{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/sbe32/sbe3217.htm","path":"hin/sbe32/sbe3217.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe32/sbe3217.htm","text":"Vedic Hymns, Part I (SBE32), by Max M\u00fcller, [1891]\n1. Thou art called forth to this fair sacrifice for a draught of milk 1; with the Maruts come hither, O Agni!\n2. No god indeed, no mortal, is beyond the might 1 of thee, the mighty one; with the Maruts come hither, O Agni!\n3. They who know of the great sky 1, the Visve Devas 2 without guile 3; with those Maruts come hither, O Agni!\n4. The strong ones who sing their song 1, unconquerable by force; with the Maruts come hither, O Agni!\n5. They who are brilliant, of terrible designs, powerful, and devourers of foes; with the Maruts come hither, O Agni!\n6. They who in heaven are enthroned as gods, in the light of the firmament 1; with the Maruts come hither, O Agni!\n7. They who toss the clouds 1 across the surging sea 2; with the Maruts come hither, O Agni!\n8. They who shoot with their darts (lightnings) across the sea with might; with the Maruts come hither, O Agni!\n9. I pour out to thee for the early draught1 the sweet (juice) of Soma; with the Maruts come hither, O Agni!\nThis hymn is ascribed to Medh\u00e2tithi, of the family of Kanva. Verse I = SV I, 16.\nWilson: Earnestly art thou invoked to this perfect rite, to drink the Soma juice; come, Agni, with the Maruts.\nBenfey: Zu diesem schonen Opfer wirst du gerufen, zum Trank der Milch!\u2014Mit diesen Marut\u2019s, Agni! komm!\nLudwig: Her zu diesem sch\u00f6nen opfer, gerufen wirst zum milchtrank du, mit den Marut, Agni, kom.\nNote 1. Gop\u00eeth\u00e1 is explained by Y\u00e2ska and S\u00e2yana as drinking of Soma. I have kept to the literal signification of the word, a draught of milk. In the last verse of our hymn the libation offered to Agni and the Maruts is said to consist of Soma, but Soma was commonly mixed with milk. The other meaning assigned to gop\u00eeth\u00e1, protection, would give the sense: 'Thou art called for the sake of protection.' But p\u00eetha has clearly the sense of drinking in soma-p\u00eeth\u00e1, RV. I, 51, 7, and may therefore be taken in the same sense in gop\u00eeth\u00e1.\nWilson: No god nor man has power over a rite (dedicated) to thee, who art mighty: come, Agni, with the Maruts.\nBenfey: Denn nicht ein Gott, kein Sterblicher ragt \u00fcber dein, des Grossen, Macht\u2014Mit diesen Marut\u2019s, Agni! komm!\nLudwig: Es \u00fcberragt kein gott, kein sterblicher die einsicht dein des grossen, mit den Marut, Agni, kom.\nNote 1. The Sanskrit kr\u00e1tu expresses power both of body and mind. Parah governs the accusative.\nWilson: Who all are divine, and devoid of malignity.\nand who know (how to cause the descent) of great waters: come, Agni, with the Maruts.\nBenfey: Die guten G\u00f6tter, welche all bestehen in dem weiten Raum\u2014Mit diesen Marut\u2019s, Agni! komm!\nLudwig: Die wissen um den grossen raum, alle g\u00f6tter truges bar, mit den Marut, Agni, kom.