Vedic Hymns, Part II (SBE46), by Hermann Oldenberg [1897], at sacred-texts.com

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MANDALA I, HYMN 77.

ASHTAKA I, ADHYÂYA 5, VARGA 25.

1. How shall we sacrifice to Agni? What words, agreeable to the god, shall be addressed to him, the luminous one, who, being immortal and righteous, the Hotri, the best sacrificer, conveys the gods to the mortals 1?

2. Bring hither by adoration the Hotri who is most beneficial in sacrifices and righteous. When Agni repairs to the gods on behalf of the mortal 1, may he be attentive in his mind, and may he perform the sacrifice 2.

3. For he is wisdom 1, he is manly, he is straightforward; like Mitra he has become the charioteer of the mysterious 2. Therefore the Aryan clans 3, longing for the gods, address him, the wonderful one, as the first at the sacrifices.

4. May that Agni, the manliest of men, triumphant with riches [?] 1, come with help to our words, to our devotion, and (to the devotion) of those most powerful liberal givers who bent on the prize 2 have constantly stirred up our prayers 3.

5. Thus Agni, the righteous Gâtavedas, has been praised by the priestly Gotamas 1. May he augment their splendour and their strength. He the knowing one gains increase according to his desire.

NOTES.

The same Rishi and metre.

Verse 1.

Note 1. The construction is yáh krinóti devâ´n mártyeshu. Comp., for instance, X, 40, 2. káh vâm … krinute sadhásthe

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[paragraph continues] â´. Ludwig translates: der unter den sterblichen der unsterbliche hotar … schafft die götter.—'Could it be ishkrinoti?' M. M.

Verse 2.

Note 1. The third Pâda of this verse has nine syllables instead of eleven. If we read, as several times must be done, mártyâya for mártâya, we get ten syllables, and the Pâda may belong to the defective type mentioned above, 76, 1, note 2.

Note 2. Ka seems to me to stand here, as it several times does, in the first of the members of sentence connected by it. See Delbrück, Altindische Syntax, 475. Prof. Max Müller believes that it depends on yát: yát véh, yát ka sá bódhâti, 'Bring hither the Hotri … so that Agni may invite the gods … and that he (the mortal or Agni) may be attentive, &c.'

Verse 3.

Note 1. Grassmann gives to krátu here and in a number of other passages the meaning 'der Starke.' This is inadmissible; comp. Bergaigne, III, 304.

Note 2. Here we have again a Pâda of ten syllables (see verse 2, note I), unless bhût has dissyllabic value. Prof. Max Müller translates this Pâda: 'like a friend he is the charioteer of enormous wealth.'

Note 3. Comp. I, 96, 3 (see below).

Verse 4.

Note 1. On risâ´das, comp. above, I, 26, 4, note 1.

Note 2. Comp. I, 92, 8. There Ushas receives the epithet vâ´gaprasûtâ.

Note 3. Comp. VII, 87, 3. spásah Várunasya … yé isháyanta mánma.

Verse 5.

Note 1. This is again a Pâda of ten syllables.