras richly health and wealth . 
 
 X. 15, 4. atha na/i 5am yoh arapa/i dadhata. 
 
 And give us health and wealth without a flaw ! Cf. x. 59, 8. 
 
 X. 37, II, tat asme 5am yoh arapaA dadhatana. 
 
 And give to us health and wealth without a flaw ! 
 
 V. 47, 7. tat astu mitra-varu/m tat agne 5am yoh asma- 
 bhyam idam astu 5astam. 
 
 Let this, O Mitra-Varu??a, let this, O Agni, be health 
 and wealth to us ; may this be auspicious ! 
 
 v. ^^, 14. vrishA^i 5am yoh apa/« usri bhesha^am syama 
 maruta^ saha. 
 
 Let us be together, O Maruts, after health, wealth, water, 
 and medicine have been showered down in the morning. 
 
 idii. 39, 4. 5am ka. yoh ka mAyah dadhe. 
 
 He gave health, wealth, and happiness. 
 
 viii. 71, 15. agnim 5am yoh ka datave. 
 
 We ask Agni to give us health and wealth. 
 
 X. 9, 4. 5am yoh abhi sravantu na//. 
 
 May the waters bring to us health and wealth, or may 
 they run towards us auspiciously. 
 
184 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 Verse 4, note ^. If we retain the reading of the MSS. 
 siishraaA iyarti, we must take it as an independent phrase, 
 and translate it by 'my strength rises/ For sushma, though 
 in this and other places it is frequently explained as an 
 adjective, meaning powerful, is, as far as I can see, always 
 a substantive, and means power, strength. There may be 
 a few passages in which, as there occur several words for 
 strength, it might be possible to translate sushma by strong. 
 But even there it is better to keep to the general meaning 
 of 5ushma, and translate it as a substantive. 
 
 Iyarti means to rise and to raise. It is particularly 
 applied to prayers raised by the poet in honour of the gods, 
 and the similes used in connection with this, show clearly 
 what the action implied by iyarti really is. For instance, 
 
 i. 1 1 6, I. stoman iyarmi abhriya-iva vataA. 
 
 I stir up hymns as the wind stirs the clouds. 
 
 X. 1 1 6, 9. su-va^asyam iyarmi sindhau-iva pra irayam 
 navara. 
 
 I stir up sweet praise, as if rowing a ship on the river. 
 
 In the sense of rising it occurs, 
 
 X. 140, 2. pavaka-varA:aA sukra-var^aA anuna-var/:aA ut 
 iyarshi bhanuna. 
 
 Thou risest up with splendour, Agni, thou of bright, 
 resplendent, undiminished majesty. 
 
 We might therefore safely translate in our verse ' my 
 strength rises,' although it is true that such a phrase does 
 not occur again, and that in other passages where iyarti and 
 sushma occur together, the former governs the latter in the 
 accusative. Cf iv. 17, 12; x. 75, 3. 
 
 Verse 5, note ^ If, as we can hardly avoid, we ascribe 
 this verse to the Maruts, we must recognize in it the usual 
 offer of help to Indra on the part of the Maruts. The 
 question then only is, who are the strong friends in whose 
 company they appear? It would be well if one could 
 render antamebhi/i by horses, as Saya^ia does, but there is 
 no authority for it. Sva-kshatra is an adjective, meaning 
 endowed with independent strength, synonymous with 
 sva-tavas, i. 166, 2. It is apphed to the mind of Indra, 
 i* 54> 3; V. ^^, 4; to the Maruts, v. 48, i, but never to 
 
M kND ATuA I, yflKTA 105. 185 
 
 horses. As it stands, we can only snppose that a distinc- 
 tion is made between the Maruts and their followers, and that 
 after calUng together their followers, and adorning themselves 
 for battle, they proceed to harness their chariots. Cf. i. 107, a. 
 
 Verse 5, note ^ Etan, in all MSS. which I consulted, has 
 here the accent on the first syllable, and Professor Aufrecht 
 ought not to have altered the word into etan. If the accent 
 had not been preserved by the tradition of the schools, the 
 later interpreters would certainly have taken etan for the 
 demonstrative pronoun. As it is, in spite of accent and 
 termination, Saya^ia in i. 166, 10, seems to take etkh for 
 ete. In other passages, however, Saya/?a, too, has perceived 
 the difference, and in i. 169, 6, he explains the word very 
 fully as prishadvarraa gantaro va a,9va va. In this passage 
 the Etas are clearly the deer of the Maruts, the Prishatis : 
 
 i. 169, 6. adha yat esham prithu-budhnasa^ etaA. 
 
 In the next verse, however, eta seems applied to the 
 Maruts themselves : 
 
 i. 169, 7. prati ghoraViara etanam ayasam marutam srhive 
 a-yatam upabdi^. 
 
 The shout of the terrible, speckled, indefatigable Maruts 
 is heai'd, as they approach ; unless we translate : 
 
 The noise of the terrible deer of the indefatigable Maruts 
 is heard, as they approach. 
 
 In i. 166, 10, amseshu etaA, I adopt Professor Roth's 
 conjecture, that eiah means the skins of the fallow deer, 
 so that we should have to translate : On their shoulders 
 are the deer-skins. 
 
 In the other passages where eta occurs, it is used as a 
 simile only, and therefore throws no light on the relation 
 of the Etas to the Maruts. In both passages, however 
 (v. 54, 5 ; X. 77, 2), the simile refers to the Maruts, though 
 to their speed only, and not to their colour. 
 
 Verse 5, note ^. Maha/s-bhi//, which I have translated 
 * with all our might,' seems to be used almost as an adverb, 
 mightily or quickly (makshu), although the original meaning, 
 with our powers, through our might, is likewise applicable. 
 The original meaning is quite perceptible in passages like 
 
186 HYilNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 V. 62, 3. adharayatam p?-ithivim uta dyam mitra-r%ana 
 varuwa mahaA-bhi/<. 
 
 Kings Mitra and Varu?2a, you have supported heaven 
 and earth by your powers. 
 
 vii. 3, 7. tebhi/i nah agne amitaiA mahaA-bhi/« 5atam pui'- 
 bhi^ ayasibhi^ ni pahi. 
 
 With those immeasurable powers, O Agni, protect us, with 
 a hundred iron strongholds. 
 
 i. 90, 2. te — mahaA-bhiA, vrata rakshante visvaha. 
 
 They always protect the laws by their powers. 
 
 vii. 71, I. tvam na^ agne maha^-bhiA pahi. 
 
 Protect us, Agni, with thy power. 
 
 In other passages, however, we see mahaA-bhiA used of 
 the light or of the flames of Agni and of the dawn : 
 
 iv. 14, I. devaA roA'amana/i maha/i-bhi/i. 
 
 Agni, the god, brilliant with his powers. 
 
 vi. 64, 2. de\d ro^amana mahaA-bhiA. 
 
 O goddess, brilliant with thy powers. 
 
 The powers of the Maruts are referred to by the same 
 name in the following passages : 
 
 v« 58, 5. pra-pra r/ayante — maha/i-bhi/j. 
 
 The IVIaruts are born with their powers. 
 
 vii» 58, 2. pra ye maha/«-bhiA o^asa uta santi. 
 
 The ]\Iaruts who excel in power and strength. Cf. iii. 
 4,6. 
 
 Verse 6, note ^ Indra in this dialogue is evidently repre- 
 sented as claiming everything for himself alone. He affects 
 contempt for the help proffered by the Maruts, and seems 
 to deny that he was at any time beholden to their assistance. 
 By asking, Where was that custom of yours that you should 
 join me in battle ? he implies that it never was their custom 
 before, and that he can dispense with their succour now. 
 He M ants to be alone in his battle with Ahi, and does not 
 wish that they should join him : (cf. i. ^^^, 4.) Professor 
 Roth takes sam-adhatta in the sense of implicating, but it can 
 hardly be said that the INIaruts ever implicated Indra in his 
 fight against Ahi. Certainly this is not in keeping with 
 the general tenor of this dialogue, where, on the contrary, 
 Indra shuns the company of the Maruts. But while on 
 
MAiV/)ALA I, SUKTA 165. 187 
 
 this point I differ from Pi-ofessor Roth, I think he has 
 rightly interpreted the meaning of anamam. Out of the 
 four passages in which badha-snaiA occurs, it is three times 
 joined with nam, and every time has the sense of to bend 
 away fi'om, to escape from. See also Sonne, in Kuhn's 
 Zeitschrift, vol. xii. p. 348. 
 
 Verse 7, note ^ See vii, 39, 6. sakshimahi yu^yebhiA mi 
 devai^. 
 
 Verse 7, note ^ The last words leave no doubt as to 
 their meaning, for the phrase is one of fi*equent occurrence. 
 The only difficulty is the vocative maruta^, where we should 
 expect the nominative. It is quite possible, however, that 
 the Maruts should here adcbess themselves, though, no 
 doubt, it would be easy to alter the accent. As to the 
 phrase itself, see 
 
 viii. 61, 4. tatha it asat indra kratva yatha va^a^. 
 
 May it be so, O Indra, as thou desirest by thy mind. 
 
 viii. 66, 4. va_9'ri — it karat indra^ kratva yatha va^at. 
 
 May Indi'a with the thunderbolt act as he desires in his 
 mind. Cf. viii. 20, 17 ; 28, 4, &c. 
 
 Verse 8, note \ Here again Indra claims everything for 
 himself, denying that the Maruts in any way assisted him 
 while performing his great deeds. These deeds are the 
 killing of V>-itra, who withholds the waters, i. e. the rain 
 from the earth, and the consequent liberation of the waters 
 so that they flow down freely for the benefit of Manu, that 
 is, of man. 
 
 When Indra says that he slew Vritra indriyewa, he 
 evidently chooses that word with a purpose, and we must 
 therefore translate it, not only by might, but by Indra's 
 peculiar might, Indriya, as derived from indra, means 
 originally Indra-hood, then power in general, just as vcre- 
 thraghna in Zend means victory in general, though origin- 
 ally it meant the slaying of Vritra. 
 
 Verse 9, note ^ Devata in the ordinary sense of a deity 
 never occurs in the Rig-veda. The word, in fact, as a 
 
188 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 feminine substantive occurs but twice, and in the tenth 
 Mawrfala only. But even there it does not mean deity. 
 In X. 24, 6, deva/« devataya means, O gods, by your god- 
 head, i. e. by your diWne power. In x. 98, i, brihaspate 
 prati me devatam ihi, I take devata in the same sense as 
 devatati, and translate, O Brihaspati, come to my sacrifice. 
 
 In all other places where devata occurs in the Rig-veda 
 it is a local adverb, and means among the gods. I shall 
 only quote those passages in which Professor Roth assigns 
 to devata a different meaning : 
 
 i. ^^, 3. pra viryewa devata ati /rekite. 
 
 He is pre-eminent among the gods by his strength. 
 
 i. 22, 5. sa/i A:etta devata padam. 
 
 He knows the place among the gods. 
 
 i. 100, 15. na yasya deva'A devata na marta^ apa/i /tana 
 5avasaA antam apii^. 
 
 He, the end of whose power neither the gods among the 
 gods, nor mortals, nor even the waters have reached. 
 
 Here the translation of devata in the sense of ' by their 
 godhead,' would be equally applicable, yet nothing would 
 be gained as, in either case, devata is a weak repetition. 
 
 vi. 4,, 7. indi'am na tva ^avasa devata vayum pnwanti 
 radhasa n?*i-tama/i. 
 
 The best among men celebrate thee, O Agni, as like 
 unto Indra in strength among the gods, as like unto Vayu 
 in liberality. 
 
 Verse 9, note -. The juxta-position of ^ayamanaA and 
 gktnh would seem to show that, if the latter had a past, 
 the former had a future meaning. To us, ' No one who 
 will be born and no one who has been bom,' would cer- 
 tainly sound more natural. The Hindu, however, is 
 familiar with the idea as here expressed, and in order to 
 comprehend all beings, he speaks of those who are born 
 and those who are being born. Thus in a Padasish/a of 
 the Pavamanis (ix. 67) we read : 
 
 yan me garbhe vasata/i papam iigram, 
 
 ya^ ^ayamanasya ka kinikid any at, 
 
 ^atasya ^-a ya^' Arapi vardhato me, 
 
 tat pavamanibhir aham punami. 
 
MA.V/)ALA I, SUKTA IG'y. 189 
 
 Verse 9, note ^. Karishya is ^vritten in all the MSS. 
 \vithont a Yisarga, and nnless we add the Visarga on our 
 own authority, we should have to take it as an accusative 
 plur. neut. of a passive participle of the future, karishyam 
 standing for kaiyam, faciendum. It would be much easier, 
 however, to explain this form if we added the Visarga, and 
 read karishya'A, which would then be a second person 
 singular of a Vedic conjunctive of the future. This form 
 occurs at least once more in the Veda : 
 
 iv. 30, 23. uta nunam yat indriyam karishya'A indra 
 j)au»/syam, adya nakiA tat a minat. 
 
 O Indra, let no man destroy to-day whatever manly feat 
 thou art now going to achieve. 
 
 Verse 10, note ^ As 1 have translated these words, they 
 soimd rather abrupt. The meaning, however, would be 
 clear enough, viz. almighty power belongs to me, therefore 
 I can dare and do. If this abrupt expression should offend, 
 it may be avoided, by taking the participle dadhrishvan as 
 a finite verb, and translating. Whatever I have been daring, 
 I shall do according to my will. 
 
 Verse 11, note \ In this verse Indra, after having 
 declined with no uncertain sound the friendship of the 
 Maruts, repents himself of his unkindness towards his 
 old friends. The words of praise which they addi'cssed to 
 him in verse 9, in spite of the rebuff they had received 
 from Indra, have touched his heart, and we may suppose 
 that after this, their reconciliation was complete. The 
 words of Indra are clear enough, the only difficulty occurs 
 in the last words, which are so idiomatic that it is impos- 
 sible to render them in English. In tanve tanubhi/i, 
 hterally for the body by the bodies, tanu is used like the 
 pronoun self. Both must therefore refer to the same 
 subject. We cannot translate ' for myself made by your- 
 selves,' but must take the two words together, so that they 
 should mean, 'the hymn which you have made for your 
 own sake, freely, and by your own exertions, honestly.' 
 
 Verse 13, note \ I translate api-vatayanta/i by cherish- 
 ing, a meaning equally applicable to i. 128, 2, and x. 25, i. 
 
190 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 I suppose the original meaning was really to blow upon a 
 person, to cool or refresh a person by a draught of air, 
 which, in countries like India, was and is the office of the 
 attendants of a prince. It would then take the meaning of 
 honouring, worshipping or cherishing, though I confess the 
 hymns of the Veda seem almost too early for such a courtly 
 metaphor. 
 
 Verse 14, note ^ This is a verse which, without some 
 conjectural alterations, it seems impossible to translate. 
 Saya«a, of course, has a translation ready for it, so has 
 M. Langlois, but both of them offend against the simplest 
 rules of gi-ammai' and logic. The first question is, who is 
 meant by asman (which is here used as an amphimacer), 
 the sacrificers or the Maruts ? The verb a A:akre would weU 
 apply to the medha manyasya, the hymn of Manya, which is 
 intended to bring the Maruts to the sacrifice, tliis bringing 
 to the sacrifice being the very meaning of a kar. But then 
 we have the vocative maruta/* in the next line, and even if 
 we changed the vocative into the accusative, we should not 
 gain much, as the Maruts could hardly call upon anybody 
 to turn them towards the sage. 
 
 If, on the contrary, we admit that asman refers to those 
 who offer the sacrifice, then we must make a cHstinction, 
 which, it is true, is net an unusual one, between those who 
 here speak of themselves in the first person, and who pro- 
 vide the sacrifice, and the poet Mandarya Manya, who was 
 employed by them to compose or to recite this hymn. 
 
 But even if we adopt this alternative, many difficulties 
 still remain. First of all, we have to change the accent of 
 Xrakre into kakre, which may seem a slight change, but is 
 not the less objectionable when we consider that in our 
 emendations of the Vedic hymns we must think rather of 
 accidents that might happen in oral tracUtions than of the 
 lapsus calami of later scribes. Secondly, we must suppose 
 that the hymn of Mfindarya Manya ends with verse 13, and 
 that the last verses were supplied by the sacrificers them- 
 selves. Possibly the dialogue only, fi'om verse 3 to verse 12, 
 was the work of Manya, and the rest added at some solemn 
 occasion. 
 
MAiViJALA I, S^KTA 165. 191 
 
 Other difficulties, however, remain. Duvasyat is taken 
 by Sayana as an ablative of duvasyii, worthy of duvas, 
 i. e. of worship, of sacrifice. Unfortunately this duvasyii 
 does not occur again, though it would be formed quite 
 regularly, like namasya, worthy of worship, from niimas, 
 worship' 
 
 If we take duvasyat as the 3rd pers. sing, of the present 
 in the Vedic conjunctive, we must also confess that this 
 conjunctive does not occur again. But the verb duvasyati 
 occurs frequently. It seems to have two meanings. It is 
 derived from duvas, which in the Vedic language means 
 worship or sacrifice, just as karma, work, has assumed the 
 special sense of sacrifice. Derived from duvas in this sense, 
 duvasyati means to worship. But duvas meant originally 
 any opus operatum. The root from which duvas is derived, 
 is lost in Sanskrit, but it exists in other languages. It 
 must have been du or dii in the sense of acting, or 
 sedulously working. It exists in Zend as du, to do, in 
 Gothic as tdujan, yatcmjan, Old High German zaivjan, 
 Modern German zcmen (Grimm, Gram. i". p. 1041). The 
 Gothic tavi, opus. Old High German zouwi, Middle High 
 German gezUuwe (Grimm, Gram. iii. p. 499), come from 
 the same source ; and it is possible, too, that the Old Norse 
 tqfrar, incantamenta, the Old High German zoupar, Middle 
 High German zouber, both neuter, and the modern Zauber, 
 may find their explanation in the Sanskrit duvas. Derived 
 from diivas, in the sense of work, we have duvasyati in 
 the sense of helping, providing, the German schoffen and 
 vers chaff en. 
 
 In the sense of worshipping, duvasyati occurs, 
 
 iii. a, 8. duvasyata — ^ata-vedasam. 
 
 Worship G'atavedas. 
 
 v. 28, 6. a ^uhota duvasyata agnim. 
 
 Invoke, worship Agni. Cf. iii. 13, 3 ; i, 13. 
 
 iii. 3, I. agniA hi devan — duvasyati. 
 
 Agni performs the worship of the gods. Cf vii. 82, 5. 
 
 i. 167, 6. suta-soma/i duvasyan. 
 
 He who has poured out Soma and worships. 
 
 In many passages duvasyati is joined with an in- 
 strumental : 
 
192 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 V. 42, II. nama/i-bhi/i devam — duvasya. 
 
 "Worship the god with praises. 
 
 i. 78, 2. tarn u tva gotamaA gira — duvasyati. 
 
 Gotama worships thee A^ith a song. 
 
 V, 49, 2. su-uktai/« devam — duvasya. 
 
 Worship the god with hymns. 
 
 \'i. 16, 46. viti ya^ devam — duvasyet. 
 
 He who worships the god with food, 
 
 X. 14, I, yamam — havisha duvasya. 
 
 Worship Yama with an oblation. 
 
 vi, 15, 6. agnim-agnim vaA samidha duvasyata. 
 
 Worship Agni with your log of Avood, Cf, viii. 44, i, 
 
 iii. I, 2. samit-bhi/j agnim namasa duvasyan. 
 
 They worshipped Agni with logs of wood, with praise. 
 
 In the more general and, I suppose, more original sense 
 of caring for, attending, we find duvasyati : 
 
 iii. 51, 3. anehasaA stubha^ indra/i duvasyati, 
 
 Indra provides for the matchless worshippers. 
 
 i. 112, 15, kalim yabhi/j — duvasyatha/*. 
 
 By the succours with which you help Kali. Gf i. 112, 21. 
 
 i. 62, 10. duvasyanti svasaraA ahraya?wm. 
 
 The sisters attend the proud (Agni). 
 
 i, 119, 10. yuvam pedave — isvetam — duvasyathaA. 
 
 You provide for Pedu the white horse. 
 
 If, then, we take duvasyati in the sense of working for, 
 assisting, it may be with the special sense of assisting at a 
 sacred act, like SiaKOveiu ; and if we take duvas, as it has 
 the accent on the last syllable, as the performer of sacrifice, 
 we may venture to translate, ' that he should help, as the 
 singer helps the performer of the sacrifice *.' The singer 
 or the poet may be called the assistant at a sacrifice, for 
 his presence was not necessary at all sacrifices, the songs 
 constituting an ornament rather than an essential in most 
 sacred acts. But though I think it right to offer this 
 conjectural interpretation, I am far from supposing that it 
 gives us the real sense of this difficult verse. Duvasyat 
 may be, as Sayawa suggests, an ablative of duvasya ; and 
 
 * Kar in the sense of officiating at a sacrifice is equally construed with a 
 dative, x. 97, 22. y.lsniai krinoti l)i-aliinaH;l/i, lie for whom a BriihniaHa 
 perfonns a sacrifice. 
 
MAJVDALA I, RUKTA 1G5. 1!)3 
 
 duvasya, like namasya, if we change the accent, may mean 
 he who is to be worshipped, or \vorshij)pin<^. In this way 
 a ditFerent interpretation might suggest itself, in which the 
 words duvasyat duvase could be taken to mean ' from one 
 worshipper to another/ Some happy thought may some 
 day or other clear up this difficulty, when those who have 
 toiled, but toiled in a wrong du'cction, will receive scant 
 thanks for the trouble they have taken. 
 
 In the second line, the words 6 su varta remind one of 
 similar phrases in the Veda, but we want an accusative, 
 governed by varta ; whereas marutaA, to judge from its 
 accent, can only be a vocative. Thus we read : 
 
 i. 138, 4. 6 (iti) su tva vavritimahi stomebhiA. 
 
 May we turn thee quickly hither by our praises ! 
 
 viii. 7, 33. 6 (iti) su xrishnah — vavntyam. 
 
 May I turn the heroes quickly hither ! 
 
 Compare also passages like iii. ^;^, 8 : 
 
 6 (iti) su svasaraA karave srinota. 
 
 Listen quickly, O sisters, to the poet. 
 
 '• i39j 7- o (iti) su naA agne 5?'iwuhi. 
 
 Hear us quickly, O Agni. 
 
 Cf. i. 182, i; ii. 34, 15; vii. 59, 5; viii. 2, 19; x. 179, 2. 
 
 Unless we change the accent, we must translate, ' Bring 
 hither quickly ! ' and we must take these words as addressed 
 to the karu, the poet, whose hymn is supposed to attract the 
 gods to the sacrifice. By a quick transition, the next words, 
 maruta/i vipram akkha, would then have to be taken as 
 addressed to the gods, ' Maruts, on to the sage!' and the 
 last words would become intelligible by laying stress on 
 the yah, ' for you, and not for Indra or any other god, has 
 the singer recited these hymns.' 
 
