{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/sbe32/sbe3218.htm","path":"hin/sbe32/sbe3218.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe32/sbe3218.htm","text":"Vedic Hymns, Part I (SBE32), by Max M\u00fcller, [1891]\n1. Sing forth, O Kanvas, to the sportive host of your Maruts, brilliant on their chariots, and unscathed 1,\u2014\n2. They who were born together, self-luminous, with the spotted deer (the clouds) 1, the spears, the daggers, the glittering ornaments 2.\n3. I hear their 1 whips, almost close by, when they crack them in their hands; they gain splendour 2 on their way 3.\n4. Sing forth the god-given prayer to the wild 1 host of your Maruts, endowed with terrible vigour 2 and strength.\n5. Celebrate the bull among the cows (the storm among the clouds) 1, for it is the sportive host of the Maruts; he grew as he tasted the rain 2.\n6. Who, O ye men, is the strongest among you here, ye shakers of heaven and earth, when you shake them like the hem of a garment 1?\n7. At your approach the son of man holds himself down; the gnarled cloud 1 fled at your fierce anger.\n8. They at whose racings 1 the earth, like a hoary king, trembles for fear on their ways,\n9. Their birth is strong indeed: there is strength to come forth from their mother, nay, there is vigour twice enough for it 1.\n10. And these sons, the singers 1, stretched out the fences in their racings 2; the cows had to walk knee-deep.\n11. They cause this long and broad unceasing rain 1 to fall on their ways.\n12. O Maruts, with such strength as yours, you have caused men to tremble 1, you have caused the mountains to tremble.\n13. As the Maruts pass 1 along, they talk together on the way: does any one hear them?\n14. Come fast on your quick steeds! there are worshippers 1 for you among the Kanvas: may you well rejoice among them.\n15. Truly there is enough for your rejoicing. We always are their servants, that we may live even the whole of life.\nThis hymn is ascribed to Kanva, the son of Ghora.\nVerse 1 = TS. IV, 3, 13, 6.\nVerse 3 = SV. I, 135.\nVerse 10 = SV. I, 221.\nWilson: Celebrate, Kanvas, the aggregate strength of the Maruts, sportive, without horses, but shining in their car.\nBenfey: Kanviden, auf! begr\u00fcsst mit Sang, die muntre Heerschaar der Marut\u2019s, die rasch\u2019ste, wagengl\u00e4nzende.\nLudwig: Eurer spilenden schar, der Marutschar, der unangreifbaren, die auf wagen gl\u00e4nzt, der singt, o Kanv\u00e2s, zu.\nNote 1. Wilson translates anarv\u00e2\u00b4nam by without horses, though the commentator distinctly explains the word by without an enemy. A Br\u00e2hmana passage explains: bhr\u00e2trivyo v\u00e2 arv\u00e2, ity srutyantar\u00e2t. See TS. IV, 3, 13, 6. Wilson considers it doubtful whether \u00e1rvan can ever mean enemy. The fact is, that in the Rig-veda an-arv\u00e1n never means without horses, but always without hurt or free from enemies; and the commentator is perfectly right, as far as the sense is concerned, in rendering the word by without an enemy, or unopposed (apraty-rita). An-arv\u00e1n is not formed from \u00e1rvat, horse, racer, but from \u00e1rvan; and this is derived from the same root which yields \u00e1rus, n. a wound, riti (see I, 64, 15, note), &c. The accusative of anarvat, without a horse, would be anarvantam, not anarv\u00e2nam.\nThe root ar, in the sense of hurting, is distantly connected with the root mar: see Lectures on the Science of Language, Second Series, p. 323. It exists in the Greek \u1f44\u03bb\u03bb\u03c5\u03bc\u03b9 corresponding to Sanskrit rinomi, i. e. arnomi, I hurt, likewise\nin \u03bf\u1f50\u03bb\u03ae, wound, which cannot be derived from \u1f45\u03bb\u03b7; in \u03bf\u1f56\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2, \u03bf\u1f54\u03bb\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2, hurtful, and \u1f40\u03bb\u03bf\u03cc\u03c2, destructive: see Curtius, Grundz\u00fcge der Griechischen Etymologie (f\u00fcnfte Ausgabe), p. 372. In the Veda ar has the sense of offending or injuring, particularly if preceded by upa.\nX, 164, 3. y\u00e1t \u00e2-s\u00e1s\u00e2 nih-s\u00e1s\u00e2 abhi-s\u00e1s\u00e2 upa-\u00e2rim\u00e1 g\u00e2\u00b4gratah y\u00e1t svap\u00e1ntah, agn\u00edh v\u00edsv\u00e2ni \u00e1pa duh-krit\u00e2\u00b4ni \u00e1gusht\u00e2ni \u00e2r\u00e9 asm\u00e1t dadh\u00e2tu.