HYMNS OF GOTAMA RAHUGANA
Mandala I, Sukta 74
l. उपप्रयन्तो अध्वरं मन्त्रं वोचेमाग्नये | आरे अस्मे च शृण्वते
||
उपप्रयन्तः Sayana: उपेत्य प्रकर्षेण गच्छन्त:,
which he considers equivalent to beginning and carrying out perfectly. I take
अध्वरः in the sense of the sacrifice that travels to the gods by the divine
path, that of the Truth; the offerings also so travel and the sacrificer.
Therefore उपप्रयन्तो अध्वरं यज्ञम् means "entering upon (उप) and proceeding
forward (प्र) with the sacrifice on its journey." The right performance of the
sacrifice is a right progress to the godhead and the Truth .
मन्त्रम्. Sayana: मननीयं स्तोत्रम्
[मननसाधनमेतत्सुक्तरूपं स्तोत्रम्] rather वचनीयं मननम् . त्र expresses either the
action or the means. "Let us express (by the word) the thought in our minds,"
i.e. the thing we are meditating, the truth of the godhead we are seeking to
express (शास, उक्थ, गीः, वचः, प्रशस्ति) and to fix in ourselves (स्तोम, धी).
आरे अस्मे च. Far (from a distance) and in us. Sayana
gets rid of the idea by taking च = अपि and attaching it to आरे, who hears us
even from afar. I prefer to take the natural order and the plain sense of the
words. The distinction of far and near or far and within is common enough in the
Veda ; Agni is also constantly spoken of as in mortals, विक्षु, प्रत्येर्षु:
that this does not mean simply among - or here " from far and from among us" is
shown by 1.60.2, where Agni is described as विश्पतिर्विक्षु वेधाः and the विक्षु
is explained by 3. तं. . . हृद आ जायमानम्. Agni created by the human Ritwiks and
born from the heart cannot be the sacrificial fire or lightning, but must be the
inner flame , the godhead within, who is also the cosmic godhead who hears from
without, आरे.
शृण्वते. What is meant by the god hearing the
thought? Not merely that he hears physically the Vedic hymn and comes to the
sacrifice. As we see from other Suktas, this hearing is a response; it is the
turning of the Godhead to the God-seeker : it is the answer of the
Truth,सत्यमृतम् , to the thought and word in the mind of man. The god hearing
the mantra means that the divine truth it seeks to
express comes and illumines and dwells in the mentality ; the Word
becomes a chariot of the godhead, रथेन , a robe tha t he wears. वासः, a dwelling he inhabits, ओकः. So long as the Word is not heard by the god, does not call him into itself to manifest his status and working in the mental realisation it produces, it is not effective, nor is the realisation a true seeing.
Sayana's rendering.
Approaching and carrying on the sacrifice
let us speak the hymn to Agni who hears us even from a distance.
Psychological rendering.
Advancing on the journey of the sacrifice
let us express the thought to the Flame who heareth us from afar and heareth
from within.
2. यः स्नीहितीषु पुर्ब्यः संजग्मानासु कृष्टिषु | अरक्षद्
दाशुषे गयम् ||
This rk is full of difficulties ; we are in
doubt about the meaning of three important words, स्नीहितिः, कृष्टिः and गयः.
Sayana renders "when the killing peoples come together (to attack), he guards
the wealth for the sacrificer." The one strong objection to this version is that
it has absolutely nothing to do with what comes before or what goes after and
this is contrary to the rule of Vedic construction.
कृष्टिषु. This is rendered "people", but it is doubtful whether it has fundamentally or always that sense. कृष् is originally a derivative of कृ, like वक्ष् from वह. स्पृश् from स्पृ etc. and only intensifies its sense. कृ is, originally, do, make, hurt, cut, divide, (कृत्) (कृ) ; कृष् is to do any strong or forceful labour, e.g. to drag, draw (कर्षण) , plough (कृषि) - senses which survive, and to hurt, waste with the various results of being hurt, killed, wasted still preserved in various significances of words like कृष्ण. If कृष्टि means people, it must be from the original sense of cultivator or labourer. In the Veda it seems to me that it meant (like चर्षणि, intensive of चर्) , one who does the works of sacrifice ; but also it means in certain passages, earths, worlds, places where work (of cultivation or other) is done, - just as क्षिति means sometimes an earth or world inhabited or the people dwelling in it or those possessing it. It is the sense of earths or worlds which obtains here; कृष्टयः means the worlds in which the five human peoples, पञ्च कृष्टिः, labour at the work of the Aryan. These worlds are described as coming together, meeting so as to become one. The seven rivers, various
earths, different planes coming together is common enough in the Veda; e.g. कथा
न क्षोणीः. . . समारत, " How should not the earths come together (at the
command of Indra)." They unite their various movements
or workings, welding their distinct laws and types into a harmony.
स्नीहितीषु Sayana: वधकारिणीषु . . .