 Verse 15, note ^ 1 translate Manya, the son of Mana, 
 because the poet, so called in i, 189, 8, is in all probabiUty 
 the same as our Mandarya Manya. 
 
 Verse 15, note -. The second line is difficult, owing to 
 the uncertain meaning of vayam. First of all, it might 
 seem as if the two hemistichs must be kept distinct, because 
 the second is so often used independently of the first. 
 
 VOL. 1. O 
 
194 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 There are passages, however, where this very hemistich 
 carries on the sentence of a preceding hemistich, as, for 
 instance, i. 177, 5; 182, 8. We may therefore join tanve 
 vayam with the following words, and it certainly seems 
 more difficult to elicit any sense if we join them with 
 the preceding words, 
 
 A isha * yasish^a might be rendered, ' Come hither with 
 water or ch-ink or rain,' yasish^a being the aorist without 
 the augment and with the intermediate vowel lengthened. 
 The indicative occurs in 
 
 V. 58, 6. yat pra ayasish/a pnshatibhiA asxaih. 
 
 When you Maruts come forth with your fallow deer and 
 your horses. 
 
 But what is the meaning of vayam? Vaya means a 
 germ, a sprout, an offshoot, a branch, as may be seen fi'om 
 the following passages : 
 
 ii. 5, 4. vidvan asya vrata dhruva vaya^-iva anu rohate. 
 
 He who knows his eternal laws, springs up like young 
 sprouts. 
 
 vi. 7, 6. tasya it wn (iti) visva bhuvana adhi murdhani 
 vaya'A-iva ruruhu//. 
 
 From above the head of Vai^vanara all worlds have 
 grown, like young sprouts. 
 
 viii. 13, 6. stota — vaya7<-iva anu rohate. 
 
 The worshipper grows up like young sprouts. 
 
 viii, 13, 17, indi'am kshowiA avardhayan vaya/j-iva. 
 
 The people made Indra to grow like young sprouts. 
 
 viii. 1 9,33. yasya te agne anye agnaya/i upa-kshita/< vaya/r-iva. 
 
 Agni, of whom the other fires are like parasitical shoots. 
 
 i, 59, I. vaya/i it agne agnayaA te anye, 
 
 O Agni, the other fires are indeed offshoots of thee. 
 
 "• 35} 8' vaya/i it anya bhuvanani asya. 
 
 The other worlds ai*e indeed his (the rising sun's) offshoots. 
 
 vi. 13, I. tvat viisva — saubhagani agne vi yanti vaninaA 
 na vaya7^, 
 
 From thee, O Agni, spring all happinesses, as the sprouts 
 of a tree. 
 
 • There was a misprint in the Sanhitd te.vt, eshS; instead 'of^sh.'i', wliioh w;i; 
 afterwards repeated wlienever the .same verse occurred again. 
 
MAiVZ)ALA I, .Sl>KTA 1G5. 
 
 195 
 
 vi. 24, 3. vrikshasya nu (lui?) te — vaya/t vi utayaA ruruhu/i. 
 
 Succours sprang from thee, like the branches of a tree. 
 
 V. I, I. yahva'A-iva pra vayam ut-^/ihana/i pru l)hancnaA 
 sisrate nakani iikk/ia. 
 
 Like birds (?) flying up to a branch, the tlanies of Agni 
 went up to heaven. 
 
 vi. ^y, 5. tarn pushymA su-matim vayam vrikshasya pra 
 vayam-iva indrasya ka a rabhamahe. 
 
 Let us reach this favour of Pushan and of Indra, as one 
 reaches forth to the branch of a tree. 
 
 There remain some doubtful passages in which vaya 
 occurs, vii. 40, 5, and x. 92, 3; 134, 6. In the first pas- 
 sage, as in our own, vaya'A is trisyllabic. 
 
 If vaya can be used in the sense of offshoot or sprout, 
 we may conclude that the same word, used in the 
 singular, might mean offspring, particularly when joined 
 with tanve. ' Give a branch to our body,^ would be under- 
 stood even in languages less metaphorical than that of the 
 Vedas ; and as the prayer for ' olive branches ' is a constant 
 theme of the Vedic poets, the very absence of that prayer 
 here, might justify us in assigning this sense to vayam. 
 In vi. 2, 5, the expression vayavantam kshayam, a house 
 with branches, means the same as n/'ivantam, a house with 
 chikh-en and men. See M. M., On B/09 and vayas, in 
 Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. xv. p. 215. 
 
 If the third pada is to be kept as an independent sentence, 
 we must take yasish/a as the third pers. sing, of the benedic- 
 tive, and refer it to stoma/i or giA. Grammatically this may 
 seem preferable, and. I have given this alternative translation 
 in the next hymn, where the same verse occurs again. 
 
 Verse 15, note ^. Vri^ana means an enclosure, a j/o/ao'?, 
 whether it be derived from vri^, to ward off, Hke ara; from 
 arcere, or from vri^, in the sense of clearing, as in vrikta- 
 barhis, barhiA pra \rmge, i. 116, i. In either case the mean- 
 ing remains much the same, viz. a field, cleared for pasture 
 or agriculture, — a clearing, as it is called in America, or a 
 camp, — enclosed with hurdles or walls, so as to be capable 
 of defence against wild animals or against enemies. Other 
 meanings of vri^ana will be discussed in other places. 
 O 2 
 
196 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 MandALA I, SfjKTA 166. 
 
 AsHTAKA II, AdhyAya 4, Varga 1-3. 
 
 1. Tjit nil YoMma rabliasaya r/dnmane ptirvam 
 mahi-tvd,m vrishabhdsya ketd,Ye, aidba-iYa yaman 
 marutaA tuvi-SYanaA yudliai-iYa sakraA taYisba?d 
 kartana, 
 
 2. Nityam nd sunum mddbu bibbrata/^ upa 
 kry/anti kxiWi Yiddtbeshu gb^'isbYaya/^, ndksbanti 
 rudraA dYas^ namasYinam nd mardbanti SYd-tavasa/i^ 
 bavi/i-k?^ftain. 
 
 3. Ydsmai ^mdsaA am7nt4/i dr^sata rkjih posliam 
 ksi bavisb^ dadasusbe, uksbdnti asmai maruta/t 
 bita/^-iYa purii ra^a?«si pdyasa maya/i-bbiivaA. 
 
 4. A y^ mga,msi tdvisbibbi/i dYyata j^rd, Ya/i 
 ^v4saA sYd-yat4saA adbra^an, bbdyante yisy4 bbii- 
 Yanani barmya kitr^h \ah yama/i pra-yat4su 
 7'isb^lsbu. 
 
 5. Ydt tvesbd-yam^ nadayanta pdrYatan divd7i 
 Ya j>nshtMm ndry4 * ikuhysLYwh, YiSYa/i yoIi d^man 
 bbayate Ydnaspdti^ ratbiydnti-iva prd ^ibite 6sba- 
 dhih. 
 
 6. Yliydm na/i ugrsih murutsJi su-Z;etiiiia drisb^a- 
 gr^mkh su-matlm pipartana, ydtra YeJi didyut 
 rddati kriVi/i-dati TinKti pasvd/i siidbita-iYa bar- 
 
 * n&rykh 
 
I 
 
 MAAri>ALA I, SUKTA 166. 197 
 
 Hymn to the Maruts (the Storm-gods). 
 
 1. Let us now proclaim for the robust^ host, for 
 the herald^ of the powerful (Indra), their ancient 
 greatness ! ye strong-voiced Maruts, you heroes, 
 show yoiu- powers on your way as with a torch, as 
 with a sword ! ^ 
 
 2. Like parents bringing sweet to^ their own^ 
 son, the wild (Maruts) play playfully at the sacri- 
 fices. The Kudras reach the worshipper with their 
 protection, powerful by themselves, they do not hiu't 
 the sacrificer. 
 
 3. For the giver of oblations, for him to whom 
 the immortal guardians, too, have given plenty of 
 riches, the Maruts, who gladden men with the milk 
 (of rain), pour out, like friends, many clouds. 
 
 4. You who have stirred^ up the clouds with 
 might, your horses rushed^ forth, self-guided. All 
 beings who dwell in houses ^ are afraid of you, your 
 commg is brilliant with your spears thrust forth. 
 
 5. When they whose path is fiery have caused the 
 rocks to tremble,^ or when the manly Maruts have 
 shaken the back of the sky, then every lord of the 
 forest fears at your racing, the shrubs get out of 
 your way,^ quick like chariots.^ 
 
 6. You, O terrible Maruts, whose ranks are never 
 broken, favourably^ fulfil om- prayer!^ Wherever 
 your gory-toothed^ lightning bites,^ it crunches^ all 
 living beings, hke a well-aimed bolt.^ 
 
198 HYMNS TO THE MAEUTS. 
 
 7. Prd skambhd-desh?2a/i. anaYabhra-radhasaA ala- 
 trhiKs?ih vicUtheshu sii-stuta/z, arZ;anti arkdm madi- 
 nlsya pitdye vidii/^ virasya prathamaini pau>?2sya. 
 
 8. *Satdbhu^-bhiA tarn abhl-hrute^ agh^t puA- 
 hhUi rakshata marutaA y^m aivata, ginsna yd,m 
 ugra^ tavasa/z- vi-rapsiiia/z- pathana s^mskt tana- 
 yasya pushfishu. 
 
 9. Visvani l)hadra marutaA ratheshu va/^ mitha- 
 sprldbya-iva tavishawi ai-hit^, d.7Hseshu aJ yaJi pra- 
 pathesliu khaddya/i dksha^. va/i A;akra samdya vl 
 vavrite. 
 
 10. Bh<iri??i bhadra ndryeshu bahiisliii vaksha/^-sii 
 iTikm^/^ rabhas^sa/i- an^dya/i, dwiseshu etih pavisliu 
 kshura/i ildhi vaya/? nd pakshan vi Ann srij&h 
 dhire. 
 
 11. MahantaA mahn^ vi-bhva/z- vi-bhiitaya/i 
 dure -drissih ye divyli^-iva stn-bhiA, mandra/^^ su- 
 r/ihvaA svdritara/^ 4sd,-blii/?. sdm-mislaA indre maru- 
 iah pari-sti'ibha// . 
 
 12. Tilt va/z sn-giiWi marniah mahi-tvanain 
 dirgbdm Yah datrd,m dditeA-iva \Tatam, indra/i 
 kaxiii tyd</asa vi hru/;ati tat g'llnaya yasmai su- 
 krite dradhvam. 
 
 13. Tdt \i\h g^mi-iv^m maruta/< pare yuge 
 piirii yd,t sdmsam amrit^sa/? ^vata, aya dhiy^ 
 
I 
 
 MAA^DALA I, SUKTA 166. 199 
 
 7. The Mariits whose gifts are firm, whose bounties 
 are never ceasing, who do not revile,^ and who are 
 higlily praised at the sacrifices, they sing forth their 
 song- for to drink the sweet juice : they know the 
 first manly deeds of the hero (Indra). 
 
 8. Tlie man wliom you guarded, Maruts, shiekl 
 him with hundredfokl stronghokls from injury ^ and 
 mischief, — the man whom you, O fearful, powerful 
 singers, protect from reproach in the prosperity of 
 his children. 
 
 9. On your chariots, O Maruts, there are all good 
 things, strong weapons ^ are piled up clashing against 
 each other. When you are on your journeys, you 
 cany the rings ^ on your shoulders, and your axle 
 turns the two wheels at once.^ 
 
 10. In your manly arms there are many good 
 things, on your chests golden chains,^ flaring- 
 ornaments, on your shoulders speckled deer-skins,^ 
 on your fellies sharp edges ; ^ as birds spread their 
 wings, you spread out your splendour behind you. 
 
 11. They, mighty by might, all pervading, power- 
 fid,^ visible from afar like the heavens^ T\dth the 
 stars, sweet-toned, soft-tongued singers with their 
 mouths,^ the Manits, united with Indra, shout all 
 around. 
 
 12. This is your greatness,^ O well-born Maruts! — 
 your bounty^ extends as far as the sway^ of Aditi.^ 
 Not even^ Indra in his scorn ^ can injure that 
 bounty, on whatever man you have bestowed it for 
 his good deeds. 
 
 13. This is your kinship (with us), Maruts, that 
 you, immortals, in former years have often regarded 
 
200 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 mc4nave srush^im ^vva s^kam ndraA da??isanaiA ^ 
 ^'ikitrire. 
 
 14. Yena dirgham marutaA susdvdma yush- 
 makena pdri^msa turasa/i, a jit tatanan v?'i^ane 
 ^rdndsa/i ebliiA ya^nebhiA tat ablii ishdm asyam. 
 
 15. Esh^/i va/i stoma/i maruta/i iyd,ni gih mandar- 
 yasya m^nydsya k^roh, ^ isM y^sish^a taiivg vay^m 
 vidy^ma islidm v>'i^ilnam (/ira-danum. 
 
 COMMENTARY. 
 
 This hymn is ascribed to Agastya, the reputed son of 
 Mitravaru»au, and brother of Vasish//m. The metre in 
 verses 1—13 is (ragati, in 14, 15 Trish/ubh. 
 
 Verse 1, note ^ Rabhasa, an adjective of rabhas, and 
 this again from the root rabh, to rush upon a thing, a-rabh, 
 to begin a thing. From this root rabh v,e have the Latin 
 robur, in the general sense of strength, while in rabies the 
 original meaning of impetuous motion has been more clearly 
 preser\^ed. In the Vedic Sanskrit, derivatives from the 
 root rabh convey the meaning both of quickness and of 
 strength. Quickness in ancient language frequently implies 
 strength, and strength implies quickness, as we see, for 
 instance, from the German snel, which, from meaning 
 originally strong, comes to mean in modern German quick, 
 and quick only. Thus we read : 
 
 i. 145, 3. sisnh a adatta sam n-ibha^. 
 
 The child (Agni) acquired vigoiu*. 
 
 Indra is called rabha/i-da//, giver of strength ; and 
 rabhasa, vigorous, is applied not only to the Maruts, Avho 
 
MAJVZ)ALA r, SUKTA 1G6. 201 
 
 our call.^ Having through this prayer granted a 
 hearing to man, these heroes become well known by 
 their valiant deeds. 
 
 14. That we may long flourish, Maruts, with 
 your wealth, O ye racers, that our men may spread 
 in the camp, therefore let me achieve the rite with 
 these ofierings. 
 
 15. May this praise, Maruts, may this song of 
 Mandarya, the son of Mana, the poet, approach you 
 (asking) for oflfspring to our body together with food ! 
 May we find food, and a camp with running water ! 
 
 in V. 58, 5, are called rahhishthah, the most vigorous, but 
 also to Agni, ii. 10, 4, and to Indi'a, iii. 31, 12. 
 
 In the sense of rabid, furious, it occurs in 
 
 X. 95, 14. adha enam vrikak rabhasasaA adyu^. 
 
 May rabid wolves eat him ! 
 
 In the next verse rabhasa, the epithet of the wolves, is 
 replaced by a^iva, which means unlucky, uncanny. 
 
 In our hymn rabhasa occurs once more, and is applied 
 there, in verse 10, to the an^i or glittering ornaments of 
 the Maruts. Here Saya^a translates it by lovely, and it 
 was most likely intended to convey the idea of lively or 
 brilliant splendour. See also ix. 96, i. 
 
 Verse 1, note ^. Ketii, derived from an old root ki, 
 in Sanskrit ^i, to perceive, means originally that by which 
 a thing is perceived or known, whether a sign, or a flag, or 
 a herald. It then takes the more general sense of light 
 and splendour. In our passage, herald seems to me the 
 most appropriate rendering, though B. and R. prefer the 
 sense of banner. The Maruts come before Indra, they 
 announce the anival of Indra, they are the first of his 
 army. 
 
202 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 Verse 1, note ^. The real difficulty of our verse lies in 
 the two comparisons aidha-iva and yudha-iva. Neither of 
 them occurs again in the Rig-veda. B. and R, explain 
 aidha as an instrumental of aidh, flaming, or flame, and 
 derive it from the root idh, to kindle, with the preposition a. 
 Professor BoUensen in his excellent article Zur Herstellung 
 des Veda (Orient und Occident, vol. iii. p. 473) says: 
 'The analysis of the text given in the Pada, \iz. aidha- 
 iva and yudha-iva, is contrary to all sense. The common 
 predicate is tavishawi kartana, exercise your power, you 
 roarers, i. e. blow as if you meant to kindle the fire on the 
 altar, show your power as if you went to battle. We ought 
 therefore to read aidhe | va and yudhe [ va. Both are 
 infinitives, aidh is nothing but the root idh + a, to kindle, 
 to light.^ Now this is certainly a veiy ingenious explana- 
 tion, but it rests on a supposition which I cannot consider 
 as proved, viz. that in the Veda, as in Pali,. the comparative 
 particle iva may be abbreviated to va. It must be admitted, 
 I believe, that the two short syllables of iva are occasionally 
 counted in the Veda as one, but yudhe -iva, though it 
 might become yudha iva, would never in the Veda become 
 yudheva. 
 
 As yudha occurs frequently in the Veda, we may begin 
 by admitting that the parallel form aidha must be explained 
 in analogy to yudha. Now yudh is a verbal noun and 
 means fighting. We have the accusative yudham, i. ^^, 7; 
 the genitive yudhaA, viii. 27, 17; the dative yudhe, i. 61, 13; 
 the locative yudhi, i. 8, 3 ; the instrumental yudha, i. 53, 7, 
 <Slc. ; loc. plur. yut-su, i. 91, 2t. As long as yudh retains 
 the general predicative meaning of fighting, some of these 
 cases may be called infinitives. But yiidh soon assumes 
 not only the meaning of battle, battle-ground, but also of 
 instrument of fighting, weajjon. In another passage, 
 X, 103, 2, yudha/i may be taken as a vocative plural, 
 meaning fighters. Passages in which yiidh means clearly 
 weapon, are, for instance, 
 
 v. 52, 6. a rukmai// a yudha nara/< rishvaV/ r'lshiih 
 asrikshata. 
 
 With your gold chains, with your weapon, you havi- 
 stretched forth the uplifted spears. 
 
MANDAhA I, SirKTA lGt». 203 
 
 ^'- 55} ^' pitvi somasya divaA a vndhana/* .sura/; mh 
 yiulha adhamat diisyun. 
 
 The hero, growing-, after drinking the Soma, blew away 
 tVom the sky the enemies with his weapon. See also 
 X. 103, 4. 
 
 I therefore take yiidh in our passage also in the sense of 
 weapon or sword, and, in accordaj^ce with this, I assign 
 to aidh the meaning of torch. Whether aidh comes from 
 idh with the preposition a, which after all, would only give 
 edh, or whether we have in the Sanskrit aidh the same 
 peculiar strengthening which this very root shows in Greek 
 and Latin*, would be difficult to decide. The torch of the 
 Maruts is the lightning, the weapon the thunderliolt, and 
 by both they manifest their strength. 
 
 Wilson : ' We proclaim eagerly, Maruts, your ancient 
 greatness, for (the sake of inducing) your prompt appear- 
 ance, as the inchcation of (the approach of) the showerer 
 (of benefits). Loud-roaring and mighty Maruts, you exert 
 your vigorous energies for the advance (to the sacrifice), 
 as if it was to battle.^ 
 
 Langlois : ' Le genereux (Agni) a donne le signal ; 
 chantons I'hymne du matin en Phonneur d'une race im- 
 petueuse. O puissants et rapides Marouts, que la marche 
 accroisse votre eclat ; que I'elan du combat augmente vos 
 forces ! ' 
 
 Verse 2, note \ That lipa can be construed with the 
 accusative is clear from many passages : 
 
 iii. ;^^, 2. upa imam yaynam a vahata^ indram. 
 Bring Indra to this sacrifice ! 
 i. 25, 4. vaya^ na vasatiA upa. 
 As birds (fly) to their nests. 
 
 Verse 2, note". Nitya, from ni + tya, means originally 
 what is inside, internus, then what is one's own; and is 
 opposed to nish/fya, from nis + tya, what is outside, strange, 
 or hostile. Nitya has been well compared with ni^a, literally 
 
 * Schleicher, Compendium, § 36, atOoj, aWrjp, aWovaa ; and § 49, aides, 
 aidilis, wstas. 
 
204 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 eingeboren, then, like nitya, one's own. What is inside, or 
 in a thing or place, is its own, is peculiar to it, does not 
 move or change, and hence the secondary meanings of 
 nitya, one's own, unchanging, eternal. Thus we find nitya 
 used in the sense of internal or domestic : 
 
 i. 73, 4. tam tva naraA dame a nityam iddham agne 
 sa^anta kshitishu dhruvasu. 
 
 Our men worshipped thee, O Agni, lighted within the 
 house in safe places. 
 
 This I beheve to be a more appropriate rendering than 
 if we take nitya in the sense of always, continuously lighted, 
 or, as some propose, in the sense of eternal, everlasting. 
 
 vii. I, 2. dakshayyaA yaA dame asa nitya/i. 
 
 Agni who is to be pleased within the house, i.e. as belong- 
 ing to the house, and, in that sense, who is to be pleased 
 always. Cf. i. 140, 7; 141, 2; x. 12, 2, and iii. 25, 5, 
 where nityaA, however, may have been intended as an 
 adjective belonging to the vocative suno. 
 
 Most frequently nitya occurs with sunu, i. 66, i; 185, 2; 
 tanaya, iii. 15, 2 ; x. 39, 14; toka, ii. 2, 11 ; api, vii. 88, 6; 
 pati, i. 71, I, and has always the meaning of one's own, 
 very much like the later Sanskrit nig^, which never occurs 
 in the Rig-veda, though it makes its appearance in the 
 Atharvawa. 
 
 Nish/ya, eoctraneus, occurs three times in the Rig-veda : 
 
 vi. 75, 19. ya/i naA svkh arawa/i yaA ko. nish^ya^ 
 ^igha//?sati. 
 
 Whoever wishes to hurt us, our own friend or a stranger 
 from without. 
 
 X. 133, 5. ya/i na/i indra abhi-dasati sa-nabhiA yaA ksL 
 nish/yaA. 
 
 He who infests us, O Indra, whether a relative or a 
 stranger. 
 
 viii. I, 13. nici bhuma nish/ya/<-iva indra tvad ara«a/<-iva. 
 
 Let us not be like outsiders, O Indra, not like strangers 
 to thee. 
 
 Wilson : ' Ever accepting the sweet (libation), as (they 
 would) a son, they sport playfully at sacrifices, demolishing 
 (all intruders).' 
 
 Langlois : ' Acceptant la douce libation sans cesse renou- 
 
MANDAhA I, SUKTA 166. 205 
 
 velee, comme (un pere adopte) un nouveaii-ne, ils sc livrent 
 a leurs jeux au milieu des sacrifices, terribles (pour leurs 
 ennemis).' 
 
