{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/sbe32/sbe3224.htm","path":"hin/sbe32/sbe3224.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe32/sbe3224.htm","text":"Vedic Hymns, Part I (SBE32), by Max M\u00fcller, [1891]\n1. Endowed with exceeding vigour and power, the singers, the never flinching, the immovable, the impetuous, the most beloved and most manly, have decked themselves with their glittering ornaments, a few only 1, like the heavens with the stars,\n2. When you have seen your way through the clefts, like birds, O Maruts, on whatever road it be 1, then the casks (clouds) on your chariots trickle everywhere, and you pour out the honey-like fatness (the rain) for him who praises you.\n3. At their racings the earth shakes, as if broken 1, when on the (heavenly) paths they harness (their deer) for victory 2. They the sportive, the roaring, with bright spears, the shakers (of the clouds) have themselves glorified their greatness.\n4. That youthful company (of the Maruts), with their spotted horses 1, moves by itself; hence 2 it exercises lordship, invested with powers. Thou indeed art true, thou searchest out sin 3, thou art without blemish. Therefore the manly host will help this prayer.\n5. We speak after the kind of our old father, our tongue goes forth at the sight 1 of the Soma: when the singers (the Maruts) had joined Indra in deed 2, then only they took their holy names;\u2014\n6. These Maruts, armed with beautiful rings, obtained splendours for their glory 1, they obtained 2 rays, and men to celebrate them; nay, armed with daggers, speeding along, and fearless, they found the beloved domain of the Maruts 3.\nThis hymn is ascribed to Gotama. No verse in SV., VS., AV.\nVerse 2 = TS. IV, 3, 13, 7.\nVerse 3 = TS. IV, 3, 13, 7.\nVerse 6 = TS. II, 1, 11, 2; IV, 2, 11, 2.\nNote 1. K\u00e9 kit refers to the Maruts, who are represented as gradually rising or just showing themselves, as yet only few in number, like the first stars in the sky. K\u00e9 kit, some, is opposed to sarve, all. The same expression occurs again, V, 52, 12, where the Maruts are compared to a few thieves. B. and R., and those who follow them, translate usr\u00e2\u00b4h iva str\u00ed-bhih by 'like cows marked with stars on their foreheads.' Such cows no doubt exist, but they can hardly be said to become visible by these frontal stars, as the Maruts by their ornaments. We must take usr\u00e2\u00b4h here in the same sense as dy\u00e2\u00b4vah; II, 34, 2, it is said that the Maruts were perceived dy\u00e2\u00b4vah n\u00e1 str\u00ed-bhih, like the heavens with the stars.\nI, 166, 11. d\u00fbre-dr\u00edsah y\u00e9 divy\u00e2\u00b4h-iva str\u00ed-bhih.\nWho are visible far away, like the heavens (or heavenly beings) by the stars.\nAnd the same is said of Agni, II, 2, 5. dya\u00fah n\u00e1 str\u00edbhih kitayat r\u00f3das\u00ee (\u00edti) \u00e1nu. Str\u00edbhih occurs I, 68, 5; IV, 7, 3; VI, 49, 3; 12. It always means stars, and the meaning of rays (strahl) rests, as yet, on etymological authority only. The evening sky would, no doubt, be more appropriate than usr\u00e2\u00b4h, which applies chiefly to the dawn. But in the Indian mind, the two dawns, i. e. the dawn and the gloaming, are so closely united and identified, that their names, too, are frequently interchangeable.\nNote 1. I translate yay\u00ed not by a goer, a traveller, i. e. the\ncloud (this is the explanation proposed by S\u00e2yana, and adopted by Professor Benfey), but by path. S\u00e2yana (TS. IV, 3, 13, 7) renders yayim by gatim. Etymologically yay\u00ed may mean either, and in some passages I feel doubtful as to which is the more appropriate meaning. But in parallel passages yay\u00ed is clearly replaced by y\u00e2\u00b4ma. Thus:\nVIII, 7, 2. y\u00e1t\u2014y\u00e2\u00b4mam subhr\u00e2h \u00e1kidhvam.\nWhen you, bright Maruts, have seen your way.