{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/sbe32/sbe3223.htm","path":"hin/sbe32/sbe3223.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe32/sbe3223.htm","text":"Vedic Hymns, Part I (SBE32), by Max M\u00fcller, [1891]\n1. O Maruts, that man in whose dwelling you drink (the Soma), ye mighty (sons) of heaven, he indeed has the best guardians 1.\n2. You who are propitiated 1 either by sacrifices or from the prayers of the sage, hear the call, O Maruts!\n3. Aye, the powerful man to whom you have granted a sage, he will live in a stable rich in cattle 1.\n4. On the altar of this strong man (here) 1 Soma is poured out in daily sacrifices; praise and joy are sung.\n5. To him let the mighty 1 Maruts listen, to him who surpasses all men, as the flowing rain-clouds 2 pass over the sun.\n6. For we, O Maruts, have sacrificed at many harvests, through the mercies 1 of the swift gods (the storm-gods).\n7. May that mortal be blessed, O chasing Maruts, whose offerings you carry off 1.\n8. You take notice either of the sweat of him who praises you, ye men of true strength, or of the desire of the suppliant 1.\n9. O ye of true strength, make this manifest with might! strike the fiend 1 with your lightning!\n10. Hide the hideous darkness, destroy 1 every tusky 2 fiend. Make the light which we long for!\nThis hymn is ascribed to Gotama.\nVerse 1 =VS. VIII, 31; AV. XX, 1, 2; TS. IV, 2, 11, 1.\nVerse 2=TS. IV, 2, 11, 2.\nVerse 6=TS. IV, 3, 13, 5.\nVerse 8= SV. II, 944.\nNote 1. V\u00edmahas occurs only once more as an epithet of the Maruts, V, 87, 4. Being an adjective derived from m\u00e1has, strength, it means very strong. The strong ones of heaven is an expression analogous to I, 64, 2. div\u00e1h rishv\u00e2\u00b4sah uksh\u00e1nah; I, 64, 4. div\u00e1h n\u00e1rah. The Ait. Br\u00e2hmana VI, 10, takes gop\u00e2, guardian, as Indra.\nNote 1. The construction of this verse is not clear. Yag\u00f1\u00e1-v\u00e2has has two meanings in the Veda. It is applied to the priest who carries or performs the sacrifice:\nIII, 8, 3, and 24, 1. v\u00e1rkah dh\u00e2h yag\u00f1\u00e1-v\u00e2hase.\nGrant splendour to the sacrificer!\nBut it is also used of the gods who carry off the sacrifice, and in that case it means hardly more than worshipped or propitiated; I, 15, 11 (Asvinau); IV, 47, 4 (Indra and V\u00e2yu); VIII, 12, 20 (Indra). In our verse it is used in the latter sense, and it is properly construed with the instrumental yag\u00f1a\u00edh. The difficulty is the gen. plur. mat\u00een\u00e2\u00b4m, instead of mat\u00edbhih. The sense, however, seems to allow of but one construction, and we may suppose that the genitive depends on the yag\u00f1a in yag\u00f1\u00e1v\u00e2has, 'accepting the worship of the prayers of the priest.' Benfey refers yag\u00f1a\u00edh to the preceding verse, and joins h\u00e1vam to v\u00edprasya mat\u00een\u00e2\u00b4m: 'Durch Opfer\u2014Opferf\u00f6rdrer ihr!\u2014oder ihr h\u00f6rt\u2014Maruts\u2014den Ruf der Lieder, die der Priester schuf.'\nThe Samhit\u00e2 text lengthens the last syllable of srinut\u00e1, as suggested by the metre.\nIf the accent allowed yag\u00f1av\u00e2hasah to be taken as a genitive, the translation, as suggested by Ludwig, might be, Either for the sake of the sacrifices of the sacrificer, or because of the prayers of the sage, O Maruts, hear the call.'\nNote 1. The genitive y\u00e1sya v\u00e2g\u00ednah depends on v\u00edpra. Anu-taksh, like anu-grah, anu-g\u00f1\u00e2, seems to convey the meaning of doing in behalf or for the benefit of a person. G\u00e1nt\u00e2 might also be translated in a hostile sense, he will go into, he will conquer many a stable full of cows.\nNote 1. Ludwig has pointed out that asy\u00e1 may refer to the present sacrificer.\nNote 1. I have altered \u00e2\u00b4 bh\u00favah into \u00e2bh\u00favah, for I do not think that bhuvah, the second pers. sing., even if it were bh\u00favat, the third pers., could be joined with the relative pronoun y\u00e1h in the second pada. The phrase v\u00edsv\u00e2h y\u00e1h karshan\u00ee\u00b4h abh\u00ed occurs more than once, and is never preceded by the verb bhuvah or bhuvat. \u00c2bh\u00favah, on the contrary, is applied to the Maruts, I, 64, 6, vid\u00e1theshu \u00e2bh\u00favah; and as there can be no doubt who are the deities invoked, \u00e2bh\u00favah, the strong ones, is as appropriate an epithet as v\u00edmahas in the first verse.\nNote 2. Sasr\u00fash\u00eeh \u00edshah, as connected with s\u00fbra, the sun, can only be meant for the flowing waters, the rain-clouds, the givers of ish or vigour. They are called divy\u00e2\u00b4h \u00edshah:\nVIII, 5, 21. ut\u00e1 nah divy\u00e2\u00b4h \u00edshah ut\u00e1 s\u00edndh\u00fbn varshathah.