 Verse 4, note ^ i^vyata, aVedic second aorist of vi (a^), 
 to stir up, to excite. From it pravaya;?a, a goad, pra-vetar, 
 a driver. The Greek ot-cr-Tpo?, gad-fly, has been referred 
 to the same root. See Fick, Worterbuch, p. 170. 
 
 Verse 4, note ". Adhra^an, from dhra^, a root which, 
 by metathesis of aspiration, woukl assume the form of 
 draff/i or dragh. In Greek, the final medial aspirate being 
 hardened, reacts on the initial media, and changes it to t, 
 as bahu becomes Trtj-xui, budh irvO, bandh TrevO. This 
 would give us Tpe)(^, the Greek root for running, Goth. 
 thrag-jan. 
 
 Verse 4, note ^. Harmya is used here as an adjective to 
 bhuvana, and can only mean li\'ing in houses. It does not, 
 however, occur again in the same sense, though it occurs 
 several thnes as a substantive, meaning house. Its original 
 meaning is fire-pit, then hearth, then house, a transition of 
 meaning analogous to that of (sdes. Most of the ancient 
 nations begin their kitchen with a fire-pit. ' They dig a 
 hole in the ground, take a piece of the animaFs raw hide, 
 and press it down wdth then- hands close to the sides of the 
 hole, which thus becomes a sort of pot or basin. This 
 they fill \^ith water, and they make a number of stones 
 red-hot in a fire close by. Tlie meat is put into the water, 
 and the stones dropped in till the meat is boiled. Catlin 
 describes the process as awkward and tedious, and says 
 that since the Assinaboins had learnt from the Mandans 
 to make pottery, and had been supplied with vessels by 
 the traders, they had entirely done away the custom, 
 " excepting at public festivals ; where they seem, like all 
 others of the human family, to take pleasure in cherishing 
 and perpetuating their ancient customs*."' This pit was 
 
 * Tylor, Early History of Mankind, p. 262. 
 
206 HYMNS TO THE MARLTTS. 
 
 called harmya, which is the Zend zairimya*, or gharma, 
 which is the hatmformus. Thus we read: 
 
 vii. ^6, 1 6. te harmye-stha/t sisaxah na ^ubhra/i. 
 
 The Maruts bright Hke boys standing by the hearth. 
 
 From meaning fire-pit, or hearth, harmya afterwards 
 takes the more general sense of house : 
 
 vii. ^Q, 6. tesham sam hanmaA akshawi yatha idam 
 harmyam tatha. 
 
 We shut their eyes as we shut this house, (possibly, 
 this oven.) 
 
 vii. 76, 2. pratiM a agat adhi harrayebhyaA. 
 
 The dawn comes near, over the house-tops. 
 
 X. 46, 3. g-dt-dh a harmyeshu. 
 
 Agni, born in the houses. 
 
 X. 73, 10. many 6h iyaya harmyeshu tasthau. 
 
 He came from Manyu, he remained in the houses. 
 
 In some of these passages harmya might be taken in 
 the sense of householder ; but as harmya in vii. ^^, 6, has 
 clearly the meaning of a building, it seems better not to 
 assign to it unnecessarily any new significations. 
 
 But there is one other meaning which harmya has clearly 
 assumed in the Veda, and that is pit, or the region of 
 darkness, the abode of evil spirits, lastly the abode of the 
 departed. The transition of meaning is intelligible enough, 
 the fiery oven becoming naturally the symbol of any other 
 place of torment : 
 
 v. 32, 5. yuyutsantam tamasi harmye dha//. 
 
 When thou, Indra, hadst placed /Sush«a, AAho was 
 anxious to fight, in the darkness of the pit. 
 
 In the next verse we find 
 
 asurye tamasi, in the ghastly darkness. 
 
 viii. 5, 23. yuvam kam^aya nasatya api-riptaya harmye 
 sasvat utiA dai^asyathaA. 
 
 You, Nasatyas, always grant your aid to Ka/Aa \\hen 
 thrown into the pit. 
 
 * Justi, Hiuidbucli, p. 119, zairimyaiuira, adj. in der Tiefe esseiid, Name 
 eines Daeva oder, da er dem Hund gegeniiber genanut wild, eines ahri- 
 manischen Thieres, Spiegel (Av. iibers. vol. i. p. 190) vermuthet de3 
 Hanistei-s. 
 
MAA^/)ALA I, SUKTA IGG. 207 
 
 This fiery pit into which Atri is thrown, uiul where he, 
 too, was saved by the Asvins, is Ukewise called <iluirimi, 
 i. 112, 7; 119, 6; viii. 73, 3; x. 80, 3. 
 
 Lastly we find: 
 
 X. 114, 10. yada yamaA bhavati hai-mye hita//. 
 
 When Yama is seated in his house, or in the nether 
 world. 
 
 '^rhe Pitars, too, the spirits of the departed, the Manes, 
 are called gharma-sad, dwelling in the abode of Yama, 
 X. 15, 9, and 10. 
 
 Wilson : ' Those, your coursers, which traverse the 
 regions in their speed, proceed, self-guided : all w^orlds, all 
 dwellings are alarmed, for marvellous is your coming : 
 (such fear as is felt) when spears are thrust forth (in 
 battle).' 
 
 Kuhn, Zeitschrift, vol. ii. p. 234 : ' Die ibr die Luft 
 erfiillt mit eurer Kraft, hervorsturmt ibr selbst-gelenkten 
 Laufes.' 
 
 Verse 5, note ^ Nad certainly means to sound, and the 
 causative might be translated by ' to make ciy or shriek.^ 
 If we took parvata in the sense of cloud, we might trans- 
 late, ' When you make the clouds roar ;' if we took parvata 
 for mountain, we might, with Professor Wilson, render the 
 passage by ' When your brilliant coursers make the 
 mountains echo.' But nad, Uke other roots wdiich after- 
 wards take the meaning of sounding, means originally to 
 vibrate, to shake ; and if we compare analogous passages 
 where nad occurs, we shall see that in our verse, too, the 
 Yedic poet undoixbtedly meant nad to be taken in that 
 sense : 
 
 viii. 20, 5. a/:yuta kit va/f a^man a nanadati parvatasa/t 
 vanaspatiA, bhumi^ yameshu rebate. 
 
 At your racing even things that are immovable shake, the 
 rocks, the lord of the forest ; the earth trembles on your 
 ways. (See i. 37, 7, note ^, page 62.) 
 
 Verse 5, note ^. See i. 37, 7, note \ page 62. 
 
 Verse 5, note ^ Rathiyanti-iva does not occur again. 
 
208 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 Sayawa explains it, like a woman who wishes for a chariot, 
 or who rides in a chariot. I join it with oshadhi, and tqke 
 it in the sense of upamanad a/:are (Pa;?, iii. i, lo), i.e. to 
 behave like or to be like a chariot, whether the comparison 
 is meant to express simply the quickness of chariots or the 
 whirling of their m heels. The Pada has rathiyanti, whereas 
 the more regular form is that of the Sanhita, rathiyanti. 
 Cf. Prati.fakhya, 587. 
 
 Verse 6, note \ Su-Aetiina, the instrumental of su-A-etu, 
 kindness, good-mindedness, favour. This word occurs in 
 the instrumental onl}', and always refers to the kindness of 
 the gods ; not, like sumati, to the kindness of the worshipper 
 also : 
 
 i. 79, 9. a na/i ague su-/:etuna rayim visvayu-poshasam, 
 marc?ikam dhehi ^ivase. 
 
 Give us, O Agni, through thy favour wealth which sup- 
 ports our whole life, give us grace to live. 
 
 i. 127, II. sa/< na/i nedish//<am d-Adrisanah a bhara agne 
 devebhi^ sa-A'ana// su-A"etuna maha/j raya^ su-A'etuna. 
 
 Thou, O Agni, seen close to us, bring to us, in company 
 with the gods, by thy favour, great riches, by thy favour! 
 
 i. 159, 5. asmabhyam dyavaprithivi (iti) su-Aetuna rayim 
 dhattam vasu-mantam 5ata-gvinam. 
 
 Give to us, O Dyavaprithivi, by your favour, wealth, 
 consisting of treasures and many flocks, 
 
 V. 51, II. svasti dyavaprithivi (iti) su-Aetiina. 
 
 Give us, O Dyavaprithivi, happiness through your favour! 
 
 V. 64, 2. ta bahava su-Aetuna pra yantam asmai arAate. 
 
 Stretch out your arms with kindness to this worshipper ! 
 
 In one passage of the ninth Ma«c?ala (ix. 6^, 30) we 
 meet with su-Aetunam, as an accusative, referring to Soma, 
 the gracious, and this would pre-suppose a substantive 
 A'ctuna, which, however, does not exist. 
 
 Verse 6, note ". Sumati has, no doubt, in most passages 
 in the Rig-veda, the meaning of favour, the favour of the 
 gods. ' Let us obtain your favour, let us be in your 
 favour,' are familiar expressions of the Vechc poets. But 
 there are also numerous passages ^liere that meaning is 
 
MAiVZ)ALA I, SIJKTA 166. 209 
 
 inapplicable, and where, as in our passage, we must trans- 
 late sumati by prayer or desire. 
 
 In the following passages sumati is clearly used in its 
 original sense of favour, blessing, or even gift : 
 
 i. 73, 6 (7). su-matim bhikshama«a/<. 
 
 Begging for thy favour. 
 
 i. 171, I. su-uktena bhikshe su-matim turawam. 
 
 With a hymn I beg for the favour of the quick Maruts. 
 
 i. 114, 3. a^yama te su-matim. 
 
 May we obtain thy favour ! Cf i. 114, 9. 
 
 i. 114, 4. su-matim it vayam asya a vriwimahe. 
 
 We choose his favour. Cf. iii. ^^, 11. 
 
 i. 117, 23. sada kavi (iti) su-matim a kake vam. 
 
 I always desire your favour, O ye wise A^vins. 
 
 i. 156, 3. maha/i te vishwo (iti) su-matim bha^amahe. 
 
 May we, O Vishnu, enjoy the favour of thee, the mighty ! 
 
 Bhiksh, to beg, used above, is an old desiderative form 
 of bha/7, and means to wish to enjoy. 
 
 iii. 4, I. su-matim rasi vasvaA. 
 
 Thou grantest the favour of wealth. 
 
 vii. 39, I. urdhvaA agni/i su-matim vasvaA a^ret. 
 
 The lighted fire went up for the favour of wealth. 
 Cf. vii. 60, II ; ix. 97, 26. 
 
 iii. 57, 6. vaso (iti) rasva su-matim vi^va-^anyam. 
 
 Grant us, O Vasu, thy favour, which is glorious among 
 men ! 
 
 vii. 100, 2, tvam vishwo (iti) su-matim vi^va-^anyam — 
 dah. 
 
 Mayest thou, Vish;zu, give thy favour, which is glorious 
 among men ! 
 
 X. II, 7. yah te agne su-matim martaA akshat. 
 
 The mortal who obtained thy favour, O Agni. 
 
 ii. 34, 15. arva'Ari sa marutaA ya vah utih 6 (iti) sit viWa- 
 iva su-mati/i ^gatu. 
 
 Your help, O Maruts, which is to usward, your favour 
 may it come near, like a cow ! 
 
 viii. 22, 4. asman akkha su-matiA vam 5ubha/< pati (iti) 
 a dhenu/i-iva dhavatu. 
 
 May your favour, O A.9vins, hasten towards us, like a 
 cow ! 
 
 VOL. I. P 
 
210 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 But this meaning is by no means the invariable meaning 
 of sumati, and it Avill easily be seen that, in the following 
 passages, the word must be translated by prayer. Thus 
 when Sarasvati is called (i. 3, 11) A'etanti su-matinam, this 
 can only mean she who knows of the prayers, as before 
 she is called Xrodayitri' sunntanam, she who excites songs 
 of praise : 
 
 i. 151, 7. Sikkhdi giraA su-matim gantam asma-yu (iti). 
 
 Come towards the songs, towards the prayer, you who are 
 longing for us. Cf. x. 20, 10. 
 
 ii. 43, 3. tushmm asina^ su-matim Arikiddhi naA. 
 
 Sitting quiet, listen, O /S'akuni (bird), to our prayer ! 
 
 V. I, 10. a bhandish^/iasya su-matim .^ikiddhi. 
 
 Take notice of the prayer of thy best praiser 1 Cf v. 33, i. 
 
 vii. 18, 4. a na^ indra/i su-matim gantu akkha. 
 
 May Indra come to our prayer I 
 
 vii. 31, 10. pra-ztetase pra su-matim krinudhvam. 
 
 Make a prayer for the Avise god ! 
 
 ix. 96, 2. su-matim yati akkha. 
 
 He (Soma) goes near to the prayer. 
 
 X. 148, 3. nshi^am vipra^ su-matim A'akana^^. 
 
 Thou, the wise, desiring the prayer of the i?ishis. 
 
 viii. 22, 6. ta vam adya sumati-bhiA Anibha/t pati (iti) 
 asvina pra stuvimahi. 
 
 Let us praise to-day the glorious Anuns with our prayers. 
 
 ix. 74, I. tam imahe su-mati. 
 
 We implore him with prayer. 
 
 In our passage the verb pipartana, fill or fulfil, indicates 
 in what sense sumati ought to be taken. Su-matim pipar- 
 tana is no more than kamam pipartana, fulfil our desire ! 
 See vii. 62, 3. a nah kamam pupurantu ; i. 158, 2. kama- 
 preA?a-iva manasa. On sumna, see Aufrecht, in Kuhn'a 
 Zeitschrift, vol. iv. p. 274. 
 
 Verse 6, note ^. KnviA-dati has been a crux to ancient 
 and modern interpreters. It is mentioned as a difficult 
 word in the Nighaw^u, and all that Yaska has to say is 
 that it means possessed of cutting teeth ; (Nir. vi. 30. 
 kri\'irdati vikartanadanti.) Professor Roth, in his note to 
 this passage, says that krivi can never have the meaning 
 
MAiVDALA I, St>KTA 166. 211 
 
 of well, which is ascribed to it in the Nighaw^u iii. 23, but 
 seems rather to mean an animal, perhaps the wild boar, 
 KaTrpo<s, with metathesis of v and r. He translates our 
 passage : ' Where your lightning with boar-teeth tears/ In 
 his Dictionary, however, he only says, ' hrivis, perhai)s the 
 name of an animal, and dant, tooth/ Saya//a contents 
 himself with explaining krivirdati by vikshepa/?a.9iladanti, 
 having teeth that scatter about. 
 
 My own translation is founded on the supposition that 
 kri\'is, the first portion of krivirdati, has nothing to do 
 with krivi, but is a dialectic variety of kravis, raw flesh, 
 the Greek Kpea<s, Latin caro, cruor. It means what is raw, 
 bloody, or gory. From it the adjective krura, horrible, 
 cruentus ; (Curtius, Grundziige, p, 143; Kuhn, Zeitschrift, 
 vol. ii. p. 235.) A name of the goddess Durga in later San- 
 skrit is kruradanti, and with a similar conception the lightning, 
 I believe, is here called krivirdati, with gory teeth. 
 
 Verse 6, note ^. It should be obser^^ed that in radati the 
 simile of the teeth of the lightning is carried on. For 
 radati may be supposed to have had in the Veda, too, the 
 original meaning of radere and rodere, to scratch, to gnaw. 
 Rada and radana in the later Sanskrit mean tooth. It is 
 curious, however, that there is no other passage in the Rig- 
 veda where rad clearly means to bite. It means to cut, in 
 
 i. 61, 12. goA na parva vi rada tira^H. 
 
 Cut his joint through, as the joint of an ox. 
 
 But in most passages where rad occurs in the Veda, it 
 has the meaning of giving, and is in fact a different root, but 
 hardly the same which we have in the Zend rad, to give, 
 and which Justi rightly identifies with the root radh. 
 
 This meaning is evident in the following passages : 
 
 vii. 79, 4. tavat usha/< radha/i asmabhyam rasva yavat 
 stotri-bhya/i aradaA griwana. 
 
 Grant us, Ushas, so much wealth as thou hast given to 
 the singers. 
 
 i. 116, 7. kakshivate aradatam puram-dhim. 
 
 You gave wusdom to Kakshivat. 
 
 i. 169, 8. rada marut-bhi/i suriidha^ go-agraA. 
 
 Give to the Maruts gifts, rich in cattle. 
 P 2 
 
212 HYIUNS TO THE MAHUTS. 
 
 vii. 62, 3. VI na^ sahasram surudhaA radantu. 
 
 May they (the gods) give to us a thousand gifts. 
 
 i. 117, II. va^am vipraya — radanta. 
 
 Gi\'ing sustenance to the sage ! 
 
 vi. 61, 6. rada pusha-iva na^ sanim. 
 
 Give us, Sarasvati, wealth, hke Pushan ! 
 
 ix. 93, 4. rada indo (iti) rayim. 
 
 Give us, O Indra, wealth ! 
 
 vii. 32, 18. rada-vaso (iti). 
 
 Indra, thou who givest wealth ! 
 
 In many passages, however, this verb rad is connected 
 with words meaning way or path, and it then becomes a 
 question whether it simply means to grant a way, or to cut 
 a way open for some one. In Zend, too, the same idiom 
 occurs, and Professor Justi explains it by ' prepare a way.' 
 I subjoin the principal passages : 
 
 \d. 30, 3. yat abhyaA arada^ gatum inch'a. 
 
 That thou hast cut a way for them (the rivers). 
 
 iv. 19, 2. pra vartani/^ aradaA visva-dhena^. 
 
 Thou (Inch-a) hast cut open the paths for all the cows. 
 
 vii. 47, 4. yabhyaA indi-a^ aradat gatum. 
 
 The rivers for which Indi'a cut a way. 
 
 X. 75, 2. pra te aradat varu«a/« yatave patha^. 
 
 Varuna cut the paths for thee to go. 
 
 vii. 87, I. radat patha^ varu«a^ suryaya. 
 
 Varuwa cut paths for Surj^a. 
 
 V. 80, 3. patha/i radanti su^-itaya Aevv. 
 
 She, the dawn, cutting open the paths for wealth. 
 
 \ii. 60, 4. yasmai aditya^ adhvanaA radanti. 
 
 For whom the Adityas cut roads. 
 
 ii. 30, 2. patha/i radanti/i — dhiinaya/; yanti artham. 
 
 Cutting their paths, the rivers go to their goal. 
 
 This last verse seems to show that the cutting open of 
 a road is really the idea expressed by rad in all these 
 passages. And thus we find the rivers themselves saying 
 that Indra cut them out or delivered them : 
 
 iii. ^^, 6. indra/i asman aradat v%ra-biihu/^ Cf. x. 89, 7. 
 
 Verse 6, note ^. Riwati, like the preceding expressions 
 krivirdati and riidati, is not chosen at random, for though 
 
MANDAhA I, SUKTA 166. 213 
 
 it has the general meaning of crushing or destroying, it is 
 used by the Vedic poets ^vith special reference to the 
 chewing or crunching by means of the teeth. For 
 instance, 
 
 i. 148, 4. puru/ii dasmaA ni riwati ^ambhaiA. 
 
 Agni crunches many things with his jaws. 
 
 i. 127, 4. sthira kit anna m ri«ati offusii. 
 
 Even tough morsels he (Agni) crunches fiercely. 
 
 In a more general sense we find it used, 
 
 V. 41, 10. sokih-kesnh ni ri/mti vana. 
 
 Agni wdth flaming hair swalloAvs or destroys the forests. 
 
 iv. 19, 3. ahim va^re;?a vi rma/i. 
 
 Thou destroyedst Ahi with the thunderbolt. 
 
 X. 120, I. sadya/t ffnghanah ni riwati ^atrun. 
 
 As soon as born he destroys his enemies. 
 
 Averse 6, note ^. Sudhita-iva barhawa. I think the expla- 
 nation of this phrase given by Sayawa may be retained. 
 He explains sudhita by suhita, i.e. sushMu prerita, w^ell 
 thrown, w^ell levelled, and barhawa by hatis, tatsadhana hetir 
 va, a blow or its instrument, a weapon. Professor Roth 
 takes barhana as an instrumental, used abverbially, in the 
 sense of powerfully, but he does not explain in what sense 
 sudliita-iva ought then to be taken. We cannot well refer 
 it to didyut, lightning, on account of the iva, which requires 
 something that can form a simile of the lightning. Nor is 
 su-dhita ever used as a substantive so as to take the place 
 of svadhitiva. Sii-dhita has apparently many meanings, but 
 they all centre in one common conception. Su-dhita means 
 well placed, of a thing which is at rest, well arranged, well 
 ordered, secure ; or it means well sent, well thro^^ n, of a 
 thing which has been in motion. Applied to human beings, 
 it means well chsposed or kind. 
 
 iii. 23, I. ni/t-mathita/t su-dhitaA a sadha-sthe. 
 
 Agni produced by rubbing, and well placed in his 
 abode. 
 
 vii. 42, 4. su-prita/i agni/i su-dhita/i dame a. 
 
 Agni, who is cherished and wxll placed in the house. 
 
 iii. 29, 2. aranyoh m-hita/t ^ata-vedaA garbha/i-iva su- 
 dhita/t garbhi/zishu. 
 
214 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 Agni placed in the two fire-sticks, well placed like an 
 embryo in the mothers. Cf. x, 27, 16. 
 
 \m. 60, 4. abhi praya;^isi su-dhita a vaso (iti) gahi. 
 
 Come, O Vasu, to these w^ell-placed offerings. Cf. i. 135, 
 4; vi. 15, 15;^ X. S3, 2.^ 
 
 X. 70, 8. su-dhita havnwshi. 
 
 The well-placed offerings. 
 
 iv. 2, 10 (adhvaram). ^'ii. 7, 3 (barhiA). 
 
 As applied to ayus, life, sudhita may be translated by 
 well established, safe : 
 
 ii. 27, 10. a^yama ayu/?ishi su-dhitani purva. 
 
 May we obtain the happy long lives of our forefathers. 
 
 iv. 50, 8. sa/i it ksheti su-dhita/^ okasi sve. 
 
 That man dwells secure in his own house. 
 
 Applied to a missile weapon, sudhita may mean well 
 placed, as it were, well shouldered, well held, before it is 
 thrown ; or well levelled, well aimed, when it is thrown : 
 
 i. 167, 3. mimyaksha yeshu sii-dhita — nsh^ih. 
 
 To whom the well held spear sticks fast. 
 
 \i. 33, 3. tvam tan indra ubhayan amitran dasa xntrani 
 arya ka, sura, vadhiA vana-iva sii-dhitebhi^ atkai/<. 
 
 Thou, Indra, O hero, strikest both enemies, the barbarous 
 and the Aryan fiends, like forests with well-aimed weapons. 
 
 Applied to a poem, sudhita means well arranged or 
 perfect : 
 
 i. 140, 1 1 . idam agne su-dhitam du/i-dliitat adhi priyat 
 urn (iti) /:it manmana^ preyaA astu te. 
 
