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

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MANDALA I, HYMN 149.

ASHTAKA II, ADHYÂYA 2, VARGA 18.

1 1. Towards great wealth this lord of the house 2 advances 3, the strong one in the abode of strong wealth. Let the stones honour him as he speeds forward.

2. He the manly (bull) as of men so of the two worlds, whose stream is drunk by living beings 1 in consequence of his renown—he who running forward has ripened in (his mother's) womb—

3. He who lighted up the … 1 stronghold, the racer, the sage, like a … 2 horse, shining like the sun, endowed with hundredfold life.

4. He who has a twofold birth (celestial and terrestrial), the flaming one has approached the threefold light, all spaces of the atmosphere, the Hotri, the best sacrificer, in the abode of the Waters.

5. This is the Hotri having a twofold birth 1 who has bestowed all the best gifts, out of desire of glory, on the quick mortal who worships him.

NOTES.

The same Rishi. Metre, Virâg.—Verses 3–5 = SV. II, 1124–1126.

Verse 1.

Note 1. My translation of this verse differs from that of Pischel, Ved. Studien, II, 100.

Note 2. On pátih dán, comp. Hübschmann, Vocalsystem, 142; Bartholomae, Arische Forschungen, I, 70; Joh. Schmidt, Kuhn's Zeitschrift, XXVII, 309; Pischel, Vedische Studien,

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[paragraph continues] II, 93 seq.; Bartholomae, Indogermanische Forschungen, III, 100 seq.

Note 3. Comp. X, 93, 6. maháh sá râyáh â´ îshate.

Verse 2.

Note 1. Comp. I, 80, 4, and similar passages, in which the waters are called gîvá-dhanyâh, 'the prize (of contests) which living beings have gained.'

Verse 3.

Note 1. We do not know what nâ´rminî is. Possibly in this word two words, ná árminî, are contained, so that the particle ná would be repeated in each of the three Pâdas. The translation would then be: 'he who lighted up the árminî (?) like a stronghold.'

Note 2. I place no confidence in the attempts to find the meaning of a word like nabhanỹah with the aid of etymology only. The same word occurs in I, 173, 1 as an epithet of the Sâman which the priest, who is compared to a bird, sings (gâ´yat sâ´ma nabhanỹam yáthâ véh). It occurs also in VII, 42, 1. prá krandanúh nabhanuỹasya vetu. The connection in which these words stand, seems to show that the meaning is: 'the noise of the sacrificial fire shall arise;' very probably the fire is compared to a horse, and its noise to the neighing of that horse. Thus nabhanỹa would be in VII, 42, 1, quite as in our passage, an epithet of a horse. This epithet may refer either to the swift motion of the horse and of the Sâman ascending to the gods, or more probably to the gay voice of the horse, the loud noise of the Sâman.

Verse 5.

Note 1. Two syllables are wanting in the first Pâda.