Vedic Hymns, Part I (SBE32), by Max Müller, [1891], at sacred-texts.com
Vedic Hymns, Part I (SBE32), by Max Müller, [1891], at sacred-texts.com
1. Let us now proclaim for the robust 1 host, for the herald 2 of the powerful (Indra), their ancient greatness! O ye strong-voiced Maruts, you heroes, prove your powers on your march, as with a torch, as with a sword 3!
2. Like parents bringing a dainty to 1 their own 2 son, the wild (Maruts) play playfully at the sacrifices. The Rudras reach the worshipper with their protection, strong in themselves, they do not fail the sacrificer.
3. For him to whom the immortal guardians have given fulness of wealth, and who is himself a giver of oblations, the Maruts, who gladden men with the milk (of rain), pour out, like friends, many clouds.
4. You who have stirred 1 up the clouds with might, your horses rushed 2 forth, self-guided. All beings who dwell in houses 3 are afraid of you, your march is brilliant with your spears thrust forth.
5. When they whose march is terrible have caused the rocks to tremble 1, or when the manly Maruts have shaken the back of heaven, then every lord of the forest fears at your racing, each shrub flies out of your way 2, whirling like chariot-wheels 3.
6. You, O terrible Maruts, whose ranks are never broken, favourably 1 fulfil our prayer 2! Wherever your gory-toothed 3 lightning bites 4, it crunches 5 cattle, like a well-aimed bolt 6.
7. The Maruts whose gifts are firm, whose bounties are never ceasing, who do not: revile 1, and who are highly praised at the sacrifices, they sing their song 2 for to drink the sweet juice: they know the first manly deeds of the hero (Indra).
8. The man whom you have guarded, O Maruts,—shield him with hundredfold strongholds from injury 1 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 1 are piled up clashing against each other. When you are on your journeys, you carry the rings 2 on your shoulders, and your axle turns the two wheels at once 3.
10. In their manly arms there are many good things, on their chests golden chains 1, flaring 2 ornaments, on their shoulders speckled deer-skins 3, on their fellies sharp edges 4; as birds spread their wings, they spread out splendours behind.
11. They, mighty by might, all-powerful powers 1, visible from afar like the heavens 2 with the stars, sweet-toned, soft-tongued singers with their mouths 3, the Maruts, united with Indra, shout all around.
12. This is your greatness 1 O well-born Maruts!—your bounty 3 extends far, as the sway 2 of Aditi 4. Not even 5 Indra in his scorn 6 can injure that bounty, on whatever man you have bestowed it for his good deeds.
13. This is your kinship (with us), O Maruts, that you, immortals, in former years have often protected the singer 1. Having through this prayer granted a hearing to man, all these heroes together have become well-known by their valiant deeds.
14. That we may long flourish, O Maruts, with your wealth, O ye racers, that our men may spread in the camp, therefore let me achieve the rite with these offerings.
15. May this praise, O Maruts, this song of Mândârya, the son of Mâna, the poet, ask you with food for offspring for ourselves! May we have an invigorating autumn, with quickening rain!
This hymn is ascribed to Agastya, the reputed son of Mitrâvarunau, and brother of Vasishtha. The metre in verses 1-13 is Gagatî, in 14, 15 Trishtubh. No verse of this hymn occurs in SV., VS., AV., TS., TB.
Note 1. Rabhasá, an adjective of rábhas, and this again from the root rabh, to rush upon a thing, â-rabh, to begin a thing. From this root rabh we have the Latin robur, in the general sense of strength, while in rabies the original meaning of impetuous motion has been more clearly preserved. The Greek λάβρος, too, as pointed out by Cowell, comes from this root. In the Vedic Sanskrit, derivatives from the root rabh convey the meaning both of quickness and of strength. Quickness in ancient languages frequently implies strength, and strength implies quickness, as we see, for instance, from the German snël, which, from meaning originally strong, comes to mean in modern German quick, and quick only. The German bald again, meaning soon, comes from the Gothic balths, the English bold. Thus we read:
I, 145, 3. sísuh â´ adatta sám rábhah.
The child (Agni) acquired vigour.
Indra is called rabhah-dâ´h, giver of strength; and rabhasá, vigorous, is applied not only to the Maruts, who in V, 58, 5, are called rábhishthâh, the most vigorous, but also to Agni, II, 10, 4, and to Indra, III, 31, 12.
In the sense of rabid, furious, it occurs in
X, 95, 14. ádha enam vríkâh rabhasâ´sah adyúh.
May rabid wolves eat him!
In the next verse rabhasá, the epithet of the wolves, is replaced by ásiva, which means unlucky, uncanny.
In our hymn rabhasá occurs once more, and is applied there, in verse 10, to the añgí or glittering ornaments of the Maruts. Here Sâyana translates it by lovely, and it was most likely intended to convey the idea of lively or brilliant splendour, though it may mean also strong. See also IX, 96, 1.
Note 2. Ketú, derived from an old root ki, in Sanskrit ki, to perceive, from which also kitra, conspicuous, ken-speckled, beautiful, means originally that by which a thing is perceived or known, whether a sign, or a flag, or a herald. It is the Gothic haidu, species. 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 arrival of Indra, they are the first of his army.
Note 3. The real difficulty of our verse lies in the two comparisons aidhâ´-iva and yudhâ´-iva. Neither of them occurs again in the Rig-veda. B. and R. explain aidhâ´ as an instrumental of aídh, flaming, or flame, and derive it from the root idh, to kindle, with the preposition â. Professor Bollensen in his excellent article Zur Herstellung des Veda (Orient and Occident, vol. iii, p. 473) says: 'The analysis of the text given in the Pada, viz. aidhâ´-iva and yudhâ´-iva, is contrary to all sense. The common predicate is tavishâ´ni 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 aidhé va and yudhé | va. Both are infinitives, aidh is nothing but the root idh + â, to kindle, to light.' Now this is certainly a very ingenious explanation, but it rests on a supposition which I cannot consider as proved, viz. that in the Veda, as in Pâli, the comparative particle iva may be changed, as shown in the preface to the first edition, to va. It must be admitted that the two short syllables of iva are occasionally counted in the Veda as one, but yudhé-iva, though it might become yudhá iva, would never in the Veda become yudhéva.
As yudhâ´ occurs frequently in the Veda, we may begin by admitting that the parallel form aidh must be explained in analogy to yudhâ´. Now yúdh is a verbal noun and means fighting. We have the accusative yúdham, I, 53, 7; the genitive yudháh, VIII, 27, 17; the dative yudhé, I, 61, 13; the locative yudhí, I, 8, 3; the instrumental yudhâ´, I, 53, 7, &c.; loc. plur. yut-sú, I, 91, 21. As long as yúdh
retains the general predicative meaning of fighting, some of these cases may be called infinitives. But yúdh soon assumes not only the meaning of battle, battle-ground, but also of instrument of fighting, weapon. In another passage, X, 103, 2, yúdhah may be taken as a vocative plural, meaning fighters. Passages in which yúdh means clearly weapon, are, for instance,
V, 52, 6. â´ rukmaíh â´ yudhâ´ nárah rishvâ´h rishtî´h asrikshata.
With their bright chains, with their weapon, the tall men have stretched forth the spears.
X, 55, 8. pîtvî´ sómasya diváh â´ vridhânáh sû´rah níh yudhâ´ adhamat dásyûn.
The hero, growing, after drinking the Soma, blew away from the sky the enemies with his weapon. See also X, 103, 4.
I therefore take yúdh in our passage also in the sense of weapon or sword, and, in accordance with this, I assign to aídh the meaning of torch. Whether aídh comes from idh with the preposition â, which, after all, would only give edh, or whether we have in the Sanskrit aídh the same peculiar strengthening which this very root shows in Greek and Latin a, would be difficult to decide. The torch of the Maruts is the lightning, the weapon the thunderbolt, and by both they manifest their strength; ferro et igne, as Ludwig remarks.
Wilson: We proclaim eagerly, Maruts, your ancient greatness, for (the sake of inducing) your prompt appearance, as the indication 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.
Note 1. That úpa can be construed with the accusative is clear from many passages:
III, 35, 2. úpa imám yagñám â´ vahâtah índram.
Bring Indra to this sacrifice!
I, 25, 4. váyah ná vasatî´h úpa.
As birds (fly) to their nests.
Note 2. Nítya, from ni + tya a, means originally what is inside, internus, then what is one's own; and is opposed to níshtya, from nis + tya, what is outside, strange, or hostile. Nítya has been well compared with nigá, literally eingeboren, then, like nítya, 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 nítya, one's own, unchanging, eternal. Thus we find nítya used in the sense of internal or domestic:
I, 73, 4. tám tvâ nárah dáme â´ nítyam iddhám ágne sákanta kshitíshu dhruvâ´su.
Our men worshipped thee, O Agni, lighted within the house in safe places.
This I believe to be a more appropriate rendering than if we take nítya in the sense of always, continuously lighted, or, as some propose, in the sense of eternal, everlasting.
VII, 1, 2. dakshâ´yyah yáh dáme â´sa nítyah.
Agni who is to be pleased within the house, i. e. as belonging 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 nítyah, however, may have been intended as an adjective belonging to the vocative sûno.
Most frequently nítya occurs with sûnú, I, 66, 1; 185, 2; tánaya, III, 15, 2; X, 39, 14; toká, II, 2, 11; âpí, VII, 88, 6; páti, I, 71, 1, and has always the meaning of one's own, very much like the later Sanskrit niga, which never occurs in the Rig-veda, though it makes its appearance in the Âtharvana.
Níshtya, extraneus, occurs three times in the Rig-veda:
VI, 75, 19. yáh nah sváh áranah yáh ka níshtyah gíghâmsati.
Whoever wishes to hurt us, our own friend or a stranger from without.
X, 133, 5. yáh nah indra abhi-dâ´sati sá-nâbhih yáh ka níshtyah.
He who infests us, O Indra, whether a relative or a stranger.
VIII, I, 13. mâ´ bhûma níshtyâh-iva índra tvád áranâh-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).
Ludwig: Wie einen nicht absterbenden Sohn das Madhu bringend.
Note 1. Ávyata, a Vedic second aorist of vî (ag), to stir up, to excite. From it pravayana, a goad, pra-vetar, a driver. The Greek οἶ-σ-τρος, gad-fly, has been referred to the same root. See Fick, Wörterbuch, p. 170.
Roth (Wenzel, Instrumental, p. 54) translates: 'While you quickly throw yourselves into the mists;' from a verb vyâ.
Note 2. Adhragan, from dhrag, a root which, by metathesis of aspiration, would assume the form of dragh or dragh. In Greek, the final medial aspirate being hardened, reacts on the initial media, and changes it to t, as bâhu becomes πῆχυς, budh πυθ, bandh, πενθ. This would give us τρεχ, the Greek root for running, Goth. thrag-jan.
Note 3. Harmyá is used here as an adjective of bhúvana, and can only mean living in houses. It does not, however, occur again in the same sense, though it occurs several times as a substantive, meaning house. Its original meaning is fire-pit, then hearth, then house, a transition of meaning analogous to that of aedes. Most of the ancient nations begin their kitchen with a fire-pit. ‘They dig a hole in the ground, take a piece of the animal's raw hide, and press it down with their hands close to the sides of the hole, which thus becomes a sort of pot or basin. This they fill with water, and they make a number of stones red-hot in a fire close by. The 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 a.”’ This pit was called harmyá b or gharmá, which is the Latin formus. Thus we read:
VII, 56, 16. té harmye-sthâ´h sísavah ná subhrâ´h.
The Maruts bright like boys standing by the hearth.
From meaning fire-pit, or hearth, harmyá afterwards takes the more general sense of house:
VII, 55, 6. téshâm sám hanmah akshâ´ni yáthâ idám harmyám táthâ.
We shut their eyes as we shut this house (possibly, this oven).
VII, 76, 2. pratîkî´ â´ agât ádhi harmyébhyah.
The dawn comes near, over the house-tops.
X, 46, 3. gâtáh â´ harmyéshu.
Agni, born in the houses.
X, 73, 10. manyóh iyâya harmyéshu tasthau.
He came from Manyu, he remained in the houses.
In some of these passages harmyá might be taken in the sense of householder; but as harmyá in VII, 55, 6, has clearly the meaning of a building, it seems better not to assign to it unnecessarily any new significations.