\nSee also VIII, 7, 4. y\u00e1t y\u00e2\u00b4mam y\u00e2\u00b4nti v\u00e2y\u00fa-bhih.\nWhen they (the Maruts) go on their path with the winds.\nVIII, 7, 14. \u00e1dhi-iva y\u00e1t gir\u00een\u00e2\u00b4m y\u00e2\u00b4mam subhr\u00e2h \u00e1kidhvam.\nWhen you, bright Maruts, had seen your way, as it were, from above the mountains.\nThe same phrase occurs, even without y\u00e2\u00b4ma or yay\u00ed, in\nV, 55, 7. n\u00e1 p\u00e1rvat\u00e2h n\u00e1 nady\u00e2\u00b4h varanta vah y\u00e1tra \u00e1kidhvam marutah g\u00e1kkhata \u00edt u t\u00e1t.\nNot mountains, not rivers, keep you back; where you have seen (your way), there you go.\nThough yay\u00ed does not occur frequently in the Rig-veda, the meaning of path seems throughout more applicable than that of traveller.\nV, 87, 5. tvesh\u00e1h yay\u00edh.\nYour path, O Maruts, is blazing.\nV, 73, 7. ugr\u00e1h v\u00e2m kakuh\u00e1h yay\u00edh.\nFearful is your pass on high.\nI, 51, 11. ugr\u00e1h yayim n\u00edh ap\u00e1h sr\u00f3tas\u00e2 asrigat.\nThe fearful Indra sent the waters forth on their way streaming.\nX, 92, 5. pr\u00e1\u2014yay\u00edn\u00e2 yanti s\u00edndhavah.\nThe waters go forth on their path.\nLudwig takes k\u00f3sa as buckets on the chariots of the Maruts, which seems right.\nNote 1. Cf. I, 37, 8, page 75. There is no authority for S\u00e2yana's explanation of vithur\u00e2\u00b4-iva, the earth trembles like a widow. Vithur\u00e2\u00b4 occurs several times in the Rig-veda, but never in the sense of widow. Thus:\nI, 168, 6. y\u00e1t kyav\u00e1yatha vithur\u00e2\u00b4-iva s\u00e1m-hitam.\nWhen you, Maruts, throw down what is compact, like brittle things.\nI, 186, 2; VI, 25, 3; 46, 6; VIII, 96, 2; X, 77, 4 (vithury\u00e1ti). The Maruts themselves are called \u00e1vithura in verse 1. Spiegel compares the Zend aiwithura. As to \u00e1gma and y\u00e2\u00b4ma, see I, 37, 8, page 75.\nNote 2. S\u00fabh is one of those words to which it is very difficult always to assign a definite special meaning. Being derived from subh, to shine, the commentator has no difficulty in explaining it by splendour, beauty; sometimes by water. But although s\u00fabh means originally splendour, and is used in that sense in many passages, yet there are others where so vague a meaning seems very inappropriate. In our verse S\u00e2yana proposes two translations, either, 'When the Maruts harness the clouds,' or, 'When the Maruts harness their chariots, for the bright rain-water.' Now the idea that the Maruts harness their chariots in order to make the clouds yield their rain, can hardly be expressed by the simple word subh\u00e9, i. e. for brightness' sake. As the Maruts are frequently praised for their glittering ornaments, their splendour might be intended in this passage, as it certainly is in others. Thus:\nI, 85, 3. y\u00e1t subh\u00e1yante a\u00f1g\u00ed-bhih tan\u00fb\u00b4shu subhr\u00e2\u00b4h dadhire vir\u00fakmatah.\nWhen the Maruts adorn themselves with glittering ornaments, the brilliant ones put bright weapons on their bodies.\nVII, 56, 6. subh\u00e2\u00b4 s\u00f3bhishth\u00e2h, sriy\u00e2\u00b4 s\u00e1m-misl\u00e2h, \u00f3gah-bhih ugr\u00e2\u00b4h.\nThe most brilliant by their brilliancy, united with beauty, terrible by terrors.\nIn I, 64, 4, I have translated v\u00e1kshah-su rukm\u00e2\u00b4n \u00e1dhi yetire subh\u00e9 by 'they fix gold (chains) on their chests for beauty.' And the same meaning is applicable to I, 117, 5, subh\u00e9 rukm\u00e1m n\u00e1 darsat\u00e1m n\u00ed-kh\u00e2tam, and other passages: IV, 51, 6; VI, 63, 6.\nBut in our verse and others which we shall examine, beauty and brilliancy would be very weak renderings for\nsubh\u00e9. 'When they harnessed their chariots or their deer for the sake of beauty,' means nothing, or, at least, very little. I take, therefore, subh\u00e9 in this and similar phrases in the sense of triumph or glory or victory. 