{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/sbe46/sbe46017.htm","path":"hin/sbe46/sbe46017.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe46/sbe46017.htm","text":"Vedic Hymns, Part II (SBE46), by Hermann Oldenberg [1897]\n1. Victorious 1 in the forests, a friend among men, he demands obedience like a king, the undecaying one 2.\n2. Like good peace, like fortunate wisdom, may he (Agni) be a kind Hotri, a carrier of offerings.\n3. Having taken in his hand all manly powers, he has made the gods fear, when sitting down in his hiding-place.\n4. There the thoughtful men find him, when they have recited the spells which they had fashioned in their heart.\n5. As the goat 1 (supports) the earth 2, thus he supports the earth 2; he upholds the sky by his efficacious spells.\n6. Protect the dear 1 footsteps of the cattle 2. O Agni, thou who hast a full life, thou hast gone from covert to covert 3.\n7. He who has seen him the hidden one, he who has got near to the stream of Rita 1\u2014\n8. They who get him off, doing service to Rita, to him 1 he then indicates riches.\n9. He who grows up with might within the plants, and within the children 1, and within the sprouting grass 2\u2014\n10. The splendour [?] in the home of the waters 1, the full-lived. The sages made him as if building a seat.\nThe same Rishi and metre.\nNote 1. 'G\u00e2yuh: aus gy\u00e2yuh, wie der compar. gy\u00e2y\u00e2n gyeshthah zeigt,' Ludwig. But what shows that gy\u00e2y\u00e2n is the comparative of g\u00e2yuh and that the utterly impossible change of gy into g is possible? Ludwig's translation '\u00fcberwindend' is right; comp. I, 119, 3.\nNote 2. I propose to read agury\u00e1h. Prof. Max M\u00fcller conjectures\u2014as Roth (Pet. Dict.) has done\u2014that srushti may mean 'obedient, servant;' he translates: 'He desires a servant (or worshipper) who is not aged.'\nNote 1. On the mythical goat whose office it is to support the worlds, comp. I, 164, 6; VIII, 41, 10; X, 82, 6; Bergaigne, III, 21; H. O., Religion des Veda, 72.\nNote 2. For 'earth' the text has two different words, ksh\u00e2\u00b4m and prithiv\u00ee\u00b4m. Prof. Max M\u00fcller conjectures dy\u00e2\u00b4m for ksh\u00e2\u00b4m: 'He, Agni, supports the earth, as the buck the sky.'\nNote 1. Literally, 'the dear footsteps;' but the meaning of priy\u00e1 may be compared to that of the Homeric \u03c6\u03af\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2, his own.\nNote 2. One could be tempted to refer the word pasu to Agni, whose footsteps (pad\u00e2\u00b4ni) the 'wise ones' follow (65, 2), and whom they find out in his hiding. Thus we could translate, 'Look at the dear footsteps of the beast.' But the comparison of 70, 6 makes it more probable that the imperative n\u00ed p\u00e2hi is addressed to Agni. I believe therefore that Grassmann is right in translating 'Die lieben St\u00e4tten der Heerden sch\u00fctze.' Ludwig's translation is\nsimilar to this. Prof. Max M\u00fcller translates: 'Observe the footsteps of the animal (the stolen animal of the thief Agni).'\nNote 3. With guh\u00e2\u00b4 g\u00faham comp. I, 53, 7. yudh\u00e2\u00b4 y\u00fadham, pur\u00e2\u00b4 p\u00faram.\nNote 1. Dh\u00e2\u00b4r\u00e2m rit\u00e1sya: comp. V, 1 2, 2. rit\u00e1sya dh\u00e2\u00b4r\u00e2h \u00e1nu trindhi p\u00fbrv\u00ee\u00b4h, 'open the many streams of Rita;' VII, 43, 4. rit\u00e1sya dh\u00e2\u00b4r\u00e2h sud\u00fagh\u00e2h d\u00fah\u00e2n\u00e2h, 'milking the streams of Rita flowing with plenty.' The stream of Rita seems to mean the stream of blessings (such as rain, ghee, &c.) which flows to mankind according to the eternal laws of Rita.\nNote 1. The poet passes over from the plural to the singular.\nNote 1. Bollensen's conjecture prag\u00e2\u00b4su (instead of prag\u00e2\u00b4h ut\u00e1) seems very probable to me. Prof. von Roth (Ueber gewisse K\u00fcrzungen des Wortendes, p. 2) takes a different view.\nNote 2. Comp. I, 95, 10 (see below); VII, 9, 3. ap\u00e2\u00b4m g\u00e1rbhah pras\u1e7dah \u00e2\u00b4 vivesa, 'the son of the waters has entered upon the sprouting grass.'\nNote 1. 'Why not kitih ap\u00e2m dame, that is, the (burning) pile in the home of the waters.' M. M.","title":"Vedic Hymns, Part II (SBE46): I, 67","type":"page"}