ष्णिह स्नेहने | . . . स्नेहयतीति वधकर्मसु पठितः. But is it so? That sense is
very doubtful. स्निह् like स्निट् means to love, but that sense cannot be
certainly proved in the Veda; स्निट् means to go, move (cf. स्नु, to flow) and
स्नेहः means in the Veda a thick, fat or oily dropping or flowing ; finally
स्निह् means to stick, cleave, be thick, compact etc. It is possible that
स्नीहितयः means (the worlds) that move compactly together or adhere to each
other and it will then describe the result of the coming together and moving
together संजग्मानासु.
गयम्. गय may mean either
"movement, march" or " that which is attained" = धनम् or "that which is reached"
= आश्रयः, शर्म, गृहम्, in which case it will be equivalent in sense to the Vedic
क्षयः. It is easy to see that any of these might be threatened whether by a
banded attack of hostile people or in the psychological sense by the disturbance
of a new combined movement of the "earths". If the latter is the sense of the
first two padas, then गय must mean either movement or abiding-place: in the
former case, the Seer-Will , Agni, guards the movement of the sacrificer
travelling to the Truth-plane and harmonises it with the new-combined general
movement ; in the latter he keeps for him his abiding-place or his goal, which
has practically the same sense. If it is "the peoples assembling to slay". then
the psychological sense is that the powers (people) of the regions which the
divine traveller seeks to overpass unite to oppose and destroy him and the
Seer-Will protects his march or his goal or his spiritual gains and possessions
from their attack. We have then in this phrase the basis of the image of ten
nations combined against the Tritsus. " those who seek to pass beyond" .
3. उत ब्रुवन्तु जन्तव उदग्निर्वृत्रहाजनि | धनंजयो रणेरणे ||
जन्तवः. Sayana: जाताः
सर्व ऋत्विजः "Agni has risen, let people (priests) speak (hymn him)." Sayana's
glosses are always those of the pedant; जन्तवः, "creatures, those born", is a
most general term and obviously intended to be quite wide in its connotation.
not confined
to a particular class of men. No one says "let men say", when he means "let the priests chant". The sense is "let all men born see and declare that Agni the Vritra-slayer has risen up into birth". The manifestation of the Flame is to be so great that the whole world will bear witness to it. There is no idea of chanting the hymn in
ब्रुवन्तु. Cf. 1.4.5, उत ब्रुवन्तु नो निदो निरन्यतश्चिदारत.
वृत्रहा.
Sayana, bound by his rendering of कृष्टिषु as men, has to take वृत्राणाम् =
आवरकाणां शत्रूणाम्; but वृत्रहा applied thus formally to the gods can mean only
slayer of Vritra or at the most slayer of Vritra and his hosts. That Agni is,
like lndra, Saraswati and others, a slayer of Vritra and releaser of the waters,
there are several passages of the Veda to show, e.g. 1 .59.6 .... पूरवो वृत्रहणं
सचन्ते | वैश्चानरो दस्युमग्निर्जघन्वाँ अधुनोत्काष्ठा अव शम्बरं भेत्. If,
therefore. the कृष्टयः of the last verse are the assailing peoples who attack on
the path and the same battles are referred to here, they cannot be men, but must
be Vritra-powers. The Dasyus are called दासीर्विशः, but not thus vaguely
कृष्टयः, उत probably brings in a new idea; not only is the sacrificer to be
guarded in his march to the goal of the Truth, but Vritra the Coverer
and his hosts who withhold the wealth of the Truth must be slain so that wealth
on new wealth may be won in battle after battle.
Sayana's rendering.
Let all the born (Ritwiks) declare (praise) him, Agni has been born, slayer of the enveloping enemies, conqueror of (the enemy's) wealth in all battles.
Psychological rendering.
Yea and let men say, "The Flame that slays the Coverer, has risen into birth, conqueror of our wealth in fight after fight."
4 यस्य दूतो असि क्षये वेषि हव्यानि वीतये | दस्मत्कृष्णोष्यध्वरम् ||
क्षये. Sayana: the house of sacrifice. It is rather the house generally, not here the goal or habitation to which he is proceeding, but that in which he is at present lodged, the adhara or dwelling-place of the soul, the body with life and mind. This is the house of sacrifice, the triple सधस्थ. It is possible however that दूतः क्षये may be "messenger to the home" of Agni and the gods, the Truth-plane, which is also the goal of the pilgrim sacrifice.
वेषि. Sayana: गमयसि, though elsewhere in a similar context.
he renders it कामयसे. वीतये he takes as भक्षणाय. 'Thou carriest the offerings to
the gods for their eating." वेषि often means to go or come, but it cannot be
here " thou comest to eat his offerings", हव्यानि accusative after वीतये,
because that is not the office of the messenger. It is to carry the offering to
the gods and to bring the gods to the sacrifice. वेषि . . . वीतये suggests that
वीतये may also have here the sense of motion, " thou comest (or, goest) for the
taking thither of the offerings." Either interpretation is possible and it is
difficult to choose.
दस्मत्.