If harmya or *harma meant originally a fire-pit, then a hearth, a house, we see the close connection between harma and gharma, harmya and gharmya. Thus by the side of harmyeshtha we find gharmyeshtha (RV. X, 106, 5). We find gharma meaning, not only heat in general, but fire-pit, hearth; and we find the same word used for what we should call the pit, a place of torture and punishment from which the gods save their worshippers, or into which they throw the evil-doers.
V, 32, 5. yûyutsantam támasi harmyé dhâ´h.
When thou, Indra, hadst placed Sushna, who was anxious to fight, in the darkness of the pit.
In the next verse we find
asûryé támasi, in the ghastly darkness.
VIII, 5, 23. yuvám kánvâya nâsatyâ ápi-riptâya harmyé sásvat ûtî´h dasasyathah.
You, Nâsatyas, always grant your aid to Kanva when thrown into the pit.
This fiery pit into which Atri is thrown, and whence he, too, was saved by the Asvins, is likewise called gharmá, I, 112, 7; 119, 6; VIII, 73, 3; X, 80, 3.
Lastly we find:
X, 114, 10. yadâ´ yamáh bhávati harmyé hitáh.
When Yama is seated in the house, or in the nether world.
When the Pitars, too, the spirits of the departed, the Manes, are called gharma-sád, this is probably intended to mean, dwelling on the hearth (X, 15, 9 and 10), and not dwelling in the abode of Yama.
Kuhn, Zeitschrift, vol. ii, p. 234: 'Die ihr die Luft erfüllt mit eurer Kraft, hervorstürmt ihr selbst-gelenkten Laufes.'
Note 1. Nad certainly means to sound, and the causative might be translated by 'to make cry or shriek.' If we took párvata in the sense of cloud, we might translate, 'When you make the clouds roar;' if we took párvata for mountain, we might, with Professor Wilson, render the passage by 'When your brilliant coursers make the mountains echo.' But nad, like other roots which afterwards 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 Vedic poet undoubtedly meant nad to be taken in that sense:
VIII, 20, 5. ákyutâ kit vah ágman â´ nâ´nadati párvatâsah vánaspátih, bhû´mih yâ´meshu regate.
At your racing even things that are immovable vibrate, the rocks, the lord of the forest; the earth quivers on your ways. (See I, 37, 7, note I.) Grassmann here translates nadáyanta by erschüttern, but in VIII, 20, 5 by erdröhnt.
Note 2. See I, 37, 7, note 1.
Note 3. Rathiyántî-iva does not occur again. Sâyana explains it, like a woman who wishes for a chariot, or who rides in a chariot. I join it with óshadhi, and take it in the sense of upamânâd âkâre (Pân. III, 1, 10), 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 wheels. The Pada has rathiyántî, whereas the more regular form is that of the Samhitâ, rathîyántî. Cf. Prâtisâkhya, 587.
Note 1. Su-ketúnâ, the instrumental of su-ketú, kindness, good-mindedness, favour. This word occurs in the instrumental only, and always refers to the kindness of the gods; not, like sumatí, to the kindness of the worshipper also:
I, 79, 9. â´ nah agne su-ketúnâ rayím visvâ´yu-poshasam, mârdîkám dhehi gîváse.
Give us, O Agni, through thy favour wealth which supports our whole life, give us grace to live.
I, 127, 11. sáh nah nédishtham dádrisânah â´ bhara ágne devébhih sá-kanâh su-ketúnâ maháh râyáh su-ketûnâ.
Thou, O Agni, seen close to us, bring to us, in union with the gods, by thy favour, great riches, by thy favour!
I, 159, 5. asmábhyam dyâvâprithivî (íti) su-ketúnâ rayím dhattam vásu-mantam sata-gvínam.
Give to us, O Dyâvâprithivî, by your favour, wealth, consisting of treasures and many flocks.
V, 51, 11. svastí dyâvâprithivî (íti) su-ketúnâ.
Give us, O Dyâvâprithivî, happiness through your favour!
V, 64, 2. tâ´ bâhávâ su-ketúnâ prá yantam asmai árkate.
Stretch out your arms with kindness to this worshipper! In one passage of the ninth Mandala (IX, 65, 30) we meet with su-ketúnam, as an accusative, referring to Soma, the gracious, and this would pre-suppose a substantive ketúna, which, however, does not exist.
Note 2. Sumatí 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 Vedic poets. But there are also numerous passages where that meaning is inapplicable, and
where, as in our passage, we must translate sumatí by prayer or desire.
In the following passages sumatí is clearly used in its original sense of favour, blessing, or even gift:
I, 73, 6 (7). su-matím bhíkshamânâh.
Begging for thy favour.
I, 171, 1. su-ukténa bhikshe su-matím turâ´nâm.
With a hymn I beg for the favour of the quick Maruts.
I, 114, 3. asyâ´ma te su-matím.
May we obtain thy favour! Cf. I, 114, 9:
I, 114, 4. su-matím ít vayám asya â´ vrinîmahe.
We choose his favour. Cf. III, 33, 1.
I, 117, 23. sádâ kavî (íti) su-matím â´ kake vâm.
I always desire your favour, O ye wise Asvins.
I, 156, 3. maháh te vishno (íti) su-matím bhagâmahe.
May we, O Vishnu, enjoy the favour of thee, the mighty!
Bhiksh, to beg, used above, is an old desiderative form of bhag, and means to wish to enjoy.
III, 4, 1. su-matím râsi vásvah.
Thou grantest the favour of wealth.
VII, 39, 1. ûrdhváh agníh su-matím vásvah asret.
The lighted fire went up for the favour of wealth. Cf. VII, 60, 11; IX, 97, 26.
III, 57, 6. váso (íti) râ´sva su-matím visvá-ganyâm.
Grant us, O Vasu, thy favour, which is glorious among men!
VII, 100, 2. tvâm vishno (íti) su-matím visvá-ganyâm—dâh.
Mayest thou, Vishnu, give thy favour, which is glorious among men!
X, 11, 7. yáh te agne su-matím mártah ákshat.
The mortal who obtained thy favour, O Agni.
II, 34, 15. arvâ´kî sâ´ marutah yâ´ vah ûtíh ó (íti) sú vâsrâ´-iva su-matíh gigâtu.
Your help, O Maruts, which is to usward, your favour may it come near, like a cow!
VIII, 22, 4. asmâ´n ákkha su-matíh vâm subhah patî (íti) â dhenúh-iva dhâvatu.
May your favour, O Asvins, hasten towards us, like a cow!
But this meaning is by no means the invariable meaning of sumatí, and it will easily be seen that, in the following
passages, the word must be translated by prayer. Thus when Sarasvatî is called (I, 3, 11) kétantî su-matînâ´m, this can only mean she who knows of the prayers, as before she is called kodayitrî´ sûnrítânâm, she who excites songs of praise:
I, 151, 7. ákkha gírah su-matím gantam asma-yû´ (íti).
Come towards the songs, towards the prayer, you who are longing for us. Cf. X, 20, 10.
II, 43, 3. tûshnî´m â´sînah su-matím kikiddhi nah.
Sitting quiet, listen, O Sakuni (bird), to our prayer!
V, 1, 10. â´ bhándishthasya su-matím kikiddhi.
Take notice of the prayer of thy best praiser! Cf. V, 33, I.
VII, 18, 4. â´ nah índrah su-matím gantu ákkha.
May Indra come to our prayer!
VII, 31, 10. prá-ketase prá su-matím krinudhvam.
Make a prayer for the wise god!
IX, 96, 2. su-matím yâti ákkha.
He (Soma) goes near to the prayer.
X, 148, 3. rishînâm víprah su-matím kakânáh.
Thou, the wise, desiring the prayer of the Rishis.
VIII, 22, 6. tâ´ vâm adyá sumatí-bhih subhah patî (íti) ásvinâ prá stuvîmahi.
Let us praise to-day the glorious Asvins with our prayers.
IX, 74, 1. tám îmahe su-matî´.
We implore him with prayer.
In our passage the verb pipartana, fill or fulfil, indicates in what sense sumatí ought to be taken. Su-matím pipartana is no more than kâ´mam pipartana, fulfil our desire! See VII, 62, 3. â´ nah kâ´mam pûpurantu; I, 158, 2. kâmapréna-iva mánasâ. On sumná, see Burnouf, Études, p. 91, and Aufrecht, in Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. iv, p. 274.
Note 3. Krívih-datî has been a crux to ancient and modern interpreters. It is mentioned as a difficult word in the Nighantu, and all that Yâska has to say is that it means possessed of cutting teeth (Nir. VI, 30. krivirdatî vikartanadantî). Professor Roth, in his note to this passage, says that krivi can never have the meaning of well, which is ascribed to it in the Nighantu III, 23, but seems rather to mean an animal, perhaps the wild boar, κάπρος, with metathesis of v and r. He translates our passage: 'Where
your lightning with boar-teeth tears.' In his Dictionary, however, he only says, 'krivis, perhaps the name of an animal, and dant, tooth.' Sâyana contents himself with explaining krívirdatî by vikshepanasîladantî, having teeth that scatter about.
My own translation is founded on the supposition that krívis, the first portion of krívirdatî, has nothing to do with krivi, but is a dialectic variety of kravís, raw flesh, the Greek κρέας, Latin caro, cruor. It means what is raw, bloody, or gory. From it the adjective krûra, horrible, cruentus (Curtius, Grundzüge, p. 142; Kuhn, Zeitschrift, vol. ii, p. 235). A name of the goddess Durgâ in later Sanskrit is krûradantî, and with a similar conception the lightning, I believe, is here called krívirdatî, with gory teeth.
Note 4. It should be observed that in rádati the simile of the teeth of the lightning is carried on. For rádati may be supposed to have had in the Veda, too, the original meaning of râdere and rôdere, 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. góh ná párva ví rada tiraskâ´.
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. It is not the same which we have in the Zend râd, to give, and which Justi rightly identifies with the root râdh. But rad, to divide, may, like the German theilen in zutheilen, have taken the meaning of giving. Greek δαίω means to divide, but yields δαίς, portion, meal, just as Sanskrit day, to divide, yields dâyas, share, i. e. inheritance.
This meaning is evident in the following passages:
VII, 79, 4. tâ´vat ushah râ´dhah asmábhyam râsva yâ´vat stotrí-bhyah áradah grinânâ´.
Grant us, Ushas, so much wealth as thou hast given to the singers, when praised.
I, 116, 7. kakshî´vate aradatam púram-dhim.
You gave wisdom to Kakshîvat.
I, 169, 8. ráda marút-bhih surúdhah gó-agrâh.
Give to the Maruts gifts, rich in cattle.
VII, 62, 3. ví nah sahásram surúdhah radantu.
May they (the gods) give to us a thousand gifts!
I, 117, 11. vâ´gam víprâya—rádantâ.
Giving spoil to the sage!
VI, 61, 6. ráda pûshâ´-iva nah saním.
Give us, Sarasvatî, wealth, like Pûshan!
IX, 93, 4. rada índo (íti) rayím.
Give us, O Indra, wealth!
VII, 32, 18. rada-vaso (íti).
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:
VI, 30, 3. yát âbhyah áradah gâtúm indra.
That thou hast cut a way for them (the rivers). Cf. VII, 74, 4.
IV, 19, 2. prá vartanî´h aradah visvá-dhenâh.
Thou (Indra) hast cut open the paths for all the cows.
X, 75, 2. prá te aradat várunah yâ´tave patháh.
Varuna cut the paths for thee to go.
VII, 87, 1. rádat patháh várunah sû´ryâya.
Varuna cut paths for Sûrya.
V, 80, 3. patháh rádantî suvitâ´ya devî´.
She, the dawn, cutting open the paths for welfare.
VII, 60, 4. yásmai âdityâ´h ádhvanah rádanti.
For whom the Âdityas cut roads.
II, 30, 2. patháh rádantîh—dhûnayah yanti ártham.
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, 33, 6. índrah asmâ´n aradat vágra-bâhuh. Cf. X, 89, 7.
Note 5. Rinâ´ti, like the preceding expressions krívirdatî and rádati, is not chosen at random, for though it has the
general meaning of crushing or destroying, it is used by the Vedic poets with special reference to the chewing or crunching by means of the teeth. For instance,
I, 148, 4. purû´ni dasmáh ní rinâti gámbhaih.
Agni crunches many things with his jaws.
I, 127, 4. sthirâ´ kit ánnâ ní rinâti ógasâ.
Even tough morsels he (Agni) crunches fiercely. In a more general sense we find it used,
V, 41, 10. sokíh-kesah ní rinâti vánâ.
Agni with flaming hair swallows or destroys the forests.