 May this perfect prayer be more agreeable to thee than 
 an imperfect one, though thou likest it. 
 
 vii. 32, 13. man tram akharvam su-dhitam. 
 
 A poem, not mean, well contrived. 
 
 As applied to men, sudhita means very much the same 
 as hita, well disposed, kind : 
 
 iv. 6, 7. adha mitra/i na su-dliita/< pavaka/s agniA didaya 
 manushishu vikshu. 
 
 Then, like a kind friend, Agni shone among the children 
 of man. 
 
 V. 3, 2. mitram su-dhitam. 
 
 vi. 15, 2. mitram na yam sii-dhitam. 
 
 viii. 23, 8. mitram na ,9ane sii-dhitam ?-ita-vani. 
 
MAA^DALA I, SUKTA 16G. 215 
 
 X. 115, 7. mitrasa/i na ye au-clhita//. 
 
 At last sii-dhita, without reference to human beings, 
 takes the general sense of kind, good : 
 
 iii. II, 8. pari vm-ani sii-dhita agne/< asyama manma-bhi//. 
 
 May Ave obtain through our prayers all the goods of 
 Agni. 
 
 Here, however, prayamsi may have to be supplied, and 
 in that case this passage, too, should be classed with those 
 mentioned above, viii. 60, 4, &c. 
 
 If then we consider that sudhita, as appUed to weapons, 
 means well held or well aimed, we can hardly doubt that 
 barha«a is here, as Sayawa says, some kind of weapon. I 
 shoidd derive it fi-om barhayati, to crush, which we have, 
 for instance, 
 
 i. 133, 5. pi^anga-bhrish/im ambhri/^am pisa'A'im indra 
 sam m?-i/ia, sarvam rakshah ni barhaya. 
 
 Pound together the fearful Pisa^i with his fiery weapons, 
 strike down every Rakshas. 
 
 ii. 23, 8. bnhaspate deva-nida/i ni barhaya. 
 
 B^ihaspati strike down the scoffers of the gods. Cf. vi. 
 
 61, 3' ^ 
 
 Barha;«a would therefore mean a weapon intended to 
 crush an enemy, a block of stone, it may be, or some other 
 missile, and in that sense barhawa occurs at least once 
 more : 
 
 viii. 6^, 7. yat pan^a-^anyaya visa indre ghosha/j asri- 
 kshata, astriwat barha«a vipa/i. 
 
 When shouts have been sent up to Indra by the people 
 of the five clans, then the weapon scattered the enemies ; 
 or, then he scattered the enemies with his weapon. 
 
 In other passages Professor Roth is no doubt right when 
 he assigns to barhaya an adverbial meaning, but I do not 
 think that this meaning would be appropriate in our verse. 
 
 Verse 7, note \ Alatn??a'sa/«, a word which occurs but 
 once more, and which had evidently become unintelligible 
 even at the time of Yaska. He (Nir. vi. 2) explains it by 
 alamatardano megha/*, the cloud which opens easily. This, 
 at least, is the translation given by Professor Roth, though 
 not without hesitation. Alamatardana-^, as a compound, is 
 
216 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 explained by the commentator as atardanaparyaptaA, alam 
 atardayitum udakam, i. e. capable of letting off the water. 
 But Devara^ayay\'an explains it dififerently. He says : 
 alam paryaptam atardanam hi?/isa yasya, bahudakatvat 
 5abalo megho viseshyate, i.e. whose injuring is great; the 
 dark cloud is so called because it contains much water. 
 Saya«a, too, attempts several explanations. In iii. 30, 10, 
 he seems to derive it fi-om trih, to kill, not, like Yaska, 
 from tnd, and he explains its meaning as the cloud which 
 is exceedingly hurt by reason of its holding so much water. 
 In our passage he explains it either as anat/i/?a, free from 
 injury, or good hurters of enemies, or good givers of 
 rewards. 
 
 From all this I am afraid we gain nothing. Let us now 
 see what modern commentators have proposed in order to 
 discover an appropriate meaning in this word. Professor 
 Roth suggests that the word may be derived from ra, to 
 give, and the suffix triwa, and the negative particle, thus 
 meaning, one who does not give or yield anything. But, 
 if so, how is this adjective applicable to the Mai'uts, who in 
 this veiy verse are praised for their generosity ? Langlois in 
 our passage translates, 'heureux de nos louanges;' in iii. 30,10, 
 ' qui laissait fletrir les plantes.^ Wilson in our passage trans- 
 lates, 'devoid of malevolence ;' but in iii. 30, 10, ' heavy .^ 
 
 I do not pretend to solve all these difficulties, but I may 
 say this in defence of my own explanation that it fulfils the 
 condition of being applicable both to the Maruts and to 
 the demon Bala. The suffix t?'i«a is certainly irregular, 
 and I should much prefer to write alatri/m, for in that case 
 we might derive latrin from latra, and to this latra, i. e. 
 ratra, I should ascribe the sense of bai'king. The root rai 
 or ra means to bai'k, and has been connected by Professor 
 Aufrecht with Latin ri7'e, inrire, and possibly inritare *, 
 thus showing a transition of meaning from barking, to 
 provoking or attacking. The same root ra explains also 
 the Latin latrare, to bark, allatrare, to assail ; and, what- 
 ever ancient etymologists may say to the contrary, the 
 Latin latro, an assailer. The old derivation ' latrones eos 
 
 » Kuhn, Zeitachrift, vol. ix. p. 233. 
 
MANDAI.A I, SUKTA 1G6. 217 
 
 antiqui dicebant, qui conducti militabant, utto t*/? Xarpeias,' 
 seems to me one of those etymologies in which the scholars 
 of Rome, who had learnt a Uttle Greek, delighted as much 
 as scholars who know a httle Sanskrit delight in finding 
 some plausible derivation for any Gi'eek or Latin word in 
 Sanskrit. I know that Curtius (Grundziige, p, 326) and 
 Corssen (Kritische Nachtrage, p. 239) take a different view ; 
 but a foreign w^ord, derived from Xarpov, pay, hire, would 
 never have proved so fertile as Jatro has been in Latin. 
 
 If then we could w'rite alatri?iasa^, we should have an 
 appropriate epithet of the Mariits, in the sense of not 
 assailing or not reviling, in fact, free from malevolence, as 
 Wilson translated the w ord, or rather Sayawa's explanation 
 of it, atardanarahita. What gives me some confidence in 
 this explanation is this, that it is equally applicable to the 
 other passage where alatn^a occurs, iii. 30, 10 : 
 
 alatriwaA vala/« indi-a \YQ.gih goA pura hantoA bhayamanaA 
 vi ara. 
 
 Without barking did Vala, the keeper of the cow, full of 
 fear, open, before thou struckest him. 
 
 If it should be objected that vi'a^a means always stable, 
 and is not used again in the sense of keeper, one might 
 reply that vragah, in the nom. sing., occurs in this one 
 single passage only, and that bhayamana/^, fearing, clearly 
 implies a personification. Othenvise, one might translate : 
 'Vala was quiet, O Inch*a, and the stable of the cow came 
 open, full of fear, before thou struckest.' The meaning of 
 alat/-i/?a would remain the same, the not-barking being here 
 used as a sign that Indra's enemy was cowed, and no longer 
 inclined to re%41e or defy the power of Indra. Hom. hymn, 
 in Merc. 145, ovSe Kwe? XeXuKOvro. 
 
 Verse 7, note ^. See i. 38, 15, note \ pfige 78. 
 
 Verse 8, note ^ Abhi-hruti seems to have the meaning 
 of assault, injury, insult. It occurs but once, but abhi- 
 hrut, a feminine substantive wdth the same meaning, occurs 
 several times. The verb hru, which is not mentioned in 
 the Dhatupa/Aa, but has been identified with hvar, occurs 
 in our hymn, verse 1 2 : 
 
218 HYMNS TO THE MARITTS. 
 
 aghat abhi-hruta/i. 
 
 He protects us fi'om evil, from assaults, from evil speak- 
 ing, from assaults. 
 
 X. 6^, II. trayadhvam nah dnh-exajah abhi-hruta/i. 
 
 Protect us from mischievous injury ! 
 
 i. 189, 6. abhi-hriitam asi hi deva vishpa/. 
 
 For thou, god, art the deliverer from all assaults. Vishpa/, 
 deliverer, from vi and spa*, to bind. 
 
 Vi-hruta, which occurs twice, means evidently what has 
 been injured or spoiled : 
 
 viii. I, 12. ishkarta vi-hrutam piinar (iti). 
 
 He who sets right what has been injured. Cf. \'iii. 20, 26. 
 
 ^vi-hruta again clearly means uninjured, intact, entu'e : 
 
 V. 66, 2. ta hi kshatram avi-hrutam — asate. 
 
 For they both have obtained uninjured power. 
 
 X. 170, I. ayuA dadhat ya^^rfia-patau a^-i-hrutam. 
 
 Giving uninjured life to the lord of the sacrifice. 
 
 Verse 9, note ^ Tavisha certainly means strength, and 
 that it is used in the plui'al in the sense of acts of strength, 
 we can see from the first verse of our hymn and other 
 passages. But when we read that tavisha'ya are placed on 
 the chariots of the Maruts, just as before bhadra, good 
 things, food, &c., are mentioned, it is clear that so abstract 
 a meaning as strength or powers would not be applicable 
 here. We might take it in the modern sense of forces, 
 i. e. your armies, your companions are on your chariots, 
 striving with each other ; but as the word is a neuter, 
 weapons, as the means of strength, seemed a preferable 
 rendering. 
 
 Verse 9, note ". The rendering of this passage must 
 depend on the question whether the khadis, whatever they 
 are, can be carried on the shoulders or not. We saw before 
 (p. 102) that khadis were used both as ornaments and as 
 weapons, and that, when used as weapons, they were most 
 likely rings or quoits with shai*p edges. There is at least 
 one other passage where these khadis are said to be worn 
 on the shoidders : 
 
MAiViJALA I, StjKTA 166. 211) 
 
 vii. 56, 13. awiseshii a marutaA khadaya// va/< vakshaA-su 
 rukma'A upa-sii'riya/ja7<. 
 
 On your shoulders are the quoits, on your chests the 
 golden chains are fostened. 
 
 In other places the khadis are said to be in the hands, 
 hasteshu, but this Avould only show that they are there 
 when actually used for fighting. Thus we read : 
 
 i. 168, 3. a esham a??iseshu rambhini-iva rarabhe, hiiste- 
 shu khadi/i ^a knti/i kn sam dadhe. 
 
 To their shoulders (the spear) clings like a creeper, in 
 their hands the quoit is held and the dagger. 
 
 In V. 58, 2, the Maruts are called khadi-hasta, holding 
 the quoits in their hands. There is one passage which 
 was mentioned before (p. 94), where the khadis are said to 
 be on the feet of the Maruts, and on the strength of this 
 passage Professor Roth proposes to alter pra-patheshu to 
 pra-padeshu, and to translate, ' The khadis are on your 
 forefeet.^ I do not think this emendation necessary. 
 Though we do not know the exact shape and character 
 of the khadi, we know that it was a weapon, most likely a 
 ring, occasionally used for ornament, and carried along 
 either on the feet or on the shoulders, but in actual battle 
 held in the hand. The weapon which Vishwu holds in one 
 of his right hands, the so-called A:akra, may be the modern 
 representation of the ancient khadi. What, however, is 
 quite certain is this, that khadi in the Veda never means 
 food, as Sayawa optionally interprets it. This interpretation 
 is accepted by Wilson, who translates, ' At your resting- 
 places on the road refreshments (are ready).' Nay, he 
 goes on in a note to use this passage as a proof of the 
 advanced civilisation of India at the time of the Vedic 
 i?ishis. ' The expression,' he says, ' is worthy of note, as 
 indicating the existence of accommodations for the use of 
 travellers : the Prapatha is the choltri of the south of India, 
 the sarai of the Mohammedans, a j)lace by the road-side 
 where the travellers may find shelter and provisions.' 
 
 Verse 9, note ^ This last passage shows that the poet 
 is really representing to himself the Maruts as on their 
 journey, and he therefore adds, ' your axle turns the two 
 
220 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 (iv. 30, 2) wheels together/ which probably means no more 
 than, ' your chariot is going smoothly or quickly.' Though 
 the expression seems to us hardly con'ect, yet one can well 
 imagine hov^ the axle was supposed to turn the wheels as 
 the horses were drawing the axle, and the axle acted on the 
 wheels. Anyhow, no other translation seems po^ible. 
 Samaya in the A^eda means together, at once, and is the 
 Greek u/arj, generally o/mov or oyuwf, the Latin simul. Cf. i. 
 56, 6; 73, 6; 113, 10; 163, 3; vii. 66, 15; ix. 75, 4; 85, 
 
 5; 97, 56. 
 
 Xr'it means to turn, and is frequently used with reference 
 to the wheels : 
 
 viii. 46, 23. dasa sjaxah — nemim ni vavntu^. 
 
 The ten black horses turn the felly or the wheel. 
 
 iv. 30, 2. satra te anu krish^aya^ xisvah kakra-iva 
 vavrituA. 
 
 All men turn always round thee, like wheels. 
 
 That the Atmanepada of vnt may be used in an active 
 sense we see fi'oni 
 
 i. 191, 15. tataA visham pra vavrite. 
 
 I turn the poison out from here. 
 
 All the words used in this sentence are very old words, 
 and we can with few exceptions turn them into Greek or 
 Latin. In Latin we should have axis vos{ter) circos simul 
 divei'tit. In Greek a^wv v[fxu)i') kvkXo) o/uliJ .... 
 
 Verse 10, note \ See i. 64, 4, note \ page 94. I ought 
 to have mentioned there that in the Asvalayana ^^rauta- 
 sutras ix. 4, rukma occurs as the fee to be given to the 
 Hotar, and is explained by abharawavisesho vrittakaraA, 
 a round ornament. 
 
 Verse 10, note ". See i. 166, i, note ^, page 200. 
 
 Verse 10, note ^. On eta in the sense of fallow deer, or, 
 it may be, antelope, see i. 165, 5, note ^, page 185. 
 
 l^ta originally means variegated, and thus becomes a 
 name of any speckled deer, it being difficult to say what 
 exact species is meant. Saya/ia in our passage explains 
 ctaA by suklavarwa malaA, many-coloured wreaths or chains, 
 
MAA'-DALA I, SUKTA lOG. 221 
 
 which may be right. Yet the sufrgostion of Professor 
 Roth that eta//, deer, stands here for the skins of 
 fallow deer, is certainly more poetical, and qnite in 
 accordance with the Vedic idiom, which uses, for instance, 
 go, cow, not only in the sense of milk, — that is done even 
 in more homely English, — but also for leather, and thong. 
 It is likewise in accordance with what we know of the 
 earliest dress of the Vedic Indians, that deer-skins should 
 here be mentioned. We learn from A^valayana's Grihya- 
 siitras, of which we now ])ossess an excellent edition by 
 Professor Stenzler, and a reprint of the text and com- 
 mentary by Rama Naraya??a Vidyaratna, in the Bibliotheca 
 Indica, that a boy when he was brought to his tutor, i. e. 
 from the eighth to possibly the twenty-fourth year, had to 
 be well combed, and attired in a new dress. A Brahma?<a 
 should wear the skin of an antelope (ai??eya), the Kshatriya 
 the skin of a deer (raurava), the Vai^ya the skin of a goat 
 [aga). If they wore di'esses, that of the Brahmana should 
 be dark red (kashaya), that of the Kshatriya bright red 
 (man^ish/Aa), that of the Vai.9ya yellow (haridra). The 
 girdle of the Brahma^za should be of Mu%a grass, that 
 of the Kshatriya a bow-string, that of the Vai^ya made of 
 sheep's wool. The same regulations occur in other Sutras, 
 as, for instance, the Dharma-sutras of the Apastambiyas 
 and Gautamas, though there are certain characteristic 
 differences in each, which may be due either to local or 
 to chronological causes. Thus according to the Apa- 
 stambiya-sutras, which have just been published by Pro- 
 fessor Biihler, the Brahmawa may wear the skin of the' 
 harina deer, or that of the antelope (aiweyam), but the latter 
 must be from the black antelope (knshwam), and, a proviso 
 is added, that if a man wears the black antelope skin, he 
 must never spread it out to sit or sleep on it. As materials 
 for the dress, Apastamba allows sann, hemp*, or kslnmia, 
 
 * Sana, is an old Aryan word, though its meanings differ. Hesychius and 
 Eustathius mention Kavva as being synonymous with ipiaOos, reed. Pollux 
 gives two forms, KAvva and Kava, (Pollux x. i66. irravaica Si kari ipiaOos fj iv 
 ToTs dKariois fjv koX Kavav KaXovaiv. vii. 1 76. Kavvai 5e rb Ik Kava^ow nXiffw..) 
 Tliis is important, because the same difference of spelling occurs also in 
 
222 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 flax, and he adds that woollen dresses are allowed to all 
 castes, as well as the kambala (masc.), which seems to be 
 any cloth made of vegetable substances (darbhadinmnitam 
 A;h'am kambalam). Ue then adds a curious remark, which 
 would seem to show that the Brahma^ms preferred skins, 
 and the Kshatriyas clothes, for he says that those who wish 
 well to the Brahma;?as should wear a^ina, skins, and those 
 who wish well to the Kshatrij-as should wear vastra, clothes, 
 and those who Avish well to both should wear both, but, in 
 that case, the skin should always form the outer garment. 
 The Dharma-sutras of the Gautamas, which were published 
 in India, prescribe likewise for the Brahma/za the black 
 antelope skin, and allow clothes of hemp or linen {skna- 
 kshaumaA:ira) as well as kutapas (woollen cloth) for all. 
 What is new among the Gautamas is, that they add the 
 karpasa, the cotton dress, which is important as showing 
 
 Kavvapis and K&va^os or Kavva^os, a model, a lay figure, which Lobeck derives 
 from Kavvai. In Old Norse we have hanp-r, in A. S. hcenep, hemp, Old High 
 Germ, hanaf. 
 
 The occurrence of the word sa«a is of importance as showing at how e.arly a 
 time the Aryans of India were acquainted with the uses and the name of 
 hemp. Our word hemp, the A. S. hcenep, the Old Norse Tianp-r, are all bor- 
 rowed from Latin cannabis, which, like other borrowed words, has undergone 
 the regular changes required by Grimm's law in Low German, and also in 
 High German, hanaf. The Slavonic nations seem to have borrowed their 
 word for hemp (Lith. kanape) from the Goths, the Celtic nations (Ir. canaili) 
 from the Romans ; (cf. Kuhn, Beitrage, vol. ii. p. 382.) The Latin cannabis 
 is borrowed fi-om Greek, and the Greeks, to judge from the account of 
 Herodotus, most likely adopted the word from the Aryan Thracians and 
 Scythians ; (Her. iv. 74 ; Pictet, Les Aryens, vol, i. p. 314.) Kdvya^ts being 
 a foreign word, it would be useless to attempt an explanation of the final 
 element bis, which is added to sann, the Sanskrit word for hemp. It may be 
 visa, fibre, or it may be anything else. Certain it is that the main element in 
 the name of hemp was the .same among the settlers in Northern India, and 
 among the Thracians and Scythians tlirough whom the Greeks first became 
 acquainted with hemp. 
 
 The history of the word Kavva^is must be kept distinct from that of the 
 Greek Kavva or Kava, reed. Both spellings occur, for Pollux, x. 166, writes 
 Ttravdica 5«' fffri ipiaOos fj iv rois auarlois ^v koI Kcivav KaKovaiv, but vii. 176, 
 kAvvoi 5t TO tK Kavajiwv Trkiyna. This word icdvya may be the same as tiie 
 Sanskrit sa«a, only with this difference, that it was retained as common 
 I>ropcrty by Greeks and Indians before they separated, and was applied 
 differently in later times by the one and the other. 
 
MAiVDALA I, SUKTA IGG. 223 
 
 an early knowledge of this nianuiacturc. The kfirpasa dress 
 occurs once more as a present to be given to the Potar 
 priest (A*v. /S'rauta-sutras ix. 4), and evidently considered as 
 a valuable present, taking precedence of the kshaumi or 
 linen dress. It is provided that the cotton dress should 
 not be dyed, for this, I suppose, is the meaning of avikrita. 
 Immediately after, however, it is said, that some authorities 
 say the dress should be dyed red (kashayam apy ckc), the 
 very expression which occurred in Apastamba, and that, in 
 that case, the red for the Brahmawa^s dress should be taken 
 from the bark of trees (varksha). Manu, who here, as 
 elsewhere, simply paraphrases the ancient Sutras, says, 
 ii. 41 : 
 
 karsh?mrauravavastani A-arma/a brahma/fari;?a/( 
 vasirann anupurvyena sawakshaumavikani A-a. 
 
 ' Let BrahmaAarins wear (as outer garments) the skins 
 of the black antelope, the deer, the goat, (as under gar- 
 ments) dresses of hemp, flax, and sheep's wool, in the order 
 of the three castes.' 
 
 The Sanskrit name for a dressed skin is a^ina, a word 
 which does not occur in the Rig-veda, but which, if Bopp 
 is right in deriving it from a^a, goat, as aiyi9 from u'l^, 
 would have meant originally, not skin in general, but a goat- 
 skin. The skins of the eta, here ascribed to the Maruts, 
 would be identical with the ai;«eya, which A^^valayana 
 ascribes to the Brahma;?a, not, as we should expect, to 
 the Kshatriya, if, as has been supposed, ai/?eya is derived 
 fi'om ena, which is a secondary form, particularly in the 
 feminine eni, of eta. There is, however, another word, 
 er/a, a kind of sheep, which, but for Festus, might be 
 hoedus, and by its side e?«a, a kind of antelope. These 
 two forms pre-suppose an earlier er/?a, and point therefore 
 in a different direction. 
 
 Verse 10, note ^. I translate kshura by sharp edges, but 
 it might have been translated literally by razors, for, strange 
 as it may sound, razors were known, not only during the 
 Vedic period, but even previous to the Aryan separation. 
 The Sanskrit kshura is the Greek ^vp6<i or ^v^ov. In the 
 Veda we have clear allusions to shaving : 
 
224 HYMNS TO THE MARTJTS. 
 
 X. 142, 4. yada te vata/^ anu-vati sokih, vapta-iva smasru 
 vapasi pra bhuma. 
 
 When the wind blows after thy blast, then thou shavest 
 the earth as a barber shaves the beard. Cf. i. 6^, 4. 
 
 If, as B. and R. suggest, vaptar, barber, is connected 
 with the more modern name for barber in Sanskrit, viz. 
 napita, we should have to admit a root svap, in the sense 
 of tearing or pulling, vellere, from which we might derive 
 the Vedic svapu (vii, 56, 3), beak. CoiTesponding to this 
 we find in Old High German snabul, beak, [schnepfe, snipe,) 
 and in Old Norse nef. The Anglo-Saxon neb means mouth 
 and nose, w^hile in modern English neb or nib is used for 
 the bill or beak of a bird *. Another derivation of napita, 
 proposed by Professor Weber (Kuhn's Beitrage, vol. i. 
 p. 505), who takes napita as a dialectic form of snapitar, 
 balneator, or lavator, might be admitted if it could be 
 proved that in India also the barber was at the same time 
 a balneator. 
 