Sayana: सर्वदर्शनीयम्, visible to all; but this has no sense and no connection
with the rest of the context. There must be some connection between the taking
of the offerings and the making दस्मत्, the sacrifice. I have taken दस्म
consistently = effective, achiever, from दस्, to do, perform, cf. दंसः, action,
दास, a slave, and दस्मत् must be taken in the same sense; "thou makest effective
the journeying sacrifice." It is evident that the carrying of the offerings to
the gods is the first necessary effectivity of the अध्वर; the various offerings
first, i.e. all human powers and activities directed Godwards, are lifted to the
Truth and return as enriched being and power, - this is the first achievement
and effectivity; next, the whole sacrifice reaches the godhead, man's entire
being, power, consciousness is accepted by the divine Truth, - this is the
second achievement and effectivity: last, the man himself attains that plane and
lives upon it, divine, स्वराट्, सम्राट्, immortal. This is the क्षयः, the third
and last effectivity, completing the अध्वर यज्ञ. The suffix मत् to a verbal stem
is a peculiar and early form unless indeed दस् was originally a noun = action as
well as a verb.
5. तमित्सुहव्यमन्गिरः सुदेवं सहसो यहो | जना आहुः सुवर्हिषम्
अङ्गिरः. Sayana: अङ्गनादिगुणयुक्ताग्ने he treats it as equivalent in meaning to
the name अग्नि itself. But Angiras has a special sense in the Veda ; Agni is the
original Angiras and the seven seers are the powers of the luminous Flame, his
children. The Angiras is the Seer who seeks the Light by the force of the will
and finds first the Word as the mouths of Brihaspati, then the Light itself as
the armies of Indra. Agni Angiras is the Seer-Puissance; that as the messenger
makes the human activities acceptable to the Truth and the sacrifice effective.
यहो. Sayana: पुत्र. Has this sense of यहु any other reality than the idea of the
commentators and grammarians that the phrase सहसो in which alone it occurs must
be equivalent to सहसः सुनो? यह्व, यह्वी in the Veda means mighty, puissant ;
should not यहु be kin in sense, the puissant, the master? On the other the
connection between the epithet Angiras, Seer-Puissance, and the description "Son
of Force" is very close, e.g. V.11.6, त्वामग्ने अङ्गिरसो गुहा
हितमन्वविन्दन्छिश्रियाणं वनेवने | स जायसे मथ्यमानः सहो महत्त्वामाहुः
सहसस्पुत्रमङ्गिरः |
सुबर्हिषम्. Sayana : शोभनयज्ञम्. I cannot accept Sayana's frequent rendering of
बर्हि as यज्ञ. It means figuratively the seat of sacrifice and literally, from
बृह्, the extension, the outspreading, the wide fullness of the inner state upon
which the work of the sacrifice is founded and on which the gods take their
seat. It is, in the physical sacrifice, the thing outspread, स्तीर्ण बर्हिः,
and, this being the sacred dtlrva grass, it came to mean the durva. It is
connected in sense with बृहत्, बर्हणा and often means a mass, stream, crest of
light or force etc.; anything spread wide or streaming out, thus the wide ether,
the outstreaming peacock's tail, water flowing in a mass, a stream of flame, the
बर्हीर्षि of Agni, radiating light. All its senses can be traced back to the one
original sense of extension or wide fullness. So also the verbal senses of बर्ह्
come from the idea of a heavy, pervading pressure; it means to cover, spread,
crush, overtop and so be pre-eminent or excel; to give in the sense of
lavishing, cf. रा; to speak, from the sense of outbreathing. बर्हिः as a seat
comes, like all the rest, from this sense of spreading widely and thickly or
fully.
There are three elements given here for the sacrifice, the perfect offering, the
effective godhead, the entire purity and fullness of the seat on which the
godhead shall base himse lf and his working - psychologically, a pure, wide
state of the soul.
Sayana 's rendering.
He in whose house thou art a messenger, whose offerings thou carriest to be
eaten (by the gods) and whose sacrifice thou makest to be seen by all, him
indeed, O Angiras, son of Force, all men speak of as
having good offerings, a good godhead and a good sacrifice.
Psychological rendering.
When in man's dwelling-place thou art the envoy, thou takest
his offerings to be enjoyed by the gods (or thou com est to carry his offerings) and thou makest effective the journey of his sacrifice: him verily men speak of as perfect in his oblations, perfect in his godheads present, perfect in the wide seat of his sacrifice.
6. आ च वहासि ताँ इह देवाँ उप प्रशस्तये | हव्या सुश्र्चन्द्र वीतये ||
वहासि. In the early Aryan tongue the long and short syllable were entirely
interchangeable and traces of this linger in the Veda - चरथ, चराथ; भवसि, भवासि;
पथः, पाथः. Sayana takes as im perative, but it is obviously a continuation of
the statements वेषि, कृष्णोषि, and now आ वहासि.
तान्. The gods there in heaven of whom you are the envoy.
प्रशस्तये. The प्रशस्ति is the expressing or manifesting of the god by the word
, not yet his birth or creation, but a temporary mental realisation by the
thought. It is not merely praise ; there is no need for the gods to be carried
to the sacrifice to be praised : but certainly the word must
be an assertion of the powers, functions , characteristics of the godhead.