\nIf we have offended, or whatever fault we have committed, by bidding, blaming, or forbidding, while waking or while sleeping, may Agni remove all wicked misdeeds far from us.\nHence up\u00e2r\u00e1, injury, VII, 86, 6. \u00e1sti gy\u00e2\u00b4y\u00e2n k\u00e1n\u00eeyasah upa-ar\u00e9, the older man is there to injure, to offend, to mislead, the young: (History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, second edition, p. 541.) Roth translates up\u00e2r\u00e1 by Verfehlung, missing. Ari, enemy, too, is best derived from this root, and not from r\u00e2, to give, with the negative particle, as if meaning originally, as S\u00e2yana supposes, a man who does not give. In \u00e1rariv\u00e2n, gen. \u00e1rarushah, hostile, Rosen recognised many years ago a participle of a really reduplicated perfect of ar, and he likewise traced ar\u00e1ru, enemy, back to the same root: see his note to I, 18, 3.\nFrom this root ar, to hurt, \u00e1rvan, hurting, as well as \u00e1rus, wound, are derived in the same manner as both dh\u00e1nvan and dh\u00e1nus, bow, are formed from dhan; y\u00e1gvan and y\u00e1gus from yag, p\u00e1rvan and p\u00e1rus from par. See Kuhn, Zeitschrift, vol. ii, p. 233.\nAnarv\u00e1n, then, is the same as \u00e1narus, Sat. P. Br\u00e2hmana III, 1, 3, 7; and from meaning originally without a wound or without one who can wound, it takes the more general sense of uninjured, invulnerable, perfect, strong, (cf. integer, intact, and entire.) This meaning is applicable to I, 94, 2; 136, 5; II, 6, 5; V, 49, 4; VII, 20, 3; 97, 5; X, 61, 13; 65, 3. In I, 116, 16, anarv\u00e1n seems to be used as an adverb; in I, 51, 12, as applied to sl\u00f3ka, it may have the more general meaning of irresistible, powerful.\nThere are two passages in which the nom. sing. \u00e1rv\u00e2n, and one in which the acc. sing. \u00e1rv\u00e2nam, occur, apparently\nmeaning horse. But in I, 163, 13, and IX, 97, 25, \u00e1rv\u00e2n stands in the Pada text only, the Samhit\u00e2 has \u00e1rv\u00e2\u0310 \u00e1kkha and \u00e1rv\u00e2\u0310 iva. In X, 46, 5, the text h\u00edri-smasrum n\u00e1 \u00e1rv\u00e2nam dh\u00e1na-arkam is too doubtful to allow of any safe induction, particularly as the S\u00e2ma-veda gives a totally different reading. I do not think, therefore, that \u00e1rvat, horse, admits in the nom. and acc. sing. of any forms but \u00e1rv\u00e2 and \u00e1rvantam a. P\u00e2nini (VI, 4, 127) allows the forms arv\u00e2n and arv\u00e2nam, but in anarvan only, which, as we saw, has nothing in common with \u00e1rvat, horse. Benfey: 'die rascheste (keinen Renner habend, uneinholbar),' the quickest (having no racer, hence not to be reached). M. Bergaigne (Journ. As. 1884, p. 188) tries to defend anarvan in the sense of anasva, without considering the grammatical objections. In VI, 66, 7 (not I, 6, 7) anasv\u00e1h does not refer to y\u00e2mah.\nThe masculine anarv\u00e2\u00b4nam after the neuter s\u00e1rdhas is curious; s\u00e1rdhas means might, but it is here used to express a might or an aggregate of strong men or gods, and the nom. plur. y\u00e9, who, in the next verse, shows the same transition of thought, not only from the singular to the plural, but also from the neuter to the masculine, which must be admitted in anarv\u00e2\u00b4nam b. It would be possible, if necessary, to explain away the irregularity of anarv\u00e2\u00b4nam by admitting a rapid transition from the Maruts to Indra, the eldest among the Maruts (cf. I, 23, 8. \u00edndra gyeshth\u00e2h m\u00e1rut-gan\u00e2h), and it would be easier still to alter s\u00e1rdhas into s\u00e2rdham, as an accusative singular of the masculine noun s\u00e1rdha, which has the same meaning as the neuter s\u00e1rdhas. There is one passage, V, 56, 9, which would seem to give ample countenance to such a conjecture:\nt\u00e1m vah s\u00e1rdham rathe-s\u00fabham\u2014\u00e2\u00b4 huve.\nI call hither this your host, brilliant on chariots.\nAgain, II, 30, u, we read:\nt\u00e1m vah s\u00e1rdham m\u00e2\u00b4rutam\u2014gir\u00e2\u00b4 \u00fapa bruve.\nI call with my voice on this your host of Maruts.\nVIII, 93, 16. srut\u00e1m vah vritrah\u00e1n-tamam pr\u00e1 s\u00e1rdham karshan\u00een\u00e2\u00b4m, \u00e2\u00b4 sushe.