\nYou rain down on us the heavenly waters and the rivers.\nWilson translates: May the Maruts, victorious over all men, hear (the praises) of this (their worshipper); and may (abundant) food be obtained by him who praises them.\nBenfey: Ihn, der ob allen Menschen ragt, sollen h\u00f6ren die Labungen, and nahn, die irgend Weisen nahn.\nLudwig: H\u00f6ren sollen von ihm, der \u00fcber allen menschen ist, die erden, seine bis zur sonne gelangten kr\u00e4fte. In his\nnotes he would prefer: Von ihm sollen sie gegenwartig h\u00f6ren, von ihm der alle menschen \u00fcbertrift (und die in die sonne wegegangenen), die darbringungen.\nSroshantu does not occur again; but we find sr\u00f3shan, I, 68, 5; sr\u00f3sham\u00e2na, III, 8, 10; VII, 51, 1; VII, 7, 6.\nNote 1. The expression \u00e1vobhih, with the help, the blessings, the mercies, is generally used with reference to divine assistance; (I, 117, 19; 167, 2; 185, 10; 11; IV, 22, 7; 41, 6; V, 74, 6; VI, 47, 12; VII, 20, 1; 35, 1, &c.) It seems best therefore to take karshan\u00ed as a name or epithet of the Maruts, although, after the invocation of the Maruts by name, this repetition is somewhat unusual. I should have preferred, 'with the help of our men, of our active and busy companions,' for karshan\u00ed is used in that sense also. Only \u00e1vobhih would not be in its right place then. The same applies to the various reading in TS. IV, 3, 13, 5, where instead of \u00e1vobhih we find m\u00e1hobhih. This too is used with reference to gods, and particularly to the Maruts; see I, 165, 5, note.\nNote 1. Par, with ati, means to carry over (I, 97, 8; 99, I; 174, 9; III, 15, 3; 20, 4; IV, 39, I; V, 25, 9; 73, 8; VII, 40, 4; 97, 4; VIII, 26, 5; 67, 2, &c.); with apa, to remove (I, 129, 5); with nih, to throw down. Hence, if used by itself, unless it means to overrun, as frequently, it can only have the general sense of carrying, taking, accepting, or accomplishing.\nNote 1. Vid\u00e1 as second pers. plur. perf. is frequent, generally with the final 'a' long in the Samhit\u00e2, I, 156, 3; V, 41, 13; 55, 2.\nNote 1. Observe the long penultimate in r\u00e1kshah, instead of the usual short syllable. Cf. I, 12, 5, and see Kuhn, Beitr\u00e4ge, vol. iii, p. 456.\nNote 1. See note 1 to I, 39, 3.\nNote 2. Atr\u00edn, which stands for attr\u00edn, is one of the many names assigned to the powers of darkness and mischief. It is derived from atr\u00e1, which means tooth or jaw, and therefore meant originally an ogre with large teeth or jaws, a devourer. Besides atr\u00e1, we also find in the Veda \u00e1tra, with the accent on the first syllable, and meaning what serves for eating, or food:\nX, 79, 2. \u00e1tr\u00e2ni asmai pat-bh\u00edh s\u00e1m bharanti.\nThey bring together food for him (Agni) with their feet.\nWith the accent on the last syllable, atr\u00e1 in one passage means an eater or an ogre, like atr\u00edn:\nV, 32, 8. ap\u00e2\u00b4dam atr\u00e1m\u2014mridhr\u00e1-v\u00e2kam.\nIndra killed the footless ogre, the babbler.\nIt means tooth or jaw:\nI, 129, 8. svay\u00e1m s\u00e2\u00b4 rishay\u00e1dhyai y\u00e2\u00b4 nah upa-\u00eesh\u00e9 atra\u00edh.\nMay she herself go to destruction who attacks us with her teeth.\nIt is probably from atr\u00e1 in the sense of tooth (cf. \u1f40\u03b4\u03cc\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2 = \u1f10\u03b4\u03cc\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2) that atr\u00edn is derived, meaning ogre or a devouring devil. In the later Sanskrit, too, the Asuras are represented as having large tusks, Mah\u00e2bh. V, 3572, damshtrino bh\u00eemaveg\u00e2s ka.\nThus we read I, 21, 5, that Indra and Agni destroy the Rakshas, and the poet continues:\n\u00e1prag\u00e2h santu atr\u00ednah.\nMay the ogres be without offspring!\nIX, 86, 48. gah\u00ed v\u00edsv\u00e2n raksh\u00e1sah indo (\u00edti) atr\u00ednah.\nKill, O Soma, all the tusky Rakshas. Cf. IX, 104, 6; 105, 6.\nVI, 51, 14. gah\u00ed n\u00ed atr\u00ednam pan\u00edm.\nKill, O Soma, the tusky Pani.\nI, 94, 9. vadha\u00edh duh-s\u00e1ms\u00e2n \u00e1pa duh-dhy\u00e3h gahi\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0d\u00fbr\u00e9 v\u00e2 y\u00e9 \u00e1nti v\u00e2 k\u00e9 kit atr\u00ednah.\nStrike with thy blows, O Agni, the evil-spoken, evil-minded (spirits), the ogres, those who are far or who are near.\nSee also I, 36, 14; 20; VI, 16, 28; VII, 104, 1; 5; VIII, 12, 1; 19, 15; X, 36, 4; 118, 1.","title":"Vedic Hymns, Part I (SBE32): Vedic Hymns: I, 86. To the Maruts (the Storm-gods)","type":"page"}