 Verse 11, note \ Vi-bhutaya/i is properly a substantive, 
 meaning power, but, like other substantives t, and pai'- 
 ticularly substantives with prepositions, it can be used as 
 an adjective, and is, in fact, more frequently used as an 
 adjective than as a substantive. It is a substantive, 
 
 i. 8, 9. eva hi te vi-bhiitaya^ utayaA indra ma-vate sadyaA 
 ^it siinti dasvishe. 
 
 For indeed thy powers, O Indra, are at once shelters for 
 a sacrificer, like me. 
 
 But it is an adjective, 
 
 i. 30, 5. vi-bhutiA astu sunrita. 
 
 May the prayer be powerfid. 
 
 vi. 17, 4. maham anunam taviisam vi-bhutim matsarasa/i 
 ^arhrishanta pra-saham. 
 
 * Grimm, Deutsche Grammatik, vol. iii. pp. 400, 409. There is not yet 
 sufficient evidence to show that Sanskrit sv, German sn, and Sanskrit n are 
 interchangeable, but there is at least one case that may be analogous. San- 
 skrit svanj/, to embrace, to twist round a person, German xlamjo, Schlanf/e, 
 snake, and Sanskrit n.lga, snake. Grhnm, Deutsche Grammatik, vol. iii. 
 p. 564. 
 
 t See Benfey, Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. ii. p. 216. 
 
MAA^DALA I, SUKTA 1G6. 225 
 
 The sweet di-aughts of Soma delif^hted the great, the 
 perfect, the strong, the powerful, the unyielding Indra. 
 Cf. viii. 49, 6 ; 50, 6. 
 
 Vibhva//, with the Svarita on the last syllable, has to be 
 pronounced vibhiiaZt. In iii, 6, 9, we find vi-bhavaA. 
 
 Verse 11, note ^. See i. 87, i, note ^ page 144. 
 
 Verse 11, note ^. See i. 6, 5, note \ page 29. 
 
 Verse 12, note ^. Mahi-tvanam, greatness, is formed by 
 the suffix tvana, which Professor Aufrecht has identified 
 with the Greek avvrj [avvov); see Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. i. 
 p. 482. The origin of this suffix has been explained by 
 Professor Benfey, ibid, vol. \'ii. p. 120, who traces it back to 
 the suffix tvan, for instance, i-tvan, goer, in prataA-itva = 
 prata/t-yava. 
 
 Verse 12, notes " and ^. Vrata is one of those words which, 
 though we may perceive their one central idea, and their 
 original purport, we have to translate by various terms in 
 order to make them intelligible in every passage where they 
 occur. Vrata, I believe, meant originally what is enclosed, 
 protected, set apart, the Greek voiJi6<i : 
 
 v. 46, 7. yah parthivasaA ya/t apam api vi'ate iah na.h 
 devih su-hava^ 5arma yaA:A'^ata. 
 
 O ye gracious goddesses, who are on the earth or in the 
 realm of the waters, grant us your protection ! 
 
 Here vrata is used like v?-i^ana, see i. 165, 15, note ^, 
 
 page 195. 
 
 X. 1 14, 2. tasam ni kikyuh kavaya^ ni-danam pjireshu yah 
 guhyeshu vrateshu. 
 
 The poets discovered their (the Nirritis') origin, who are 
 in the far hidden chambers. 
 
 i. 163, 3. asi trita^ guhyena vratena. 
 
 Thou art Trita within the hidden place, or AAith the 
 secret work. 
 
 Secondly, vrata means what is fenced otl", what is deter- 
 mined, what is settled, and hence, like dharman, law, 
 ordinance. In this sense vrata occurs very frequently : 
 
 i. 25, I. yat ^it hi te \isah yatha pra deva varuwa vratam, 
 minim asi dyavi-dyavi. 
 
 VOL. I. Q 
 
226 HYMNS TO THE MAHUTS. 
 
 Whatever laM' of thine we break, O A^aru^m, day by day, 
 men as we are. 
 
 ii. 8, 3. yasya vratam na miyate. 
 
 Whose law is not broken. 
 
 iii. 32, 8. indrasya karma sil-krita puruwi vratani deva'A 
 na minanti visve. 
 
 The deeds of Indra are well done and many, all the gods 
 do not break his laws, or do not injure his ordinances. 
 
 ii. 24, 12. vi^vara satyam maghavana yavoh it apa/j A-ana 
 pra minanti vratam vam. 
 
 All that is yours, O powerful gods, is true ; even the 
 waters do not break your law. 
 
 ii. 38, 7. naki/i asya tani vrata devasya savituA minanti. 
 
 No one breaks these laws of this god Savitar. Cf. ii. 
 
 3«, 9- , . 
 
 i. 92, 12. aminati dah^ani vratani. 
 
 Not injuring the divine ordinances. Cf. i. 124, 2. 
 
 X. 12, 5. kat asya ati \Tatam A:akrima. 
 
 Which of his laws have we overstepped ? 
 
 viii. 25, 16. tasya vratani anu yah A-aramasi. 
 
 His ordinances we follow. 
 
 X. ^^, 9. na devanam ati vratam 5ata-atma /rana ^ivati. 
 
 No one lives beyond the statute of the gods, even if he 
 had a hundred lives. 
 
 vii. 5, 4. tava tri-dhatu pnthivi uta dyau/« vai^'vanara 
 vratam agne say?:anta. 
 
 The earth and the sky followed thy threefold law, O 
 Agni Vai^vanara. 
 
 vii. 87, 7. yaA mri/ayati Arakrushc kit aga/< vayam syama 
 varune anagaA, anu vratani aditeA ridhanta/j. 
 
 Let us be sinless before Varuna, who is gracious even to 
 him who has committed sin, let us perform the laws of 
 Aditi ! 
 
 ii. 28, 8. nama/i pura te varu«a uta nunam tita aparam 
 tuvi-^ata bravama, tve hi kam j)arvate na ^ritani iipra- 
 Aryutani du/<-dabha vratani. 
 
 Formerly, and now, and also in futin-e let us give praise 
 to thee, O Varuwa ; for in thee, O imconcjucrable, all laws 
 are grounded, immovable as on a rock. 
 
 A very frequent expression is anu vratam, according to 
 
MAiVZ)ALA I, SUKTA 16G. 227 
 
 the command of a god, ii. 38, 3 ; 6 ; viii. 40, 8 ; or simply 
 anu vratam, according to law and order : 
 
 i. 136, 5. tarn aiyama abhi rakshati ?M//u-yantam anu 
 vratam. 
 
 Aryaman protects him who acts uprightly according to law. 
 
 Cf. hi. 61, i; iv. 13, 2; v. 69, i. 
 
 The laws or ordinances or institutions of the gods are 
 sometimes taken for the sacrifices which are supposed to 
 be enjoined by the gods, and the performance of which is, 
 in a certain sense, the performance of the divine will. 
 
 i. 93, 8. yah agni'shoma ha\asha saparyat devadri/ra 
 manasa ya^ gh?*itena, tasya vratam rakshatam patam iini- 
 hasaA. 
 
 He who worships Agni and Soma with oblations, with a 
 godly mind, or with an offering, protect his sacrifice, shield 
 him from evil ! 
 
 i. 31, 2. tvam agne prathamaA eihgira/i-tama/( kavii^ 
 devanam pari bhushasi \Tatam. 
 
 Agni, the first and wisest of poets, thou performest the 
 sacrifice of the gods. 
 
 iii. 3, 9. tasya vratani bhuri-poshi?ia^ vayam iipa bhu- 
 shema dame a suvrikti-bhiA, 
 
 Let us, who possess much wealth, perfonn with prayers 
 the sacrifices of Agni within our house. 
 
 In another acceptation the \Tatas of the gods are what 
 they perform and establish themselves, their own deeds : 
 
 iii. 6, 5. %Tata te agne mahata/i mahani tava kratva 
 rodasi (iti) a tatantha. 
 
 The deeds of thee, the gi'cat Agni, are great, by thy 
 power thou hast stretched out heaven and earth, 
 
 vih. 42, I. astabhnat dyam asuraA visva-vedaA amimita 
 varimaViam prithivyaA, a asidat visva bhuvanani sam-ra7 
 visva it tani varuwasya vratani. 
 
 The wise spirit established the sky, and made the width 
 of the earth, as king he approached all beings, — all these 
 are the works of Varur?a. 
 
 vi. 14, 3. turvanta/i dasyum ayava/i vrataiA sikshanta/* 
 avratam. 
 
 Men fight the fiend, trying to overcome by their deeds 
 him who performs no sacrifices ; or, the lawless enemy. 
 Q 2 
 
228 HYIVINS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 Lastly, ^Tata comes to mean sway or power, and the 
 expression \Tate tava signifies, at thy command, under thy 
 auspices : 
 
 i. 24, 15. atha vayam aditya vrate tava anagasaA aditaye 
 syama. 
 
 Then, O Aditya, under thy auspices may we be guiltless 
 before Aditi. 
 
 vi. 54, 9. pushan tava vrate vayam na rishyema kada 
 ^ana. 
 
 Pushan, may we never fail under thy protection. 
 
 X. ;^6, 13. ye savituA satya-savasya vi^ve mitrasya \Tate 
 varuwasya deva'A. 
 
 All the gods who are in the power of Sa\'itar, Mitra, and 
 Varuwa. 
 
 V. 83, 5. yasya vrate prithivi namnamiti yasya vrate 
 sapha-vat ^arbhuriti, yasya vrate oshadhiA vi*va-rupaA sa^ 
 na/i par^anya mahi sarma jakkha. 
 
 At whose command the earth bows down, at whose com- 
 mand the earth is as lively as a hoof (?), at whose command 
 the plants assume all shapes, mayest thou, O Par^anya, yield 
 us great protection ! 
 
 In our passage I take ^Tata in this last sense. 
 
 Datra, if derived from da, would mean gift, and that 
 meaning is certainly the most applicable in some passages 
 where it occurs : 
 
 ix. 97, ^^. asi bhaga/i asi datrasya data. 
 
 Thou art Bhaga, thou art the giver of the gift. 
 
 In other passages, too, particularly in those where the 
 verb da or some similar verb occurs in the same verse, 
 it can hardly be doubted that the poet took datra, like 
 datra or dattra, in the sense of gift, bounty, largess : 
 
 i. 116, 6. yam a^vina dadathuA svetam asvam — tat vam 
 datram mahi kirtenyam bhut. 
 
 The white horse, O A^vins, which you gave, that your 
 gift was great and to be praised. 
 
 i. 185, 3. aneha/< datram aditeA anarvam huve, 
 
 1 call for the unrivalled, the uninjured bounty of 
 Aditi. 
 
 vii. 56, 21. ma xaJi datrat marutaA mh arama. 
 
 May we not fall away from your bounty, O Maruts ! 
 
I 
 
 MAA^DALA I, SUKTA 1G6. 229 
 
 iii. 54, 1 6. yuvam hi sthuA rayi-daii ntih rayiwam datram 
 rakshethe. 
 
 For you, Nasatyas, are our givers of riches, you protect 
 the gift. 
 
 vi. 20, 7. n^isvane datram djwushe dah. 
 
 To iJi^i^van, the giver, thou givcst the gift. 
 
 viii, 43, 33. tat te sahasva imahe datram yat na upa- 
 dasyati, tvat ague varyam vasu. 
 
 We ask thee, strong hero, for the gift which does not 
 perish ; we ask from thee the precious wealth. 
 
 X, 69, 4. datram rakshasva yat idam te asme (iti). 
 
 Protect this gift of thine which thou hast given to us. 
 
 viii. 44, 18. i^ishe varyasya hi datrasya ague sva/^-pati//. 
 
 For thou, O Agni, lord of heaven, art the master of the 
 precious gift. Cf iv. 38, i. 
 
 Professor Roth considers that datra is derived rather 
 from da, to divide, and that it means share, lot, possession. 
 But there is not a single passage where the meaning of 
 gift or bounty does not answer all purposes. In vii. 56, 21, 
 ma va^ datrat maruta/i nih arama, is surely best translated 
 by, ' let us not fall aw^ay from your bounty,^ and in our own 
 passage the same meaning should be assigned to datra. 
 The idea of datra, bounty, is by no means incompatible 
 w4th vrata, realm, dominion, sway, if we consider that the 
 sphere within which the bounty of a king or a god is 
 exercised and accepted, is in one sense his realm. What 
 the poet therefore says in our passage is simply this, that 
 the bounty of the Maruts extends as far as the realm of 
 Aditi, i. e. is endless, or extends everywhere, Aditi being in 
 its original conception the deity of the unbounded world 
 beyond, the earliest attempt at expressing the Infinite. 
 
 As to datra occurring once with the accent on the first 
 syllable in the sense of sickle, see M. M., ' tjber eine Stelle 
 in Yaska's Commentar zum Naighaw/uka,' Zeitschrift der 
 Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, 1853, vol. vii. 
 
 P- 375- 
 
 viii. 78, 10. tava it inch-a aham a-sasa haste datram ^ana 
 
 a dade. 
 
 Trusting in thee alone, O Indra, I take the sickle in my hand. 
 This datra, sickle, is derived from do, to cut. 
 
230 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 AditL the 
 
 Verse 12, note ^. Aditi, an ancient god or goddess, is in 
 reality the earliest name invented to express the Infinite ; 
 not the Infinite as the result of a long process of abstract 
 reasoning, but the visible Infinite, visible by the naked eye, 
 the endless expanse beyond the earth, beyond the clouds, 
 beyond the sky. That was called A-diti, the un-bound, 
 the un-bounded ; one might almost say, but for fear of 
 misunderstandings, the Absolute, for it is derived from 
 diti, bond, and the negative particle, and meant therefore 
 originally what is free from bonds of any kind, whether of 
 space or time, free from physical weakness, free from moral 
 guilt. Such a conception became of necessity a being, a 
 person, a god. To us such a name and such a conception 
 seem decidedly modern, and to find in the Veda Aditi, the 
 Infinite, as the mother of the principal gods, is certainly, at 
 first sight, startling. But the fact is that the thoughts of 
 primitive humanity were not only different from our thoughts, 
 but different also from what we think their thoughts ought 
 to have been. The poets of the Veda indvilged freely in 
 theogonic specidations without being frightened by any con- 
 tradictions. They knew of Incb'a as the greatest of gods, 
 they knew of Agni as the god of gods, they knew of Varuwa 
 as the ruler of all, but they were by no means startled at 
 the idea that their Indra had a mother, or that their Agni 
 was born like a babe from the friction of two fire-sticks, or 
 that Varu»a and his brother Mitra were nursed in the lap of 
 Aditi. Some poet would take hold of the idea of an unbounded 
 power, of Aditi, originally without any reference to other gods. 
 Very soon these ideas met, and, without any misgivings, 
 either the gods were made subordinate to, and represented 
 as the sons of Aditi, or where Indra was to be praised as 
 supreme, Aditi was represented as doing him homage. 
 
 viii. 12, 14. uta sva-raV/e aditiA stomam indraya ff\f/anat. 
 
 And Aditi produced a hymn for Indra, the king. Here 
 Professor Roth takes Aditi as an epithet of Agni, not as 
 the name of the goddess Aditi, while Dr. Muir rightly 
 takes it in the latter sense, and retains stomam instead of 
 somam, as printed by Professor Aufrecht. Cf. vii. 38, 4. 
 
MAA^/JAL^V I, sfjKTA 166. 231 
 
 The idea of the Infinite, as I have tried to show else- 
 where, was revealed, was most powerfully impressed on the 
 awakening mind, by the East*. ' It is impossible to enter 
 fully into all the thoughts and feelings that passed through 
 the minds of the early poets when they formed names for 
 that far, far East from Avhence even the early dawn, the 
 sun, the day, their own life, seemed to spring. A new life 
 flashed up every morning before their eyes, and the fresh 
 breezes of the dawn reached them like greetings from the 
 distant lands beyond the mountains, beyond the clouds, 
 beyond the dawn, beyond " the immortal sea which brought 
 us hither." The dawn seemed to them to open golden 
 gates for the sun to pass in triumph, and while those gates 
 were open, their eyes and their mind strove in their childish 
 way to pierce beyond the limits of this finite world. That 
 silent aspect awakened in the human mind the conception 
 of the Infinite, the Immortal, the Divine.^ Aditi is a name 
 for that distant East, but Aditi is more than the dawn. 
 Aditi is beyond the dawn, and in one place (i. 113, 19) 
 the dawn is called ' the face of Aditi,^ aditer anikam. Thus 
 we read : 
 
 V. 62, 8. hira?iya-rupam ushasaA vi-ush/au aya/j-sthu^^am 
 lit-ita suryasya, a rohathaA varuna mitra gartam ataA 
 A-akshathe (iti) aditim ditim ka. 
 
 Mitra and Varuwa, you mount your chariot, which is 
 golden, when the dawn bursts forth, and has iron poles 
 at the setting of the sun : from thence you see Aditi and 
 Diti, what is yonder and what is here. 
 
 If we keep this original conception of Aditi clearly before 
 us, the various forms which Aditi assumes, even in the 
 hymns of the Veda, will not seem incoherent. Aditi is not 
 a prominent deity in the Veda, she is celebrated rather in 
 her sons, the Adityas, than in her own person. While 
 there are so many hymns addressed to Ushas, the dawn, 
 or Indra, or Agni, or Savitar, there is but one hymn, x. 72, 
 Avhich from our point of view, though not from that of 
 Indian theologians, might be called a hymn to Aditi. 
 Nevertheless Aditi is a familiar name ; a name of the past, 
 
 * Lectures on the Science of Language, Second Series, p. 499. 
 
232 HY]MNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 whether in time or in thought only, and a name that lives 
 on in the name of the Adityaa, the sons of Aditi, including 
 the principal deities of the Veda. 
 
 Aditi and the Adityas. 
 
 Thus we read : 
 
 i. 107, 2. upa na/i deva^ avasa a gamantu angirasam 
 sama-bhiA stuyamanaA, indraA indriyaiA marutaA marut- 
 bhiA lidityaiA. naA JiditiA ^arma yawsat. 
 
 May the gods come to us with their help, praised by 
 the songs of the Angiras, — Indra with his forces, the 
 Maruts with the storms, may Aditi with the Adityas give 
 us protection ! 
 
 X. 66, 3. indra^ vasu-bhi)^ pari patu naA gayam adityaiA 
 na/i aditiA 5arma ya^A'/^atu, rudra/i rudrebhiA devaA m?'i/ayati 
 nah tvash^a naA gnabhiA suvitaya ^invatu. 
 
 May Inch*a with the Vasus watch our house, may Aditi 
 with the Adityas give us protection, may the divine Rudra 
 with the Rudi'as have mercy upon us, may Tvash/ar with 
 the mothers bring us to happiness ! 
 
 iii. 54, 20. adityaiA naA aditiA 5n;?otu yaMAantu naA 
 marutaA sarma bhadram. 
 
 May Aditi with the Adityas hear us, may the Maruts 
 give us good protection ! 
 
 In another passage Varuwa takes the place of Aditi as 
 the leader of the Adityas : 
 
 vii. 35, 6. 5am naA indra/i vasu-bhiA devaA astu sam 
 adityebhi/i varu>/aA su-5amsaA, sam naA rudraA rudrebhiA 
 ^alashaA 5am naA tvash^a gnal)hiA iha 5n/?otu. 
 
 May Indra bless us, the god with the Vasus ! May 
 Varuwa, the glorious, bless us with the Adityas ! May the 
 relieving Ruch*a with tlie Rudras bless us ! May Tvash^ar 
 with the mothers kindly hear us here ! 
 
 Even in passages where the poet seems to profess an 
 exclusive worship of Aditi, as in 
 
 V. 69, 3. prjitaA devim aditim ^ohavimi madhyandinc 
 lit-ita suryasya, 
 
 I invoke the divine Aditi early in the morning, at noon, 
 and at the setting of the sun. 
 
MAJVDALA I, stKTA 106. 233 
 
 Mitra and Varu«a, her principal sons, arc mentioned 
 immediately after, and implored, like her, to bestow bless- 
 ings on their worshipper. 
 
 Her exclusive worship appears once, in viii. 19, 14. 
 
 A very fi-equent expression is that of aditya// aditi/t 
 without any copula, to signify the Adityas and Aditi : 
 
 iv. 25, 3. ka/i devanam ava^ adya vriuite k6.h adityaii 
 aditim ffxotlh \tte. 
 
 Who does choose now the protection of the gods ? AVho 
 asks the Adityas^ Aditi, for their light ? 
 
 vi. 51, 5. \is\e adityaA adite sa-^6shaA asmabhyam siirma 
 bahulam \i yanta. 
 
 All ye Adityas, Aditi together, grant to us your manifold 
 protection ! 
 
 X. 39, II. na tam ra^anau adite kutaA A:ana na awha/t 
 a^noti duA-itam nakiA bhayam. 
 
 ye two kings (the Asvins), Aditi, no evil reaches him 
 from anywhere, no misfortune, no fear (whom you protect). 
 Cf. vii. 66, 6. 
 
 ^' ^3? 5' ^^'^ ^ \ivasa namasa suvrikti-bhiA maha/i 
 adityan aditim svastaye. 
 
 1 cherish them with worship and with hymns, the great 
 Adityas, Aditi, for happiness' sake. 
 
 X. 6^, 17. eva plate A sunuA avivridhat \ah visxe aditya/i 
 adite manishi. 
 
 The "wise son of Plati magnified you, all ye Adityas, 
 Aditi! 
 
 X. 6^, 9. par^anyavata vnshabha piu-ishiwa indravayu 
 (iti) varu/mA mitra/* aryama, devan adityan aditim hava- 
 mahe ye parthivasa^ di\^asaA ap-su ye. 
 
 There are Par^anya and Vata, the powerful, the givers 
 of rain, Indra and Vayu, Varu/m, Mitra, Aryaman, we call 
 the divine Adityas, Aditi, those who dwell on the earth, in 
 heaven, in the waters. 
 
 We are not justified in saying that there ever was a 
 period in the history of the rehgious thought of India, 
 a period preceding the worship of the Adityas, when Aditi, 
 the Infinite, was worshipped, though to the sage who first 
 coined this name, it expressed, no doubt, for a time the 
 principal, if not the only object of his faith and worship. 
 
234 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 Aditi and Daksha. 
 
