{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/sbe46/sbe46008.htm","path":"hin/sbe46/sbe46008.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe46/sbe46008.htm","text":"Vedic Hymns, Part II (SBE46), by Hermann Oldenberg [1897]\n1. Thou, O Agni, (who art) the first A\u1e45giras Rishi, hast become as god the kind friend of the gods. After thy law the sages, active in their wisdom 1, were born, the Maruts with brilliant spears.\n2. Thou, O Agni, the first, highest A\u1e45giras, a sage, administerest the law of the gods, mighty for the whole world, wise, the son of the two mothers 1, reposing everywhere for (the use of) the living 2.\n3. Thou, O Agni, as the first, shalt become 1 manifest to M\u00e2tarisvan, through thy high wisdom, to Vivasvat. The two worlds trembled at (thy) election as Hotri. Thou hast sustained the burthen; thou, O Vasu, hast sacrificed to the great (gods) 2.\n4. Thou, O Agni, hast caused the sky to roar 1 for Manu, for the well-doing Pur\u00fbravas, being thyself a greater well-doer. When thou art loosened by power (?) 2 from thy parents, they led thee hither before and afterwards again.\n5. Thou, O Agni, the bull, the augmenter of prosperity, art to be praised by the sacrificer who raises the spoon, who knows all about the offering 1 and (the sacrifice performed with) the word Vashat. Thou (god) of unique vigour art the first to invite 2 the clans.\n6. Thou, O Agni, leadest forward the man who follows crooked ways 1, in thy company at the sacrifice 2, O god dwelling among all tribes, who in the strife of heroes, in the decisive moment for the\nobtainment of the prize 3, even with few companions killest many foes in the battle 4.\n7. Thou, O Agni, keepest that mortal 1 in the highest immortality, in glory day by day, (thou) who being thirsty thyself 2 givest happiness to both races (gods and men), and joy to the rich.\n8. Thou, O Agni, praised by us, help the glorious singer to gain prizes. May we accomplish our work with the help of the young active (Agni). O Heaven and Earth! Bless us together with the gods.\n9. Thou, O Agni, in the lap of thy parents, a god among gods, O blameless one, always watchful, be the body's creator and guardian to the singer. Thou, O beautiful one, pourest forth all wealth.\n10. Thou, O Agni, art our guardian, thou art our father. Thou art the giver of strength; we are thy kinsmen. Hundredfold, thousandfold treasures come together in thee, who art rich in heroes, the guardian of the law, O undeceivable one.\n11. Thee, O Agni, the gods have made for the living as the first living 1, the clan-lord of the Nahusha 2. They have made (the goddess) Il\u00e2 the teacher of men (manusha), when a son of my father is born 3.\n12. Thou, O Agni, protect with thy guardians, O god, our liberal givers and ourselves, O venerable one! Thou art the protector of kith and kin 1 and of the cows, unremittingly watching over thy law.\n13 1. Thou, O Agni, art kindled four-eyed, as the closest guardian for the sacrificer who is without (even) a quiver 2. Thou acceptest in thy mind the hymn even of the poor 3 who has made offerings 4, that he may prosper without danger.\n14. Thou, O Agni, gainest 1 for the widely-renowned\nworshipper that property which is desirable and excellent. Thou art called the guardian and father even of the weak 2; thou instructest the simple, thou, the greatest sage, the quarters of the world 3.\n15. Thou, O Agni, protectest on every side like well-stitched armour the man who gives sacrificial fees. He who puts sweet food (before the priests), who makes them comfortable in his dwelling, who kills living (victims), he (will reside) high in heaven 1.\n16. Forgive, O Agni, this our fault (?) 1, (look graciously at) this way which we have wandered from afar. Thou art the companion, the guardian, the father of those who offer Soma; thou art the quick one 2 who makes the mortals Rishis 3.\n17. As thou didst for Manus, O Agni, for A\u1e45giras, O A\u1e45giras, for Yay\u00e2ti on thy (priestly) seat, as for the ancients, O brilliant one, come hither, conduct hither the host of the gods, seat them on the sacrificial grass, and sacrifice to the beloved (host).