IV, 19, 3. áhim vágrena ví rinâh.
Thou destroyedst Ahi with the thunderbolt.
X, 120, 1. sadyáh gagñânáh ní rinâti sátrûn.
As soon as born he destroys his enemies.
Note 6. Súdhitâ-iva barhánâ. I think the explanation of this phrase given by Sâyana may be retained. He explains súdhitâ by suhitâ, i. e. sushthu preritâ, well thrown, well levelled, and barhánâ by hatis, tatsâdhanâ hetir vâ, a blow or its instrument, a weapon. Professor Roth takes barhánâ as an instrumental, used adverbially, in the sense of powerfully, but he does not explain in what sense súdhitâ-iva ought then to be taken. We cannot well refer it to didyút, lightning, on account of the iva, which requires something that can form a simile of the lightning. Nor is su-dhitâ ever used as a substantive so as to take the place of svádhitîva. Sú-dhita has apparently many meanings, but they all centre in one common conception. Sú-dhita means well placed, of a thing which is at rest, well arranged, well ordered, secure; or it means well sent, well thrown, of a thing which has been in motion. Applied to human beings, it means well disposed or kind.
III, 23, 1. níh-mathitah sú-dhitah â´ sadhá-sthe.
Agni produced by rubbing, and well placed in his abode.
VII, 42, 4. sú-prîtah agníh sú-dhitah dáme â´.
Agni, who is cherished and well placed in the house.
III, 29, 2. arányoh ní-hitah gâtá-vedâh gárbhah-iva sú-dhitah garbhínîshu.
Agni placed in the two fire-sticks, well placed like an embryo in the mothers. Cf. X, 27, 16.
VIII, 60, 4. abhí práyâmsi sú-dhitâ â´ vaso (íti) gahi.
Come, O Vasu, to these well-placed offerings. Cf. I, 135, 4; VI, 15, 15; X, 53, 2.
X, 70, 8. sû-dhitâ havî´mshi.
The well-placed offerings.
IV, 2, 10 (adhvarám). VII, 7, 3 (barhíh).
As applied to â´yus, life, súdhita may be translated by well established, safe:
II, 27, 10. asyâ´ma â´yûmshi sú-dhitâni pû´rvâ.
May we obtain the happy long lives of our forefathers.
IV, 50, 8. sáh ít ksheti sú-dhitah ókasi své.
That man dwells secure in his own house.
Applied to a missile weapon, súdhita 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. mimyáksha yéshu sú-dhitâ—rishtíh.
To whom the well held spear sticks fast.
VI, 33, 3. tvám tâ´n indra ubháyân amítrân dâ´sâ vritrâ´ni â´ryâ ka sûra, vádhîh vánâ-iva sú-dhitebhih átkaih.
Thou, Indra, O hero, struckest both enemies, the barbarous and the Aryan fiends, like forests with well-aimed weapons.
Applied to a poem, súdhita means well arranged or perfect:
I, 140, 11. idám agne sú-dhitam dúh-dhitât ádhi priyâ´t ûm (íti) kit mánmanah préyah astu te.
May this perfect prayer be more agreeable to thee than an imperfect one, though thou likest it.
VII, 32, 13. mántram ákharvam sú-dhitam. A poem, not mean, well contrived.
As applied to men, súdhita means very much the same as hitá, well disposed, kind:
IV, 6, 7. ádha mitráh ná sú-dhitah pâvakáh agníh dîdâya mâ´nushîshu vikshú.
Then, like a kind friend, Agni shone among the children of man.
V, 3, 2. mitrám sú-dhitam.
VI, 15, 2. mitrám ná yám sú-dhitam.
VIII, 23, 8. mitrám ná gáne sú-dhitam ritá-vani.
X, 115, 7. mitrâ´sah ná yé sú-dhitâh.
At last sú-dhita, without reference to human beings, takes the general sense of kind, good:
III, 11, 8. pári vísvâni sú-dhitâ agnéh asyâma mánma-bhih.
May we obtain through our prayers all the goods of Agni.
Here, however, práyâmsi 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 súdhita, as applied to weapons, means well held or well aimed, we can hardly doubt that barhánâ is here, as Sâyana says, some kind of weapon. I should derive it from barhayati, to crush, which we have, for instance,
I, 133, 5. pisáṅga-bhrishtim ambhrinám pisâ´kim indra sám mrina, sárvam rákshah ní barhaya.
Pound together the fearful Pisâki with his fiery weapons, strike down every Rakshas.
II, 23, 8. bríhaspate deva-nídah ní barhaya.
Brihaspati strike down the scoffers of the gods. Cf. VI, 61, 3.
Barhánâ would therefore mean a weapon intended to crush an enemy, a block of stone, it may be, or a heavy club, and in that sense barhánâ occurs at least once more:
VIII, 63, 7. yát pâ´ñka-ganyayâ visâ´ índre ghóshâh ásrikshata, ástrinât barhánâ vipáh.
When shouts have been sent up to Indra by the people of the five clans, then the club scattered the spears; or, then he scattered the spears with his club.
In other passages Professor Roth is no doubt right when he assigns to barhánâ an adverbial meaning, but I do not think that this meaning would be appropriate in our verse. Grassmann also translates, 'ein wohlgezielter Pfeil.'
Note 1. Alâtrinâ´sah, a word which occurs but once more, and which had evidently become unintelligible even at the
time of Yâska. He (Nir. VI, 2) explains it by alamâtardano meghah, the cloud which opens easily. This, at least, is the translation given by Professor Roth, though not without hesitation. Alamâtardanah, as a compound, is explained by the commentator as âtardanaparyâptah, alam âtardayitum udakam, i. e. capable of letting off the water. But Devarâgayagvan explains it differently. He says: alam paryâptam âtardanam himsâ yasya, bahûdakatvâkkhabalo megho viseshyate, i. e. whose injuring is great; the dark cloud is so called because it contains much water. Sâyana. too, attempts several explanations. In III, 30, 10, he seems to derive it from trih, to kill, not, like Yâska, from trid, 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 anâtrina, 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 râ, to give, and the suffix trina, and the negative particle, thus meaning, one who does not give or yield anything. But, if so, how is this adjective applicable to the Maruts, who in this very verse are praised for their generosity? Langlois in our passage translates, 'heureux de nos louanges;' in III, 30, 10, qui laissait flétrir les plantes.' Wilson in our passage translates, '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 trina is certainly irregular, and I should much prefer to write alâtrina, for in that case we might derive lâtrin from lâtra, and to this lâtra, i. e. râtra, I. should ascribe the sense of barking. The root rai or râ means to bark, and has been connected by Professor Aufrecht with Latin rire, inrire, and possibly inritare a,
thus showing a transition of meaning from barking, to provoking or attacking. The same root râ explains also the Latin lâtrare, to bark, allatrare, to assail; and, whatever ancient etymologists may say to the contrary, the Latin latro, an assailer. The old derivation 'latrones eos antiqui dicebant, qui conducti militabant, ἀπὸ τῆς λατρείας,' seems to me one of those etymologies in which the scholars of Rome, who had learnt a little Greek, delighted as much as scholars who know a little Sanskrit delight in finding some plausible derivation for any Greek or Latin word in Sanskrit. I know that Curtius (Grundzüge, p. 326) and Corssen (Kritische Nachträge, p. 239) take a different view; but a foreign word, derived from λάτρον, pay, hire, would never have proved so fertile as latro has been in Latin.
If then we could write alâtrinâ´sah, we should have an appropriate epithet of the Maruts, in the sense of not assailing or not reviling, in fact, free from malevolence, as Wilson translated the word, or rather Sâyana's explanation of it, âtardanarahita. What gives me some confidence in this explanation is this, that it is equally applicable to the other passage where alâtrina occurs, III, 30, 10:
alâtrináh valáh indra vragáh góh purâ´ hántoh bháyamânah ví âra.
Without barking did Vala, the keeper of the cow, full of tear, open, before thou struckest him.
If it should be objected that vragá means always stable, and is not used again in the sense of keeper, one might reply that vragáh, in the nom. sing., occurs in this one single passage only, and that bháyamânah, fearing, clearly implies a personification. Otherwise, one might translate: 'Vala was quiet, O Indra, and the stable of the cow came open, full of fear, before thou struckest.' The meaning of alâtriná would remain the same, the not-barking being here used as a sign that Indra's enemy was cowed, and no longer inclined to revile or defy the power of Indra. Hom. hymn. in Merc. 145, οὐδὲ κύνες λελάκοντο.
Note 2. See I, 38, 15, note 1, page 95.
Note 1. Abhí-hruti seems to have the meaning of assault, injury, insult. It occurs but once, but abhí-hrut, a feminine substantive with the same meaning, occurs several times. The verb hru, which is not mentioned in the Dhâtupâtha, but has been identified with hvar, occurs in our hymn, verse 12:
I, 128, 5. sáh nah trâsate duh-itâ´t abhi-hrútah sámsât aghâ´t abhi-hrútah.
He protects us from evil, from assault, from evil speaking, from assault.
X, 63, 11. trâ´yadhvam nah duh-évâyâh abhi-hrútah.
Protect us from mischievous injury!
I, 189, 6. abhi-hrútâm ási hí deva vishpát.
For thou, god, art the deliverer from all assaults. Vishpát, deliverer, from vi and spas, to bind.
Ví-hruta, which occurs twice, means evidently what has been injured or spoiled:
VIII, 1, 12. íshkartâ ví-hrutam púnar (iti).
He who sets right what has been injured. Cf. VIII, 20, 26.
Ávi-hruta again clearly means uninjured, intact, entire:
V, 66, 2. tâ´ hí kshatrám ávi-hrutam—â´sâte.
For they both have obtained uninjured power.
X, 170, 1. â´yuh dádhat yagñá-patau ávi-hrutam.
Giving uninjured life to the lord of the sacrifice.
Note 1. Tavishá certainly means strength, and that it is used in the plural 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 tavishâ´ni are placed on the chariots of the Maruts, just as before bhadrâ´, 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. As to mithaspridhya, see I, 119, 3, p. 164.
Note 2. The rendering of this passage must depend on the question whether the khâdís, whatever they are, can be carried on the shoulders or not. We saw before (p. 120) that khâdís were used both as ornaments and as weapons, and that, when used as weapons, they were most likely rings or quoits with sharp edges. There is at least one other passage where these khâdís are said to be worn on the shoulders:
VII, 56, 13. ámseshu â´ marutah khâdáyah vah vákshah-su rukmâ´h upa-sisriyânâ´h.
On your shoulders are the quoits, on your chests the golden chains are fastened.
In other places the khâdís are said to be in the hands, hásteshu, but this would only show that they are there when actually used for fighting. Thus we read:
I, 168, 3. â´ eshâm ámseshu rambhínî-iva rarabhe, hásteshu khâdíh ka kritíh ka sám dadhe.
To their shoulders there clings as if a clinging wife, in their hands the quoit is held and the dagger.
In V, 58, 2, the Maruts are called khâ´di-hasta, holding the quoits in their hands. There is one passage which was mentioned before (p. 112), where the khâdís are said to be on the feet of the Maruts, and on the strength of this passage Professor Roth proposes to alter prá-patheshu to prá-padeshu, and to translate, 'The khâdís are on your forefeet.' I do not think this emendation necessary. Though we do not know the exact shape and character of the khâdí, 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 Vishnu holds in one of his right hands, the so-called kakra, may be the modern representation of the ancient khâdí. What, however, is quite certain is this, that khâdí in the Veda never means food, as Sâyana 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 Rishis. '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 sarái of the Mohammedans, a place by the road-side where the travellers may find shelter and provisions.'
Note 3. 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 (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 correct, yet one can well imagine how 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 possible. Samáyâ in the Veda means together, at once, and is the Greek (ὁμῇ, generally ὁμοῦ or ὁμῶς, the Latin simul. Cf. I, 56, 6; 73, 6; 113, 10; 163, 3; VII, 66, 15; IX, 75, 4; 85, 5; 97, 56.
Vrit means to turn, and is frequently used with reference to the wheels:
VIII, 46, 23. dása syâvâ´h—nemím ní vavrituh.
The ten black horses turn down the felly or the wheel.
IV, 30, 2. satrâ´ te ánu krishtáyah vísvâh kakrâ´-iva vavrituh.
All men turn always round thee, like wheels.
That the Âtmanepada of vrit may be used in an active sense we see from
I, 191, 15. tátah vishám prá 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 divertit. In Greek ἄξων ὑ(μῶν) κύκλω ὁμῇ …
Note 1. See I, 64, 4, note 1, page 111.