 Soon, ho\\ever, the same mental process which led on 
 later speculators from the earth to the elephant, and fi'om 
 the elephant to the tortoise, led the Vedic poets beyond 
 Aditi, the Infinite. There was something beyond that 
 Infinite which for a time they had grasped by the name 
 of Aditi, and this, whether intentionally or by a mere 
 accident of language, they called daksha, literally power 
 or the powerful. All this, no doubt, sounds strikingly 
 modern, yet, though the passages in which this daksha 
 is mentioned are few in number, I should not venture to 
 say that they oxe necessarily modern, even if by modern 
 we mean only later than looo b. c. Nothing can bring 
 the perplexity of the ancient mind, if once di'awn into this 
 vortex of speculation, more clearly before us than if we 
 read : 
 
 X. 72, 4—5. aditeA dakshaA a^jj'ayata dakshat um (iti) aditiA 
 pari, — aditi/? hi a^anish/a daksha ya duhita tava, tam deva'A 
 anu a^ayanta bhadraV? amnta-bandhava/^. 
 
 Daksha was born of Aditi, and Aditi from Daksha. For 
 Aditi was born, O Daksha, she who is thy daughter ; after 
 her the gods were born, the blessed, who share in im- 
 mortality. 
 
 Or, in more mythological language : 
 
 X. 64, 5. dakshasya va adite ^j/anmani vrate ra^ana mitra- 
 varuwa a vivasasi. 
 
 Or thou, O Aditi, nursest in the birthplace of Daksha 
 the two kings, Mitra and Varu??a. 
 
 Nay, even this does not suffice. There is something 
 again beyond Aditi and Daksha, and one poet says : 
 
 X. 5, 7. asat ko. sat A-a parame vi-oman dakshasya ^anman 
 aditcA upa-sthe. 
 
 Not-being and Being are in the highest heaven, in the 
 birthplace of Daksha, in the lap of Aditi. 
 
 At last something like a theogony, though full of con- 
 tradictions, was imagined, and in the same hymn from 
 which we have already quoted, the poet says : 
 
 X. 72, 1—4. devanam nu vayam //ana pra vo/rama vipanyaya, 
 uktheshu «asyamaneshu yii// (yat?) pilsyat lit-tare yuge. i. 
 
MANDAhA I, SUKTA IfiG. 235 
 
 brahmaz/aA pati/i eta sam karinara//-iva adhamat, devaiiain 
 purvye yiige asataA sat a^ayata. 2. 
 
 devanam yuge prathame jisataA sat a^ayata, tat a.s'aA ami 
 a//ayanta tat uttjina-pada/i pari. 3. 
 
 hhuh ffaffue uttana-pada/i bhuvaA asfU a^ayanta, aditeA 
 dakshaA a^/ayata, dalcshat iim (iti) aditiA pari. 4. 
 
 1. Let us now with praise proclaim the births of the 
 gods, that a man may see them in a future age, whenever 
 these hymns are sung. 
 
 2. Brahma??a?pati* blew them together like a smith 
 (with his bellows) ; in a former age of the gods, Being 
 was born from Not-being. 
 
 3. In the first age of the gods, Being was born from 
 Not-being, after it were born the Regions, from them 
 Uttanapada ; 
 
 4. From Uttanapad the Earth was born, the Regions 
 were born fi-om the Earth, Daksha was born of Aditi, and 
 Aditi from Daksha. 
 
 The ideas of Being and Not-being {ro ov and to /u*/ ov) 
 are familiar to the Hindus from a very early time in their 
 intellectual growth, and they can only have been the result 
 of abstract speculation. Therefore daksha, too, in the 
 sense of power or potentia, may have been a metaphysical 
 conception. But it may also have been suggested by a 
 mere accident of language, a never-failing source of ancient 
 thoughts. The name daksha-pitaraA, an epithet of the 
 gods, has generally been translated by ' those who have 
 Daksha for their father.^ But it may have been used 
 originally in a veiy different sense. Professor Roth has, 
 I think, convincingly proved that this epithet daksha-i)itar, 
 as given to certain gods, does not mean, the gods who 
 have Daksha for their father, but that it had originally 
 the simpler meaning of fathers of strength, or, as he 
 
 * Br^hmanasp^ti, literally the lord of prayer, or the lord of the sacrifice, 
 sometimes a representative of Agni (i. 38, 13, note), but by no means identical 
 with him (see vii. 41, i) ; sometimes performing the deeds of Indra, but again 
 by no means identical with him (see ii. 23, 18. fndre/ia yxxgsi — ni'A apam 
 aubj/aA arwavam ; of. viii. 96, 15). In ii. 26, 3, he is called father of the gods 
 (deviVniim pitiram) ; in ii. 23, 2, the creator of all beings (viavesham f/anita). 
 
236 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 translates it, 'preserving, possessing, granting faculties*.' 
 This is particularly clear in one passage : 
 
 iii. 27, 9. bhutanam garbham a dadhe, dakshasya pitaram, 
 
 I place Agnij the source of all beings, the father of 
 strength 
 
 After this we can hardly hesitate how to translate the 
 next verse : 
 
 vi. 50, 2. su-^yotishaA — daksha-pitrin — devan. 
 
 The resplendent gods, the fathers of strength. 
 
 It may seem more doubtful when we come to gods hke 
 IVIitra and Varuwa, whom we are so much accustomed to 
 regard as Adityas, or sons of Aditi, and who therefore, 
 according to the theogony mentioned before, would have 
 the best claim to the name of sons of Daksha ; yet here, 
 too, the original and simple meaning is preferable ; nay, it 
 is most likely that from passages like this, the later ex- 
 planation, which makes Mitra and Varuwa the sons of 
 Daksha, may have sprung. 
 
 vii. 66, 2. ya — su-daksha daksha-pitara. 
 
 Mitra and Varu?m, who are of good strength, the fathers 
 of strength. 
 
 Lastly, even men may claim this name ; for, unless we 
 change the accent, we must translate : 
 
 viii. 62,, 10. avasyavaA yushmabhiA daksha-pitara//. 
 
 We suppliants, being, through your aid, fathers of 
 strength. 
 
 But Mhatever view we take, whether we take diiksha in 
 the sense of power, as a personification of a philosophical 
 conception, or as the result of a mythological misunder- 
 standing occasioned by the name of daksha-pitar, the fact 
 remains that in certain hymns of the Rig-veda (viii. 25, 5) 
 Daksha, like Aditi, has become a divine person, and has 
 retained his place as one of the Adityas to the very latest 
 time of Pura/?ic tradition. 
 
 * The accent in this case cannot help us in determining whether daksha- 
 pitar means having Daksha for their father (AoKpoirirup), or father of 
 strength. In the first case diiksha would rightly retain its accent (ddksha- 
 pitar) as a Bahuvrlhi ; in the second, the analogy of such Tatpurusha com- 
 poiiiKls as griiul-pati (Pa». vi. 2, 18) would be sufficient to justify the ptirva- 
 padaprakritisvaratvam. 
 
 \ 
 
MAiV/)ALA I, S^KTA IGG. 237 
 
 Aditi in Iter Cosmic Character. 
 
 But to return to Aditi. Let us look upon her as the 
 Infinite personified, and most passages, even those where 
 she is presented as a subordinate deity, will become 
 intelligible. 
 
 Aditi, in her cosmic character, is the beyond, the un- 
 bounded realm beyond earth, sky, and heaven, and originally 
 she was distinct from the sky, the earth, and the ocean. 
 Aditi is mentioned by the side of heaven and earth, which 
 shows that, though in more general language she may be 
 identified with heaven and earth in their unlimited character, 
 her original conception was different. This we see in pas- 
 sages where different deities or powers are invoked together, 
 particularly if they are invoked together in the same verse, 
 and where Aditi holds a separate place by the side of heaven 
 and earth : 
 
 i. 94, 1 6 (final), tat nah mitraA varu?m/« mamahautam 
 aditi A sindhu/i prithivi uta dyauA. 
 
 May Mitra and Varu;?a grant us this, may Aditi, Sindhu 
 (sea), the Earth, and the Sky ! 
 
 In other passages, too, where Aditi has assumed a more 
 personal character, she still holds her own by the side of 
 heaven and earth; cf. ix. 97, 58 (final): 
 
 i. 191, 6. dyauA vah pita prithivi mata somah bhrata 
 aditij^ svasa. 
 
 The Sky is your father, the Earth your mother, Soma 
 your brother, Aditi your sister. 
 
 viii. loi, 15. mata rudrawam duhita vasunam svasa aditya- 
 nam amritasya nabhi/^, pra nu vo^am A:ikitushe ^anaya ma 
 gam anagam aditim vadhish^a. 
 
 The mother of the Rudras, the daughter of the Vasus, 
 the sister of the Adityas, the source of immortality, I tell 
 it forth to the man of understanding, may he not offend the 
 cow, the guiltless Aditi ! Cf. i. 153, 3 ; ix. 96, 15 ; V%asan. 
 Sanhita xiii. 49. 
 
 vi. 51, 5. dyauh pitar (iti) prithivi matah lidhruk ligne 
 bhrata// vasavaA mri/ata naA, visve adityaA adite sa-^6sha/i 
 asmabhyam sarma bahulam vi yanta. 
 
 Sky, father, Earth, kind m'other. Fire, brother, bright 
 
238 HYMNS TO THE MAKUTS. 
 
 gods, have mercy upon us ! All Adityas (and) Aditi 
 together, grant us your manifold protection ! 
 
 X. 63, 10. su-tramawam prithivim dyam anehasam su- 
 5armanam aditiin su-pranitim, daivim navam su-aritram 
 anagasam asravantim a ruhema svastaye. 
 
 We invoke the well-protecting Earth, the unrivalled Sky, 
 the well-shielding Aditi, the good guide. Let us enter for 
 safety into the divine boat, with good oars, faultless and 
 leakless ! 
 
 X. 66^ 4. aditi^ dyavaprithivi (iti). 
 
 Aditi, and Heaven and Earth. 
 
 AYhere two or more verses come together, the fact that 
 Aditi is mentioned by the side of Heaven and Earth may 
 seem less convincing, because in these Nivids or long strings 
 of invocations dilFerent names or representatives of one and 
 the same power are not unfrequently put together. For 
 instance, 
 
 X. 36, 1—3. ushasanakta b?'ihati (iti) su-pesasa dyava- 
 kshama varuwa/j mitraA aiyama, indram huve marutaA 
 parvatan apa/i adityan dyavaprithivi (iti) apaA svar (iti 
 svaA). I. 
 
 dyau^ ^a naA prithivi ko. pra-A:etasa 7*itavari (ity rita- 
 vari) rakshatam a??ihasa^ rishaA, ma du^-^ddatra ni/i-y-itiA 
 na/i i^ata tat devanam ava/i adya vrimmahe. 2. 
 
 vi^vasmat wvJi aditi// pfitu a?»hasaA mata mitrasya vtiru- 
 wasya revataA sva^-vat gyoXAh av?-ikam nasimahi. 3. 
 
 1. There are the grand and beautiful Morning and 
 Night, Heaven and Earth, Yaru/m, Mitra, Aryaman, I 
 call Indra, the IMaruts, the Waters, the Adityas, Heaven 
 and Earth, the Waters, the Heaven. 
 
 2. May Heaven and Earth, the provident, the righteous, 
 preserve us from sin and mischief! May the malevolent 
 Nirnti not ride over us ! This blessing of the gods we 
 ask for to-day. 
 
 3. May Aditi protect us from all sin, the mother of 
 Mitra and of the rich Varu«a ! May we obtain heavenly 
 light without enemies ! This blessing of the gods we ask 
 for to-day. 
 
 Here we cannot but admit that Dyavakshama, heaven 
 and earth, is meant for the same divine couple as 
 
MAJVDALA I, SITKTA IGO. 239 
 
 Dyavapnthivi, heaven and earth, althoujili under shghtly 
 differing- names they arc invoked separately, I'hc \^•atcl"8 
 are invoked twice in the same verse and under the same 
 name ; nor is there any indication that, as in other pas- 
 sages, the waters of the sky are meant as distinct from the 
 waters of the sea. Nevertheless even here, Aditi, who in the 
 third verse is called distinctly the mother of Mitra and 
 Varu;m, cannot well have been meant for the same deity as 
 Heaven and Earth, mentioned in the second verse ; and 
 the author of these two verses, while asking the same 
 blessing from both, must have been aware of the original 
 independent character of Aditi. 
 
 Aditi as Mother. 
 
 In this character of a deity of the far East, of an Orient 
 in the true sense of the word, Aditi was naturally thought 
 of as the mother of certain gods, particularly of those that 
 were connected with the daily rising and setting of the sun. 
 If it was asked whence comes the dawn, or the sun, or 
 whence come day and night, or Mitra and Varuwa, or any of 
 the bright, solar, eastern deities, the natural answer was that 
 they come from the Orient, that they are the sons of Aditi. 
 Thus we read in 
 
 ix. 74, 3. urvi gavyutiA adite^ ritam yate. 
 
 Wide is the space for him who goes on the right path 
 of Aditi. 
 
 In viii. 25, 3, we are told that Aditi bore Mitra and 
 VaruTza, and these in verse 5 are called the sons of Daksha 
 (power), and the grandsons of ^'avas, which again means 
 might : napata savasaA mahaA sunu (iti) dakshasya su-kratu 
 (iti). In X. ^6, 3, Aditi is called the mother of Mitra and 
 Varuwa ; likewise in x. 132, 6 ; see also vi. 67, 4, In viii. 
 47, 9, Aditi is called the mother of Mitra, Aryaman, Varuwa, 
 who in vii. 60, 5, are called her sons. In x. 11, i, Varuwa 
 is called yahvaA aditcA, the son of Aditi (cf. viii. 19, 12) ; in 
 vii. 41, 2, Bhaga is mentioned as her son. In x. 72, 8, we 
 hear of eight sons of Aditi, but it is added that she 
 approached the gods with seven sons only, and that the 
 eighth (martawc^a, addled egg) was throw^n away : ash/au 
 
240 HYaiNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 putrasaA adite/t ye gatsih tanva^ pari, devan upa pra ait 
 sapta-bhi/i para inarta;?f/am asyat. 
 
 In X. 6^, 2, the gods in general are represented as 
 born from Aditi, the waters, and the earth : ye stha gatKh 
 adite^ at-bhya/i pari ye pnthi\ya'A te me iha sruta 
 havam. 
 
 You who are born of Aditi, from the water, you who are 
 born of the earth, hear ye all my call ! 
 
 The number seven, with regard to the Adityas, occurs 
 also in 
 
 ix. 114, 3. sapta disa.h nana-suryaA sapta hotara/i ritvi^a^, 
 deva'A aditya'A ye sapta tebhi^ soma abhi raksha nah. 
 
 There are seven regions Avith their different suns, there 
 are seven Hotars as priests, those who are the seven gods, 
 the Adityas, with them, O Soma, protect us ! 
 
 The Seven Adityas. 
 
 This number of seven Adityas requires an explanation 
 which, however, it is difficult to give. To say that seven 
 is a solemn or sacred number is to say very httle, for 
 however solemn or sacred that number may be elsewhere, 
 it is not more sacred than any other number in the Yeda. 
 The often-mentioned seven rivers have a real geographical 
 foundation, like the seven hills of Rome. The seven flames 
 or treasures of Agni (v. i, 5) and of Soma and Rudra 
 (vi. 74, i), the seven paridhis or logs at certain sacrifices 
 (x. 90, 15), the seven Harits or horses of the sun, the seven 
 liotar priests (iii. 7,7; 10, 4), the seven cities of the enemy 
 destroyed by Indra (i. 63, 7), and even the seven 7?ishis 
 (x. 82, 2 ; 109, 4), all these do not prove that the number 
 of seven was more sacred than the number of one or three 
 or five or ten used in the Veda in a very similar way. 
 With regard to the seven Adityas, however, we are still able 
 to see that their number of seven or eight had something 
 to do with solar movements. If their number had always 
 been eight, we should feel inclined to trace the number of 
 the Adityas back to the eight regions, or the eight cardinal 
 points of the heaven. Thus we read : 
 
 i. ^^, 8. ash/au vi akhyat kakiibhaA prithivya/t. 
 
MAN^DALA I, S1[>KTA 166. 241 
 
 The god Savitar lighted up the eight points of tlic earth 
 (not the eight hills). 
 
 But we have seen already that though the ninnber of 
 Adityas was originally supposed to have been eight, it was 
 reduced to seven, and this could hardly be said in any sense 
 of the eight points of the compass. Cf. Taitt. Ar. i. y, 6. 
 
 As Ave cannot think in ancient India of the seven planets, 
 I can only suggest the seven days or tithis of the four 
 parvans of the lunar month as a possible prototype of the 
 Adityas. This might even explain the destruction of the 
 eighth Aditya, considering that the eighth day of each 
 parvan, owing to its uncertainty, might be represented as 
 exposed to decay and destruction. This would explain 
 such passages as, 
 
 iv. 7, 5. ya^ish^Aam sapta dhama-bhi^. 
 
 Agni, most worthy of sacrifice in the seven stations. 
 
 ix. 102, 2. ya^nasya sapta dhama-bhiA. 
 
 In the seven stations of the sacrifice. 
 
 The seven threads of the sacrifice may have the same 
 origin : 
 
 ii. 5, 2. a yasmin sapta ra^mayaA tata/t ya^iiasya netari, 
 manushvat daivyam ash^amam. 
 
 In whom, as the leader of the sacrifice, the seven 
 threads are stretched out, — the eighth divine being is 
 manlike (?), 
 
 The sacrifice itself is called, x. 124, i, sapta-tantu, ha^'ing 
 seven threads. 
 
 X. 122, 3. sapta dhamani pari-yan amartya^. 
 
 Agni, the immortal, who goes round the seven stations. 
 
 X. 8, 4. usha/i-usha/i hi vaso (iti) agram eshi tvam yama- 
 joh abhavaA vi-bhava, ritaya sapta dadhishe padani ffanajan 
 mitram tanve svayai. 
 
 For thou, Vasu (Agni), comest first every morning, thou 
 art the divider of the twins (day and night). Thou takest 
 for the rite the seven names, creating Mitra (the sun) for thy 
 own body. 
 
 X. 5, 6. sapta maryada/i kavayaA tatakshu/i tasam ekam 
 it abhi amhnrnh gat. 
 
 The sages established the seven divisions, but mischief 
 befel one of them. 
 
 VOL. I. R 
 
242 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 i. 22, 1 6. ata^ devaA avantu na^ yataA vishwu/f vi-/:akrame 
 p?-ithivya7i sapta dhama-bliiA. 
 
 May the gods protect us from whence Vish/m strode 
 forth, by the seven stations of the earth ! 
 
 Even the names of the seven or eight Adityas are not 
 definitely known, at least not from the hymns of the Rig- 
 veda. In ii, 27, i, we have a list of six names: Mitra, 
 Aryaman, Bhaga, Varuwa, Daksha, Xmsa.h. These with 
 Aditi would give us seven. In vi. 50, i, we have iiditi, 
 Yaruna, Mitra, Agni, Aryaman, Savitar, and Bhaga. In 
 i. 89, 3, Bhaga, Mitra, Aditi, Daksha, Aryaman, Varuwa, 
 Soma, A^vina, and Sarasvati are invoked together with an 
 old invocation, purvaya ni-vida. In the Taittiriya-arawyaka, 
 i. 13, 3, we find the following list : i. Mitra, 2. Varuwa, 
 3. Dhatar, 4. Aryaman, 5. Aw^a, 6. Bhaga, 7, Indra, 
 8. Vivasvan, but there, too, the eighth son is said to be 
 Martanda, or, according to the commentator, Aditya. 
 
 The character of Aditi as the mother of certain gods is 
 also indicated by some of her epithets, such as ra^a-putra, 
 having kings for her sons ; su-putra, having good sons ; 
 ugra-putra, having terrible sons : 
 
 ii. 27, 7. pipartu naA aditi/i r%a-putra ati dveshawisi 
 aryama su-gebhi/<, brihat mitrasya varuwasya sarma lipa 
 syama puru-viraA arishtah. 
 
 May Aditi with her royal sons, may Aryaman carry us 
 on easy roads across the hatreds ; may we with many sons 
 and without hurt obtain the great protection of Mitra and 
 Varu?m ! 
 
 iii. 4, II. barhi/i nah astam aditi/* su-putra. 
 
 May Aditi with her excellent sons sit on our sacred pile ! 
 
 viii. 67, 11. parshi dine gabhire a ugra-putre ^igha?;/sata/!, 
 maki/( tokasya nah rishat. 
 
 Protect us, O goddess with terrible sons, from the enemy 
 in shallow or deep water, and no one will hurt our offspring ! 
 
 Aditi identified tvith other Deities. 
 
 Aditi, however, for the very reason that she was originally 
 intended for the Infinite, for something beyond the visible 
 world, was liable to be identified with a number of finite 
 
MAJVZ>ALA I, St^KTA 1G6. 243 
 
 deities which inig-ht all be represented as resting on Aditi, 
 as participating in Aditi, as being Aditi. Thns we read : 
 
 i. 89, 10 (final). aditiA dyauA iiditi// antariksham aditi/i 
 mata sah pita sa/i putraA, visve deva'A aditiA piin/ta ffamih 
 aditi/i ^atam aditi/t ^ani-tvatn. 
 
 Aditi is the heaven, Aditi the sky, Aditi the mother, the 
 father, the son. All the gods are Aditi, the five clans, the 
 past is Aditi, Aditi is the future. 
 
 But although Aditi may thus be said to be everything, 
 heaven, sky, and all the gods, no passage occurs, in the 
 llig-veda at least, where the special meaning of heaven or 
 earth is expressed by Aditi. In x. 6^, 3, where Aditi 
 seems to mean sky, we shall see that it ought to be taken 
 as a masculine, either in the sense of Aditya, or as an 
 epithet, unbounded, immortal. In i. 72, g, we ought pro- 
 bably to read p?'ithvi and pronounce prithuvi, and translate 
 ' the wide Aditi, the mother with her sons ;' and not, as 
 Benfey does, ' the Earth, the eternal mother.^ 
 
 It is more difficult to determine whether in one passage 
 Aditi has not been used in the sense of life after life, or as 
 the name of the place whither people went after death, or of 
 the deity presiding over that place. In a well-known hymn, 
 supposed to have been uttered by S'una/wepa when on the 
 point of being sacrificed by his own father, the following 
 verse occm-s : 
 
 i. 24, I. ka/i na.h mahyai aditaye pilnaA dat, pitaram ka. 
 d?'i6'eyam mataram ka. 
 
 Who will give us back to the great Aditi, that I may see 
 father and mother? 
 
 As the supposed utterer of this hymn is still among the 
 living, Aditi can hardly be taken in the sense of earth, nor 
 would the wish to see father and mother be intelligible in 
 the mouth of one who is going to be sacrificed by his own 
 father. If we discard the story of Snnahsepa, and take the 
 hymn as uttered by any poet who craves for the protection of 
 the gods in the presence of danger and death, then we may 
 choose between the two meanings of earth or liberty, and 
 translate, either, Who will give us back to the great earth ? 
 or. Who will restore us to the great Aditi, the goddess of 
 freedom ? 
 
 R 2 
 
244 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 Aditi and Dili. 
 