\nI pant for the glorious, victorious, host of the quick Maruts.\nFrom this s\u00e1rdha we have also the genitive s\u00e1rdhasya, VII, 56, 8 (4):\nsubhr\u00e1h vah s\u00fashmah kr\u00fadhm\u00ee m\u00e1n\u00e2msi dh\u00fanih m\u00fanihiva s\u00e1rdhasya dhrishn\u00f3h.\nYour prowess is brilliant, your minds furious; the shout of the daring host is like one possessed.\nWe have likewise the dative s\u00e1rdh\u00e2ya, the instrumental s\u00e1rdhena, and the acc. plur. s\u00e1rdh\u00e2n; and in most cases, except in two or three where s\u00e1rdha seems to be used as an adjective, meaning strong, these words are applied to the host of the Maruts.\nBut the other word s\u00e1rdhas is equally well authenticated, and we find of it, not only the nominative, accusative, and vocative sing. s\u00e1rdhas, but likewise the nom. plur. s\u00e1rdh\u00e2msi.\nThe nominative singular occurs in our very hymn:\nI, 37, 5. kril\u00e1m y\u00e1t s\u00e1rdhah m\u00e2\u00b4rutam.\nWhich is the sportive host of the Maruts.\nI, 127, 6. s\u00e1h h\u00ed s\u00e1rdhah n\u00e1 m\u00e2\u00b4rutam tuvi-sv\u00e1nih.\nFor he (Agni) is strong-voiced like the host of the Maruts.\nIV, 6, 10. tuvi-svan\u00e1sah m\u00e2\u00b4rutam n\u00e1 s\u00e1rdhah.\nThy flames (Agni) are strong-voiced like the host of the Maruts.\nV, 46, 5. ut\u00e1 ty\u00e1t nah m\u00e2\u00b4rutam s\u00e1rdhah \u00e2\u00b4 gamat.\nMay also that host of the Maruts come to us.\nII, 1, 5. tv\u00e1m nar\u00e2\u00b4m s\u00e1rdhah asi puru-v\u00e1suh.\nThou (Agni), full of riches, art the host of the men.\nThis host of men seems to me intended again for the Maruts, although it is true that in thus identifying Agni with different gods, the poet repeats himself in the next verse:\nII, 1, 6. tv\u00e1m s\u00e1rdhah m\u00e2\u00b4rutam.\nThou art the host of the Maruts.\nIf this repetition seems offensive, the first nar\u00e2\u00b4m s\u00e1rdhas might be taken for some other company of gods. Thus we find:\nVII, 44, 5. srin\u00f3tu nah da\u00edvyam s\u00e1rdhah agn\u00edh i srinv\u00e1ntu v\u00edsve mahish\u00e2\u00b4h \u00e1m\u00fbr\u00e2h.\nMay the divine host, may Agni, hear us, may the Visve hear us, the strong, the wise.\nOr III, 19, 4. s\u00e1h \u00e2\u00b4 vaha dev\u00e2-t\u00e2tim yavishtha s\u00e1rdhah y\u00e1t ady\u00e1 divy\u00e1m y\u00e1g\u00e2si.\nBring thou hither, O Agni, the gods, that you may sacrifice to-day to the divine host.\nOr I, 139, 1. \u00e2\u00b4 n\u00fa t\u00e1t s\u00e1rdhah divy\u00e1m vrin\u00eemahe.\nWe chose for us now that divine host.\nAs in these last, so in many other passages, s\u00e1rdhas is used as a neuter in the accusative. For instance,\nI, 106, 1; II, 11, 14. m\u00e2\u00b4rutam s\u00e1rdhah.\nII, 3, 3; VI, 3, 8. s\u00e1rdhah mar\u00fat\u00e2m.\nThe vocative occurs,\nV, 46, 2. \u00e1gne \u00edndra v\u00e1runa m\u00edtra d\u00e9v\u00e2h s\u00e1rdhah pr\u00e2 yanta m\u00e2\u00b4ruta ut\u00e1 vishno (\u00edti).\nAgni, Indra, Varuna, Mitra, gods, host of the Maruts, come forth, and Vishnu!\nWe see how throughout all these passages those in which s\u00e1rdha and s\u00e1rdhas are applied to the Maruts, or to some other company of gods, preponderate most decidedly. Yet passages occur in the Rig-veda where both s\u00e1rdha, and s\u00e1rdhas are applied to other hosts or companies. Thus V, 53, 10, s\u00e1rdha refers to chariots, while in I, 133, 3, s\u00e1rdhas is applied to evil spirits.\nIf the passages hitherto examined were all that occur in the Rig-veda, we might still feel startled at the construction of our verse, where s\u00e1rdhas is not only followed by masculine adjectives in the singular, but, in the next verse, by a pronoun in the plural. But if we take the last irregularity first, we find the same construction, viz. s\u00e1rdhas followed by y\u00e9, in III, 32, 4:\n\u00edndrasya s\u00e1rdhah mar\u00fatah y\u00e9 \u00e2\u00b4san.\nThe host of Indra, that was the Maruts.\nAs to the change of genders, we find adjectives in the masculine after s\u00e1rdhas, in\nV, 52, 8. s\u00e1rdhah m\u00e2\u00b4rutam \u00fat samsa saty\u00e2-savasam r\u00edbhvasam.\nCelebrate the host of the Maruts, the truly vigorous, the brilliant.