Note 2. See I, 166, 1, note 1, page 212.
Note 3. On éta in the sense of fallow deer, or, it may be, antelope, see I, 165, 5, note 2, page 196.
Éta originally means variegated, and thus becomes a name of any speckled deer, it being difficult to say what exact species is meant. Sâyana in our passage explains étâh by suklavarnâ mâlâh, many-coloured wreaths or chains, which may be right. Yet the suggestion of Professor Roth that étâh, deer, stands here for the skins of fallow deer, is certainly more poetical, and quite 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 Âsvalâyana's Grihya-sûtras, of which we now possess an excellent edition by Professor Stenzler, and a reprint of the text and commentary by Râma Nârâyana Vidyâratna, 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 Brâhmana should wear the skin of an antelope (aineya), the Kshatriya the skin of a deer (raurava), the Vaisya the skin of a goat (âga). If they wore dresses, that of the Brâhmana should be dark red (kâshâya), that of the Kshatriya bright red (mâñgishtha), that of the Vaisya yellow (hâridra). The girdle of the Brâhmana should be of Muñga grass, that of the Kshatriya a bow-string, that of the Vaisya made of sheep's wool. The same regulations occur in other Sûtras, as, for instance, the Dharma-sûtras of the Âpastambîyas 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 Âpastambîya-sûtras, which have been published by Professor Bühler, the Brâhmana may wear the skin of the harina deer, or that of the antelope (aineyam), but the latter must be from the black antelope (krishnam), 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, Âpastamba
allows sana, hemp a, or kshumâ, 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 (darbhâdinirmitam kîram kambalam). He then adds a curious remark, which would seem to show
that the Brâhmanas preferred skins, and the Kshatriyas clothes, for he says that those who wish well to the Brâhmanas should wear agina, skins, and those who wish well to the Kshatriyas should wear vastra, clothes, and those who wish well to both should wear both, but, in that case, the skin should always form the outer garment. The Dharma-sûtras of the Gautamas, which were published in India, prescribe likewise for the Brâhmana the black antelope skin, and allow clothes of hemp or linen (sânakshaumakîra) as well as kutapas (woollen cloth) for all. What is new among the Gautamas is, that they add the kârpâsa, the cotton dress, which is important as showing an early knowledge of this manufacture. The kârpâsa dress occurs once more as a present to be given to the Potar priest (Âsv. Srauta-sûtras IX, 4), and was evidently considered as a valuable present, taking precedence of the kshaumî 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 (kâshâyam apy eke), the very expression which occurred in Âpastamba, and that, in that case, the red for the Brâhmana's dress should be taken from the bark of trees (vârksha). Manu, who here, as elsewhere, simply paraphrases the ancient Sûtras, says, II, 41:
'Let Brahmakârins wear (as outer garments) the skins of the black antelope, the deer, the goat, (as under garments) dresses of hemp, flax, and sheep's wool, in the order of the three castes.'
The Sanskrit name for a dressed skin is agina, a word which does not occur in the Rig-Veda, but which, if Bopp is right in deriving it from agá, goat, as αἰγίς from αἴξ, would have meant originally, not skin in general, but a goat-skin. The skins of the éta, here ascribed to the Maruts, would be identical with the aineya, which Âsvalâyana ascribes to the Brâhmana, not, as we should expect, to the Kshatriya, if, as has been supposed, aineya is derived from ena, which is a secondary form, particularly in the
feminine enî, of eta. There is, however, another word, eda, a kind of sheep, which, but for Festus, might be haedus, and by its side ena, a kind of antelope. These two forms pre-suppose an earlier erna or arna, and point therefore in a different direction, though hardly to ἄρνες.
Note 4. I translate kshurá 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 kshurá is the Greek ξυρός or ξυρόν. In the Veda we have clear allusions to shaving:
X, 142, 4. yadâ´ te vâ´tah anu-vâ´ti sokíh, váptâ-iva smásru vapasi prá bhû´ma.
When the wind blows after thy blast, then thou shavest the earth as a barber shaves the beard. Cf. I, 65, 4.
If, as B. and R. suggest, vaptar, barber, is connected with the more modern name for barber in Sanskrit, viz. nâpita. we should have to admit a root svap, in the sense of tearing or pulling, vellere, from which we might derive the Vedic svapû´ (VII, 56, 3), beak. Corresponding 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, while in modern English neb or nib is used for the bill or beak of a bird a. Another derivation of nâpita, proposed by Professor Weber (Kuhn's Beiträge, vol. i, p. 505), who takes nâpita as a dialectic form of snâpitar, balneator, or lavator, might be admitted if it could be proved that in India also the barber was at the same time a balneator. Burnouf, Lotus, p. 452, translating from the Sâmañña-phala Sutta, mentions among the different professions of the people those of 'portier,' 'barbier,' and 'baigneur.'
Note 1. Ví-bhûtayah is properly a substantive, meaning
power, but, like other substantives a, and particularly substantives with prepositions, it can be used as an adjective, and is, in fact, more frequently used as an adjective than as a substantive. In English we may translate it by power. It is a substantive,
I, 8, 9. evá hí te ví-bhûtayah ûtáyah indra mâ´-vate sadyáh kit sánti dâsúshe.
For indeed thy powers, O Indra, are at once shelters for a sacrificer, like me.
But it is an adjective,
I, 30, 5. ví-bhûtih astu sûnrítâ.
May the prayer be powerful.
VI, 17, 4. mahâ´m ánûnam tavásam ví-bhûtim matsarâ´sah garhrishanta pra-sáham.
The sweet draughts of Soma delighted the great, the perfect, the strong, the powerful, the unyielding Indra. Cf. VIII, 49, 6; 50, 6.
Vibhvãh, with the Svarita on the last syllable, has to be pronounced vibhúàh. In III, 6, 9, we find vi-bhávah.
Note 2. See I, 87, 1, note 1, page 160.
Note 3. See I, 6, 5, note 1, page 41.
Note 1. Mahi-tvanám, greatness, is formed by the suffix tvaná, which Professor Aufrecht has identified with the Greek σύνη (συνον); see Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. i, p. 482. The origin of this suffix has been explained by Professor Benfey, ibid. vol. vii, p. 120, who traces it back to the suffix tvan, for instance, i-tvan, goer, in prâtah-ítvâ = prâtah-yâ´vâ.
Note 2. Vratá is one of the many 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. Vratá (from vri, vrinoti), I believe, meant originally what is enclosed, protected, set apart, the Greek νομός:
1. V, 46, 7. yâ´h pâ´rthivâsah yâ´h apâ´m ápi vraté tâ´h nah devîh su-havâh sárma yakkhata.
O ye gracious goddesses, who are on the earth or in the realm of the waters, grant us your protection!
Here vratá is used like vrigána, see I, 165, 15, note 3, page 208.
X, 114, 2. tâ´sâm ní kikyuh kaváyah ni-dâ´nam páreshu yâ´h gúhyeshu vratéshu.
The poets discovered their (the Nirritis’) origin, who are in the far hidden chambers.
I, 163, 3. ási tritáh gúhyena vraténa.
Thou art Trita within the hidden place, or with the secret work.
Dr. Muir sent me another passage:
III, 54, 5. dádrisre eshâm avamâ´ sádâmsi páreshu yâ´ gúhyeshu vratéshu.
2. Vratá means what is fenced off or forbidden, what is determined, what is settled, and hence, like dhárman, law, ordinance. Vârayati means to prohibit. In this sense vratá occurs very frequently:
I, 25, 1. yát kit hí te vísah yathâ prá deva varuna vratám, minîmási dyávi-dyavi.
Whatever law of thine we break, O Varuna, day by day, men as we are.
II, 8, 3. yásya vratám ni mî´yate.
Whose law is not broken.
III, 32, 8. índrasya kárma sú-kritâ purû´ni vratâ´ni devâ´h ná minanti vísve.
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. vísvam satyám maghavânâ yuvóh ít â´pah kaná prá minanti vratám vâm.
All that is yours, O powerful gods, is true; even the waters do not break your law.
II, 38, 7. nákih asya tâ´ni vratâ´ devásya savitúh minanti.
No one breaks these laws of this god Savitar. Cf. II, 38, 9.
I, 92, 12. áminatî daívyâni vratâ´ni.
Not injuring the divine ordinances. Cf. I, 124, 2.
X, 12, 5. kát asya áti vratám kakrima.
Which of his laws have we overstepped?
VIII, 25, 16. tásya vratâ´ni ánu vah karâmasi.
His ordinances we follow.
X, 33, 9. ná devâ´nâm áti vratám sati-âtmâ kaná gîvati.
No one lives beyond the statute of the gods, even if he had a hundred lives.
VII, 5, 4. táva tri-dhâ´tu prithivî´ utá dyaúh vaísvânara vratám agne sakanta.
The earth and the sky followed thy threefold law, O Agni Vaisvânara.
VII, 87, 7. yáh mriláyâti kakrúshe kit â´gah vayám syâma várune ánâgâh, ánu vratâ´ni áditeh ridhántah.
Let us be sinless before Varuna, who is gracious even to him who has committed sin, performing the laws of Aditi!
II, 28, 8. námah purâ´ te varuna utá nûnám utá aparám tuvi-gâta bravâma, tvé hí kam párvate ná sritâ´ni áprakyutâni duh-dabha vratâ´ni.
Formerly, and now, and also in future let us give praise to thee, O Varuna; for in thee, O unconquerable, all laws are grounded, immovable as on a rock.
A very frequent expression is ánu vratám, according to the command of a god, II, 38, 3; 6; VIII, 40, 8; or simply ánu vratám, according to law and order:
I, 136, 5. tám aryamâ´ abhí rakshati rigu-yántam ánu vratám.
Aryaman protects him who acts uprightly according to law.
Cf. III, 61, 1; IV, 13, 2; V, 69, 1.
3. 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. yáh agnî´shómâ havíshâ saparyâ´t devadrî´kâ mánasâ yáh ghriténa, tásya vratám rakshatam pâtám ámhasah.
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. tvám agne prathamáh áṅgirah-tamah kavíh devâ´nâm pári bhûshasi vratám.
Agni, the first and wisest of poets, thou performest the sacrifice of the gods.
III, 3, 9. tásya vratâ´ni bhûri-poshínah vayám úpa bhûshema dáme â´ suvriktí-bhih.
Let us, who possess much wealth, perform with prayers the sacrifices of Agni within our house.
In another acceptation the vratas of the gods are what they perform and establish themselves, their own deeds:
III, 6, 5. vratâ´ te agne mahatáh mahâ´ni táva krátvâ ródasî (íti) â´ tatantha.
The deeds of thee, the great Agni, are great, by thy power thou hast stretched out heaven and earth.
VIII, 42, 1. ástabhnât dyâ´m ásurah visvá-vedâh ámimîta varimâ´nam prithivyâ´h, a asîdat vísvâ bhúvanâni sam-râ´t vísvâ ít tâ´ni várunasya vratâ´ni.
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 Varuna.
VI, 14, 3. tû´rvantah dásyum âyávah vrataíh sî´kshantah avratám.
Men fight the fiend, trying to overcome by their deeds him who performs no sacrifices; or, the lawless enemy.
Lastly, vratá comes to mean sway, power, or work, and the expression vraté táva signifies, at thy command, under thy auspices:
I, 24, 15. átha vayám âditya vraté táva ánâgasah áditaye syâma.
Then, O Âditya, under thy auspices may we be guiltless before Aditi.
VI, 54, 9. pû´shan táva vraté vayám ni rishyema kádâ kaná.
O Pûshan, may we never fail under thy protection.
X, 36, 13. ye savitûh satyá-savasya vísve mitrásya vraté várunasya devâ´h.
All the gods who are in the power of Savitar, Mitra, and Varuna.
V, 83, 5. yásya vraté prithivî´ námnamîti yásya vraté saphá-vat gárbhurîti, yásya vraté óshadhîh visvá-rûpâh sáh nah parganya máhi sárma yakkha.
At whose bidding the earth bows down, at whose bidding hoofed animals run about, at whose bidding the plants assume all shapes, mayest thou, O Parganya, yield us great protection!
Note 3. Dâtrá, if derived from dâ, would mean gift, and that meaning is certainly the most applicable in some passages where it occurs:
IX, 97, 55. ási bhágah ási dâtrásya dâtâ´.
Thou art Bhaga, thou art the giver of the gift.
