III, 6

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

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MANDALA III, HYMN 6.

ASHTAKA II, ADHYÂYA 8, VARGA 26–27.

1. Bring forward, ye pious singers, stirred in your thoughts 1, (the ladle) which is turned towards the gods. Carrying (the sacrificial butter) from left to right 2 it turns eastward, rich in strength, bringing the offering to Agni, full of ghee.

2. When born thou hast filled the two worlds, nay thou hast even exceeded them, O friend of sacrifices 1. May, O Agni, thy seven-tongued horses 2 move along, by the greatness of heaven and earth 3.

3. Heaven and Earth the worshipful 1 establish thee as Hotri for the house, whenever the pious human tribes offering food magnify the bright light.

4. (Thou art) seated, the great one, in a firm place 1, between the two mighty Heavens 2, thou who art longed for—(between) the two united 3 never-ageing, inviolable wives, the two juice-yielding milch-cows 4 of the far-reigning one 5.

5. Thy, the great (god's) laws, O Agni, are great. Through the power of thy mind thou hast spread out the two worlds. Thou hast become a messenger at thy birth, thou, O bull, the leader of the tribes.

6. Or bind to the pole by means of thy (art of) harnessing the two long-maned, red (horses) of Rita, that swim in ghee 1, and carry hither, O god, all gods; perform splendid worship, O Gâtavedas!

7 1. Even from heaven thy shining lights have shone; thy splendour follows many resplendent dawns, when the gods, O Agni, praised the cheerful Hotri's work 2 who eagerly burns in the forests 3.

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8. Whether it be the gods who rejoice in the wide air, or those who dwell in the heavenly light, or those who are helpful 1, ready to hear our call, and worshipful; or whether the horses of thy chariot, O Agni, have turned themselves hither—

9. Come hither with them, O Agni, on one chariot or on many chariots, for thy horses are powerful. Bring hither, after thy nature, the thirty and the three gods with their wives, and rejoice (in the Soma).

10. He is the Hotri whose sacrifice even the two wide worlds salute over and over again for the sake of prosperity. Turned to the east 1, the two well-established 2 (goddesses, Heaven and Earth), the righteous, true ones stand as at the sacrifice 3 of (Agni) the right-born.

11 = III, 1, 23.

NOTES.

The sane Rishi and metre.—Verse 1 = TB. II, 8, 2, 5; MS. IV, 14, 3. Verse 9 = AV. XX, 13, 4.

Verse 1.

Note 1. The translation of mananâ´ is conjectural, and based only on the etymology. The passage â´t ít râ´gânam manánâ´h agribhnata, IX, 70, 3, does not help us much. 'Does not X, 47, 7. stómâh hridisprísah mánasâ vakyámânâh, indicate the original reading, mánasâ vakyámânâm?' M. M.

Note 2. The srûkah are called dakshinâvrítah, I, 144, 1. By the word dakshinâvâ´t the poet probably intended to designate the ladle also as procuring a Dakshinâ (sacrificial fee) to the priest.

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Verse 2.

Note 1. On práyagyu, see M. M., vol. xxxii, p. 335, and Pischel, Ved. Studien, I, 98.

Note 2. The flames of Agni.

Note 3. Comp. below, 7, 10. The meaning seems to be: by thy (Agni's) greatness which is equal to that of Heaven and Earth.

Verse 3.

Note 1. I refer yagñíyâsah, though it is a plural, to Heaven and Earth. Comp. Delbrück, Altindische Syntax, 103.

Verse 4.

Note 1. The Padapâtha has dhruváh. I think it should be dhruvé, comp. II, 41, 5. dhruvé sádasi úttame … âsâte; IX, 40, 2. dhruvé sádasi sîdati.

Note 2. I. e. Heaven and Earth.

Note 3. ´skra seems derived from â-sak (Joh. Schmidt, Kuhn's Zeitschrift, XXV, 71).

Note 4. Or 'the two milch-cows which instantly give milk,' if sabar- is to be connected with the Greek ἄφαρ; comp. Bartholomae, Bezzenberger's Beiträge, XV, 17.

Note 5. Vishnu is not the only god who is called urugâyá, and there is no reason therefore why the epithet should not be referred here to Agni.

Verse 6.

Note 1. Comp. Lanman, Noun-Inflection, pp. 402, 413.—See below, IV, 2, 3.

Verse 7.

Note 1. See Geldner, Vedische Studien, I, 114 seq.

Note 2. Should the accent be ápah? Comp. III, 1, 3, note 3.

Note 3. It is very probable that usádhak (comp. III, 34, 3; VII, 7, 2) is an epithet of Agni. We should expect the genitive; usádhak, which violates the construction, seems

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to stand metri causa. Or is usádhak an accusative singular neuter, so that the literal translation would be: 'When the gods praised the work, burning in the forests, of the Hotri'?

Verse 8.

Note 1. On û´ma, comp. Pischel, Vedische Studien, I, 223.

Verse 10.

Note 1. Comp. above, II, 2, 7.

Note 2. See Windisch in the Festgruss an Boehtlingk, p. 114.

Note 3. There is one syllable above the number; the metre and meaning would be all right if we were to read adhvaré (for adhvaréva): '(the two goddesses) stand at the sacrifice,' &c. Prof. Max Müller explains: 'Adhvarâ´-iva, like two sacrifices, like two sacrificial altars, barhis.'