\nHere, too, the poet afterwards continues in the plural, though as he uses the demonstrative, and not, as in our passage, the relative pronoun, we cannot quote this in support of the irregularity which has here to be explained. Anyhow the construction of our verse, though bold and unusual, is not so unusual as to force us to adopt conjectural remedies. In V, 58, 2, we find y\u00e9 after gan\u00e1h. On the Umbrian \u00c7erfo Martio, as possibly the same as s\u00e1rdha-s m\u00e2\u00b4ruta-s, see Grassman, Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. xvi, p. 190. The Zend saredha, kind, species, is the same word.\nWilson: Who, borne by spotted deer, were born self-radiant, with weapons, war-cries, and decorations.\nBenfey: Die mit Hirschen and Speeren gleich mit Donnern and mit Blitzen auch\u2014selbststrahlende\u2014geboren sind.\nLudwig: Die mit vilfarbigen speeren, mit der schwerter glanze, sichtbar wurden mit eignem leuchten.\nNote 1. The spotted deer (pr\u00edshat\u00ee) are the recognised animals of the Maruts, and were originally, as it would seem, intended for the rain-clouds. S\u00e2yana is perfectly aware of the original meaning of pr\u00edshat\u00ee, as clouds. The legendary school, he says, takes them for deer with white spots, the etymological school for many-coloured lines of clouds: (RV. BH. I, 64, 8.) This passage shows that although pr\u00edshat\u00ee, as Roth observes, may mean a spotted cow or a spotted horse,\u2014the Maruts, in fact, are called sometimes prishat-asv\u00e2h, having piebald horses, or, having prishats for their horses, VII, 40, 3,\u2014yet the later tradition in India had distinctly declared in favour of spotted deer. The Vedic poets, however, admitted both ideas, and they speak in the same hymn, nay, in the same verse, of the fallow deer and of the horses of the Maruts. Thus V, 58, 1, the Maruts are called \u00e2s\u00fa-asv\u00e2h, possessed of quick horses; and in V, 58, 6, we read y\u00e1t pr\u00e1 \u00e1y\u00e2sishta pr\u00edshat\u00eebhih \u00e1svaih\u2014r\u00e1thebhih, where the gender of pr\u00edshat\u00eebhih\nwould hardly allow us to join it with \u00e1svaih, but where we must translate: When you come with the deer, the horses, the chariots, or with your deer, as horses. Ludwig joins prishat\u00eebhih with rishtibhih, and again in I, 64, 8; see note i to I, 87, 4.\nNote 2. The spears and daggers of the Maruts are meant for the thunderbolts, and the glittering ornaments for the lightning. S\u00e2yana takes v\u00e2\u00b4s\u00ee in this passage for war-cries on the authority of the Nirukta, where v\u00e2\u00b4s\u00ee is given among the names of the voice. From other passages, however, it becomes clear that v\u00e2\u00b4s\u00ee is a weapon of the Maruts; and S\u00e2yana, too, explains it sometimes in that sense: cf. V, 53, 4; 57, 2. Thus I, 88, 3, the v\u00e2\u00b4s\u00ees are spoken of as being on the bodies of the Maruts. In V, 53, 4, the Maruts are said to shine in their ornaments and their v\u00e2\u00b4s\u00ees. Here S\u00e2yana, too, translates v\u00e2\u00b4s\u00ee rightly by weapon; and in his remarks on I, 88, 3, he says that v\u00e2\u00b4s\u00ee was a weapon commonly called \u00e2r\u00e2, which is a shoemaker's awl. See Dhammapada, ver. 401. This reminds one of framea, which at one time was supposed to he connected with the German pfrieme. See, however, Grimm (Deutsche Grammatik, vol. i, p. 128) and Leo Meyer (Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. vi, p. 424). In VIII, 29, 3, the god Tvashtar is said to carry an iron v\u00e2\u00b4s\u00ee in his hand. Grassman (Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. xvi, p. 163) translates v\u00e2\u00b4s\u00ee by axe. That is to be taken in the sense of ornament, and not in the sense of ointment, is shown by passages like VIII, 29, 1, where a golden ornament is mentioned, a\u00f1g\u00ed a\u1e45kte hirany\u00e1yam. S\u00e2k\u00e1m, together, is used with reference to the birth of the Maruts; see I, 64, 4. It should not be connected with v\u00e2\u00b4s\u00eebhih.\nWilson: I hear the cracking of the whips in their hands, wonderfully inspiring (courage) in the fight.\nBenfey: Schier hier erschallt der Peitsche Knall, wenn sie in ihrer Hand erklingt; leuchtend fahr\u2019n sie im Sturm herab.