In other passages, too, particularly in those where the verb dâ or some similar verb occurs in the same verse, it can hardly be doubted that the poet took dâtrá, like dátra or dáttra, in the sense of gift, bounty, largess:
I, 116, 6. yám asvinâ dadáthuh svetám ásvam—tát vâm dâtrám máhi kîrtényam bhût.
The white horse, O Asvins, which you gave, that your gift was great and to be praised.
I, 185, 3. aneháh dâtrám áditeh anarvám huvé.
I call for the unrivalled, the uninjured bounty of Aditi.
VII, 56, 21. mâ´ vah dâtrâ´t marutah níh arâma.
May we not fall away from your bounty, O Maruts!
III, 54, 16. yuvám hí stháh rayi-daú nah rayînâ´m dâtrám rakshethe.
For you, Nâsatyas, are our givers of riches, you protect the gift.
VI, 20, 7. rigísvane dâtrám dâsúshe dâh.
To Rigisvan, the giver, thou givest the gift.
VIII, 43, 33. tát te sahasva îmahe dâtrám yát ná upadásyati, tvát agne vâ´ryam vásu.
We ask thee, strong hero, for the gift which does not perish; we ask from thee the precious wealth.
X, 69, 4. dâtrám rakshasva yát idám te asmé (íti).
Protect this gift of thine which thou hast given to us.
VIII, 44, 18. î´sishe vâ´ryasya hí dâtrásya agne svãh-patih.
For thou, O Agni, lord of heaven, art the master of the precious gift. Cf. IV, 38, 1.
Professor Roth considers that dâtrá is derived rather from dâ, 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, mâ´ vah dâtrâ´t marutah níh arâma, is surely best translated by, 'let us not fall away from your bounty,' and in our own passage the same meaning should be assigned to dâtrá. The idea of dâtrá, bounty, is by no means incompatible with vratá, 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 dâ´tra occurring once with the accent on the first syllable in the sense of sickle, see M. M., 'Über eine Stelle in Yâska's Commentar zum Naighantuka,' Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 1853, vol. vii, P. 375.
VIII, 78, 10. táva ít indra ahám â-sásâ háste dâ´tram kaná â´ dade.
Trusting in thee alone, O Indra, I take the sickle in my hand.
This dâ´tra, sickle, is derived from do, to cut.
Aditi, the Infinite.
Note 4. 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, as it were, to 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
[paragraph continues] 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 indulged freely in theogonic speculations, without being frightened by any contradictions. They knew of Indra as the greatest of gods, they knew of Agni as the god of gods, they knew of Varuna 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 Varuna and his brother Mitra were nursed in the lap of Aditi. Some poet would take hold o 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. utá sva-râge áditih stómam índrâya gîganat.
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 likewise retains stómam instead of sómam, as printed by Professor Aufrecht. Cf. VII, 38, 4.
The idea of the Infinite, as I have tried to show elsewhere, was most powerfully impressed on the awakening mind, or, as we now say, was revealed, by the East a. ‘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 whence 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,' áditer ánîkam. Thus we read:
V, 62, 8. híranya-rûpam ushásah ví-ushtau áyah-sthûnam út-itâ sû´ryasya, â´ rohathah varuna mitra gártam átah kakshâthe (íti) áditim dítim h.
Mitra and Varuna, 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, i. e. what is yonder and what is here.
If we keep this original conception of Aditi clearly before our mind, 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 Âdityas, 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, which 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, whether in time or in thought only, and a name that lives on in the name of the Âdityas, the sons of Aditi, including the principal deities of the Veda.
Aditi and the Âdityas.
Thus we read:
I, 107, 2. ûpa nah devâ´h ávasâ â´ gamantu áṅgirasâm sâ´ma-bhih stûyámânâh, índrah indriyaíh marûtah marút-bhih âdityaíh nah áditih sárma yamsat.
May the gods come to us with their help, praised by the songs of the Aṅgiras,—Indra with his powers, the Maruts with the storms, may Aditi with the Âdityas give us protection!
X, 66, 3. índrah vásu-bhih pári pâtu nah gáyam âdityaíh nah áditih sárma yakkhatu, rudráh rudrébhih deváh mrilayâti nah tváshtâ nah gnâ´bhih suvitâ´ya ginvatu.
May Indra with the Vasus watch our house, may Aditi with the Âdityas give us protection, may the divine Rudra with the Rudras have mercy upon us, may Tvashtar with the mothers bring us to happiness!
III, 54, 20. âdityaíh nah áditih srinotu yákkhantu nah marûtah sárma bhadrám.
May Aditi with the Âdityas hear us, may the Maruts give us good protection!
In another passage Varuna takes the place of Aditi as the leader of the Âdityas:
VII, 35, 6. sám nah índrah vásu-bhih deváh astu sám âdityébhih várunah su-sámsah, sám nah rudráh rudrébhih gálâshah sám nah tváshtâ gnâ´bhih ihá srinotu.
May Indra bless us, the god with the Vasus! May Varuna, the glorious, bless us with the Âdityas! May the relieving Rudra with the Rudras bless us! May Tvashtar 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. prâtáh devî´m áditim gohavîmi madhyándine út-itâ sû´ryasya,
I invoke the divine Aditi early in the morning, at noon, and at the setting of the sun,
Mitra and Varuna, her principal sons, are mentioned immediately after, and implored, like her, to bestow blessings on their worshipper.
Her exclusive worship appears once, in VIII, 19, 14.
A very frequent expression is that of âdityâ´h áditih without any copula, to signify the Âdityas and Aditi:
IV, 25, 3. káh devâ´nâm ávah adyá vrinîte káh âdityâ´n áditim gyótih îtte.
Who does choose now the protection of the gods? Who asks the Âdityas, Aditi, for their light?
VI, 51, 5. vísve âdityâh adite sa-góshâh asmábhyam sárma bahulám ví yanta.
All ye Âdityas, Aditi together, grant to us your manifold protection!
X, 39, 11. ná tám râgânau adite kútah kaná ná ámhah asnoti duh-itám nákih bhayám.
O ye two kings (the Asvins), Aditi, no evil reaches him from anywhere, no misfortune, no fear (whom you protect). Cf. VII, 66, 6.
X, 63, 5. tâ´n â´ vivâsa námasâ suvriktí-bhih maháh âdityâ´n áditim svastáye.
I cherish them with worship and with hymns, the great Âdityas, Aditi, for happiness' sake.
X, 63, 17. evá platéh sûnúh avîvridhat vah vísve âdityâh adite manîshî´.
The wise son of Plati magnified you, all ye Âdityas, Aditi!
X, 65, 9. pargányâvâ´tâ vrishabhâ´ purîshínâ indravâyû´ (íti) várunah mitráh aryamâ´, devâ´n âdityâ´n áditim havâmahe yé pâ´rthivâsah divyâ´sah ap-sú yé.
There are Parganya and Vâta, the powerful, the givers of rain, Indra and Vâyu, Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman, we call the divine Âdityas, Aditi, those who dwell on the earth, in heaven, in the waters.
We may not be justified in saying that there ever was a period in the history of the religious thought of India, a period preceding the worship of the Âdityas, 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.
Aditi and Daksha.
Soon, however, the same mental process which led on later speculators from the earth to the elephant, and from 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 dáksha, literally power or the powerful. All this, no doubt, sounds strikingly modern, yet, though the passages in which this dáksha is mentioned are few in number, I should not venture to
say that they are necessarily modern, even if by modern we mean only later than 1000 b.c. Nothing can bring the perplexity of the ancient mind, if once drawn into this vortex of speculation, more clearly before us than if we read:
X, 72, 4-5. âditeh dákshah agâyata dákshât ûm (íti) áditih pári,—áditih hí áganishta dáksha yâ´ duhitâ´ táva, tâ´m devâ´h ánu agâyanta bhadrâ´h amríta-bandhavah.
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 immortality.
Or, in more mythological language:
X, 64, 5. dákshasya vâ adite gánmani vraté râ´gânâ mitrâ´-várunâ â´ vivâsasi.
Or thou, O Aditi, nursest in the birthplace of Daksha the two kings, Mitra and Varuna.
Nay, even this does not suffice. There is something again beyond Aditi and Daksha, and one poet says:
X, 5, 7. ásat ka sát ka paramé ví-oman dákshasya gánman áditeh upá-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 contradictions, was imagined, and in the same hymn from which we have already quoted, the poet says:
X, 72, 1-4. devâ´nâm nú vayám gâ´nâ prá vokâma vipanyáyâ, ukthéshu sasyámâneshu yáh (yát?) pásyât ut-tare yugé. 1.
bráhmanah pátih etâ´ sám karmâ´rah-iva adhamat, devâ´nâm pûrvyé yugé ásatah sát agâyata. 2.
devâ´nâm yugé prathamé ásatah sát agâyata, tát â´sâh ánu agâyanta tát uttâná-padah pári. 3.
bhû´h gagñe uttâná-padah bhuváh â´sâh agâyanta, áditeh dákshah agâyata, dákshât ûm (íti) áditih pári. 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. Brahmanaspati a 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 (space), from them Uttânapada;
4. From Uttânapad the Earth was born, the Regions were born from the Earth. Daksha was born of Aditi, and Aditi from Daksha.
The ideas of Being and Not-being (τὸ ὄν and τὸ μὴ ὄν) 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 dáksha, 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 dáksha-pitarah, 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 very different sense. Professor Roth has, I think, convincingly proved that this epithet dáksha-pitar, 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 translates it, 'preserving, possessing, granting faculties a.' This is particularly clear in one passage:
III, 27, 9. bhûtâ´nâm gárbham â´ dadhe, dákshasya, pitáram.
I place Agni, 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-gyótishah—dáksha-pitrîn—devâ´n.
The resplendent gods, the fathers of strength.
It may seem more doubtful, when we come to gods like Mitra and Varuna, whom we are so much accustomed to regard as Âdityas, 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 explanation, which makes Mitra and Varuna the sons of Daksha, may have sprung.
VII, 66, 2. yâ´—su-dákshâ dáksha-pitarâ.
Mitra and Varuna, 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, 63, 10. avasyávah yushmâ´bhih dáksha-pitarah.
We suppliants, being, through your aid, fathers of strength.
But whatever view we take, whether we take dáksha in the sense of power, as a personification of a philosophical conception, or as the result of a mythological misunderstanding occasioned by the name of dáksha-pitar, the fact remains that in certain hymns of the Rig-veda (VIII, 25, 5) Dáksha, like Aditi, has become a divine person, and has retained his place as one of the Âdityas to the very latest time of Purânic tradition.
Aditi in her 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 unbounded 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 passages 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, 16 (final). tát nah mitráh várunah mamahantâm áditih síndhuh prithivî´ utá dyaúh.
May Mitra and Varuna 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. dyaûh vah pitâ´ prithivî´ mâtâ´ sómah bhrâ´tâ áditih svásâ.
The Sky is your father, the Earth your mother, Soma your brother, Aditi your sister.
VIII, 101, 15. mâtâ´ rudrâ´nâm duhitâ´ vásûnâm svásâ âdityâ´nâm amrítasya nâ´bhih, prá nú vokam kikitúshe gánâya mâ´ gâ´m ánâgâm áditim vadhishta.
The mother of the Rudras, the daughter of the Vasus, the sister of the Âdityas, 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; Vâgasan. Samhitâ XIII, 49.
VI, 51, 5. dyaũh pítar (íti) príthivi mâ´tah ádhruk ágne bhrâtah vasavah mriláta nah, vísve âdityâh adite sa-góshâh asmábhyam sárma bahulám vi yanta.
Sky, father, Earth, kind mother, Fire, brother, bright gods, have mercy upon us! All Âdityas (and) Aditi together, grant us your manifold protection!
X, 63, 10. su-trâ´mânam prithivî´m dyâ´m anehásam susármânam áditim su-pránîtim, daívîm nâ´vam su-aritrâ´m ánâgasam ásravantîm â´ ruhema svastáye.
Let us for welfare step into the divine boat, with good oars, faultless and leakless—the well-protecting Earth, the peerless Sky, the sheltering, well-guiding Aditi!
X, 66, 4. áditih dyâ´vâprithivî´ (íti).
Aditi, and Heaven and Earth.