\nNote 1. The sky or welkin (r\u00e1gas) is the proper abode of the Maruts, and 'they who know of' means simply 'they who dwell' in the great sky. The Vedic poets distinguish commonly between the three worlds, the earth, prithiv\u00ee\u00b4, f., or p\u00e2\u00b4rthiva, n.; the sky, r\u00e1gas; and the heaven, dy\u00fa: see I, 6, 9, note 1. The phrase mah\u00e1h r\u00e1gasah occurs I, 6, 10; 168, 6, &c. S\u00e2yana takes r\u00e1gas for water or rain: see on this my article in Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. xii, p. 28. In some passages r\u00e1gas means 'darkness,' and might be identified with the Greek \u1f1c\u03c1\u03b5\u03b2\u03bf\u03c2; Ath. Veda VIII, 2, 1. p\u00e2r\u00e1y\u00e2mi tv\u00e2 r\u00e1gasa \u00fat tv\u00e2 mrity\u00f3r ap\u00eeparam, 'I bring thee out of darkness, out of death I brought thee.' The identification of r\u00e1gas with \u1f14\u03c1\u03b5\u03b2\u03bf\u03c2 (Leo Meyer, in Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. vi, p. 19) must however remain doubtful, until stronger evidence has been brought forward in support of a Greek \u03b2 representing a Sanskrit g, even in the middle of a word. See my article in Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. xv, p. 215; Curtius. Grundz\u00fcge (fifth edition), p. 480.\nNote 2. The appellation V\u00edsve dev\u00e2\u00b4h, all gods together, or, more properly, host-gods, is often applied to the Maruts; cf. I, 23, 8; 10. Benfey connects this line with the preceding verse, considering V\u00edsve dev\u00e2\u00b4h, it seems, inappropriate as an epithet of the Maruts.\nNote 3. On adr\u00fah, without guile or deceit, without hatred, see Kuhn's excellent article, Zeitschrift f\u00fcr die Vergleichende Sprachforschung, vol. i, pp. 179, 193. Adr\u00fah is applied to the Maruts again in VIII, 46, 4, though in connection with other gods. It is applied to the Visve Devas, RV. I, 3, 9; IX, 102, 5: the \u00c2dityas, RV. VIII, 19, 34; 67, 13: the Rudras, RV. IX, 73, 7: to Heaven and Earth, RV. II, 41, 21; III, 56, 1; IV, 56, 2; VII, 66, 18: to Mitra and Varuna, RV. V, 68, 4: to Agni, RV. VI, 15, 7; VIII, 44, 10. The form adhr\u00fak occurs in the sixth Mandala only.\nWilson: Who are fierce, and send down rain, and are unsurpassed in strength: come, Agni, with the Maruts.\nBenfey: Die schrecklich-unbesiegbaren, die m\u00e4chtiglich Licht angefacht\u2014Mit diesen Marut\u2019s, Agni! komm!\nLudwig: Die singen, die gewaltigen, ihr lied unangegriffen durch (ihre) kraft, mit den Marut, Agni, kom.\nNote 1. S\u00e2yana explains ark\u00e1 by water. Hence Wilson: 'Who are fierce and send down rain.' But ark\u00e1 has only received this meaning of water in the artificial system of interpretation first started by the authors of the Br\u00e2hmanas, who had lost all knowledge of the natural sense of the ancient hymns. The passages in which ark\u00e1 is explained as water in the Br\u00e2hmanas are quoted by S\u00e2yana, but they require no refutation. On the singing of the Maruts, see note to I, 38, 15; also Bergaigne, Journ. As. 1884, p. 194. The perfect in the Veda, like the perfect in Homer, has frequently to be rendered in English by the present.\nWilson: Who are brilliant, of terrific forms, who are possessors of great wealth, and are devourers of the malevolent: come, Agni, with the Maruts.\nBenfey: Die gl\u00e4nzend-grau\u2019ngestaltigen, hochherrschend feindvernichtenden\u2014Mit diesen Marut\u2019s, Agni! komm!\nLudwig: Die glanzvollen, von schrecklicher gestalt, von grosser herschaft, feindverzerer, mit den Marut, Agni, kom.\nWilson: Who are divinities abiding in the radiant heaven above the sun: come, Agni, with the Maruts.