\nLudwig: Als ware es hier, so h\u00f6rt man es, wenn die geisslen in ihren h\u00e4nden knallen; wunderbar strecken sie auf ihrer fart sich nieder.\nNote 1. Esh\u00e2m should be pronounced as a creticus; also in verses 9, 13, 15. This is a very common vy\u00fbha. On the whips as lightning, see Grimm, Donner, p. 27.\nNote 2. I should have taken kitr\u00e1m as an adverb, like Benfey, if ni ri\u00f1g were not usually construed with an accusative. Ri\u00f1g in the 3rd pers. plur. pres. \u00c2tm. is treated like a verb of the Ad-class. The SV. seems to read y\u00e2mam, and the commentator explains it by ratham.\nNote 3. The locative y\u00e2\u00b4man is frequently used of the path on which the gods move and approach the sacrifice; hence it sometimes means, as in our passage, in the sky. Y\u00e2\u00b4mam in BR., s. v. arg, is wrong.\nWe might also translate: 'Here, close by, I hear what the whips in their hands say; they drive forth the beautiful (chariot) on the road.' See SV. I, 2, 1, 5, 1, comm.\nWilson: Address the god-given prayer to those who are your strength, the destroyers of foes, the powerful, possessed of brilliant reputation.\nBenfey: Singt eurer Schaar, der w\u00fchlenden, der strahlenreichen, kr\u00e4ftigen ein gotterf\u00fclletes Gebet!\nLudwig: Eurer k\u00fcnen schar, von blendender herlichkeit, der kraftvollen, soll ein von den g\u00f6ttern eingegebenes brahma gesungen werden.\nNote 1. Benfey translates ghr\u00edshvi by burrowing, and refers it to the thunderbolt that uproots the earth. He points out that ghr\u00edshvi means also, for the same reason, the boar, as proved by Kuhn (Die Herabkunft des Feuers, S. 202). Ghrishti is evidently a common name for boar, the Norse gr\u00edss, and the god of the wind, Grimnir or Grimr, is conceived as a boar, shaking the cornfield, in such phrases as 'Der Eber geht ins Korn' (Gentha, l. c. p. 14). I prefer, however, in this place the general sense assigned to the adjective ghr\u00edshu and ghr\u00edshvi, exuberant, brisk, wild. See Kuhn in Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. xi, p. 385. Wilson, after S\u00e2yana, translates destroyers of foes. On the representation of the clouds as boars, see Nir. V, 4.\nNote 2. Tvesh\u00e1-dyumna is difficult to render. Both\ntvesh\u00e1 and dyumn\u00e1 are derived from roots that mean to shine, to be bright, to glow. Derivatives from tvish express the idea of fieriness, fierceness, and fury. In IV, 17, 2, tvish is used correlatively, with many\u00fa, wrath. Derivatives from dyu convey the idea of brightness and briskness. Both qualities are frequently applied to the Maruts.\nWilson: Praise the sportive and resistless might of the Maruts, who were born amongst kine, and whose strength has been nourished by (the enjoyment of) the milk.\nBenfey: Preist hoch die muntre Marutschaar die unbesiegbar in den K\u00fch\u2019n, im Schlund des Safts wuchs sie heran.\nLudwig: Preise wie unter k\u00fchen den stier, (so) der Marut spilende schar, beim verschlingen des saftes ist sie grosz geworden.\nNote 1. This translation is merely conjectural. I suppose that the wind driving the clouds before him, is here compared to a bull among cows, cf. V, 52, 3:\nt\u00e9 syandr\u00e2\u00b4sah n\u00e1 uksh\u00e1nah \u00e1ti skandanti s\u00e1rvar\u00eeh.\nThey, the Maruts, like rushing bulls, mount on the dark cows.\nThe last sentence states that the wind grows even stronger after it has tasted the rain (I, 85, 2. t\u00e9 ukshit\u00e2\u00b4sah mahim\u00e2\u00b4nam \u00e2sata).\nNote 2. I take g\u00e1mbhe in the sense of g\u00e1mbhane. (On the root gabh and its derivatives, see Kuhn, Zeitschrift f\u00fcr vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft, vol. i, p. 123 seq.) It would be better to read mukhe, instead of sukhe, in the commentary. The Maruts were not born of milk for Prisni, as Wilson says in a note, but from the milk of Prisni. Prisni is called their mother, Rudra their father: (V, 52, 16; 60, 5.)\nBenfey takes the cows for clouds in which the lightnings dwell; and the abyss of the sap is by him supposed to be again the clouds.\nWilson: Which is chief leader among you, agitators of heaven and earth, who shake all around, like the top (of a tree)?