Where 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 different names or representatives of one and the same power are not unfrequently put together. For instance,
X, 36, 1-3. ushásânáktâ brihatî´ (íti) su-pésasâ dyâ´vâkshâ´mâ várunah mitráh aryamâ´, índram huve marútah párvatân apáh âdityâ´n dyâ´vâprithivî´ (íti) apáh svãr (íti svãh). 1.
dyaúh ka nah prithivî´ ka prá-ketasâ ritávarî (íty ritávarî) rakshatâm ámhasah risháh, mâ´ duh-vidátrâ níh-ritih nah îsata tát devâ´nâm ávah adyá vrinîmahe. 2.
vísvasmât nah áditih pâtu ámhasah mâtâ´ mitrásya várunasya revátah svãh-vat gyótih avrikám nasîmahi. 3.
1. There are the grand and beautiful Morning and Night, Heaven and Earth, Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman; I call Indra, the Maruts, the Waters, the Âdityas, 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 Nirriti not rule 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 Varuna! May we obtain heavenly light without enemies! This blessing of the gods we ask for to-day.
Here we cannot but admit that Dyâ´vâkshâ´mâ, heaven and earth, is meant for the same divine couple as Dyâ´vâprithivî´, heaven and earth, although under slightly differing names they are invoked separately. The waters are invoked twice in the same verse and under the same name; nor is there any indication that, as in other passages, 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 Varuna, 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 Varuna, 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. urvî´ gávyûtih áditeh ritám yaté.
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 Varuna, and these in verse 5 are called the sons of Daksha (power), and the grandsons of Savas, which again means might: nápâtâ sávasah manáh sûnû´ (íti) dákshasya su-krátû (íti). In X, 36, 3, Aditi is called the mother of Mitra and Varuna; likewise in X, 132, 6; see also VI, 67, 4. In VIII, 47, 9, Aditi is called the mother of Mitra, Aryaman, Varuna, who in VII, 60, 5 are called her sons. In X, 11, 1, Varuna is called yahváh áditeh, 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 (mârtândá, addled egg) was thrown away: ashtaú putrâ´sah áditeh yé gâtâ´h tanvãh pári, devâ´n úpa prá ait saptá-bhih párâ mârtândám âsyat.
In X, 63, 2, the gods in general are represented as born from Aditi, the waters, and the earth: yé sthá gâtâ´h áditeh at-bhyáh pári yé prithivyâ´h té me ihá sruta hávam.
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 Âdityas, occurs also in
IX, 114, 3. saptá dísah nâ´nâ-sûryâh saptá hótârah ritvígah, devâ´h âdityâ´h yé saptá tébhih soma abhí raksha nah.
There are seven regions with their different suns, there are seven Hotars as priests, those who are the seven gods, the Âdityas, with them, O Soma, protect us!
The Seven Âdityas.
This number of seven Âdityas requires an explanation. To say that seven is a solemn or sacred number is to say very little, for however solemn or sacred that number may be elsewhere, it is not more sacred than any other number in the Veda. The often-mentioned seven rivers have a real geographical foundation, like the seven hills of Rome. The seven flames or treasures of Agni (V, 1, 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 Hotar priests (III, 7, 7; 10, 4), the seven cities of the enemy destroyed by Indra (I, 63, 7), and even the seven Rishis (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 Âdityas, 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 Âdityas back to the eight regions, or the eight cardinal points of the heaven. Thus we read:
I, 35, 8. ashtaú ví akhyat kakúbhah prithivyâ´h.
The god Savitar lighted up the eight points of the earth (not the eight hills).
But we have seen already that though the number of Âdityas 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. Âr. I, 7, 6.
As we 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
[paragraph continues] Âdityas. This might even explain the destruction of the eighth Âditya, 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. yágishtham saptá dhâ´ma-bhih.
Agni, most worthy of sacrifice in the seven stations.
IX, 102, 2. yagñásya saptá dhâ´ma-bhih.
In the seven stations of the sacrifice.
The seven threads of the sacrifice may have the same origin:
II, 5, 2. â´ yásmin saptá rasmáyah tatâ´h yagñásya netári, manushvát daívyam ashtamám.
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, 1, saptá-tantu, having seven threads.
X, 122, 3. saptá dhâ´mâni pari-yán ámartyah.
Agni, the immortal, who goes round the seven stations.
X, 8, 4. usháh-ushah hí vaso (íti) ágram éshi tvám yamáyoh abhavah vi-bhâ´vâ, ritâ´ya saptá dadhishe padâ´ni ganáyan mitrám tanvẽ svâ´yai.
For thou, Vasu (Agni), comest first every morning, thou art the illuminator of the twins (day and night). Thou holdest the seven places for the sacrifice, creating Mitra (the sun) for thy own body.
X, 5, 6. saptá maryâ´dâh kaváyah tatakshuh tâ´sâm ékâm ít abhí amhuráh gât.
The sages established the seven divisions, but mischief befell one of them.
I, 22, 16. átah devâ´h avantu nah yátah víshnuh vi-kakramé prithivyâ´h saptá dhâ´ma-bhih.
May the gods protect us from whence Vishnu strode forth, by the seven stations of the earth!
Even the names of the seven or eight Âdityas are not definitely known, at least not from the hymns of the Rig-veda. In II, 27, 1, we have a list of six names: Mitrá, Aryamán, Bhága, Váruna, Dáksha, Ámsah. These with Aditi would give us seven. In VI, 50, 1, we have Áditi,
[paragraph continues] Váruna, Mitrá, Agní, Aryamán, Savitár, and Bhága. In I, 89, 3, Bhága, Mitrá, Áditi, Dáksha, Aryamán, Váruna, Sóma, Asvínâ, and Sárasvatî are invoked together with an old invocation, pû´rvayâ ni-vídâ. In the Taittirîya-âranyaka, I, 13, 3, we find the following list: 1. Mitra, 2. Varuna, 3. Dhâtar, 4. Aryaman, 5. Amsa, 6. Bhaga, 7. Indra, 8. Vivasvat, but there, too, the eighth son is said to be Mârtânda, or, according to the commentator, Âditya.
The character of Aditi as the mother of certain gods is also indicated by some of her epithets, such as râ´ga-putrâ, having kings for her sons; su-putrâ´, having good sons; ugrá-putrâ, having terrible sons:
II, 27, 7. pípartu nah áditih râ´ga-putrâ áti dvéshâmsi aryamâ´ su-gébhih, brihát mitrásya várunasya sárma úpa syâma puru-vî´râh árishtâh.
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 Varuna!
III, 4, 11. barhíh nah âstâm áditih su-putrâ´.
May Aditi with her excellent sons sit on our sacred pile!
VIII, 67, 11. párshi dîné gabhîré â´ úgra-putre gíghâmsatah, mâ´kih tokásya 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 with 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 deities which might all be represented as resting on Aditi, as participating in Aditi, as being Aditi. Thus we read:
I, 89, 10 (final). áditih dyaûh áditih antáriksham áditih mâtâ´ sáh pitâ´ sáh putráh, vísve devâ´h áditih páñka gánâh áditih gâtám áditih gáni-tvam.
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 Rig-veda at least, where the special meaning of heaven or earth is expressed by Aditi. In X, 63, 3, where Aditi seems to mean sky, we shall see that it ought to be taken as a masculine, either in the sense of Âditya, or as an epithet, unbounded, immortal. In I, 72, 9, we ought probably to read prithvî´ and pronounce prithuvî´, 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 Sunahsepa when on the point of being sacrificed by his own father, the following verse occurs:
I, 24, 1. káh nah mahyaí áditaye púnah dât, pitáram ka driséyam mâtáram 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 he sacrificed by his own father. If we discard the story of Sunahsepa, 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?
Aditi and Diti.
There is one other passage which might receive light if we could take Aditi in the sense of Hades, but I give this translation as a mere guess:
IV, 2, 11. râyé ka nah su-apatyâ´ya deva dítim ka râ´sva áditim 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 VII, 15, 12. tvám agne vîrá-vat yásah deváh ka savitâ´ bhágah, dítih ka dâti vâ´ryam. 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 contrast with Aditi; cf. V, 62, 8, page 243. 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 Purânic literature this Diti (like the Suras) has grown into a definite person, one of the daughters of Daksha, the wife of Kasyapa, 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 prominent moral character. Aditi, like Varuna, delivers from sin. Why this should be so, we can still understand if we watch the transition which led from a purely cosmical to a moral conception of Aditi. Sin in the Veda is frequently conceived as a bond or a chain from which the repentant sinner wishes to be freed:
VII, 86, 5. áva drugdhâ´ni pítryâ sriga nah áva yâ´ vayám kakrimá tanû´bhih, áva râgan pasu-trípam ná tâyúm srigá vatsám ná dâ´mnah vásishtham.
Absolve us from the sins of our fathers, and from those
which we have committed with our own bodies. Release Vasishtha, O king, like a thief who has feasted on stolen cattle; release him like a calf from the rope a.
VIII, 67, 14. té nah âsnáh vríkânâm â´dityâsah mumókata stenám baddhám-iva adite.
O Âdityas, deliver us from the mouth of the wolves, like a bound thief, O Aditi! Cf. VIII, 67, 18.
Sunahsepa, who, as we saw before, wishes to be restored to the great Aditi, is represented as bound (dita) by ropes, and in V, 2, 7, we read:
súnah-sépam kit ní-ditam sahásrât yû´pât amuñkah ásamishta hí sáh, evá asmát agne ví mumugdhi pâ´sân hótar (íti) kikitvah ihá tú ni-sádya.
O Agni, thou hast released the bound Sunahsepa from the stake, for he had prayed; thus take from us, too, these ropes, O sagacious Hotar, after thou hast settled here.
Expressions like these, words like dâ´man, bond, ní-dita, bound, naturally suggested á-diti, the un-bound or unbounded, as one of those deities who could best remove the bonds of sin or misery. If we once realise this concatenation of thought and language, many passages of the Veda that seemed obscure, will become intelligible.
VII, 51, 1. âdityâ´nâm ávasâ nû´tanena sakshîmáhi sármanâ sám-tamena, anâgâh-tvé aditi-tvé turâ´sah imám yagñám dadhatu sróshamânâh.
May we obtain the new favour of the Âdityas, their best protection; may the quick Maruts listen and place this sacrifice in guiltlessness and Aditi-hood.
I have translated the last words literally, in order to make their meaning quite clear. ´gas has the same meaning as the Greek ἄγος, guilt, abomination; an-âgâs-tvá, therefore, as applied to a sacrifice or to the man who makes it, means guiltlessness, purity. Aditi-tvá, Aditi-hood, has a similar meaning, it means freedom from bonds, from anything that hinders the proper performance of a religious act; it may come to mean perfection or holiness.
Aditi having once been conceived as granting this adititvá, soon assumed a very definite moral character, and hence the following invocations:
I, 24, 15. út ut-tamám varuna pâ´sam asmát áva adhamám ví madhyamim srathaya, átha vayám âditya vraté táva ánâgasah áditaye syâma.
O Varuna, lift the highest rope, draw off the lowest, remove the middle; then, O Âditya, let us be in thy service free of guilt before Aditi.
V, 82, 6. ánâgasah áditaye devásya savitúh h savé, vísvâ vâmâ´ni dhîmahi.
May we, guiltless before Aditi, and in the keeping of the god Savitar, obtain all goods! Professor Roth here translates Aditi by freedom or security.
I, 162, 22. anâgâh-tvám nah áditih krinotu.
May Aditi give us sinlessness! Cf. VII, 51, 1.
IV, 12, 4. yát kit hí te purusha-trâ´ yavishtha ákitti-bhih kakrimá kit kit â´gah, kridhí sú asmâ´n áditeh ánâgân ví énâmsi sisrathah víshvak agne.
Whatever, O youthful god, we have committed against thee, men as we are, whatever sin through thoughtlessness, make us guiltless of Aditi, loosen the sins on all sides, O Agni!
VII, 93, 7. sáh agne enâ´ námasâ sám-iddhah ákkha mitrám várunam índram vokeh, yát sîm â´gah kakrimá tát sú mrila tát aryamâ´ áditih sisrathantu.
O Agni, thou who hast been kindled with this adoration, greet Mitra, Varuna, and Indra. Whatever sin we have committed, do thou pardon it! May Aryaman, Aditi loose it!
Here the plural sisrathantu should be observed, instead of the dual.
VIII, 18, 6-7. áditih nah dívâ pasúm áditih náktam ádvayâh, áditih pâtu ámhasah sadâ´-vridhâ.
utá syâ´ nah dívâ matíh áditih ûtyâ´ â´ gamat, sâ sám-tâti máyah karat ápa srídhah.
May Aditi by day protect our cattle, may she, who never deceives, protect by night; may she, with steady increase, protect us from evil!