\nBenfey: Die G\u00f6tter die im Himmel sind ob dem Lichtkreis des G\u00f6ttersitz\u2019s\u2014Mit diesen Marut\u2019s, Agni! komm!\nLudwig: Die ob der himmeisw\u00f6lbung glanz, am himel die g\u00f6tter sitzen, mit den Marut, Agni, kom.\nNote 1. N\u00e2\u00b4ka must be translated by firmament, as there\nis no other word in English besides heaven, and that is wanted to render dy\u00fa. Like the Jewish firmament, the Indian n\u00e2\u00b4ka, too, is adorned with stars; cf. I, 68, 10. pip\u00e9sa n\u00e2\u00b4kam str\u00edbhih. Dy\u00fa, heaven, is supposed to be above the r\u00e1gas, sky or welkin. Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. xii, p. z8.\nS\u00e2yana: 'In the radiant heaven above the sun.' See note 1 to I, 6, 9; p. 49.\nWilson: Who scatter the clouds, and agitate the sea (with waves): come, Agni, with the Maruts.\nBenfey: Welche \u00fcber das wogende Meer hinjagen die Wolkenschaar\u2014Mit diesen Marut\u2019s, Agni! komm!\nLudwig: Die die berge wiegend hindurch durchs wogenmeer bewegen, mit den Marut, Agni, kom.\nNote 1. That p\u00e1rvata (mountain) is used in the sense of cloud, without any further explanation, is clear from many passages:\nI, 57, 6. tv\u00e1m t\u00e1m indra p\u00e1rvatam mah\u00e2\u00b4m ur\u00fam v\u00e1grena vagrin parva-s\u00e1h kakartitha.\nThou, Indra, hast cut this great broad cloud to pieces with thy lightning. Cf. I, 85, 10.\nWe actually find two similes mixed up together, such as V, 32, 2. \u00fb\u00b4dhah p\u00e1rvatasya, the udder of the cloud. All we can do is to translate p\u00e1rvata by mountain, but always to remember that mountain means cloud. In the Edda, too, the rocks, said to have been fashioned out of Ymir's bones, are supposed to be intended for clouds. In Old Norse klakkr means both cloud and rock; nay, the English word cloud itself has been identified with the Anglo-Saxon cl\u00fbd, rock. See Justi, Orient and Occident, vol. ii, p. 62. See Grimm, Deutsche Grammatik, 13, 398, 424; also Kuhn, Weisse Frau, p. 12.\nNote 2. Whether the surging sea is to be taken for the sea or for the air, depends on the view which we take of the earliest cosmography of the Vedic Rishis. S\u00e2yana explains: 'They who make the clouds to go, and stir the\nwatery sea.' Wilson remarks that the influence of the winds upon the sea, alluded to in this and the following verse, indicates more familiarity with the ocean than we should have expected from the traditional inland position of the early Hindus, and it has therefore been supposed by others that, even in passages like our own, samudr\u00e1 was meant for the sky, the waters above the firmament. But although there are passages in the Rig-veda where samudr\u00e1 must be taken to mean the welkin (RV. I, 95, 3. samudr\u00e1 \u00e9kam div\u00ed \u00e9kam ap-s\u00fa), this word shows in by far the larger number of passages the clear meaning of ocean. There is one famous passage, VII, 95, 2, which proves that the Vedic poets, who were supposed to have known the upper courses only of the rivers of the Penj\u00e2b, had followed the greatest and most sacred of their rivers, the Sarasvat\u00ee, as far as the Indian ocean. It is well known that, as early as the composition of the laws of the M\u00e2navas, and possibly as early as the composition of the S\u00fbtras on which these