 There is one other passage which might receive Hght if 
 we could take Aditi in the sense of Hades, but I give this 
 translation as a mere guess : 
 
 iv. 2, II. raye ^a naA su-apatyaya deva ditim ^a rasva 
 aditim urushya. 
 
 That we may enjoy our wealth and healthy offspring, give 
 us this life on earth, keep off the life to come ! Cf. i. 152, 6. 
 
 It should be borne in mind that Diti occurs in the Rig- 
 veda thrice only, and in one passage it should, I believe, be 
 changed into Aditi. This passage occurs in %di. 15, 12. 
 tvam agne vira-vat yisah devaA ka. savita bhaga/i, diti^ ka. 
 dati varyam. Here the name of Diti is so unusual, and 
 that of Aditi, on the contrary, so natural, that I have little 
 doubt that the poet had put the name of Aditi ; and that 
 later reciters, not aware of the occasional license of putting 
 two short syllables instead of one, changed it into Aditi. 
 If we remove this passage, then Diti, in the Rig-veda at 
 least, occurs twice only, and each time together or in con- 
 trast with Aditi; cf v. 62, 8, page 231. I have no doubt, 
 therefore, that Professor Roth is right when he says that 
 Diti is a being without any definite conception, a mere 
 reflex of Aditi. We can clearly watch her first emergence 
 into existence through what is hardly more than a play of 
 words, whereas in the epic and paura«ic literature this Diti 
 has grown into a definite person, one of the daughters 
 of Daksha, the wife of Ka^yapa, the mother of the enemies 
 of the gods, the Daityas. Such is the growth of legend, 
 mythology, and religion ! 
 
 Aditi in her Moral Character. 
 
 Besides the cosmical character of Aditi, which we have 
 hitherto examined, this goddess has also assumed a very pro- 
 minent moral character. Aditi, like Varuwa, delivers from 
 sin. Why this should be so, we can still understand if we 
 watch the transition which led fi*om a purely cosmical 
 to a moral conception of Aditi. Sin in the Veda is 
 frequently conceived as a bond or a chain from Avhich 
 the repentant sinner wishes to be freed : 
 
MA^NDAhA I, stKTA 16(5 
 
 245 
 
 I 
 
 vii. 86, 5. ava drugdhani pitiya sri^a nah ava ya vayam 
 /:akrima tanubhi//, ava r%an pam-tripam na tayum sri^a 
 vatsam na damna/i vasish^//am. 
 
 Absolve us from the sins of our fathers, and from those 
 which we have committed with our own bodies. Release 
 Vasish///a, O king, like a thief who has feasted on stolen 
 cattle; release him like a calf from the rope*. 
 
 viii. 67, 14. te naJi asna// vnka>?am adityasa/* mnmoA'ata 
 stenam baddham-iva adite. 
 
 O Adityas, deliver us from the mouth of the wolves, like 
 a bound thief, O Aditi ! Cf. viii. 67, 18. 
 
 S'una/i^epa, who, as we saw before, wishes to be restored 
 to the great Aditi, is represented as bound by ropes, and in 
 V. 2, 7, we read : 
 
 suna/i-5epam kit m-ditam sahasrat yupat amufiA'aA a^a- 
 mish^a hi sah, eva asmat ague vi mumugdhi pasan hotar (iti) 
 ^ikitva^ iha tii ni-sadya. 
 
 Agni, thou hast released the bound /Suna^^epa from 
 the pale, for he had prayed ; thus take from us, too, these 
 ropes, O sagacious Hotar, after thou hast settled here. 
 
 Expressions Hke these, words like daman, bond, ni-dita, 
 bound, naturally suggested a-diti, the un-bound or un- 
 bounded, as one of those deities who could best remove 
 the bonds of sin or misery. If we once reahse this con- 
 catenation of thought and language, many passages of the 
 Veda that seemed obscure, will become intelligible. 
 
 vii. 51, I. adityanam avasa nutanena sakshimahi sirmnna, 
 sam-tamena, anaga/<-tve aditi-tve turasaA imam ya^nam 
 dadliatu ^roshama^aA. 
 
 May we obtain the new favour of the Adityas, their best 
 protection ; may the quick Maruts listen and place this 
 sacrifice in guiltlessness and Aditi-hood. 
 
 1 have translated the last words literally, in order to 
 make their meaning quite clear. Xgas has the same 
 meaning as the Greek 0709, guilt, abomination; an-agas- 
 tva, therefore, as apphed to a sacrifice or to the man who 
 makes it, means guiltlessness, purity. Aditi-tva, Aditi-hood, 
 has a similar meaning, it means freedom from bonds, from 
 
 * See M.M., History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, 2nd ed., p. 541. 
 
246 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 anything that hinders the proper performance of a rehgious 
 act ; it may come to mean perfection or hohness. 
 
 Aditi having once been conceived as granting this 
 adititva, soon assumed a very definite moral character, and 
 hence the following invocations : 
 
 i. 24, i^. ut ut-tamam varuwa pasam asmat ava adhamam 
 vi madhyamiim ^rathaya, atha vayam aditya \Tate tava 
 anagasaA aditaye syama. 
 
 O Yaruwa, lift the highest rope, di*aw off the lowest, 
 remove the middle ; then, O Aditya, let us be in thy 
 service free of guilt before Aditi. 
 
 v. 82, 6. anagasa/i aditaye devasya savitii/i save, vi^va 
 vamani dhimahi. 
 
 May we, guiltless before Aditi, and in the keeping of the 
 god Savitar, obtain all goods ! Professor Roth here trans- 
 lates Aditi by freedom or security. 
 
 i. 162, 22. anaga^-tvam nah aditiA kriwotu. 
 
 May Aditi give us sinlessness ! Cf. \'ii. 51, i. 
 
 iv. 12, 4. yat ^it hi te purusha-tra yavish/^a a^itti-bhiA 
 A:akriraa kat ^it aga^, kridhi su asman adite^ anagan vi 
 enamsi s'lsraihah vishvak ague. 
 
 Whatever, O youthful god, we have committed against thee, 
 men as we are, wdiatever sin through thoughtlessness, make us 
 guiltless of Aditi, loosen the sins on all sides, O Agni ! 
 
 vii. 93, 7. saA ague ena namasa sam-iddha^- akk/m mitram 
 varimam indram \okeh, yat sim a'ga/« A'ak/*ima tat su mri/a 
 tat aryama aditi/i ^israthantu. 
 
 O Agni, thou who hast been kindled with this adoration, 
 greet Mitra, Varuwa, and Indra. Whatever sin we have com- 
 mitted, do thou pardon it ! May Aryaman, Aditi loose it ! 
 
 Here the plural ^i^rathantu should be observed, instead 
 of the dual, 
 
 viii. 18, 6-7. aditiA na^ diva pa.mm aditi A naktam adva- 
 yah, aditih patu amhasa/i sada-vridha. 
 
 uta sya na/t diva mati^ aditiA litya a gamat, sa ^am-tati 
 mayaA karat apa sridhaA. 
 
 May Aditi by day protect our cattle, may she, who never 
 deceives, protect by night; may she, with steady increase, 
 l)rotcct us from evil ! 
 
 And may she, the thoughtful Aditi, come with help to 
 
MAiVi)ALA T, SUKTA 166. 247 
 
 US by day; may she kindly bring happiness to us, and 
 carry away all enemies ! Cf. x. ^6, 3, page 239. 
 
 x. 87, 18. a vrisA-yantam aditaye du/t-eva//. 
 
 May the evil-doers be cut off from Aditi ! or literally, 
 may they be rooted out before Aditi ! 
 
 ii. 27, 14. adite mitra varuna uta m?'i/a yat vah vayam 
 -takrima kat A-it aga/;, urd a.9yam abhayam gyoiih indra ma 
 na/< dirgha/i abhi na^an tamisraA. 
 
 Aditi, Mitra, and also Yaru//a forgive, if we have com- 
 mitted any sin against you. May I obtain the wide and fear- 
 less light, O Inch'a ! May not the long darkness reach us ! 
 
 vii. 87, 7. yaA mn/ayati ^akrushe kit agaA vayam syama 
 varu;?e anagaA, anu -sTatani adite/s ridhantaA yuytim pata 
 svasti-bhi/i sada na/i. 
 
 May we be sinless before Varu^za, who is gracious even 
 to him who has committed sin, and may we follow the laws 
 of AcUti ! Protect us always with your blessings ! 
 
 Lastly, Aditi, like all other gods, is represented as a 
 giver of worldly goods, and implored to bestow them on her 
 worshippers, or to protect them by her power : 
 
 i. 43, 2. yatha naA aditiA karat pasve nri-bhya^ yatha 
 gave, yatha tokaya rudriyam. 
 
 That Aditi may bring Rudra's favour to our cattle, our 
 men, our cow, our offspring. 
 
 i. 153, 3. pipaya dhenuA aditiZt ?*itaya ^anaya mitravaruwa 
 havi/i-de. 
 
 Aditi, the cow, gives food to the righteous man, O Mitra 
 and Varuwa, who makes offerings to the gods. Cf. viii. 
 lOT, 15. 
 
 i, 185, 3. anehaA datram adite^ anarvam huve. 
 
 I call for the unrivalled, uninjured gift of Aditi. Here 
 Professor Roth again assigns to Aditi the meaning of free- 
 dom or security. 
 
 vii. 40, 2. didesh/u devi aditiA rek«a^. 
 
 May the divine Aditi assign w^ealth ! 
 
 X. 100, I. a sarva-tatim acUtim vri»imahe. 
 
 We implore Aditi for health and wealth. 
 
 i. 94, 15. yasmai tvam su-dravinaA dadflsaA anagaA-tvara 
 adite sarva-tata, yam bhadrewa savasa ^odayasi pra^a-vata 
 radhasa te syama. 
 
248 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 To whom thou, possessor of good treasures, grantest 
 guiltlessness, O Aditi, in health and wealth ''', whom thou 
 quickenest with precious strength and with riches in 
 progeny, may we be they ! Cf. ii. 40, 6 ; iv. 25, 5 ; 
 X. II, 2. 
 
 The principal epithets of Aditi have been mentioned in 
 the passages quoted above, and they throw no further light 
 on the nature of the goddess. She was called devi, goddess, 
 again and again ; another frequent epithet is anarvan, un- 
 injured, unscathed. Being invoked to grant light (^ii, 82, 
 10), she is herself called luminous, ^grj^otishmati, i. 136, 3 j 
 and svarvati, heavenly. Being the goddess of the infinite 
 expanse, she, even with greater right than the dawn, is 
 called uruA:i, viii. 67, 12; uruvyaA'as, v. 46, 6; uruvra^a, 
 viii. 6"/, 12 ; and possibly prithvi in i. 72, 9. As supporting 
 everything, she is called dharayatkshiti, supporting the 
 earth, i. 136, 3 ; and visva^anya, vii, 10, 4. To her sons 
 she owes the names of r%aputra, ii. 27, 7 ; suputra, iii. 4, 
 11; and ugraputra, viii. 67, 11: to her wealth that of 
 sudravi«as, i. 94, 15, though others refer this epithet to 
 Agni. There remains one name pastya, iv. 55, 3 ; viii. 27, 5, 
 meaning housewife, which again indicates her character as 
 mother of the gods. 
 
 I have thus given all the evidence that can be collected 
 from the Rig-veda as throwing light on the character of the 
 goddess Aditi, and I have carefully excluded everything that 
 rests only on the authority of the Ya^ur- or Atharva-vedas, 
 or of the Brahma;/as and Ara;?yakas, because in all they give 
 beyond the repetitions from the Rig-veda, they seem to me 
 to represent a later phase of thought that ought not to be 
 mixed up with the more primitive conceptions of the Rig- 
 veda. Much valuable material for an analytical study of 
 Aditi may be found in B. and R.'s Dictionary, and in 
 several of Dr. Muir^s excellent contributions to a knowledge 
 of Vedic theogony and mythology. 
 
 * On sarviltati, solus, see Benfey's excellent remarks in Orient und 
 Occident, vol. ii. p. 519. Pi-ofessor Roth takes aditi here as an epithet 
 of Agni. 
 
MAA^DALA I, Sl>KTxV 1G6. 249 
 
 Aditi as an Adjective. 
 
 But although the foregoing remarks give as complete a 
 description of Aditi as can be gathered from the hymns 
 of the llig-veda, a few words have to be added on certain 
 passages where the word aditi occurs, and where it clearly 
 cannot mean the goddess Aditi, as a feminine, but must be 
 taken either as the name of a corresponding masculine 
 deity, or as an adjective in the sense of unrestrained, 
 independent, free. 
 
 V, 59, 8. mimatu dyauA aditi/i vitaye na^. 
 
 May the boundless Dyii (sky) help us to our repast ! 
 
 Here aditi must either be taken in the sense of Aditya, 
 or better in its original sense of unbounded, as an adjective 
 belonging to Dyii, the masculine deity of the sky. 
 
 Dyii or the sky is called aditi or unbounded in another 
 passage, x. 63, 3 : ^ 
 
 yebhya/i mata madhu-mat pinvate payaA piyusham dyau/t 
 aditi/i adri-barhaA. 
 
 The gods to whom their mother yields the sweet milk, 
 and the unbounded sky, as firm as a rock, their food. 
 
 iv. 3, 8. katha sardhaya marutam ?'itaya katha sure 
 b?*ihate priA-^yamanaA, prati brava/i aditaye turaya. 
 
 How wilt thou tell it to the host of the Maruts, how to 
 the bright heaven, when thou art asked ? How to the quick 
 Aditi? 
 
 Here Aditi cannot be the goddess, partly on account of 
 the masculine gender of turaya, partly because she is never 
 called quick. Aditi must here be the name of one of the 
 Adityas, or it may refer back to sure bnhate. It can hardly 
 be joined, as Professor Roth proposes, with sardhaya ma- 
 rutam, owing to the interv^ening sure b7'ihate. 
 
 In several passages aditi, as an epithet, refers to 
 Agni : 
 
 iv. I, 20 (final), vi^vesham aditi/i ya^niyanam \'i5vesham 
 atithiA manushawam. 
 
 He, Agni, the Aditi, or the freest, among all the gods ; 
 he the guest among all men. 
 
 The same play on the words aditi and atithi occurs 
 again : 
 
250 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 vii. 9, 3. amuraA kaviA aditih vivasvan su-sa???sat mitraA 
 atithiA sixah nah, /:itra-bhanu/« ushasam bhati agre. 
 
 The wise poet, Acliti, Vivasvat, Mitra with his good 
 company, our welcome guest, he (Agni) with brilUant 
 light came at the head of the dawns. 
 
 Here, though I admit that several renderings are pos- 
 sible, Aditi is meant as a name of Agni, to whom the whole 
 hymn is addressed; and who, as usual, is identified with other 
 gods, or, at all events, invoked by their names. We may 
 translate aditi/t vivasvan by ' the brilHant Aditi,^ or ' the 
 unchecked, the brilliant/ or by ' the boundless Vivasvat,' 
 but on no account can we take aditi here as the female 
 goddess. The same applies to viii. 19, 14, where Aditi, 
 unless we suppose the goddess brought in in the most 
 abrupt way, must be taken as a name of Agni ; while in 
 X. 92, 14, aditim anarva??am, to judge from other epithets 
 given in the same verse, has most likely to be taken again 
 as an appellative of Agni. In some passages it would, no 
 doubt, be possible to take Aditi as the name of a female 
 deity, if it were certain that no other meaning could be 
 assigned to this word. But if we once know that Aditi 
 was the name of a male deity also, the structure of these 
 passages becomes far more perfect if we take Aditi in that 
 sense : 
 
 iv. 39, 3. anagasam tarn aditi/i k?'i«otu saA mitrewa 
 varunena sa-^6sha^. 
 
 May Aditi make him free from sin, he who is allied 
 with Mitra and Varuwa. 
 
 We have had several passages in which Aditi, the female 
 deity, is represented as sa^oshaA or allied with other 
 Adityas, but if sah is the right reading here, Aditi in this 
 verse can only be the male deity. The pronoun sa cannot 
 refer to tiim. 
 
 With regard to other passages, such as ix. 81,5; vi. 51, 3, 
 and even some of those translated above in which Aditi has 
 been taken as a female goddess, the question must be left 
 open till further evidence can be obtained. There is only 
 one more passage which has been often discussed, and 
 where aditi was supposed to have the meaning of 
 earth : 
 
MA.V/)ALA 1, SlIKTA 160. 251 
 
 vii. 1 8, 8. diiA-aclhya/t iiditim srcviiyaiita/i aA-ct;i.sa// vi 
 /^agribhre parushwim. 
 
 Professor Roth in one of his carhest essays translated 
 this line, ' The evil-disposed wished to dry the earth, the 
 fools split the Parushm/ and he snpposed its meaning to 
 have been that the enemies of Sudas swam across the 
 Parush??! in order to attack Sudas. We might accept this 
 translation, if it could be explained how by throwing them- 
 selves into the river, the enemies made the earth dry, 
 though even then there would remain this difficulty that, 
 with the exception of one other doubtful passage, discussed 
 before, iiditi never means earth. I should therefore pi'oposc 
 to translate : ' The evil-disposed, the fools, laid dry and 
 divided the resistless river Parushwi/ This would be a 
 description of a strategem very common in ancient warfare, 
 viz. diverting the course of a river and laying its original 
 bed dry by digging a new channel, and thus dividing the 
 old river. This is also the sense accepted by Saya«a, who 
 does not say that vigraha means dividing the waves of a 
 river, as Professor Roth renders kulabheda, but that it 
 means dividing or cutting through its banks. In the 
 Dictionary Professor Roth assigns to aditi in this passage 
 the meaning of endless, inexhaustible. 
 
 Verse 12, note ^ Nothing is more difficult in the inter- 
 pretation of the Veda than to gain an accurate knowledge 
 of the power of particles and conjunctions. The particle 
 kana., we are told, is used both affirmatively and negatively, 
 a statement which shows better than anything else the 
 uncertainty to which every translation is as yet exposed. 
 It is perfectly true that in the text of the Rig-veda, as we 
 now read it, ^ana means both indeed and no. But this 
 very fact shows that we ought to distinguish where the first 
 collectors of the Vedic hymns have not distinguished, and 
 that while in the former case we read kana, we ought in the 
 latter to read ka na. 
 
 I begin with those passages in which kana is used 
 emphatically and as one word. 
 I a. In negative sentences : 
 
 i. i8, 7. yasmat rite na sidhyati yagnah vipa/i-^ita/t kana. 
 
252 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 Without whom the sacrifice does not succeed, not even 
 that of the sage. 
 
 V. 34, 5. na asunvata sa^ate pushyata A-ana. 
 
 He does not cling to a man who offers no Hbations, even 
 though he be thriving. 
 
 i. 24, 6. nahi te kshatrara na sahaA na manyutn vayaA 
 ^ana ami (iti) patayanta/i apuA. 
 
 For thy power, thy strength, thy anger even these birds 
 which fly up, do not reach. Cf. i. 100, 15. 
 
 i. 155, 5. tritfyam asya nakiA a dadharshati vayaA kuna. 
 patayantaA patatri;?aA. 
 
 This third step no one approaches, not even the winged 
 birds which fly up. 
 
 i. ^j, I. divaA ^it asya varima vi papratha, indram na 
 mahna prithivi ^ana prati. 
 
 The width of the heavens is stretched out, even the earth 
 in her greatness is no match for Indra. 
 I b. In positive sentences : 
 
 vii. 32, 13. pmnaA A'ana pra-sitaya/^ taranti tam yah indre 
 karmawa bhuvat. 
 
 Even many snares pass him who is with Indra in his 
 work. 
 
 viii. 2, 14. uktham A:ana j?asyamanam agoA arih a Aiketa, 
 na gayatram giyamanam. 
 
 A poor man may learn indeed a prayer that is recited, 
 but not a hymn that is sung. 
 
 viii. 78, 10. tava it indra aham a-sasa haste datram ^ana 
 a dade. 
 
 Trusting in thee alone, O Indra, I take even this sickle in 
 my hand. 
 
 ^' 55i 5' ^dha kana. srat dadhati tvishi-mate indraya 
 v%ram ni-ghanighnate vadham. 
 
 Then indeed they believe in Indra, the majestic, when 
 he hurls the bolt to strike. 
 
 i. 152, 2. etat A'ana tvah vi A:iketat esham. 
 
 Does one of them understand even this ? 
 
 iv. 18, 9. miimat A'ana used in the same sense as 
 mamat kit. 
 
 i. 139, 2. dhibhiA A'ana manasa svebhiA aksha-bhiA. 
 
 V. 41, 13. vaya/i Arana su-bhvaA a ava yanti. 
 
MAA^DALA I, Si)ktA IGG. 253 
 
 vii. 1 8, 9. tisiih ktinii it ablii-pitv:im //af2:rima. 
 
 viii. 91, 3. a A-ana tva Aikitsama// adhi Aana tva lui 
 imasi. 
 
 We Avish to know thee, indeed, but we cannot under- 
 stand thee. 
 
 X. 49, 5. aham randhayam mrigayam srutarva//e yat nia 
 a^ihita vayuna A:ana anu-shak. 
 
 vi. 26, 7. aham Aana tat sun-bhi/i ana^yam. 
 
 May I also obtain this with my wise friends. 
 
 I c. Frequently A-ana occurs after interrogative pro- 
 nouns, to \\hich it imparts an indefinite meaning, and 
 principally in negative sentences : 
 
 i. 74, 7. na j6h upabdi/i asvya/i srhiv6 rathasya kat 
 Arana, yat agne yasi dutyam. 
 
 No sound of horses is heard, and no sound of the chariot, 
 when thou, O Agni, goest on thy message. 
 
 i. 81, 5. na tva-van indra kah kaua. na ^ata/< na //ani- 
 shyate. 
 
 No one is like thee, O Indra, no one has been born, no 
 one will be ! 
 
 i. 84, 20. ma te radhamsi ma te utaya/t vaso (iti) asman 
 kada /:ana dabhan. 
 
 May thy gifts, may thy help, O Vasu, never fail us ! 
 
 Many more passages might be given to illustrate the use of 
 X:ana or ka*' A-ana and its derivatives in negative sentences. 
 
 Cf. i. 105, 3 ; 136, I ; 139, 5 ; ii. 16, 3 ; 23, 5 ; 28, 6 ; 
 iii. ^6, 4 ; iv. 31, 9 ; v. 42, 6 ; 82, 2 ; vi. 3, 2 ; 20, 4 ; 47, 
 i; 3; 48, 17; 54. 9; 59. 4; 69, 8; 75, 16; vii. 32, i; 19; 
 59, 3 ; 82, 7 ; 104, 3 ; viii. 19, 6 ; 23, 15 ; 24, 15 ; 28, 4; 
 47, 7 ; 64, 2 ; 66, 13 ; 68, 19 ; ix. 61, 27 ; 69, 6 ; 114, 4 ; 
 X. 33, 9; 39, 11; 4«, 5; 49, 10; 59.8; 62, 9; 85, 3 ; 86, 
 11; 95, 1; 112, 9; 119, 6; 7; 128, 4; 129, 2; 152, i; 
 168,3; 185, 2. 
 