\nBenfey: Wer, Helden! ist der erste euch\u2014ihr Erd- und Himmel-sch\u00fb\u00b4tterer!\u2014wenn ihr sie sch\u00fb\u00b4ttelt Wipfeln gleich?\nLudwig: Wer ist der gr\u00f4\u00b4sste bei euch, helden, wenn vom himel und der erde, sch\u00fb\u00b4tteler, ihr am saume gleichsam r\u00fb\u00b4ttelt!\nNote 1. \u00c1ntam n\u00e1, literally, like an end, is explained by S\u00e2yana as the top of a tree. Wilson, Langlois, and Benfey accept that interpretation. Roth proposes, like the hem of a garment, which I prefer; for vastr\u00e2nta, the end of a garment, is a common expression in later Sanskrit, while anta is never applied to a tree in the sense of the top of a tree. Here agra would be more appropriate.\nWilson: The householder, in dread of your fierce and violent approach, has planted a firm (buttress); for the many-ridged mountain is shattered (before you).\nBenfey: Vor eurem Gange beuget sich, vor eurem wilden Zorn der Mann; der H\u00fcgel weichet und der Berg.\nLudwig: Vor eurem anzug, eurem gewaltigen eifer, niederduckte sich der mensch, wich der festgeknotete [wolken]berg.\nNote 1. S\u00e2yana translates: 'Man has planted a firm buttress to give stability to his dwelling.' The reading ni for ni, which Aufrecht adopted, is untenable, as Ludwig shows. It has been altered in the second edition. See also VIII, 7, 5, ni yemir\u00e9. Nidadhr\u00e9 is the perfect \u00c2tmanepada, and expresses the holding down of the head or the cowering attitude of man. I have taken ugr\u00e2\u00b4ya many\u00e1ve over to g\u00edh\u00eeta, because these words could hardly form an apposition to y\u00e2\u00b4m\u00e2ya. As the Vedic poets speak of the very mountains as shaken by the storms, we might translate p\u00e1rvato gir\u00edh by the gnarled or rocky mount;\nbut there is no authority for translating g\u00edh\u00eeta by it is shattered, and we should have to translate, the mountain yielded or bent before your anger. Cf. V, 57, 3:\nn\u00ed vah v\u00e1n\u00e2 gihate y\u00e2\u00b4manah bhiy\u00e2\u00b4.\nThe forests get out of your way from fear.\nV, 60, 2. v\u00e1n\u00e2 kit ugr\u00e2h gihate n\u00ed vah bhiy\u00e2\u00b4 prithiv\u00ee\u00b4 kit regate p\u00e1rvatah kit.\nEven the forests, ye fearful Maruts, yield from fear of you; even the earth trembles, even the mountain.\nIn I, 166, 5, y\u00e1t tvesh\u00e1-y\u00e2m\u00e2h nad\u00e1yanta p\u00e1rvat\u00e2n, we may translate 'when they on their fiery course made the parvatas (clouds) to sound or thunder,' but it is more likely that n\u00e2dayati here means to cause to shake or vibrate, and that parvata stands for mountain. We ought to remember such poetical expressions as 1 Kings xix. 11, 'and a great, strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord.'\nWilson: At whose impetuous approach earth trembles; like an enfeebled monarch, through dread (of his enemies).\nBenfey: Bei deren Lauf bei deren Sturm die Erde zittert voller Furcht, wie ein altergebeugter Mann.\nLudwig: Bei deren m\u00e4rschen zitterte wie ein gealtet stammeshaupt die erd vor furcht auf ihren wegen.\nNote 1. \u00c1gma seems to express the act of racing or running (like \u00e2gi, race, battle), while y\u00e2\u00b4ma is the road itself where the racing takes place. A very similar passage occurs in I, 87, 3. The comparison of the earth (fem.) to a king (masc.) would be considered a grave offence in the later Sanskrit literature. In I, 87, 3, vithur\u00e2\u00b4 takes the place of visp\u00e1ti.\nWilson: Stable is their birthplace, (the sky); yet the birds (are able) to issue from (the sphere of) their parent: for your strength is everywhere (divided) between two (regions,\u2014or, heaven and earth).\nBenfey: Kaum geboren sind sie so stark, dass ihrer Mutter sie entfliehn: ist ja doch zwiefach ihre Kraft.\nLudwig: Denn fest ist ihr geburtsort, v\u00f6gel (sind sie) von der mutter fortzugehn, nach dem, wie von altersher ihre kraft.\nOder, Denn fest ist ihre kraft geworden von der mutter sich zu trennen, da schon von alters her ihre kraft diss wollte.