metrical laws are based, the river Sarasvat\u00ee had changed its course, and that the place where that river disappeared under ground was called Vinasana a, the loss. This Vinasana forms, according to the laws of the M\u00e2navas, the western frontier of Madhyadesa, the eastern frontier being formed by the confluence of the Gang\u00e2 and Yamun\u00e2. Madhyadesa is a section of \u00c2ry\u00e2varta, the abode of the \u00c2ryas in the widest sense. \u00c2ry\u00e2varta shares with Madhyadesa the same frontiers in the north and the south, viz. the Himalaya and Vindhya mountains, but it extends beyond Madhyadesa to the west and east as far as the western and eastern seas. A section of Madhyadesa, again, is the country described as that of the Brahmarshis, which comprises only Kurukshetra, the countries of the Matsyas, Pa\u00f1k\u00e2las (K\u00e2nyakubga, according to Kull\u00fbka), and S\u00fbrasenas (Mathur\u00e2, according to Kull\u00fbka). The most sacred spot of all, however, is that section of the Brahmarshi country which lies between the rivers Drishadvat\u00ee and Sarasvat\u00ee, and which in the laws of\nthe M\u00e2navas is called Brahm\u00e2varta. In the S\u00fbtras which supplied the material to the authors of the metrical law-books, the Vinasana is mentioned for the first time in the Baudh\u00e2yana S\u00fbtras, I, 2, 9, '\u00c2ry\u00e2varta lies to the east of the region where (the Sarasvat\u00ee) disappears, to the west of the Black-forest, to the north of the P\u00e2rip\u00e2tra (mountains), to the south of the Himalaya.' The name of the Sarasvat\u00ee is not mentioned, but no other river can be understood. What is curious, however, is, that in the Vasishtha S\u00fbtras where the same frontiers of \u00c2ry\u00e2varta are given (I, 8), the MSS. read originally pr\u00e2g \u00e2dars\u00e2t, i. e. east of the \u00c2darsa mountains, which was afterwards changed into pr\u00e2g adarsan\u00e2t, and interpreted 'east of the invisibility, or of the disappearance of the Sarasvat\u00ee.' Vasishtha quotes another authority, a G\u00e2th\u00e2 of the Bh\u00e2llavins, which says: 'In the west the boundary river,' i. e. sindhur vidh\u00e2ran\u00ee. This sindhur vidh\u00e2ran\u00ee is another name of the old Sarasvat\u00ee, and in Baudh\u00e2yana I, 2, 12, the same verse is quoted, though the reading of vidh\u00e2ran\u00ee varies with vikaran\u00ee and visaran\u00ee. See B\u00fchler, l. c. Madhyadesa is mentioned in one of the Parisishtas (MS. 510, Wilson) as a kind of model country, but it is there described as lying east of Das\u00e2rna a, west of K\u00e2mpilya b, north of P\u00e2riy\u00e2tra c, and south of the Himavat, or again, in a more general way, as the Du\u00e2b of the Gang\u00e2 and Yamun\u00e2 d.\nIt is very curious that while in the later Sanskrit literature\nthe disappearance of the Sarasvat\u00ee in the desert is a fact familiar to every writer, no mention of it should occur during the whole of the Vedic period, and it is still more curious that in one of the hymns of the Rig-veda we should have a distinct statement that the Sarasvat\u00ee fell into the sea:\nVII, 95, 1-2. pr\u00e1 ksh\u00f3das\u00e2 dh\u00e2\u00b4yas\u00e2 sasre esh\u00e2\u00b4 s\u00e1rasvat\u00ee dhar\u00fanam \u00e2\u00b4yas\u00ee p\u00fb\u00b4h, pra-b\u00e2\u00b4badh\u00e2n\u00e2 rathy\u1eab-iva y\u00e2ti v\u00edsv\u00e2h ap\u00e1h mahin\u00e2\u00b4 s\u00edndhuh any\u00e2\u00b4h. \u00e9k\u00e2 aketat s\u00e1rasvat\u00ee nad\u00ee\u00b4n\u00e2m s\u00fakih yat\u00ee\u00b4 gir\u00ed-bhyah \u00e2\u00b4 samudr\u00e2\u00b4t, r\u00e2y\u00e1h k\u00e9tant\u00ee bh\u00favanasya bh\u00fb\u00b4reh ghrit\u00e1m p\u00e1yah duduhe n\u00e2\u00b4hush\u00e2ya.