\n18. Be magnified, O Agni, through this spell which we have made for thee with our skill or with our knowledge. And lead us forward to better things. Let us be united with thy favour, which bestows strength.\nThe Rishi of the hymn is Hiranyast\u00fbpa \u00c2\u1e45girasa. To him tradition ascribes the authorship of the collection I, 31\u201335, probably because in X, 149, 5 the poet invokes Savitri, 'as Hiranyast\u00fbpa the \u00c2\u1e45girasa has called thee, O Savitri.' Vedic theologians of course tried to find out where this invocation of Hiranyast\u00fbpa to Savitri was preserved, and the hymn, I, 35, seemed to agree best with the conditions\nof the case (comp. Zeitschrift der D. Morg. Ges. XLII, 230). By this and many similar cases it is made probable that at the time when the Anukraman\u00ee was composed, all real knowledge as to authors to whom the collections of the first Mandala belong, was lost.\nThe metre is Gagat\u00ee; only the verses 8, 16, 18 are Trishtubh. Verse 1 = VS. 34, 12. Verse 8 = MS. IV, 11, 1. Verse 12 = VS. 34, 13. With verse 16 comp. AV. III, 15, 4.\nNote 1. Vidman\u00e2\u00b4pasah seems to be nom. plur., not gen. sing. Comp. I, 111, 1. t\u00e1kshan r\u00e1tham \u2026 vidman\u00e2\u00b4pasah, 'they (the Ribhus), active in their wisdom, have wrought the chariot.'\nNote 1. As to dvim\u00e2t\u00e2\u00b4 say\u00fah, comp. III, 55, 6 (say\u00fah par\u00e1st\u00e2t \u00e1dha n\u00fa dvim\u00e2t\u00e2\u00b4); Pischel, Vedische Studien, II, 50.\u2014On Agni's two mothers and his double birth see Bergaigne, Religion V\u00e9dique, II, 52.\nNote 2. By 'living' I have translated \u00e2y\u00fa. See on this word, Bergaigne, Rel. V\u00e9d., I, 59 seq.\nNote 1. Probably Bergaigne (Rel. V\u00e9d. I, 55, note 2) is right in conjecturing bhavah for bhava. In this case we should have to translate: 'Thou as the first hast become manifest to M\u00e2tarisvan.'\nNote 2. I believe that to mah\u00e1h we have to supply dev\u00e2\u00b4n; see II, 37, 6; III, 7, 9; VI, 16, 2; 48, 4, &c. 'Can it not be an adverb? See vol. xxxii, p. 307; Lanman, p. 501,' M. M.\nNote 1. Comp. V, 58, 6. let Dyu (sky) roar down, the bull of the dawn. V, 59. 8. may Dyaus Aditi (the unbounded) roar for our feast.\nNote 2. The translation of sv\u00e2tra is purely conjectural. It rests on the supposition that the word is related to s\u00fbsuve, savas, &c. (thus Grassmann). Boehtlingk-Roth connect it with svad, which is phonetically impossible; they give the meaning 'schmackhaft,' and paraphrase our passage: das mit einer Lockspeise (z. B. mit einem Spahn) von den Reibh\u00f6lzern abgenommene Feuer kann man hin and her tragen. Ludwig: mit Geprassel. I do not see how this translation would fit for a number of the passages in which the word occurs.\nNote 1. With the third P\u00e2da compare VI, 1, 9. y\u00e1h \u00e2\u00b4hutim p\u00e1ri v\u00e9da n\u00e1mobhih.\nNote 2. Av\u00edv\u00e2sasi cannot belong to the relative clause. The accent must be changed accordingly.\nNote 1. It is very curious to find here Agni as the protector of the vriginavartani, the man who follows crooked ways. Ludwig tries to explain the passage by understanding the vidatha, in which Agni is here said to protect the sinner, as an asylum, but we have no reason to believe that the word could have this meaning. See the next note.\nNote 2. On the derivation and meaning of vid\u00e1tha various opinions have been pronounced in the last years, which have been collected by Prof. Max M\u00fcller in his note on V, 59, 2 (vol. xxxii p. 349 seq.; see also Bartholomae, Studien zur indogermanischen Sprachgeschichte, I, 41). Without trying to discuss here all different theories, I immediately proceed to state my own opinion, though I am far from claiming certainty for it. It will, however, I believe, solve the difficulties tolerably well. I propose to derive vid\u00e1tha from vi-dh\u00e2; the dh was changed into d by the same 'Hauchdissimilationsgesetz' (Brugmann, Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik, vol. i, p. 