हव्या ... वीतये. Sayana takes आगतेभ्यो हव्यानि भक्षणाय प्रापय; but there is no
प्रापय and we cannot extract one from आ वहासि which gives the quite different
idea of bringing from heaven. हव्यानि is an accusative governed by the verbal
force in वीतये, a common Vedic construction , e.g. चक्रिं विश्चानि चक्रये
(1.9.2).
सुश्र्चन्द्र. Sayana : शोभनाळ्हादन. चन्द्र has two senses, "shining" and
"delightful", both present in a ll the names of the Soma, चन्द्र, सोम, इन्दु;
but it is the sense "delight" which it usually carries in the Veda .
वीतये. Here it seems necessary to take as "eating" or "enjoying" otherwise we
shall have to translate the last pada separately, " Come, O
perfect in delight, for the carryi ng of the oblations" : but this gives
an insufficient coherence.
There are always two aspects of Agni's embassy which seem to be inconsistent with each other, one the bringing of the gods to eat of the oblations in the house of the sacrificer, the other the taking of the oblations to be eaten by the gods in mid-air or heaven. In the physical sacrifice it may be said that the fire first carries the consumed offerings into the air to be eaten in their subtle parts by the gods of heaven and mid-air, then the gods are attracted by the voice and light of the flame and come to eat the rest of the offerings at the sacrifice
itself. But this is not satisfactory. And what is meant by the fire carrying the gods from heaven to the place of sacrifice, vahasi, vehis? That corresponds to no possible physical fact. Psychologically, the sense is clear enough. The Seer-Will first bears man's activities to the higher planes by his purified consecration of them to the Godhead. This is the first part of the embassy. Then comes the time for the descent of the divine Powers into the human mind and body, at first temporary, to enjoy there the activities offered to them, each activity to its proper god, then permanent by the creation, birth, growth (तातिः, वीतिः, अवः) of the divinities in the human being, each conducting his own proper activity first मनुष्वत्, in the human type, then in the human divine, as Usha is described देवी, O divine and human. In all these stages it is Will , with Knowledge, that leads. That summons and brings, in a way carries the gods in their descent, supports them in their workings.
Sayana's rendering.
O thou of the good delighting, bring hither those gods for the praise and give them the oblations for their eating.
Psychological rendering.
And thou bringest hither those gods for their expression by the word, O perfect in delight, for the enjoying of the oblations.
7. न योरुपब्दिरश्व्यः शृण्वे रथस्य कच्चन | यदग्ने यासि दूत्यम् ||
Sayana explains that this absence of sound is due to the swiftness of the chariot. This cannot be the explanation: a swift chariot is likely to make a greater noise than a big one. Either the phrase means simply that it is not a physical, but figurative or immaterial horses and chariot that are meant: or else the emphasis is on अश्व्यः. Ashwa, the horse, is the Pranic power and swiftness of Pranic activity brings with it usually a disturbance and tumult pleasant or unpleasant in the being, but Agni's being the horses of the purified Prana, there is no disturbing sound of their gallop. उपब्दिः is, I think, an ear-oppressing clamour, din. That this is the sense is proved, I think, by the next verse where the image of the horse is again taken up and the idea varied. The horse of Agni is वाजी अह्नयः, the undeviating horse, that which does not go crookedly, that is the Pranic energy not stumbling
into sin, error, false desire, but galloping on the straight path ऋजुना पथा of
the Truth.
कच्चन. Sayana:कदाचन: more probably "at a ll", " in any way".
यासि दूत्यम्. Sayana: देवानां दूतत्वं प्राप्नोषि, but I think this is a purely
Vedic construction meaning practically यासि दूतयात्राम्, the दूत्यम् being
loosely made the object of यासि as a sort of cognate accusative, not because it
is strictly so, but from a general idea of its sense, because the दूत्य here is
in its essence यान or यात्रा, a going.
Sayana 's rendering.
O Agni, no sound o f thy moving car is ever heard made by horses when thou
becomest the (god 's) envoy.
Psychological rendering.
No sound of horses is heard at all from thy chariot in its motion, when O Agni,
thou goest on thy embassy.
8. त्वोतो वाज्यन्हयोऽभि पूर्वस्मादपरः | प्र दाश्वाँ अग्ने अस्थात् ||
In the metre of this verse त्वोतः has to be taken as a trisyllable and अह्नयः
sepa ra ted from वाजी.
त्वोतः - see Appendix for अव् = foster, increase. Even with Sayana 's rendering
of the rest of the verse, " fostered " gives a better sense than "protected from
harm".
अहयः: . Sayana's लज्जारहितः is absurd. हृ is used in the sense of crookeaness as
well as हृ in the Veda, cf. जुहुर, crooked. If not, we must take हृ not in the
sense of shame, but of violent emotion ; it
means joy and wrath as well as shame, or any disturbance of the emotional being.