'When they harness their chariots for to conquer,' implies brilliancy, glory, victory, but it conveys at the same time a tangible meaning. Let us now see whether the same meaning is appropriate in other passages:\nI, 23, 11. g\u00e1yat\u00e2m-iva tanyatuh mar\u00fat\u00e2m eti dhrishnuy\u00e2\u00b4 y\u00e1t s\u00fabham y\u00e2th\u00e1na narah.\nThe thundering voice of the Maruts comes fiercely, like that of conquerors, when you go to conquer, O men!\nS\u00e2yana: 'When you go to the brilliant place of sacrifice.' Wilson: 'When you accept the auspicious (offering).' Benfey: 'Wenn ihr euren Schmuck nehmt.'\nV, 57, 2. y\u00e2thana s\u00fabham, you go to conquer. Cf. V, 55, 1.\nS\u00e2yana: 'For the sake of water, or, in a chariot.'\nV, 52, 8. s\u00e1rdhah m\u00e2\u00b4rutam \u00fat samsa\u2014ut\u00e1 sma t\u00e9 subhe n\u00e1rah pr\u00e1 syandr\u00e2\u00b4h yugata tm\u00e1n\u00e2.\nPraise the host of the Maruts, whether they, the men, the quickly moving, have by themselves harnessed (the chariots) for conquest.\nS\u00e2yana: 'For the sake of water.' Cf. X, 105, 3.\nV, 57, 3. subh\u00e9 y\u00e1t ugr\u00e2h pr\u00edshat\u00eeh \u00e1yugdhvam.\nWhen you have harnessed the deer for conquest.\nS\u00e2yana: 'For the sake of water.'\nIII, 26, 4. subh\u00e9\u2014p\u00edshat\u00eeh ayukshata.\nThey had harnessed the deer for victory.\nS\u00e2yana: 'They had harnessed in the water the deer together (with the fires).'\nV, 63, 5. r\u00e1tham yu\u00f1gate mar\u00fatah subh\u00e9 su-kh\u00e1m s\u00fb\u00b4rah n\u00e1\u2014g\u00f3-ishtishu.\nThe Maruts harness the chariot meet for conquest, like a hero in battles.\nI, 88, 2. subh\u00e9 k\u00e1m y\u00e2nti\u2014\u00e1svaih.\nThe Maruts go on their horses towards conquest.\nS\u00e2yana: 'In order to brighten the worshipper, or, for the sake of water.'\nI, 119, 3. s\u00e1m y\u00e1t mith\u00e1h paspridh\u00e2n\u00e2\u00b4sah \u00e1gmata subh\u00e9 makh\u00e2\u00b4h \u00e1mit\u00e2h g\u00e2y\u00e1vah r\u00e1ne.\nWhen striving with each other they came together, for the sake of glory, the brisk (Maruts), immeasurable (in strength), panting for victory in the fight.\nS\u00e2yana: 'For the sake of brilliant wealth.'\nVII, 82, 5. mar\u00fat-bhih ugr\u00e1h s\u00fabham any\u00e1h \u00eeyate.\nThe other, the fearful (Indra), goes with the Maruts to glory.\nS\u00e2yana: 'He takes brilliant decoration.'\nI, 167, 6. \u00e2\u00b4 asth\u00e2payanta yuvat\u00edm y\u00fav\u00e2nah subh\u00e9 n\u00edmisl\u00e2m.\nThe Maruts, the youths, placed the maid (lightning on their chariot), their companion for victory (subh\u00e9 n\u00edmisl\u00e2m).\nS\u00e2yana: 'For the sake of water, or, on the brilliant chariot.' Cf. I, 127, 6; 165, I.\nVI, 62, 4. s\u00fabham pr\u00edksham \u00edsham \u00fb\u00b4rgam v\u00e1hant\u00e2.\nThe Asvins bringing glory, wealth, drink, and food.\nVIII, 26, 13. subh\u00e9 kakr\u00e2te, you bring him to glory.\nSubham-y\u00e2\u00b4van is an epithet of the Maruts, I, 89, 7; V, 61, 13. Cf. subhra-y\u00e2v\u00e2n\u00e2, VIII, 26, 19 (Asvinau).\nSubham-y\u00e2\u00b4, of the wind, IV, 3, 6.\nSubham-y\u00fa, of the rays of the dawn, X, 78, 7.\nNote 1. S\u00e2yana: 'With spotted deer for their horses.' See I, 37, 2, note 1, page 70; as P\u00fbshan is called ag\u00e2sva, having goats for his horses, RV. V, 58, 2.\nThat the Maruts have not only prishat\u00ees, but horses for their chariots, we have seen before. In I, 88, 1, we have \u00e1svaparnaih r\u00e1thebhih.