And may she, the thoughtful Aditi, come with help to
us by day; may she kindly bring happiness to us, and carry away all enemies! Cf. X, 36, 3, page 251.
X, 87, 18. â´ vriskyantâm áditaye duh-évâh.
May the evil-doers be cut off from Aditi! or literally, may they be rooted out before Aditi!
II, 27, 24. ádite mítra váruna utá mrila yát vah vayám kakrimá kát kit â´gah, urú asyâm ábhayam gyótih indra mâ´ nah dîrghâ´h abhí nasan támisrâh.
Aditi, Mitra, and also Varuna forgive, if we have committed any sin against you. May I obtain the wide and fearless light, O Indra! May not the long darkness reach us!
VII, 87, 7. yáh mriláyâti kakrúshe kit â´gah vayám syâma várune ánâgâh, ánu vratâ´ni áditeh ridhántah yuyám pâta svastí-bhih sádâ nah.
May we be sinless before Varuna, who is gracious even to him who has committed sin, and may we follow the laws of Aditi! 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. yáthâ nah áditih kárat pásve nrí-bhyah yáthâ gáve, yáthâ tokâ´ya rudríyam.
That Aditi may bring Rudra's favour to our cattle, our men, our cow, our offspring.
I, 153, 3. pîpâ´ya dhenúh áditih ritâ´ya gánâya mitrâvarunâ havih-dé.
Aditi, the cow, gives food to the righteous man, O Mitra and Varuna, who makes offerings to the gods. Cf. VIII, 101, 15.
I, 185, 3. aneháh dâtrám áditeh anarvám huvé.
I call for the unrivalled, uninjured gift of Aditi. Here Professor Roth again assigns to Aditi the meaning of freedom or security.
VII, 40, 2. dídeshtu devî´ áditih réknah.
May the divine Aditi assign wealth!
X, 100, 1. â´ sarvá-tâtim áditim vrinîmahe.
We implore Aditi for health and wealth.
I, 94, 15. yásmai tvám su-dravinah dádâsah anâgâh-tvám
adite sarvá-tâtâ, yám bhadréna sávasâ kodáyâsi pragâ´-vatâ râ´dhasâ té syâma.
To whom thou, possessor of good treasures, grantest guiltlessness, O Aditi, in health and wealth a, whom thou quickenest with precious strength and with riches in progeny, may we be they! Cf. II, 40, 6; IV, 25, 5; X, 11, 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 devî´, goddess, again and again; another frequent epithet is anarván, uninjured, unscathed. Being invoked to grant light (VII, 82, 10), she is herself called luminous, gyótishmatî, I, 136, 3; and svâ´rvatî, heavenly. Being the goddess of the infinite expanse, she, even with greater right than the dawn, is called úrûkî, VIII, 67, 12; uruvyákas, V, 46, 6; uruvragâ, VIII, 67, 12; and possibly prithvî´ in I, 72, 9. As supporting everything, she is called dhârayátkshiti, supporting the earth, I, 136, 3; and visváganyâ, VII, 10, 4. To her sons she owes the names of râ´gaputrâ, II, 27, 7; suputrâ´, III, 4, 11; and ugráputrâ, VIII, 67, 11: to her wealth that of sudravinas, I, 94, 15, though others refer this epithet to Agni. There remains one name pastyẫ, 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 Yagur- or Atharva-vedas, or of the Brâhmanas and Âranyakas, 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. Not that the Rig-veda is free from what seems decidedly modern, or at all events secondary and late. But it is well to keep the great collections, as such,
separate, whatever our opinions may be as to the age of their component parts.
In the Atharva-veda Aditi appears more unintelligible, more completely mythological, than in the Rig-veda. We read, for instance, Atharva-veda VII, 6, 1:
‘Aditi is the sky, Aditi is the welkin, Aditi is mother, is father, is son; all the gods are Aditi, and the five clans of men; Aditi is what was, Aditi is what will be.
‘We invoke for our protection the great mother of the well-ruling gods, the wife of Rita, the powerful, never-aging, far-spreading, the sheltering, well-guiding Aditi.’
In the Taittirîya-âranyaka and similar works the mythological confusion becomes greater still. 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.
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 Rig-veda, a few words have to be added on certain passages where the word áditi 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. mímâtu dyaúh áditih vîtáye nah.
May the boundless Dyú (sky) help us to our repast!
Here Aditi must either be taken in the sense of Âditya, or better in its original sense of unbounded, as an adjective belonging to Dyú, the masculine deity of the sky.
Dyú or the sky is called áditi or unbounded in another passage, X, 63, 3:
yébhyah mâtâ´ mádhu-mat pínvate páyah pîyû´sham dyaûh áditih ádri-barhâh.
The gods to whom their mother yields the sweet milk, and the unbounded sky, as firm as a rock, their food.
IV, 3, 8. kathâ´ sárdhâya marútâm ritâ´ya kathâ´ sûré brihaté prikkhyámânah, práti bravah áditaye turâ´ya.
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 turâ´ya, partly because she is never called quick. Aditi must here be the name of one of the Âdityas, or it may refer back to sûré brihaté. It can hardly be joined, as Professor Roth proposes, with sárdhâya marútâm, owing to the intervening sûré brihaté.
In several passages áditi, as an epithet, refers to Agni:
IV, 1, 20 (final). vísveshâm áditih yagñíyânâm vísveshâm átithih mâ´nushânâm.
He, Agni, the Aditi, or the freest, among all the gods; he the guest among all men.
The same play on the words áditi and átithi occurs again:
VII, 9, 3. ámûrah kavíh áditih vivásvân su-samsát mitráh átithih siváh nah, kitrá-bhânuh ushásâm bhâti ágre.
The wise poet, Aditi, Vivasvat, Mitra with his good company, our welcome guest, he (Agni) with brilliant light came at the head of the dawns.
Here, though I admit that several renderings are possible, 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 áditih vivásvân by 'the brilliant Aditi,' or 'the unchecked, the brilliant,' or by 'the boundless Vivasvat,' but on no account can we take áditi 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, áditim anarvánam, 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. ánâgasam tám áditih krinotu sáh mitréna várunena sa-góshâh.
May Aditi make him free from sin, he who is allied with Mitra and Varuna.
We have had several passages in which Aditi, the female deity, is represented as sagóshâh or allied with other Âdityas, but if sáh is the right reading here, Aditi in this verse can only be the male deity. The pronoun sá cannot refer to tám.
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 áditi was supposed to have the meaning of earth:
VII, 18, 8. duh-âdhyãh áditim sreváyantah aketásah ví gagribhre párushnîm.
Professor Roth in one of his earliest essays translated this line, 'The evil-disposed wished to dry the earth, the fools split the Parushnî,' and he supposed its meaning to have been that the enemies of Sudâs swam across the Parushnî in order to attack Sudâs. We might accept this translation, if it could be explained how by throwing themselves 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, áditi never means earth. We might possibly translate: 'The evil-disposed, the fools, laid dry and divided the boundless river Parushnî.' This would be a description of a stratagem 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 Sâyana, who does not say that vigraha means dividing the waves of a river, as Professor Roth renders kûlabheda, but that it means dividing or cutting through its banks. In the Dictionary Professor Roth assigns to áditi in this passage the meaning of endless, inexhaustible.
Kaná.
Note 5. Nothing is more difficult in the interpretation of the Veda than to gain an accurate knowledge of the power of particles and conjunctions. The particle kaná, we are told, is used both affirmatively and negatively, a statement which shows better than anything else the uncertainty to which every translation of Vedic hymns is as yet exposed. It is perfectly true that in the text of the Rig-veda, as we now read it, kaná 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 kaná, we ought in the latter to read ka ná.
I begin with those passages in which kaná is used emphatically, though originally it may have been a double negation.
I, 18, 7. yásmât rité ná sídhyati yagñáh vipah-kítah kaná.
Without whom the sacrifice does not succeed, not even that of the sage.
V, 34, 5. ná ásunvatâ sakate púshyatâ kaná.
He does not cling to a man who offers no libations, even though he be thriving.
I, 24, 6. nahí te kshatrám ná sáhah ná manyúm váyah kaná amî´ (íti) patáyantah âpúh.
For thy power, thy strength, thy anger even these birds which fly up, do not reach. Cf. I, 100, 15.
I, 155, 5. tritî´yam asya nákih â´ dadharshati váyah kaná patáyantah patatrínah.
This third step no one approaches, not even the winged birds which fly up.
I, 55, 1. diváh kit asya varimâ´ ví papratha, índram ná mahnâ´ prithivî´ kaná práti.
The width of the heavens is stretched out, even the earth in her greatness is no match for Indra.
VII, 32, 13. pûrvî´h kaná prá-sitayah taranti tám yáh índre kármanâ bhúvat.
Even many snares pass him who is with Indra in his work.
VIII, 2, 14. ukthám kanâ sasyámânam ágoh aríh â´ kiketa, ná gâyatrám gîyámânam.
He (Indra) marks indeed a poor man's prayer that is recited, but not a hymn that is sung. (Doubtful.)
VIII, 78, 10. táva ít indra ahám â-sásâ háste dâ´tram kaná â´ dade.
Hoping in thee alone, O Indra, I take even this sickle in my hand.
I, 55, 5. ádha kaná srát dadhati tvíshi-mate índrâya vágram ni-ghánighnate vadhám.
Then indeed they believe in Indra, the majestic, when he hurls the bolt to strike.
I, 152, 2. etát kaná tvah ví kiketat eshâm.
Does one of them understand even this?
IV, 18, 9. mámat kaná used in the same sense as mámat kit.
I, 139, 2. dhîbhíh kaná mánasâ svébhih akshá-bhih.
V, 41, 13. váyah kaná su-bhvãh â´ áva yanti.
VII, 18, 9. âsúh kaná ít abhi-pitvám gagâma.
VIII, 91, 3. â´ kaná tvâ kikitsâmah ádhi kaná tvâ ná imasi.
We wish to know thee, indeed, but we cannot understand thee.
X, 49, 5. ahám randhayam mrígayam srutárvane yát mâ ágihîta vayûnâ kaná ânu-shák.
VI, 26, 7. ahám kaná tát sûrí-bhih ânasyâm.
May I also obtain this with the lords.
I, 74, 7. ná yóh upabdíh ásvyah srinvé ráthasya kát kaná, yát agne yâ´si dûtyâ´m.
No sound of horses is heard, and no sound of the chariot, when thou, O Agni, goest on thy message.
I, 81, 5. ná tvâ´-vân indra káh kaná ná gâtáh ná ganishyaté.
No one is like thee, O Indra, no one has been born, no one will be!
I, 84, 20. mâ´ te râ´dhâmsi mâ´ to ûtáyah vaso (íti) asmâ´n kádâ kaná dabhan.
May thy gifts, may thy help, O Vasu, never fail us!
Many more passages might be given to illustrate the use of kaná or kás kaná and its derivatives in negative sentences.
Cf. I, 105, 3; 136, 1; 139, 5; II, 16, 3; 23, 5; 28, 6; III, 36, 4; IV, 31, 9; V, 42, 6; 82, 2; VI, 3, 2; 20, 4; 47, 1; 3; 48, 17; 54, 9; 59, 4; 69, 8; 75, 16; VII, 32, 1; 19; 59, 3; 82, 7; 104, 3; VIII, 19, 6; 23, 15; 24, 15; 28, 4; 47, 7; 64, 27, 66, 13; 68, 19; IX, 61, 27; 69, 6; 114, 4; X, 33, 9; 39, 11; 48, 5; 49, 10; 59, 8; 62, 9; 85, 3; 86, 11; 95, 1; 112, 9; 119, 6; 7; 128, 4; 129, 2; 152, 1; 168, 3; 185, 2.
III, 30, 1. títikshante abhí-sastim gánânâm índra tvát â´ káh kaná hí pra-ketáh.
They bear the scoffing of men; for, Indra, from thee comes every wisdom.
I, 113, 8. ushâ´h mritám kám kaná bodháyantî.
Ushas, who wakes every dead (or one who is as if dead).
I, 191, 7. âdrishtâh kím kaná ihá vah sárve sâkám ní gasyata.
Invisible ones, whatever you are, vanish all together!
II. We now come to passages in which kaná stands for ka ná, and therefore renders the sentence negative without any further negative particle. It might seem possible to escape from this admission, by taking certain sentences in an interrogative sense. But this would apply to certain sentences only, and would seem forced even there:
II, 16, 2. yásmât índrât brihatáh kím kaná îm rité. Beside whom, (beside) the great Indra, there is not anything.