 I ^. In a few passages, however, we find the inde- 
 finite pronoun ka* kana used in sentences which are not 
 negative : 
 
 i. 113, 8. usha/« mritam kam Aana bodhayanti. 
 
 Ushas, who wakes even the dead, (or one who is as if 
 dead.) 
 
254 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 i. 191, 7. adi'ishtah kim A'ana iha \a.h sarve sakam ni 
 ^asyata. 
 
 Invisible ones, -whatever you are, vanish all together ! 
 
 II. We now come to passages in which ka.na. stands 
 for ka. na, and therefore renders the sentence negative with- 
 out any further negative particle : 
 
 ii. 16, 2. yasmat indrat brihata/i kim A:ana im ?-ite. 
 
 Beside whom, (beside) the great Indra, there is not 
 anything. 
 
 ii. 24, 12. visvam satyam magha-vana yu\6h it apa/i kana. 
 pra minanti vratam \am. 
 
 Everything, you mighty ones, belongs indeed to you ; 
 even the Avaters do not transgress your law. 
 
 iii. 30, I. titikshante abhi-^astim ^ananam indi'a tvat a 
 ka/i kani hi pra-kcta/z. 
 
 They bear the scoffing of men ; for Indra, away from thee 
 tiiere is no wisdom. 
 
 iv. 30, 3. vi^ve kana. it ana tva devasa/i indra yuyu- 
 dhu/<. 
 
 Even all the gods together do not fight thee, O Indra. 
 
 V. 34, 7. du/<-ge A-ana dhriyate xisxah a jiurii ^anah yah 
 asya tavishim aA:ukrudliat. 
 
 Even in a stronghold many a man is not often preserved 
 who has excited his anger. 
 
 vii. 83, 2. yasmin a^a bhavati kim kana priyam. 
 
 In which struggle there is nothing good whatsoever. 
 
 vii. 86, 6. svapna/i Aana it an?-itasya pra-yota. 
 
 Even sleep does not remove all evil. 
 
 In this passage I formerly took ^ana as affirmative, not 
 as negative, and therefore assigned to prayota the same 
 meaning which Sayawa assigns to it, one who brings or 
 mixes, whereas it ought to be, as rightly seen by Roth, 
 one who removes. 
 
 viii. 1, 5. mahe ^ana tvam adri-va/< para sulkaya deyam, 
 nil sahasraya na ayutaya va^ri-va/< na sataya sata-magha. 
 
 I should not give thee up, wielder of the thunderbolt, 
 even for a great price, not for a thousand, not for ten 
 thousand (?), not for a hundred, O India, thou who art 
 possessed of a hundred powers ! 
 
MANBAhA 1, SUKTA IGG. 255 
 
 ^^ii. 51, 7. kacla A-auii stan// asi. 
 
 Thou art never sterile. 
 
 viii. 52, 7. kada kan{\ pra yukkhasi. 
 
 Thou art never \vear3\ 
 
 viii. ^^, 5. Hkshusha kanii sam-m'we. 
 
 Even with my eye I cannot reach them. 
 
 X, ^6, 4. mahimnaA eshciai pitiira/! /amu i.s'iie. 
 
 Verse 12, note ^. Considering the particular circum- 
 stances mentioned in this and the preceding hymn, of 
 IndiVs forsaking his companions, the Maruts, or even 
 scorning their help, one feels strongly tempted to take 
 tyayas in its etymological sense of leaving or forsaking, 
 and to translate, by his forsaking you, or if he should 
 forsake you. The poet may have meant the word to convey 
 that idea, which no doubt would be most appropriate here ; 
 but then it must be confessed, at the same time, that in 
 other passages where tya^as occurs, that meaning could 
 hardly be ascribed to it. Strange as it may seem, no one 
 who is acquainted with the general train of thought in the 
 Vedic hymns can fail to see that ty%as in most passages 
 means attack, onslaught ; it may be even the instrument of 
 an attack, a weapon. How it should come to take this 
 meaning is indeed difficult to explain, and I do not wonder 
 that Professor Roth in his Dictionary simply renders the 
 word by forlornness, need, danger, or by estrangement, 
 unkindness, malignity. But let us look at the passages, 
 and we shall see that these abstract conceptions are quite 
 out of place : 
 
 viii. 47, 7. na tam tigmam Arana tjagixh na drasad abhi 
 tam guru. 
 
 No sharp blow, no heavy one, shall come near him whom 
 you protect. 
 
 Here the two adjectives tigma, sharp, and guru, heavy, 
 point to something tangible, and I feel much inclined to 
 take tya^as in this passage as a weapon, as something that 
 is let off with violence, rather than in the more abstract 
 sense of onslaught. 
 
 i. 169, I. maha/i ^it asi tya^asa/< varuta. 
 
 Thou art the shielder from a great attack. 
 
256 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 iv. 43, 4, ka^ vam maha/i ^t ty%asa^ abhi'ke urushyatam 
 madhvi dasra na/s uti. 
 
 Who is against your great attack? Protect us with your 
 help, ye givers of sweet drink, ye strong ones. 
 
 Here Professor Roth seems to join maha^ ^it tya^asaA 
 abhike urushyatam, but in that case it would be impossible 
 to construe the first words, kah vam. 
 
 i. 119, 8. agaM//atam k?'ipama/?am para-vati pitiiA svasya 
 ty%asa m-badhitam. 
 
 You went from afar to the suppliant, who had been 
 struck down by the violence of his own father. 
 
 According to Professor Roth ty%as would here mean 
 forlornness, need, or danger. But nibadhita is a strong 
 verb, as we may see in 
 
 viii. 64, 2. pada pawin aradhasaA ni badhasva mahan asi. 
 
 Strike the useless Pa/?is down with thy foot, for thou art 
 great, 
 
 X. 18, II. lit i?van^asva p?*ithivi ma ni badhathaA. 
 
 Open, O earth, do not press on him (i. e. the dead, who 
 is to be buried; cf. M.M., tjber Todtenbestattung, Zeit- 
 schrift der D. M. G., vol. ix. p. xv). 
 
 vii. 83, 6. yatra ra^ra-bhiA dasa-bhi/i ni-badhitam pra 
 su-dasam aVatam tntsu-bhi/i saha. 
 
 When you protected Sudas with the Tritsus, when he 
 was pressed or set upon by the ten kings. 
 
 Another passage in which tya^as occurs is, 
 
 vi. 62, 10. sanutyena ty^asa martyasya vanushyatam 
 api sirsha vavriktam. 
 
 By your covert attack turn back the heads of those even 
 who harass the mortal. 
 
 Though this passage may seem less decisive, yet it is 
 difficult to see how tya^asa could here, according to 
 Professor Roth, be rendered by forlornness or danger. 
 Something is required by which enemies can be turned 
 back. Nor can it be doubtful that 6firsha is governed 
 by vavriktam, meaning turn back their heads, for the 
 same expression occurs again in i. ^^, 5. para kit 5irsha 
 vavri^u/i te indra aya^^ana/i ya^va-bhi// spardhamanaA. 
 
 Professor Benfey translates this verse by, ' Kopfiiber 
 flohn sie alle vor dir ;' but it may be rendered more 
 
MANDAhJS. I, SUKTA 166. 257 
 
 literally, 'These lawless people firrhtinp; with the pious 
 turned back their heads/ 
 
 X. 144, 6. eva tat indraA mduna deveshu kit dharayate 
 mahi tya^a/?. 
 
 Indeed through this di-aught Indra can hold out against 
 that great attack even among the gods. 
 ,x. 79, 6, kim deveshu ty%a// ena/i A-akartha. 
 
 What insult, what sin hast thou committed among the gods? 
 
 In these two passages the meaning of tya^as as attack or 
 assault is at least as appropriate as that proposed by Pro- 
 fessor Roth, estrangement, malignity. 
 
 There remains one passage, vi. 3, i. yam tvam mitre/m 
 varnnah sa-^6shaA deva pasi tya^asa martam wnhah. 
 
 I confess that the construction of this verse is not clear 
 to me, and I doubt whether it is possible to use tya^asa as 
 a verbal noun governing an accusative. If this were pos- 
 sible, one might translate, ' The mortal whom thou, O God 
 (Agni), Varuwa, together with Mitra, protectest by pushing 
 back e\'il.' Anyhow, we gain nothing here, if we take ty%as 
 in the sense of estrangement or malignity. 
 
 If it be asked how ty%as can possibly have the meaning 
 which has been assigned to it in all the passages in which 
 it occurs, viz. that of forcibly attacking or pushing away, 
 we can only account for it by supposing that tj^g, before 
 it came to mean to leave, meant to push off, to drive away 
 with violence, (verstossen instead of verlassen.) This mean- 
 ing may still be perceived occasionally in the use of tya^ ; e. g. 
 devas tya^antu mam, may the gods forsake me ! i. e. may 
 the gods drive me away ! Even in the latest Sanskrit tya^ 
 is used with regard to an arrow that is let off. ' To expel' 
 is expressed by nis-tya^. Those who believe in the pro- 
 duction of new roots by the addition of prepositional pre- 
 fixes might possibly see in tya^ an original ati-ay, to drive 
 off; but, however that may be, there is evidence enough to 
 show that tya^ expressed originally a more violent act of 
 separation than it does in orchnary Sanskrit. 
 
 Verse 13, note ^ Samsa., masc, means a spell whether 
 for good or for evil, a blessing as well as a curse. It 
 means a curse, or, at all events, a calumny : 
 
 VOL. T. >S 
 
258 HYMNS TO THE MARUTS. 
 
 i. 1 8, 3. ma nah samsah ararushaA dhurtiA pra>?ak 
 martyasya. 
 
 Let not the curse of the enemy, the onslaught of a 
 mortal hurt us. 
 
 i. 94, 8. asmakam samsah abhi astu duA-dhyaA. 
 
 May our curse fall on the wicked ! 
 
 ii. 26, I. r'lffnh it samsah vanavat vanushyataA. 
 
 May the straight curse strike the enemies ! Cf. vii. 56, 19. 
 
 iii. 18, 3. tapa smnsam. ararushaA. 
 
 Burn the curse of the enemy ! 
 
 vii. 25, 2. are tam 5amsam knwuhi ninitsoA. 
 
 Take far away the curse of the re\dler ! Cf. vii. 34, 12. 
 
 It means blessing : 
 
 ii. 31, 6. uta \ah samsava usi^am-iva smasi. 
 
 We desire your blessing as a blessing for suppliants. 
 
 X. 31, I. a nah devanam upa vetu satnsah. 
 
 May the blessing of the gods come to us ! 
 
 X. 7, I. urushya nah uru-bhi/i deva samsaih. 
 
 Protect us, god, with thy broad blessings ! 
 
 ii. 23, 10. ma nah duh-saitisah abhi-dipsuA isata pra su- 
 samsah mati-bhi*^ tarishimahi. 
 
 Let not an evil-speaking enemy conquer us ; may we, 
 enjoying good report, increase by our prayers ! 
 
 Lastly, samsa means praise, the spell addressed by men 
 to the gods, or prayer : 
 
 i. 33, 7. pra sunvataA stuvataA 5amsam avah. 
 
 Thou hast regarded the prayer of him who offers libation 
 and praise. 
 
 X. 42, 6. yasmin vayam dadhima samsam indre. 
 
 Indra in whom we place our hope. Cf. asams, Wester- 
 gaard. Radices Linguae Sanscritae, s. v. sams. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 2 
 6 
 6 
 6 
 9 
 
 Hymn I. 6 .... 
 Commentary .... 
 
 Aruslia 
 
 Ai'usha as an adjective . 
 Arusha as an appellative 
 
 1. Of the horse of the sun, or 
 
 of the hoi-ses of Agni . 9 
 
 2. Of Vritra 10 
 
 Arusha as the proper name 
 
 of a solar deity . . 11 
 
 The feminine A'rushi as an 
 
 adjective 13 
 
 The feminine A'rushi as a 
 
 substantive .... 14 
 Remarks on the classifica- 
 tion of the different 
 meanings of arusha 
 and arushi in the Dic- 
 tionary of Boehtlingk 
 
 and Roth 15 
 
 The vocative marya/i . . 18 
 UshadbhiA and similar 
 
 forms 19 
 
 Xt as two syllables ... 19 
 Svadha, its origin and dif- 
 ferent meanings ... 19 
 Garbhatvam of the Maruts 25 
 Vahni and its different 
 
 meanincs 25 
 
 I'AUE 
 
 1. Fire 2G 
 
 2. Agni 26 
 
 3. Luminous 26 
 
 4. Vehicle, carrier, horse . 27 
 
 5. Priest 28 
 
 Meaning of vahniA asa . . 29 
 Is vahni a name of the 
 
 Maruts? 30 
 
 Derivation of as and asya . 30 
 
 ViZu and"lXtoff . . . . 31 
 
 Drikshaseand similar forms 32 
 
 ArMi 32 
 
 Makha 33 
 
 ]\Iakhasya davane ... 33 
 The terminations mane, 
 
 vane, ane 34 
 
 Ro^-anam 34 
 
 Ro^anam diva/i . . . 34 
 
 Suryasya, nakasya . . . 35 
 
 Heaven, earth, and sky . . 36 
 
 Ro^-anani tri 36 
 
 Parthivani 37 
 
 Hymn I. 19 38 
 
 Commentary 42 
 
 Gopitha 42 
 
 Ra^/as, epe/3os 42 
 
 Adruh 42 
 
 Arka 43 
 
 S 2 
 
260 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Naiia 43 
 
 Parvata, cloud .... 43 
 Samudra, the sea or the 
 
 sky 44 
 
 Sarasvati as reaching the 
 
 sea 45 
 
 Samudra as an adjective . 47 
 
 Hymn I. 37 48 
 
 Commentary 54 
 
 Anarvan 54 
 
 Ar, arvau, arus, upara, ari . 54 
 
 /S'ardhas and siirdha ... 56 
 Masculine gender of the 
 
 adjective after sardhas . 58 
 
 Prlshati 59 
 
 Vasi (p. 157) 59 
 
 Rmg 60 
 
 Y&xmxi 60 
 
 Ghnshvi 60 
 
 Tveslici-dyumna .... 60 
 
 6^ambha 61 
 
 Anta 61 
 
 6^ihite 62 
 
 Ag-ma and yama . . . . 62 
 
 VayaA 62 
 
 GiraA 62 
 
 Kash^M 63 
 
 Duva/i 63 
 
 Hymn I. 38 64 
 
 Commentary 66 
 
 Kadhapriya/t 66 
 
 Vnktabarhis 68 
 
 R-.btyati 69 
 
 Kva and kuva . . . . 70 
 
 Suninii, suvita .... 70 
 
 Yavasa 71 
 
 Yamasya patha . . . . 71 
 
 Nirriti 72 
 
 Padish^a, pad . 
 Avata and avata . 
 Vasra .... 
 Par^anya . . . 
 Sadman and sadman 
 Vl/upa?^i and viMpawi 
 Rudhasvati 
 Akhidrayaman 
 Abhisu . . 
 Brahmawaspati 
 Tana . . . 
 TatanaA . . 
 Arkiii, Alb-leich 
 Yriddha 
 As, its Lef forms 
 
 Hymn I. 39 
 Commentary 
 Mana . . 
 Yarpas . . 
 Ya with vi . 
 Parvatanam as 
 Tana yu</a . 
 Prash^i . . 
 Dada . . 
 Parimanyu . 
 Pari, like Lat 
 tival prefix 
 
 l>er 
 
 Hymn I. 64 
 
 Commentary 
 
 Suv?-ikti 
 
 Apas and apas 
 
 Dyu or Rudra, father 
 
 ]\raruts 
 Marya . . . 
 S-itvan . . . 
 Abhogghana^ . 
 Rukma (p. 220) 
 Yapushc and .subho 
 
 PAGE 
 
 72 
 73 
 75 
 75 
 75 
 
 adjec- 
 
 of 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 2G1 
 
 PAGE 
 
 .Mraksh, mimriksUu/t . . 94 
 
 Dliuni 95 
 
 Siidauu 95 
 
 Da, danu 96 
 
 Dauu 97 
 
 Piuvati 98 
 
 A'tya v%in 98 
 
 Utsa 99 
 
 Hastin, clepliant ... 99 
 
 Kvum 100 
 
 Tavislu 100 
 
 Pi6'a 100 
 
 Kshapa/i and ksliapAA . . 101 
 
 Rodasi 101 
 
 Amati 102 
 
 Kliadi (i). 218) . . . . 102 
 
 Vauin 103 
 
 Sas^- 104 
 
 B-agastu/t 104 
 
 ^i^rishin 104 
 
 Ap?-iA'Mya 105 
 
 Pushy at i 105 
 
 Dhanasprit, iikthja, vlsva- 
 
 larshawi 105 
 
 iPiti 106 
 
 Dhiyavasu 106 
 
 Nodhas Gotama . . . 107 
 
 Hymn- I. 85 108 
 
 Commentary 110 
 
 &'auaya/i saptaya/t . . . 110 
 
 Ukshita 113 
 
 Virukmat 113 
 
 Vnshavrata 114 
 
 Ea//ili 114 
 
 A'dri 114 
 
 Aruslia 115 
 
 yianna-iva 115 
 
 Yish?iu 116 
 
 MadaZyut 118 
 
 PACK 
 
 Nari, uri 120 
 
 Vana 120 
 
 Vrishan, its etymology . 121 
 
 Its various lueauings, Male 1 22 
 
 Man 123 
 
 Fertilising, strengthening . 124 
 
 EpWieton ornans . . . 125 
 
 Varshish^Aa (p. 155) . . 12G 
 Vrishan, applied to certain 
 
 deities 120 
 
 "VVishan, an appellative of 
 
 certain deities . . . 127 
 Vrishan haiyata . . . 130 
 Vrishan, applied to in- 
 animate things . . . 131 
 Vj-ishan, an empty word . 132 
 
 A-vrish 133 
 
 Vrishan, a proper name . 134 
 
 Upastuta and Upastuta . 134 
 Vrislian and Dadhya^-, 
 
 their latest phase . . 135 
 
 Hymn I. 86 136 
 
 Commentary 138 
 
 Vimahas 138 
 
 Ya(/iiavahas 138 
 
 X bhuva/i or abhuvaA . . 138 
 
 Isha/i sasrushi/i . . . . 139 
 
 ,Srosh 139 
 
 AvobhiA 139 
 
 Par, with ki\, (ipa, wih . 139 
 
 Atrin 140 
 
 Hymn I. 87 142 
 
 Commentary . . . . 144 
 
 Usra/t, stnbhiA , . . . 144 
 
 Yayi 144 
 
 Vithura 145 
 
 S(x\Ax 145 
 
 Aya 148 
 
262 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 7?iway^van .... 
 
 . 148 
 
 S-dvai, sam, samt . , 
 
 . 149 
 
 AStiyase kam, datives in <1se 150 
 
 Myaksh,mimikshire(p.l74) 150 
 
 Hymn I. 88 ... 
 
 . 152 
 
 Commentary . . . 
 
 . 154 
 
 Metre of the hymn 
 
 . 154 
 
 Svarka 
 
 . 155 
 
 Varshish^^a .... 
 
 . 155 
 
 Paptata 
 
 . 156 
 
 Svddhitivan .... 
 
 . 156 
 
 Pavi 
 
 . 156 
 
 Vast 
 
 . 157 
 
 Medhg: 
 
 157 
 
 Tuvidyumna . . 
 
 157 
 
 Urdhv^ 
 
 158 
 
 Gridhra 
 
 158 
 
 A'hani 
 
 158 
 
 Agu/t 
 
 159 
 
 Varkarya' 
 
 159 
 
 Devf 
 
 159 
 
 Yograna 
 
 160 
 
 VarSliu 
 
 160 
 
 Anubhartrf .... 
 
 161 
 
 Stobhati 
 
 161 
 
 Hymn I. 165 ... . 
 
 162 
 
 Commentary .... 
 
 170 
 
 A'driA prdbhrita/i . . . 
 
 172 
 
 Saraanya 
 
 173 
 
 Myaksh 
 
 174 
 
 Mimiksh 
 
 176 
 
 1-itasa/i 
 
 177 
 
 M^nas 
 
 178 
 
 KutaA 
 
 178 
 
 Sat-pati 
 
 179 
 
 Brahmaroi and niatayaA . 
 
 179 
 
 S-Avn 
 
 180 
 
 .Si'nn \oIi 
 
 182 
 
 I PAGE 
 
 AS'ushma 184 
 
 lyarti 184 
 
 Eta 185 
 
 MahaA-bhiA 185 
 
 Yas 187 
 
 Indriya 187 
 
 Devata 187 
 
 KarishyS'(A) 189 
 
 Tanve tanubhi/i . . . . 189 
 
 Api-vatayati 189 
 
 Duvasyat, diivas, duvasyati 191 
 
 Vaya 194 
 
 Yasishia 195 
 
 Vrigrana 195 
 
 Hymn L 166 . . . . 196 
 
 Commentary . . . . 200 
 
 Eabhasa 200 
 
 Ketu 201 
 
 Aidha-iva, yudh§!-iva . . 202 
 
 Ni-tya, nish-<ya, apa-tya . 203 
 
 Vi, avyata 205 
 
 Dhra^r 205 
 
 Harmya, zairimy a, for mus 206 
 
 Nad 207 
 
 Eathiyati 207 
 
 Su^-etu 208 
 
 Sumati 208 
 
 Knvi/i-dati 210 
 
 Rad 211 
 
 Rinati 212 
 
 Sudhita 213 
 
 Barha?ia 215 
 
 Alat?*i?ra . . . ... . 215 
 
 Abhihrnti 217 
 
 Tavisha 218 
 
 Khadi 218 
 
 Samaya, ofj-fj 220 
 
 Eta 220 
 
 Ancient dresses . . . 221 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 263 
 
 PAGE 
 
 KshurA 223 
 
 Vap-tar, napita, svap, snap 224 
 
 Mga, svafi^, suake . . 224 
 
 VibhM 224 
 
 Vibhva/i 225 
 
 Malii-tvauam . . . . 225 
 
 Vrata 225 
 
 Datra 228 
 
 Datra 229 
 
 A'lliti, the lufiuite . . . 230 
 
 A'diti and the Adityas . 232 
 
 A'diti and Daksha . . . 234 
 A'diti iu her cosmic 
 
 character . . . . 237 
 
 l'A(iK 
 
 Aditi as mother . . . 23i> 
 
 The seven Adityas . . . 2 JO 
 A'diti identified with other 
 
 deities 242 
 
 A'diti and Diti . . . . 244 
 Aditi in her moral 
 
 character . . . . 244 
 
 A'diti as an adjective . . 249 
 The particles ^anii and 
 
 fax na 251 
 
 Tya(/as 255 
 
 Nibadh 256 
 
 Yng (sirsha) .... 256 
 
 /S'amsa 257 
 
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