\nNote 2. Ay\u00e2\u00b4 is a word of very rare occurrence in the Rig-veda. It is the instrum. sing. of the feminine pronominal base a or \u00ee, and as a pronoun followed by a noun it is frequently to be met with; V, 45, 11. ay\u00e2\u00b4 dhiy\u00e2\u00b4, &c. But in our verse it is irregular in form as not entering into Sandhi with \u00ees\u00e2n\u00e1h. This irregularity, however, which might have led us to suppose an original ay\u00e2\u00b4h, indefatigable, corresponding\nwith the following \u00e1si, is vouched for by the Pada text, in such matters a better authority than the Samhit\u00e2 text, and certainly in this case fully borne out by the Pr\u00e2tis\u00e2khya, I, 163, 10. Unless we read ay\u00e2\u00b4h, we must take ay\u00e2\u00b4 as an adverb, in the sense of thus or hence; cf. VI, 66, 4. In some passages where ay\u00e2\u00b4 seems thus to be used as an adverb, it would be better to supply a noun from the preceding verse. Thus in II, 6, 2, ay\u00e2\u00b4 refers to sam\u00eddham in II, 6, 1. In VI, 17, 15, a similar noun, sam\u00eddh\u00e2 or gir\u00e2\u00b4, should be supplied. But there are other passages where, unless we suppose that the verse was meant to illustrate a ceremonial act, such as the placing of a sam\u00eddh, and that ay\u00e2\u00b4 pointed to it, we must take it as a simple adverb, like the Greek \u03c4\u1ff7: RV. III, 12, 2; IX, 53, 2; 106, 14. In X, 116, 9, the Pada reads \u00e1y\u00e2h-iva, not \u00e1y\u00e2, as given by Roth; in VI, 66, 4, \u00e1y\u00e2 n\u00fa, the accent is likewise on the first.\nNote 3. Rina-y\u00e2\u00b4van is well explained by B. and R. as going after debt, searching out sin. S\u00e2yana, though he explains rina-y\u00e2\u00b4van by removing sin, derives it nevertheless correctly from rina and y\u00e2, and not from yu. The same formation is found in subham-y\u00e2\u00b4van, &c.; and as there is rina-y\u00e2\u00b4 besides rina-y\u00e2\u00b4van, so we find subham-y\u00e2\u00b4 besides subham-y\u00e2\u00b4van. Ludwig prefers the derivation from yu.\nNote 1. The Soma-juice inspires the poet with eloquence.\nNote 2. S\u00e1mi occurs again in II, 31, 6; III, 55, 3; VIII, 45, 27; X, 40, 1. Grassmann has shown that it may be taken as an instrum. of s\u00e1m\u00ee, meaning work, but with special reference to the toil of the battle-field or the sacrifice. It is used in the former sense in\nVIII, 45, 27. v\u00ed \u00e2nat turv\u00e1ne s\u00e1mi.\nHe (Indra) was able to overcome, lit. he reached to, or he arrived at the overcoming or at victory by toil.\nBut, like other words which have the general meaning of working or toiling, s\u00e1m\u00ee is used both in a general sense, and in the more special sense of sacrifice.\nX, 40, 1. v\u00e1stoh-vastoh v\u00e1ham\u00e2nam dhiy\u00e2\u00b4 s\u00e1mi.\nYour chariot, O Asvins, driven along every morning by thought and deed.\nII, 31, 6. ap\u00e2\u00b4m n\u00e1p\u00e2t \u00e2su-h\u00e9m\u00e2 dhiy\u00e2\u00b4 s\u00e1mi.\nAp\u00e2m nap\u00e2t (Agni) moving quickly by thought and deed.\nIn these two passages it might be possible, with a slight alteration of the accent, to read dhiy\u00e2-s\u00e1mi as one word. Dhiy\u00e2-s\u00e1m would mean the sacrificer who is engaged in prayer; cf. dhiy\u00e2-g\u00far, V, 43, 15. Thus we read:\nVI, 2, 4. y\u00e1h te su-d\u00e2\u00b4nave dhiy\u00e2\u00b4 m\u00e1rtah sas\u00e1mate.\nThe mortal who toils for thee, the liberal god, with prayer.\nThere is no necessity, however, for such a change, and the authority of the MSS. is against it. See also IX, 74, 7.\nIn III, 55, 3, s\u00e1mi \u00e1kkha d\u00eedye p\u00fbrvy\u00e2\u00b4ni, Roth takes s\u00e1mi as an acc. plur. neut., Lanman as an instrum., Grassmann as a locative.\nI glance back at the former sacrifices. See B. R. s.v. d\u00ee and s\u00e1mi.\nIn other passages the feminine s\u00e1m\u00ee seems to mean work, sacrificial work, but, as far as we can see, not simply sacrifice. Thus the Ribhus and others are said to have acquired immortality by their work or works, s\u00e1m\u00ee or s\u00e1m\u00eebhih, I, 20, 2; 110, 4; III, 60, 3; IV, 33, 4. Cf. IV, 22, 8; 17, 18; V, 42, 10; 77, 4; VI, 52, 1; VIII, 75, 14; IX, 74, 7; X, 28, 12. In VI, 3, 2, we read:\n\u00eeg\u00e9 yag\u00f1\u00e9bhih sasam\u00e9 s\u00e1m\u00eebhih.