{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/sbe46/sbe46045.htm","path":"hin/sbe46/sbe46045.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe46/sbe46045.htm","text":"Vedic Hymns, Part II (SBE46), by Hermann Oldenberg [1897]\n1. How, O Agni, have the resplendent ones worshipped thee, aspiring through the powers of the \u00c2yu 1, when 2 the gods, obtaining kith and kin of both races 3 (human and divine?), rejoiced in the song of Rita (or Right) 4?\n2. Give heed to this my proffered hymn, O youngest one, which is most rich in liberal gifts 1, O self-dependent one! The one abuses thee, the other praises thee: I thy reverer revere thy body, O Agni 2!\n3. Thy guardians, O Agni, who saw and saved the blind son of Mamat\u00e2 from distress 1\u2014he the possessor of all wealth has saved them who have done good deeds 2. The impostors, trying to deceive, have not deceived.\n4. The niggard, O Agni, the harmful and malicious who injures us by falsehood: may the heavy spell recoil on him; may he injure his own body by his evil words 1.\n5. And, O strong one, whatever mortal knowingly injures another mortal by falsehood: from such a one, O praised Agni, protect him who praises thee. Agni! Do not deliver us to distress.\nThe same Rishi and metre.\u2014Verse 2 = VS. XII, 42; TS. IV, 2, 3, 4; MS. II, 7, 10. Verse 3 = RV. IV, 4, 13; TS. I, 2, 14, 5; MS. IV, 11, 5.\nNote 1. The \u00c2yu seems to be Agni himself. Or is it admissible to interpret \u00e2y\u00f3h as standing metri caus\u00e2 for \u00e2y\u00e1vah? Then the hemistich would refer to the mythical sacerdotal tribe of the \u00c2yus, the ancient worshippers of Agni. Comp., for instance, X, 7, 5; 46, 8. The translation would be, 'How, O Agni, have the resplendent \u00c2yus worshipped thee, aspiring with their powers?'\nNote 2. 'Because.' M. M.\nNote 3. Comp. VIII, 103, 7. ubh\u00e9 tok\u00e9 t\u00e1naye dasma vispate p\u00e1rshi r\u00e2\u00b4dhah magh\u00f3n\u00e2m.\nNote 4. As to rit\u00e1sya s\u00e2\u00b4man, comp. V\u00e2g. Samh. XXII, 2, and rit\u00e1sya sl\u00f3kah, Rig-veda IV, 23, 8. Our P\u00e2da recurs IV, 7, 7 with the reading rit\u00e1sya dh\u00e2\u00b4man.\nNote 1. With v\u00e1kasah m\u00e1mhishthasya compare m\u00e1mhishth\u00e2bhih mat\u00edbhih, VIII, 23, 23.\nNote 2. Cf. Aufrecht, Kuhn's Zeitschrift, III, 200.\nNote 1. D\u00eerghatamas the son of Mamat\u00e2 is the reputed author of this section of the first Mandala which belongs indeed to a family of priests claiming descent from him. The story of the blindness of D\u00eerghatamas and of the distress into which he fell is told in the Mah\u00e2bh\u00e2rata I, 4179 seq., ed. Calc.; comp. also Geldner, Vedische Studien, II, 145.\nNote 2. Considering the construction of the whole verse from the grammatical point of view only, one will scarcely be tempted to translate otherwise than we have done. But it is rather strange that Agni is represented here as saving those very guardians by the aid of whom he has saved M\u00e2mateya. The meaning which one should expect to find expressed, is rather that Agni, as he has saved M\u00e2mateya by his guardians, has saved also, and will save, all pious worshippers. This meaning may be established\nif we consider the construction of the verse as similar, for instance, to that of I, 37, 12 (vol. xxxii, p. 64): m\u00e1rutah y\u00e1t ha vah b\u00e1lam g\u00e1n\u00e2n akukyav\u00eetana, 'O Maruts, with such strength as yours, you have caused men to tremble.' Thus we may, I believe, translate here, 'Agni! With such guardians as thine who have seen and saved the blind son of Mamat\u00e2 from distress, he, the possessor of all wealth (i. e. Agni), has saved all those who have done good deeds.' Bergaigne (III, 191) understands the verse in the same way.\nNote 1. The Vedic idea of the evil deeds recoiling on the evil-doer himself has been treated of by Bergaigne, III, 190 seq.","title":"Vedic Hymns, Part II (SBE46): I, 147","type":"page"}