अहयः: must then be taken with दाश्वान्, the sacrificer becomes full of the
divine plenitudes, free from all violent emotions and so goes forward on his
journey प्र अस्थात्.
अभि पूर्वस्मादपरः. Sayana : यः पुरुषः पूर्वस्मात्
स्वस्मादधिकारादपरो निकृष्टो भवतिः he now becomes rich in food and free from
shame. This is one of those forced and ingenious interpretations which
illustrate the learning of the commentator, but not the text. पूर्वस्मादपरः can
only mean "a later after the former" or if पूर्व means superior, a lower
after the higher, but never an inferior to the former, because then the sense
correlation of पूर्व and अपर is entirely lost ; nor is there any hint of
any अधिकार in the text. There must be either a later
वाजी (or दाश्वान्) opposed to a
former or an inferior दाश्वान् opposed to a superior दाश्वान्. In the latter case, the
sense may be "the sacrificer inferior to the supreme
sacrificer advances when fostered by thee and becomes
वाजी like the one who was superior to him." But this is very forced and clumsy. More naturally it would mean, if we suppose only one clause, "The later sacrificer after the former" that is "one sacrificer after another goes forward (प्र)
fostered by thee to the goal (अभि),
full of plenitude, straight in his course." It is possible, however, to take वाजी in the sense of horse, the
Pranic अश्व and अभि will stand for
a verb; fostered by thee, one steed of thine following
its leader, undeviating, reaches the goal; the sacrificer (as the result of Agni's journeying) passes forward on his journey."
प्र अस्थात्. Sayana takes अभि =
ऐश्वर्यमभिप्राप्य and प्रास्थात् =
प्रतितिष्ठति सर्वोत्कृष्टो भवति. Neither can stand. Too much is read by
him into अभि and the second
preposition is प्र not प्रति ; the
verse speaks of प्रस्थान not
प्रतिष्ठा. Sayana quite missed the Vedic image of the sacrificial journey or ascent to Swar and is therefore always at a loss when this idea becomes prominent.
Sayana's rendering.
The man that has become lower than his former position, now giving thee offerings and being protected by thee becomes rich in food and free from shame and thus attaining is established.
Psychological rendering.
Fostered by thee, steed following after steed undeviating reaches the goal, (so), O Flame, the giver of the sacrifice, goes ever forward,
or
Fostered by thee, the later sacrificer following him who went before (or simply sacrificer after sacrificer). goes forward undeviating, rich in the plenitudes.
9. उत द्यूमत्सुवीर्यं बृहदग्ने विवाससि | देवेभ्यो देव दाशुषे ||
सुवीर्यम् Sayana takes शोभनवीर्योपेतं धनम्. I see no धनम् anywhere in the verse, and therefore take सुवीर्यम् as a noun. सु + वीर्यम् as in सुनयः, सुप्रयोगः, सुपथ् etc. Even when सुवीर्यम् occurs entirely by itself, as in 1.94.2, Sayana renders it as शोभनवीर्योपेतं धनम्; yet nothing is commoner in the Veda than the idea of strength and the prayer for strength. Here the vast and luminous energy is the Pranic force
made a vastness by the vastness of the Truth-will,
ऋतं बृहत् and full of the light of
the supreme knowledge, ऋतं ज्योतिः.
विवाससि. Sayana abandons his favourite परिचरसि and
interprets गमयितुमिच्छसि | प्रापयसीति यावत्, basing
himself on the sense of वा to go. वस्
means either to dwell or to shine. विवाससि means either thou makest to dwell or thou makest to shine widely in all the being. It is difficult to decide, for द्युमत् favours
"shine" and बृहत् favours "dwell"
.
देव. Sayana: द्योतमानाग्ने. Sayana feels that an importance is attached
to the appellation, but misses the equal importance of the collocation देवेभ्यो देव. To him who gives to the
godheads, the Seer-Will
representing the divine existence responds with the gift of light, of power, of vastness.
Sayana's rendering.
Also, O shining Agni, to him who gives to the gods, thou bringest a shining wealth endowed with good energy.
Psychological rendering.
Yea, and for him who giveth to the divine Ones, thou, O divine, O Flame, lodgest wide in all his being a perfect forcefulness vast and illumined.
Mandala I, Sukta 75
1. जुषस्व सप्रथस्तमं वचो देवप्सरस्तमम् | हव्या जुह्वान आसनि ||
सप्रथस्तमम्. Sayana: अतिशयेन विस्तीर्णं स्तोत्रलक्षणमस्मदीयं वचनम्. But what is meant by a very wide or extended word? A long hymn? but the hymn is one of the briefest. It is clear that वचः is something more than mere speech; it is the word and all its contents, the thing expressed, an expression of a new state of wideness , प्रथस्, in the being of the god-seeker. It is because it carries this wideness. Therefore it is देवप्सरस्तमम्, a great enjoyment for the gods, the children of the Infinite whose home is in the vastness. It is the wideness of the seeker's being growing towards this vastness that is the cause of their enjoyment and not the hymn itself as mere speech or praise.