\nI have sacrificed with sacrifices, I have worked with pious works.\nHere the verb sam must be taken in the sense of working, or performing ceremonial worship, while in other places (III, 29, 16; V, 2, 7) it may be perhaps taken in the more special sense of singing songs of praise. The Greek \u03ba\u03ac\u03bc-\u03bd\u03c9, to work, to labour, to tire (Sanskrit s\u00e2myati), the Greek \u03ba\u03bf\u03bc\u03b9\u03b4\u03ae and \u03ba\u03bf\u03bc\u03af\u03b6\u03c9, to labour for or take care of a person, and possibly even the Greek \u03ba\u1ff6\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2 a song or a festival (not a village song), may all find their explanation in the Sanskrit root sam.\nThe idea that the Maruts did not originally enjoy divine\nhonours will occur again and again: cf. I, 6, 4; 72, 3. A similar expression is used of the Ribhus, I, 20, 8, &c. But while originally the expression of obtaining sacred names meant no more than obtaining a sacred or divine character, it was soon taken literally, and a number of names were invented for the Maruts which even in the V\u00e2gasan. Samhit\u00e2 XVII, 80-85 amount to 49, i. e. 7 \u00d7 7. Yag\u00f1\u00edya, properly 'worthy of sacrifice,' has the meaning of divine or sacred. The Greek \u1f05\u03b3\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 has been compared with y\u00e2gya, sacrificio colendus, which is not a Vedic word.\nNote 1. Sriy\u00e1se k\u00e1m seems to be the same as the more frequent sriy\u00e9 k\u00e1m. Sriy\u00e1se only occurs twice more, V, 59, 3. The chief irregularity consists in the absence of Guna, which is provided for by P\u00e2nini's kasen (III, 4, 9). Similar infinitives, if they may so be called, are bhiy\u00e1se, V, 29, 4; vridh\u00e1se, V, 64, 5; dhruv\u00e1se, VII, 70, 1; tug\u00e1se, IV, 23, 7; ri\u00f1g\u00e1se, VIII, 4, 17; vri\u00f1g\u00e1se, VIII, 76, 1; rik\u00e1se, VII, 61, 6. In VI, 39, 5, rik\u00e1se may be a dat. sing. of the masculine, to the praiser.\nNote 2. Mimikshire from myaksh, to be united with. Rasm\u00ed, rays, after bh\u00e2n\u00fa, splendour, may seem weak. It might be possible to assign to rasm\u00ed the meaning of reins, and take rikvabhir in the sense of sounding or tinkling. In V, 79, 8, ark\u00ed is used in juxtaposition with rasm\u00ed.\nNote 3. The bearing of this concluding verse is not quite clear, unless we take it as a continuation of the preceding verse. It was there said that the Maruts (the r\u00edkv\u00e2nah) obtained their holy names after having joined Indra in his work, which means that they then and there became what they are. Having thus obtained their true character and a place among the gods, they may be said to have won at the same time splendour, and worshippers to sing their praises, and to have established themselves in what became afterwards known as their own domain, their own place among the gods who are invoked at the sacrifice. See VII, 58, 1.\nThe metre requires that we should read dh\u00e2manah.\nBenfey translates: Gedeih\u2019n zu spenden woll\u2019n die sch\u00f6ngeschm\u00fccketen mit Lichtern, Strahlen mit Lobs\u00e4ngern regenen; die br\u00fcllenden, furchtlosen, st\u00fcrmischen, sie sind bekannt als Glieder des geliebten Marutstamms.\nWilson: Combining with the solar rays, they have willingly poured down (rain) for the welfare (of mankind), and, hymned by the priests, have been pleased partakers of the (sacrificial food). Addressed with praises, moving swiftly, and exempt from fear, they have become possessed of a station agreeable and suitable to the Maruts.\nLudwig: Zu herlichkeit haben dise sich mit liechtglanz versehen, mit sausenden z\u00fcgeln die sch\u00f6nberingten, schwertbewaffnet die kraftvollen, ohne furcht besitzen sie die freundliche Marutmacht.","title":"Vedic Hymns, Part I (SBE32): Vedic Hymns: I, 87. To the Maruts (the Storm-gods)","type":"page"}