\nNote 1. A very difficult verse. The birth of the Maruts is frequently alluded to, as well as their surpassing strength, as soon as born. Hence the first sentence admits of little doubt. But what follows is very abrupt. V\u00e1yas may be the plural of vi, bird, or it may be v\u00e1yas, the neuter, meaning vital strength: see Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. xv, p. 217. The Maruts are frequently compared to birds (cf. I, 87, 2; 88, I), but it is usual to indicate the comparison by n\u00e1 or iva. I therefore take v\u00e1yas as a nom. sing. neut., in the sense of vigour, life. They are called brihadvayasah in a Nivid; see Ludwig, p. 226. Nir-i is used with particular reference to the birth of a child (cf. V, 78, 7; 9).\nWilson: They are the generators of speech: they spread out the waters in their courses: they urge the lowing (cattle) to enter (the water), up to their knees, (to drink.)\nBenfey: In ihrem Lauf erheben dann diese S\u00f6hne Get\u00f6s und Fluth, die bis zum Knie den K\u00fchen geht.\nLudwig: Und dise s\u00f6ne, die s\u00e4nger, denten auf ihren z\u00fcgen ihre banen aus, so dass br\u00fcllend sie uns ganz nahe kamen.\nNote 1. If we could take s\u00fbn\u00e1vah g\u00edrah in the sense of the sons of voice, i. e. of thunder, which would remove many difficulties, the accent of g\u00edrah would have to be changed. The commentator takes s\u00fbnu in the sense of utp\u00e2daka, producers of sound. G\u00edrah, however, occurs at least once more, in the sense of singers or poets, IX, 63, 10, where g\u00edrah can only be a vocative, O ye singers! In I, 6, 6, the translation of g\u00edrah by singers, i. e. the Maruts, may be contested, but if we consider that g\u00edrah, in the sense of\nhymns, is feminine, and is followed by the very word which is here used, viz. devay\u00e1ntah, as a feminine, viz. devay\u00e1nt\u00eeh, VII, 18, 3, we can hardly doubt that in I, 6, 6, g\u00edrah is a masculine and means singers. The same applies to VI, 63, 10. In VI, 52, 9, \u00fbpa nah s\u00fbn\u00e1vah g\u00edrah srinv\u00e1ntu amr\u00edtasya y\u00e9, the construction is, of course, quite different.\nNote 2. The expression that the Maruts enlarged or extended the fences of their race-course (RV. IV, 58, 7), can only mean that they swept over the whole sky, and drove the clouds away from all the corners. K\u00e2\u00b4shth\u00e2 may mean the wooden enclosures (carceres) or the wooden poles that served as turning and winning-posts (metae). The S\u00e2ma-Veda has yag\u00f1eshu instead of agmeshu. That the translation of this verse is purely tentative, and far from satisfactory, was known to all Vedic scholars, but I doubt whether they will consider the interpretation which M. Bergaigne proposes with so much assurance, as less tentative and more satisfactory. He translates (Journ. As. 1884, p. 239), des fils ont, dans leur marche, allong\u00e9 leurs chants comme des chemins, pour y marcher \u00e0 genoux (sur les genoux) en mugissant (en chantant).' I shall content myself with shortly pointing out the misgivings which every Vedic scholar would feel at once in proposing such a rendering. First as to the conception itself. Can a poet say, 'The Maruts have stretched out their songs in order to march on them on their knees?' 'The roads,' as M. Bergaigne shows himself, are only a simile, and no one walks on a simile. Secondly, the idea that these Maruts widened the roads on which they march, is common enough, but that they lengthened their songs, like paths, is never said by the Vedic Rishis, nor would they in such a case have left out the particle na or iva. Lastly, though many things are said of the Maruts, I do not remember that they ever appear on their knees. I do not think, therefore, that M. Bergaigne's infallible method helps us much beyond where we were before. Conjectures are easy, but for that very reason, one does not like to bring them forward. One might propose to read s\u00fbn\u00e1vah div\u00e1h, a very common name of the Maruts. One might go a step further, identify\ngih with bh\u00e2rat\u00ee, and point out that the Maruts are called the sons of Bharata, II, 36, 2. But all this leaves us in utter uncertainty, and where a scholar feels the ground so uncertain beneath his feet, he hesitates to speak with papal authority. M. Bergaigne's strong point is that abhig\u00f1\u00fa means on their knees, not up to their knees. Here again, I ask, does abhi in prepositional