\n1. 'With her fertilising stream this Sarasvat\u00ee comes forth\u2014(she is to us) a stronghold, an iron gate. Moving along as on a chariot, this river surpasses in greatness all other waters. 2. Alone among all rivers Sarasvat\u00ee listened, she who goes pure from the mountains as far as the sea. She who knows of the manifold wealth of the world, has poured out to man her fat milk.'\nHere we see samudr\u00e1 used clearly in the sense of sea, the Indian sea, and we have at the same time a new indication of the distance which separates the Vedic age from that of the later Sanskrit literature. Though it may not be possible to determine by geological evidence the time of the changes which. modified the southern area of the Penj\u00e2b and caused the Sarasvat\u00ee to disappear in the desert, still the fact remains that the loss of the Sarasvat\u00ee is later than the Vedic age, and that at that time the waters of the Sarasvat\u00ee reached the sea. Professor Wilson had observed long ago in reference to the rivers of that part of India, that there have been, no doubt, considerable changes here, both in the nomenclature and in the courses of the rivers, and this remark has been fully confirmed by later observations. I believe it can be proved that in the Vedic age the Sarasvat\u00ee was a river as large as the Sutlej, that it was the last of the rivers of the Penj\u00e2b, and therefore the iron gate, or the real frontier against the rest of India. At present the Sarasvat\u00ee is so small a river that the epithets applied to the Sarasvat\u00ee in the Veda have become quite inapplicable to it. The Vedic Rishis, though acquainted with numerous rivers, including\nthe Indus and Ganges, call the Sarasvat\u00ee the mother of rivers (VII, 36, 6. s\u00e1rasvat\u00ee sapt\u00e1th\u00ee s\u00edndhu-m\u00e2t\u00e2), the strongest of rivers (VI, 61, 13. ap\u00e1s\u00e2m ap\u00e1h-tam\u00e2), and in our passage, VII, 95, 2, we have, as far as I can judge, conclusive evidence that the old Sarasvat\u00ee reached in its course the Indian sea, either by itself, or united with the Indus a.\nBut this passage, though important as showing the application of samudr\u00e1, i. e. confluvies, to the Indian sea, and proving the acquaintance of the Vedic Rishis with the southern coast of India, is by no means the only one in which samudr\u00e1 must be translated by sea. Thus we read, VII, 49, 2:\ny\u00e2\u00b4h \u00e2\u00b4pah divy\u00e2\u00b4h ut\u00e1 v\u00e2 sr\u00e1vanti khan\u00edtrim\u00e2h ut\u00e1 v\u00e2 y\u00e2\u00b4h svayam-g\u00e2\u00b4h, samudr\u00e1-arth\u00e2h y\u00e2\u00b4h s\u00fakayah p\u00e2vak\u00e2\u00b4h t\u00e2\u00b4h \u00e2\u00b4pah dev\u00ee\u00b4h ih\u00e1 m\u00e2\u00b4m avantu.\nThe waters which are from heaven, or those which flow after being dug, or those which spring up by themselves, the bright, pure waters that tend to the sea, may those divine waters protect me here!\nI, 71, 7. agn\u00edm v\u00edsv\u00e2h abh\u00ed pr\u00edkshah sakante samudr\u00e1m n\u00e1 srav\u00e1tah sapt\u00e1 yahv\u00ee\u00b4h.