प्सरः. Sayana's attribution of this noun to the root स्पृ is bad philology. There is no reason why the easier sound स्प should corrupt into the more difficult sound प्स. We should rather suppose an old
root प्सृ. The initial प्स sound must have been common enough in the original Aryan tongue, since it figures so largely in Greek, but it has left few traces in Sanskrit. We have besides प्सरः, प्सु, form, प्सुर, lovely, beautiful, having a form, which points to a root प्सु and प्सा, to eat, with its derivatives. Possibly all these three roots had a similar sense, to encompass, contain (whence form), embrace, enjoy and then प्सा, to eat ; cf. अश् .which means to pervade, to enjoy and to eat.
2. अथा ते अङ्गिरस्तमाग् वेधस्तम प्रियम् | वोचेम ब्रह्म सानसि
अङ्गिरस्तम. Sayana: अतिशयेनाङ्गनादिगुणयुक्त | यद्वा
अङ्गिरसां वरिष्ठ Obviously "O most Angiras" cannot
mean merely the best of the Angirases, it must mean one
who has most the qualities of the Angiras. We know what
the qualities are, among them is the possession of the
word of power and light, ब्रह्म सानसि, the word of the
seven-mouthed Angiras Brihaspati which wins the Sun, the
Dawn, the Herds etc., सूर्य सनत्, therefore
ब्रह्म सानसि.
वेधस्तम्. Sayana: वेधा इति मेधाविनाम. वेधाः does
not mean मेधावी but विधाता and
especially the disposer, right ordainer (विध्,
विन्ध्) of the sacrifice and its
parts, prominently the hymn स्तोम. Cf. 1.7.7,
न विन्धे अस्य सुष्टुतिम्, I cannot succeed in arranging (composing, putting in right order of speech and thought, cf. in Bengali the use of रचना for style) his perfect affirmation. The
epithets are not chosen at random ; because Agni is the
most Angiras, has most power of seer-will for the word
that conquers the desired luminous wealth, because being
most vedhah (also a characteristic of the Angirases), that is most skilful by his right knowledge and right force to order rightly the hymn in relation to the stages of the sacrifice, therefore he can help the Rishis to speak the ब्रह्म सानसि.
प्रियम् refers us back to the idea in देवप्सरस्तमम्;
it means pleasing प्रीतिकरम्, that which brings with it
the satisfaction of the soul, -here, because of its right expression of that which the soul (ब्रह्म) seeks to express.
सानसि. Sayana: सम्भजनीयम् and he gives
वन षण सम्भक्तौ; but सन् also means to win, possess and
only secondarily to enjoy. As we have
ब्रह्म सानसि in conjunction with the epithet अङ्गिरस्तम
it can only mean the brahma that conquers, wins and takes
possession of the wealth as did the hymn of the Angirases
in connection with whose achievement the word
सन् is continually used.
अथा ते. Sayana: तुभ्यम्. I think it is here rather तव, otherwise there is no sense in अथ = अनन्तरम्. In the first verse Agni is invited to cleave with love, जुषस्व = प्रीत्या सेवस्व, to the word; and now the Rishi says "then may we speak the satisfying, conquering soul-word that is thine." It is only after Agni has embraced the वचः and made it his that it becomes not only सप्रथस्तमम् and therefore देवप्सरस्तमम् but also सानसि; therefore अथ. The word is frequently spoken as being the gods', especially in connection with Agni and Indra.
Sayana's rendering.
O best of the Angirases, O very intelligent one, then may we speak to thee a pleasing and enjoyable hymn.
Psychological rendering.
Then, O most puissant in the seer-will, O most skilful Ordainer. O Flame, may we speak a soul-thought that is thine, that satisfies that conquers.
3. कस्ते जामिर्जनानामग्ने को दाश्वध्वरः | को ह कस्मित्रसि श्रितः ||
जामिः. Who is thy companion? That is to say, thou art alone and transcendent, अद्भूतः; what creature born (जनः) can boast of being a necessary twin of thy being? जामिः: is more than वन्धुः (Sayana), it gives the idea of constant companion and closeness in kinship or in being, e.g. जामिः सिन्धूनां भ्रातेव स्वस्राम् (1.65.4)
दाश्वध्वरः. Sayana: दत्तो यज्ञो येन . . . कर्मण्युण्प्रत्ययः. I am sceptica l of this passive sense for दाशु. Sayana thinks the phrase means that there is no one capable even of sacrifice to Agni, "Who is there that has given thee sacrifice?" ; but surely this is to read more sense into the word than it will bear. Anyhow, the Rishis constantly giving sacrifice to Agni would hardly say, "Who is there that has ever given thee sacrifice?", they would use some phrase which would at least hint the idea of unfitness. दाशु means naturally giver, or fit to give and we may take दाश्वध्वरः as an inverted compound = अध्वरदाशु, and the question asked is "who is really able to give sacrifice that will reach the gods, being thy जामिः. companion and equal in being? It is really thou that speakest the word and doest the sacrifice, thou art the only वेधाः: and होता and without thee man's hymn and offering have no force or power." Otherwise it is the अध्वर thai is दाशु. and the question
is "whose sacrifice is able to reach the gods and give them the offering? Only Agni is able to carry the offering to the gods and lead the sacrifice to the goal." None else is his जामिः and therefore none else has the same power.