compounds ever mean on? If abhig\u00f1\u00fa is used in the same sense in which we use 'on our knees,' it would in Sanskrit mean only 'bowing up to the knees.' Now in I, 72, 5, abhig\u00f1\u00fa seems to express a positive expression of reverence. With regard to the other passages where abhig\u00f1\u00fa occurs, M. Bergaigne has not shown how they ought to be translated so as to give a clear sense. I do not pretend to solve the difficulties, but I think it is better to confess our difficulties than to hide them under the veil of a so-called systematic interpretation. Abhig\u00f1\u00fa, like mitag\u00f1u, may have expressed a position of the knees, expressive of strength, but on such points very little information is to be gained from Indian commentators.\nThe last sentence expresses the result of this race, viz. the falling of so much rain that the cows had to walk up to their knees in water. This becomes still clearer from the next verse.\nS\u00e2yana: These, the producers of speech, have spread water in their courses, they cause the cows to walk up to their knees hi order to drink the water.\nWilson: They drive before them, in their course, the long, vast, uninjurable, rain-retaining cloud.\nBenfey: Dann treiben sie im Sturm heran jenen langen and breiten Spross der Wolke unersch\u00f6pflichen.\nLudwig: Sogar disen langen, breiten, das kind der wolke, den unfeindlichen, schleudern auf ihren Z\u00fcgen sie vorw\u00e4rts.\nNote 1. Rain is called the offspring of the cloud, mih\u00f3 n\u00e1p\u00e2t, and is then treated as a masculine; cf. ap\u00e2m n\u00e1p\u00e2t, &c.\nWilson: Maruts, as you have vigour, invigorate mankind: give animation to the clouds.\nBenfey: O Marut\u2019s! mit der Kraft, die ihr besitzt, werft ihr Gesch\u00f6pfe um, die Berge werft ihr um sogar.\nLudwig: O Marut, so wie eure kraft ist, warft ihr die leute nieder, warft ihr die berge nieder.\nNote 1. In VIII, 72, 8, akukyav\u00eet is explained by vyad\u00e2rayat, he tore open. Akukyav\u00eetana is the Vedic form of the 2nd pers. plur. of the reduplicated aorist.\nWilson: Wherever the Maruts pass, they fill the way with clamour: every one hears their (noise).\nBenfey: Wenn die Marut's des Weges ziehn, dann sprechen mit einander sie und mancher mag sie h\u00f6ren.\nLudwig: Wenn die Marut wandern, sprechen auf dem weg sie mit einander, es h\u00f6ret sie ein jeder.\nNote 1. Y\u00e2nti has to be pronounced as an amphibrachys.\nWilson: Come quickly, with your swift (vehicles). The offerings of the Kanvas are prepared. Be pleased with them.\nBenfey: Auf schnellen kommet schnell herbei, bei Kanva\u2019s Spross sind Feste euch: da wollt euch sch\u00f6n erg\u00f6tzen.\nLudwig: Brecht rasch auf mit raschen rossen, bei den Kanva\u2019s ist euer dienst, dort eben erfreuet euch.\nNote 1. Benfey supposes that d\u00favah stands in the singular instead of the plural. But why should the plural have been used, as the singular (asti) would have created no kind of difficulty? It is better to take d\u00favah as a nominative plural of a noun d\u00fb, worshipper, derived from the same root which yielded d\u00favah, worship. We certainly find \u00e1-duvah, as a nom. plur., in the sense of not-worshipping:\nVII, 4, 6. m\u00e2\u00b4 tv\u00e2 vay\u00e1m sahas\u00e2-van av\u00ee\u00b4r\u00e2h m\u00e2\u00b4 \u00e1psavah p\u00e1ri sad\u00e2ma m\u00e2\u00b4 \u00e1duvah.\nMay we not, O hero, sit round thee like men without strength, without beauty (cf. VIII, 7, 7), without worship.\nHere S\u00e2yana explains \u00e1duvah very well by parikaranah\u00een\u00e2h, which seems better than Roth's explanation 'z\u00f6gernd, ohne Eifer.'\nWilson: The offering is prepared for your gratification: we are your (worshippers), that we may live all our life.\nBenfey: Ger\u00fcstet ist f\u00fcr euren Rausch und wir geh\u00f6ren, traun! euch an f\u00fcr unser ganzes Lebelang.\nLudwig: Er ist euch zur trunkesfreude, und wir gleichfalls euer hier, dass unsere ganze dauer wir erleben.\n67:a See Bugge, K. Z. XIX, p. 403.\n67:b Bollensen (Z. D. M. G. XXII, 603) calls it a vulgar Donatus; see, however, Lanman, Noun-Inflection, pp. 330, 526.","title":"Vedic Hymns, Part I (SBE32): Vedic Hymns: I, 37. To the Maruts (the Storm-Gods)","type":"page"}