355 seq.), according to which Arian *bh\u00e1udhati was changed into Sanskrit\nb\u00f3dhati. No one will doubt that the operation of this 'Hauchdissimilationsgesetz' could be annihilated by opposite forces, but it must be admitted that the forms with 'Hauchdissimilation' could also remain intact. The verb vi-dh\u00e2 means 'to distribute, to arrange, to ordain;' thus the original meaning of vid\u00e1tha must be, like the meaning of vidh\u00e2\u00b4na, 'distribution, disposition, ordinance.' In V, 3, 6 we read vid\u00e1theshu \u00e1hn\u00e2m: this phrase receives its explanation by VII, 66, 11. v\u00ed y\u00e9 dadh\u00fah sar\u00e1dam m\u00e2\u00b4sam \u00e2\u00b4t \u00e1hah; ahor\u00e2tr\u00e2\u00b4ni vid\u00e1dhat, X, 190, 2; m\u00e2s\u00e2\u00b4m vidh\u00e2\u00b4nam, X, 1.38, 6; rit\u00fb\u00b4n \u2026 v\u00ed dadhau, I, 95, 3. We may call attention also to VI, 51, 2. v\u00e9da y\u00e1h tr\u00ee\u00b4ni vid\u00e1th\u00e2ni esh\u00e2m dev\u00e2\u00b4n\u00e2m g\u00e1nma, 'he who knows their threefold division, the birth of the gods;' VI, 8, 1. pr\u00e1 n\u00fa vokam vid\u00e1th\u00e2 g\u00e2t\u00e1vedasah, 'I will proclaim the ordinances of G\u00e2tavedas.' Within the sphere of the Vedic poets\u2019 thoughts, the most prominent example of something most artificially 'v\u00edhita' was the sacrifice (comp. v\u00ed y\u00e9 dadh\u00fah \u2026 yag\u00f1\u00e1m, VII, 66, 11; s\u00e1ms\u00e2ti ukth\u00e1m y\u00e1gate v\u00ed \u00fb dh\u00e2h, IV, 6, 11; [the moon] bh\u00e2g\u00e1m dev\u00e9bhyah v\u00ed dadh\u00e2ti \u00e2-y\u00e1n, X, 85, 19; and the following very significant passage: yag\u00f1\u00e1sya tv\u00e2 vid\u00e1th\u00e2 prikkham \u00e1tra k\u00e1ti h\u00f3t\u00e2rah ritus\u00e1h yaganti, V\u00e2g. Samh. XXIII, 57). Thus yag\u00f1\u00e1 and vid\u00e1tha, 'sacrifice' and 'ordinance,' became nearly synonymous (comp. III, 3, 3, &c.). It would be superfluous to quote the whole number of passages which show this, but I believe that an attentive reader will discern at least in some of them the traces of the original meaning of vid\u00e1tha; see, for instance, II, 1, 4; III, 28, 4.\u2014Finally vid\u00e1tha seems to mean 'the act of disposing of any business' or the like; this meaning appears, I believe, in passages like the well-known phrase, brih\u00e1t vadema vid\u00e1the suv\u00ee\u00b4r\u00e2h (comp. suv\u00ee\u00b4r\u00e2sah vid\u00e1tham \u00e2\u00b4 vadema): 'may we with valiant men mightily raise our voice at the determining (of ordinances, &c.).' Thus the words vid\u00e1tha and sabh\u00e2\u00b4 approach each other in their meaning; a person influential in council is called both vidath\u1ef9a and sabh\u00e9ya (see Boehtlingk-Roth, s. v. vidath\u1ef9a).\nNote 3. The exact meaning of paritakmya is not quite\nfree from doubt. Comp. Bartholomae, Bezzenberger's Beitr\u00e4ge, XV, 203, note 1.\nNote 4. Prof. Max M\u00fcller translates this verse: 'Thou savest the man who has gone the wrong way in the thick of the battle, thou who art quick at the sacrifice; thou who in the strife of heroes, when the prize (or the booty) is surrounded (beset on all sides), killest,' &c.\nNote 1. The phrase begins as if a relative clause were to follow attached to the words 'that mortal.' But, instead of this, afterwards a relative clause follows referring to 'thou, O Agni.'\nNote 2. Roth (Ueber gewisse K\u00fcrzungen des Wortendes, p. 4) and Bartholomae (Kuhn's Zeitschrift, XXIX, 559) think that a dative (like t\u00e2trish\u00e2n\u00e2\u00b4ya) is required; Agni gives comfort to both thirsty races, gods and men. Roth takes t\u00e2trish\u00e2n\u00e1[h] for an abbreviation of t\u00e2trish\u00e2n\u00e2\u00b4ya; Bartholomae conjectures t\u00e2trish\u00e2\u00b4ya. It would be more easy to change the form into a dative with the ending -\u00e2 (= -ai); comp. Kluge, Kuhn's Zeitschrift, XXV, 309 Pischel-Geldner, I, 61; Aufrecht, Festgruss an B\u00f6htlingk, I; J. Schmidt, Pluralbildungen, 234. But why not leave the nominative? Agni, being thirsty himself, quenches the thirst of other beings. Comp. J. Schmidt, Pluralbildungen, 309.