II, 24, 12. vísvam satyám magha-vânâ yuvóh ít â´pah kaná prá minanti vratám vâm.
Everything, you mighty ones, belongs indeed to you; even the waters do not transgress your law.
IV, 30, 3. vísve kaná ít anâ´ tvâ devâ´sah indra yuyudhuh.
Even all the gods do not ever fight thee, O Indra.
V, 34, 7. duh-gé kaná dhriyate vísvah â´ purú gánah yáh asya távishîm ákukrudhat.
Even in a stronghold many a man is not often preserved who has excited his anger.
VII, 83, 2. yásmin âgâ´ bhávati kím kaná priyám.
In which struggle there is nothing good whatsoever.
VII, 86, 6. svápnah kaná ít ánritasya pra-yotâ´.
Even sleep does not remove all evil.
In this passage I formerly took kaná as affirmative, not as negative, and therefore assigned to prayotâ´ the same meaning which Sâyana assigns to it, one who brings or mixes, whereas it ought to be, as rightly seen by Roth, one who removes.
VIII, 1, 5. mahé kaná tvâ´m adri-vah párâ sulkâ´ya deyâm, ná sahásrâya ná ayútâya vagri-vah ná satâ´ya 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 Indra, thou who art possessed of a hundred powers!
VIII, 51, 7. kadâ´ kaná starî´h asi.
Thou art never sterile.
VIII, 52, 7. kadâ´ kaná prá yukkhasi.
Thou art never weary.
VIII, 55, 5. kákshushâ kaná sam-náse.
Not to be reached even with eye.
X, 56, 4. mahimnáh eshâm pitárah kanâ îsire.
Note 6. Considering the particular circumstances mentioned in this and the preceding hymn, of Indra's forsaking his companions, the Maruts, or even scorning their help, one feels strongly tempted to take tyágas 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 it must be confessed, at the same time, that in other passages where tyágas 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 tyágas 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. ná tám tigmám kaná tyágah ná drâsad abhí tám gurú.
No sharp blow, no heavy one, shall come near him whom you protect.
Here the two adjectives tigmá, sharp, and gurú, heavy, point to something tangible, and I feel much inclined, to take tyágas 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, 1. maháh kit asi tyágasah varûtâ´.
Thou art the shielder from a great attack.
IV, 43, 4. káh vâm maháh kit tyágasah abhî´ke urushyátam mâdhvî dasrâ nah ûtî´.
Who is against your great attack? Protect us with your help, O Asvins, ye strong ones.
Here Professor Roth seems to join maháh kit tyágasah abhî´ke urushyátam, but in that case it would be impossible to construe the first words, káh vâm.
I, 119, 8. ágakkhatam krípamânam parâ-váti pitúh svásya tyágasâ ní-bâdhitam.
You went from afar to the suppliant, who had been struck down by the violence of his own father.
According to Professor Roth tyágas would here mean forlornness, need, or danger. But níbâdhita is a strong verb, as we may see in
VIII, 64, 2. padâ´ panî´n arâdhásah ní bâdhasva mahâ´n asi.
Strike the useless Panis down with thy foot, for thou art great.
X, 18, 11. út svañkasva prithivi mâ´ ní bâdhathâh.
Open, O earth, do not press on him (i. e. the dead, who is
to be buried; cf. M. M., Über Todtenbestattung, Zeitschrift der D. M. G., vol. ix, p. xv).
VII, 83, 6. yátra râ´ga-bhih dasá-bhih ní-bâdhitam prá su-dâ´sam â´vatam trítsu-bhih sahá.
Where you protected Sudâs with the Tritsus, when he was pressed or set upon by the ten kings.
Another passage in which tyágas occurs is,
VI, 62, 10. sánutyena tyágasâ mártyasya vanushyatâ´m ápi sîrshâ´ 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 tyágasâ 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 sîrshâ´ is governed by vavriktam, meaning turn back their heads, for the same expression occurs again in I, 33, 5. párâ kit sîrshâ´ vavriguh té indra áyagvânah yágva-bhih spárdhamânâh.
Professor Ben fey translates this verse by, 'Kopfüber flohn sie alle vor dir;' but it may be rendered more literally, 'These lawless people fighting with the pious turned away their heads.'
X, 144, 6. evá tát índrah índunâ devéshu kit dhârayâte máhi tyágah.
Indeed through this draught Indra can hold out against that great attack even among the gods.
X, 79, 6. kím devéshu tyágah énah kakartha.
What insult, what sin hast thou committed among the gods?
In these two passages the meaning of tyágas as attack or assault is at least as appropriate as that proposed by Professor Roth, estrangement, malignity.
There remains one passage, VI, 3, 1. yám tvám mitréna várunah sa-góshâh déva pâ´si tyágasâ mártam ámhah.
I confess that the construction of this verse is not clear to me, and I doubt whether it is possible to use tyágasâ as a verbal noun governing an accusative. If this were possible, one might translate, 'The mortal whom thou, O God (Agni),
[paragraph continues] Varuna, together with Mitra, protectest by pushing back evil.' More probably we should translate, 'Whom thou protectest from evil by thy might.'
If it be asked how tyágas 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 tyag, before it came to mean to leave, meant to push off, to drive away with violence (verstossen instead of verlassen). This meaning may still be perceived occasionally in the use of tyag; e. g. devâs tyagantu mâm, may the gods forsake me! i. e. may the gods drive me away! Even in the latest Sanskrit tyag is used with regard to an arrow that is let off. 'To expel' is expressed by nis-tyag. Those who believe in the production of new roots by the addition of prepositional prefixes might possibly see in tyag an original ati-ag, to drive off; but, however that may be, there is evidence enough to show that tyag expressed originally a more violent act of separation than it does in ordinary Sanskrit, though here, too, passages occur in which tyag may be translated by to throw, to fling; for instance, khe dhûlim yas tyaged ukkair mûrdhni tasyaiva sâ patet, he who throws up dust in the air, it will fall on his head. Ind. Spr. 1582.
Muk, too, is used in a similar manner; for instance, vagram mokshyate té mahendrah, Mahâbh. XIV, 263. Cf. Dhammapada, ver. 389.
Note 1. Sámsa, 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:
I, 18, 3. mâ´ nah sámsah árarushah dhûrtíh prának mártyasya.
Let not the curse of the enemy, the onslaught of a mortal hurt us.
I, 94, 8. asmâ´kam sámsah abhí astu duh-dhyãh. May our curse overcome the wicked!
III, 18, 2. tápa sámsam árarushah.
Burn the curse of the enemy!
VII, 25, 2. âré tám sámsam krinuhi ninitsóh.
Take far away the curse of the reviler! Cf. VII, 34, 12.
II, 31, 6. utá yah sámsam usígâm-iva smasi.
We desire your blessing as a blessing for suppliants.
X, 31, 1. â´ nah devâ´nâm úpa vetu sámsah.
May the blessing of the gods come to us!
X, 7, 1. urushyá nah urú-bhih deva sámsaih.
Protect us, god, with thy wide blessings!
II, 23, 10. mâ´ nah duh-sámsah abhi-dipsúh îsata prá susámsâh matí-bhih târishîmahi.
Let not an evil-speaking enemy conquer us; may we, enjoying good report, increase by our. prayers!
In some passages, however, as pointed out by Grassmann, sámsa may best be rendered by singer, praiser. Grassmann marks one passage only,
II, 26, 1. rigúh ít sámsah vanavat vanushyatáh.
May the righteous singer conquer his enemies.
He admits, however, doubtfully, the explanation of B. R., that rigúh sámsah may be taken as one word, meaning, 'requiring the right.' This explanation seems surrendered by B. R. in the second edition of their Dictionary, and I doubt whether sámsah can mean here anything but singer. That being so, the same meaning seems more appropriate in other verses also, which I formerly translated differently, e. g.
VII, 56, 19. imé sámsam vanushyatáh ní pânti.
They, the Maruts, protect the singer from his enemy.
Lastly, sámsa means praise, the spell addressed by men to the gods, or prayer:
I, 33, 7. prá sunvatáh stuvatáh sámsam âvah.
Thou hast regarded the prayer of him who offers libation and praise.
X, 42, 6. yásmin vayám dadhimá sámsam índre.
Indra in whom we place our hope. Cf. âsams, Westergaard, Radices Linguae Sanscritae, s. v. sams.
214:a Schleicher, Compendium, § 36, αἴθω, αἰθήρ, αἴθουσα; and § 49, aides, aidilis aestas.
215:a Ápa-tya; cf. Bopp, Accentuationssystem, § 138, ἔπι-σσαι, Nachkommen.
217:a Tylor, Early History of Mankind, p. 262.
217:b Spiegel, who had formerly identified harmyá with the Zend zairimya in zairimyanura, has afterwards recalled this identification; see Spiegel, Av. Ubers. I, p. 190; Commentar über den Avesta, I, p. 297; Justi, Handbuch, p. 119; Haug, Pahlavi Glossary, p. 22. According to the Parsis, the Hairimyanura, a daêva animal which appears at the rising of the sun, is the turtle, and Darmesteter (Ormazd et Ahriman, p. 283) identifies zair in zair-imya with the Greek χελ-ύς, Sanskrit har-muta.
227:a Kuhn, Zeitschrift, vol. ix, p. 233.
233:a Sana is an old Aryan word, though its meanings differ. Hesychius and Eustathius mention κάννα as being synonymous with ψίαθος, reed. Pollux gives two forms, κάννα and κάνα, (Pollux X, 166 πτανάκα δέ ἐστι ψίαθος ἡ ἐν τοῖς ἀκατίοις ἣν καὶ κάναν καλοῦσιν. VII, 176 κάνναι δὲ τὸ ἐκ κανάβων πλέγμα) This is important, because the same difference of spelling occurs also in κάνναβις and κάναοβς or κάννβος, a model, a lay figure, which Lobeck derives from κάνναι. In Old Norse we have hanp-r, in A. S. hænep, hemp, Old High-Germ. hanaf.
The occurrence of the word sana is of importance as showing at how early a time the Aryans of India were acquainted with the uses and the name of hemp. Our word hemp, the A. S. hænep, the Old Norse hanp-r, are all borrowed 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. kanapẽ) from the Goths, the Celtic nations (Ir. canaib) from the Romans (cf. Kuhn, Beiträge, vol. ii, p. 382). The Latin cannabis is borrowed from 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). Κάννβις being a foreign word, it would be useless to attempt an explanation of the final element bis, which is added to sana, 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 through whom the Greeks first became acquainted with hemp.
The history of the word κάνναβις must be kept distinct from that of the Greek κάννα or κάνα, reed. Both spellings occur, for Pollux, X, 166, writes πτανάκα δέ ἐστι ψίαθος ἡ ἐν τοῖς ἀκατίοις ἣν καὶ κάναν καλοῦσιν, but VII, 176, κάνναι δὲ τὸ ἐκ κανάβων πλέγμα. This word κάννα may be the same as the Sanskrit sana, only with this difference, that it was retained as common property by Greeks and Indians before they separated, and was applied differently in later times by the one and the other.
235:a 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. Sanskrit svañg, to embrace, to twist round a person, German slango, Schlange, snake, and Sanskrit nâga, snake. Grimm, Deutsche Grammatik, vol. iii, p. 364.
236:a See Benfey, Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. ii, p. 216.
242:a Lectures on the Science of Language, Second Series, p. 499.
246:a Bráhmanaspáti, literally the lord of prayer, or the lord of the sacrifice, sometimes a representative of Agni (I, 38, 13, note), but p. 247 by no means identical with him (see VII, 41, 1); sometimes performing the deeds of Indra, but again by no means identical with him (see II, 23, 18. índrena yugâ´—níh apâ´m aubgah arnavám; cf. VIII, 96, 15). In II, 26, 3, he is called father of the gods (devâ´nâm pitáram); in II, 23, 2, the creator of all beings (vísveshâm ganitâ´).
247:a The accent in this case cannot help us in determining whether dáksha-pitar means having Daksha for their father (Λοκροπάτωρ), or father of strength. In the first case dáksha would rightly retain its accent (dáksha-pitar) as a Bahuvrîhi; in the second, the analogy of such Tatpurusha compounds as grihá-pati (Pân. VI, 2, 18) would be sufficient to justify the pûrvapadaprakritisvaratvam.
257:a See M. M., History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, 2nd ed., p. 541.
260:a On sarvátâti, salus, see Benfey's excellent remarks in Orient and Occident, vol. ii, p. 519. Professor Roth takes aditi here as an epithet of Agni.