को ह. Sayana: कथम्भुतस्त्वम्, i.e. all cannot know
what you are like. This is both fanciful and feeble.
को हासि means who thou art, i.e.
what wonderful and transcendent being.अदभुत. Agni is not
this nor that person, not one of the
जनानाम्, but the Deva himself, eternal and
supreme.
कस्मिन्. Sayana: कस्मिन्स्थाने. No one knows thy
abode: but if Agni is the physical flame everyone knows
his abode, the वन, अराणि, अप्सु etc.
कस्मिन् must mean either in what object or in what person ; there is nothing to indicate place. "In whom art thou lodged?" None can contain and bind to him Agni, because he is the transcendent and infinite in whom are all the gods and all the worlds.
Sayana's rendering.
Who among men is thy (fit) friend? Who is there that has given the sacrifice? What art thou (in thy nature)? In what place art thou lodged?
Psychological rendering.
Who of creatures born can companion thee? O Flame, who can give sacrifice? Who art thou? In whom is thy abode?
4. त्वं जामिर्जनानामग्ने मित्रो असि प्रियः | सखा सखिभ्य ईडयः ||
जामिः. Thou, being beyond all, unborn and transcendent, yet makest thyself the companion of all these human creatures, stooping to their humanity, अमृतो मर्त्येषु.
मित्रो . . .प्रियः. Sayana: प्रीणयिता यजमानानां प्रमीतेस्त्रायकोऽपि. This
explanation of मित्र is extravagant philology and poor sense. मि is to embrace.
enjoy, love (also to contain, put together, form) and त्र here expresses the
agent of the action; it means therefore friend or else
giver of delight; Agni is the divine Friend and Lover, - God as Mitra , प्रियतमो
नृणाम्; therefore प्रियः, dear, especially because of the satisfying principle
of harmony he brings into thought , feeling, act and state. He is not only जामिः
but मित्रः, a dearer word of love. since the first only expresses closeness in
being, companionship in
life and action, the other the embrace of love and the companionship of the heart. The answer here is to
को ह and को दाश्वध्वरः. This Infinite is
He who comes to man as his friend and lover and sets and heips
him on his path, for Mitra जनान्यातयति, sets them moving
पथिभिः साधिष्ठैः, by the most effective paths of the Truth which accomplish
perfectly the sacrifice, अध्वर, and carry it and the sacrificer to their divine
goal.
सखा. Although not lodged in any as his abode, yet is this infinite deity a comrade to be sought by adoration by men, his comrades, मनुष्वत्, humanly and in a human relation.
Sayana's rendering.
O Agni thou art the friend of all men, thou art the deliverer from harm and satisfier (of the sacrificers), and a friend to the sacrificing priests who is worthy of praise.
Psychological rendering
Thou art the companion of all beings. O Flame, thou art the beloved Friend, a comrade to be sought with adoration by comrades.
5. यजा नो मित्रावरुणा यजा देवाँ ऋतं बृहत् | अग्ने यक्षि स्वं दमम् ||
मित्रावरुणा. Varuna because he gives the
प्रथः. the wideness. Mitra because he is the प्रिय who by his harmonising principle of light and love gives the
प्सरः. The last line goes back
in thought to the first: it prays for the divine fulfilment through Agni of that
which has been expressed by the aspiring thought of humanity. of the सप्रथस्तमं
देवप्सरस्तमं वचः.
देवान्. All the god s, co nstituting the
whole Divine Birh, the ऋतं बृहत्.
ऋतं बृहत्. The vast Truth. This is either
in a sort of apposition to देवान्, "sacrifice to (all) the gods, to the vast
Truth" which is the being of the infinite Godhead ; or else there is a double
accusative, of the person and the object: "win for us from the gods by sacrifice
the vast Truth." Sayana takes ऋतम् = true, and explains it as सत्यं यथार्थफलं
यज्ञं, which is unnatural enough, as no one would say "sacrifice for us the
true" when he means "sacrifice for us a sacrifice", -rtam may mean
sacrifice, or it may mean truth, but it cannot mean "true" in the sense of "a
sacrifice". - but astonishingiy enough he does not take ऋतं बृहत् - "a great
sacrifice", as he does elsewhere;
but separates the neuter बृहत् from the neuter ऋतम् to which it belongs by grammar, by verse-movement and by syntactical form and structure, - for यज्ञ . . .यज . . .यक्षि each naturally introduces its own clause, - and attaches it to the masculine दमम् to which it has no conceivable right to belong. This is one of those purposeless and awkwardly floundering ingenuities hostile to grammar and syntax, to the evidence of parallel passages, to the literary sense and to poetic fitness, in which Sayana's commentary abounds.