\nNote 1. \u00c2y\u00fam \u00e2y\u00e1ve. See verse 2, note 2.\nNote 2. The names Nahus, Nahusha have much the same value as Manus, Manusha. But it seems that not all the Aryan tribes, but only a certain part of them, were considered as descendants of Nahus. Comp. Bergaigne, Rel. V\u00e9dique, II, 324.\nNote 3. The last words are very obscure. Mamaka occurs only in one other passage, belonging to the same collection of hymns, I, 34, 6: there the Asvins are invoked to bestow blessings on 'my son' (m\u00e1mak\u00e2ya s\u00fbn\u00e1ve). 'When a son of my father is born' may mean 'When I am\nborn,' or 'When a new issue is born within our tribe:' then\u2014thus we may possibly supply\u2014the goddess Il\u00e2, the teacher of mankind, will be the new-born child's teacher also. Another possible explanation would be to take Mamaka as a proper name. Or Prof. Max M\u00fcller may be right, who writes: 'Could not pit\u00fah y\u00e1t putr\u00e1h m\u00e1makasya g\u00e2\u00b4yate refer to Agni, who, in III, 29, 3, was called il\u00e2y\u00e2h putrah. Her father and husband (Manu) is also the father of mankind, therefore of the poet who says: Whenever the son of my father is born, they made Il\u00e2 (his mother) the teacher of man.'\nNote 1. Tr\u00e2t\u00e2\u00b4 tok\u00e1sya t\u00e1naye seems to be nothing else but tr\u00e2t\u00e2\u00b4 tok\u00e1sya t\u00e1nayasya, which would have had one syllable too much.\nNote 1. Comp. on this verse, Pischel, I, 216 seq.\nNote 2. Agni is to protect the man who has no quiver, and cannot, therefore, protect himself. The four eyes of the divine guardian seem to signify that he can look in all directions, and perhaps also that he has the power of seeing invisible bad demons. The watchdogs of Yama also are four-eyed, X, 14, 10. 11; comp. H. O., Religion des Veda, 474, note 4. Comp. nisha\u1e45gin, Rig-veda III, 30, 15; V, 57, 2; X, 103, 3.\nNote 3. On k\u00eer\u00ed, comp. Pischel loc. cit.\nNote 4. R\u00e2t\u00e1havyah means either a man who has made offerings, or a god to whom offerings are made. That it stands here in the first sense is shown with great probability by VIII, 103, 13, where the k\u00eer\u00edh r\u00e2t\u00e1havyah svadhvar\u00e1h is described, the man who, though poor, makes offerings and is a good sacrificer. But if we are right in our translation of r\u00e2t\u00e1havyah, the verb van\u00f3shi cannot belong to the relative clause; I propose to read vanoshi without accent. The way in which Pischel tries to explain the accent of van\u00f3shi, by taking the words k\u00eer\u00e9h kit m\u00e1ntram m\u00e1nas\u00e2 as a parenthesis, is too artificial.\nNote 1. I think that we should here, as in verse 13, read vanoshi without accent.\nNote 2. This must be at least the approximate meaning of \u00e2dhra. 'For \u00e2dhrasya one expects radhrasya,' M. M.\nNote 3. I think that the quarters of the world have nothing to do here, but that instead of pr\u00e1 d\u00edsah we should read (with Ludwig) prad\u00edsah. A similar mistake regarding the word pradis occurs several times in the text of the Rig-veda. I propose to translate the corrected text: 'Thou instructest the simple, well knowing the (divine) commandments.' Comp. vay\u00fan\u00e2ni vidv\u00e2\u00b4n, d\u00fbt\u1ef9\u00e2ni vidv\u00e2\u00b4n, &c.\nNote 1. 'Der ist des himels ebenbild' (Ludwig). But this word upam\u00e2\u00b4 is, as far as we can see, not very ancient. I take upam\u00e2\u00b4, with Boehtlingk-Roth, as an adverbial instrumental like dakshin\u00e2\u00b4, madhy\u00e2\u00b4, &c. Prof. Max M\u00fcller translates 'close or near to heaven.'\nNote 1. Sar\u00e1ni designates in the Atharva-veda VI, 43, 3 a fault or defect, the exact nature of which cannot be determined. Boehtlingk-Roth propose Widersp\u00e4nstigkeit, Hartn\u00e4ckigkeit; Max M\u00fcller. Abweg, Fehltritt.\nNote 2. On bhrimi, comp. M. M.\u2019s note on II, 34, 1.\nNote 3. Comp. III, 43, 5. kuv\u00edt m\u00e2 r\u00edshim papiv\u00e2\u00b4msam sut\u00e1sya (supply k\u00e1rase), 'Wilt thou make me a Rishi after I have drunk Soma?'","title":"Vedic Hymns, Part II (SBE46): I, 31","type":"page"}