\nAll kinds of food go to Agni, as the seven rivers go to the sea.\nCf. I, 190, 7. samudr\u00e1m n\u00e1 srav\u00e1tah r\u00f3dha-kakr\u00e2h.\nV, 78, 8. y\u00e1th\u00e2 v\u00e2\u00b4tah y\u00e1th\u00e2 v\u00e1nam y\u00e1th\u00e2 samudr\u00e1h \u00e9gati.\nAs the wind moves, as the forest moves, as the sea moves (or the sky).\nIn hymn X, 58, the same expression occurs which we have in our hymn, and samudr\u00e1m arnav\u00e1m there as here admits but of one explanation, the surging sea.\nSamudr\u00e1 in many passages of the Rig-veda has to be taken as an adjective, in the sense of watery or flowing:\nVI, 58, 3. y\u00e2\u00b4s te p\u00fbshan n\u00e2\u00b4vah ant\u00e1h samudr\u00e9 hirany\u00e1y\u00eeh ant\u00e1rikshe k\u00e1ranti.\nThy golden ships, O P\u00fbshan, which move within the watery sky.\nVII, 70, 2. y\u00e1h v\u00e2m samudr\u00e2\u00b4n sar\u00edtah p\u00edparti.\nHe who carries you across the watery rivers.\nI, 161, 14. at-bh\u00edh y\u00e2ti v\u00e1runah samudra\u00edh.\nVaruna moves in the flowing waters.\nIn both these passages samudr\u00e1, as an adjective, does not conform to the gender of the noun. See Bollensen, Orient und Occident, vol. ii, p. 467.\nII, 16, 3. n\u00e1 samudra\u00edh p\u00e1rvataih indra te r\u00e1thah (n\u00e1 pari-bhv\u1ebd).\nThy chariot, O Indra, is not to be overcome by the watery clouds.\nWilson: Who spread (through the firmament), along with the rays (of the sun), and, with their strength, agitate the ocean: come, Agni, with the Maruts.\nBenfey: Die mit Blitzen schleuderen machtig \u00fcber das Meer hinaus\u2014Mit diesen Marut\u2019s, Agni! komm!\nLudwig: Die mit stralen ihre richtung nemen mit gewalt durchs mer, mit den Marut, Agni, kom.\nWilson: I pour out the sweet Soma juice for thy drinking, (as) of old: come, Agni, with the Maruts.\nBenfey: Ich giesse zu dem ersten Trank f\u00fcr dich des Soma Honig aus\u2014Mit diesen Marut\u2019s, Agni! komm!\nLudwig: Ich giesze dir zum ersten trunk madhu mit dem soma zu; mit den Marut, Agni, kom.\nNote 1. P\u00fbrvap\u00eeti, the early draught, implies at the same time the priority of the god to whom it is given.\n58:a Mentioned in L\u00e2ty. Srauta S\u00fbtras, X, 15, 1; Pa\u00f1kavimsa Br\u00e2hm. XXV, 10, 1; see Hist. A. S. L., p. 12.\n59:a See Wilson's Vishnu-pur\u00e2na, ed. Hall, pp. 154, 155, 159, 160.\n59:b See Wilson's Vishnu-pur\u00e2na, ed. Hall, p. 161.\n59:c L. c., pp. 123, 127. Instead of P\u00e2riy\u00e2tra, other MSS. read P\u00e2rip\u00e2tra; see Baler, Vasishtha I, 8.\n59:d Pr\u00e2g das\u00e2rn\u00e2t pratyak k\u00e2mpily\u00e2d udak p\u00e2riy\u00e2tr\u00e2d, dakshinena himavatah. Gang\u00e2yamunayor antaram eke madhyadesam ity \u00e2kakshate. Medh\u00e2tithi says that Madhyadesa, the middle country, was not called so because it was in the middle of the earth, but because it was neither too high nor too low. Albiruny, too, remarks that Madhyadesa was between the sea and the northern mountains, between the hot and the cold countries, equally distant from the eastern and western frontiers. See Reinaud, M\u00e9moire sur l\u2019Inde, p. 46.\n61:a See 'India, what can it teach us?' pp. 170, 171.","title":"Vedic Hymns, Part I (SBE32): Vedic Hymns: I, 19. To Agni (the god of Fire) and the Maruts (the Storm-gods)","type":"page"}