यक्षि. Sayana makes यक्षि = यज्ञ संगच्छस्व. He thinks that it means पूजय. "worship thy own big house" , but it is only when Agni is within it that the sacrificial house becomes worshipable, त्वय्यन्तर्विद्यमाने सति हि यज्ञगृहं पूज्यते, therefore to ask Agni to worship his own house amounts to asking him to get into it! Comment on such an absurdity is hardly needed.
स्वं दमम्. The ऋतं बृहत् in the form of the world called स्वः, उ लोकः, उरु लोकः, is the own home of Agni and all the gods.
Sayana's rendering.
Worship for us Mitra and Varuna, worship the gods, sacrifice a true (fruitful sacrifice), worship (i.e. enter) thy own big house.
Psychological rendering.
For us sacrifice to Varuna and Mitra, win for us by sacrifice from the gods the vast Truth; O Flame, win for us by sacrifice thine own home.
Mandala I, Sukta 76
1. का त उपेतिर्मनसो वराय भुवदग्ने शंतमा का मनीषा |
को वा यज्ञैः परि दक्षं त आप केन वा ते मनसा दाशेम ||
वराय. Sayana: तव मनसो निवारणायास्मास्ववस्थापनाय. This is a most improbable sense for वर. It is much better to take वर (= that which is वरणीय) in its ordinary Vedic significance of good, boon, thing desired, with a shade which makes it amount to "supreme good", - and मनसः with उपेतिः, i.e. How shall the mind approach thee so that it may gain its desirable good? Or मनसो वराय may be taken together "for the supreme state or desirable good of the mind" . In the one case the phrase anticipates and leads up to केन वा ते मनसा;
in the second it anticipates and leads up to यजा महे सौमनसाय of verse 2. ते मनसः
no more goes together here than ते मनसा in the fourth pada
of this verse.
मनीषा. Sayana: स्तुतिः, "How shal
our praise be most happiness-giving to thee", i.e. there is no praise even
suitable to thee, and he thinks the answer to को वा is न
कोऽपि. It certainly does not mean that any more than केन वा मनसा means that no
one has the right mentality in the sacrifice. The series of questions merely
express the seeking of the mind for the right way of approaching Agni. the right
thought , मनीषा, the right mentality in the self-giving, मनस्, the power to
embrace in the human mind the right judgment and discernment of the divine
seer-will. मनीषा does not mean स्तुतिः in the Veda, but either the intellectual
mind as distinguished from the wider मनस्, which embraces the emotional
mentality and sense-mind also , or else the intellectual thought that seeks for
the Truth. Cf. इमं स्तोमं . . . सं महेमा मनीषया (I.94.1)
which certainly does not mean "we will form the hymn of praise by the hymn of
praise." There is no reason for assigning different meanings to मनीषा here and
in that passage. But Sayana can seldom forego an opportunity of making a word a
"hymn" or "food".
शन्तमा , not तव
सुखकरी, but full for us of the bliss.
दक्षम्, Sayana : वृद्धिं वलं वा. Neither, but the judgment, discerning thought.
ते must go surely with दक्षम्, not with यज्ञैः.
परि . . . आप,
परि gives the idea of "all round"', i.e. an embracing possession of the whole
दक्ष.
Sayana's rendering.
O Agni, what kind of approach should there be for stopping thy mind (keeping it with us)? what kind of hymn most gives thee happiness (there is probably none); who can get strength (or increase) by sacrifices to thee? or with what mind should we give to thee?
Psychological rendering.
How shall the mind of man approach thee for his supreme good? what thought, O Flame, must that be which carries with it the extreme bliss? who hath by sacrifices embraced all thy discerning? or with what mind shall we give to thee the offerings?
2. एह्यग्न इह होता नि षीदादब्धः सु पूरएता भवा नः |
अवतां त्वा रोदसी विश्वमिन्वे यजा महे सौमनसाय देवान् ||
एहि होता takes up the idea of हवींषि implied in दाशेम. The answer to the questions of the first rk is that Agni, the Seer-Will, must himself come as the होता, the होमनिष्पादकः(Sayana takes it wrongly here as देवानामाह्वाता) and bring about the right mentality by his sacrifice, महे सौमनसाय.
पूरएता. The leader in the march of the sacrifice towards the gods and the vast Truth, a leader who at once guides on the right path
पथिमी रजिष्ठैः and slays the besetters of the way
विश्वान् रक्षसः(v.3). The
यज्ञ of which Agni is the होता is
the अध्वरो यज्ञः.
अवताम्. Not "
protect"; Agni is अदब्धः पूरएता who burns all the Rakshasas ; what need has he of protection who protects all ?
अवताम् means " foster, increase" the Seer-Will. Let the
earth and heaven, the physical and mental being, attain
their full , all-embracing wideness विश्वमिन्वे and by
that wideness give full scope to the increase of the
Seer-Will.
सौमनसाय.
Perfect or right mentality including मनीषा, right thought enlightened by the दक्ष and not only the
emotional part of the मनः. The सौमनस
is vast, महे, as a result of the wideness of the Rodasi, the mental and physical being, which prepares the manifestation of the vast Truth ; this wideness of the Rodasi is always a feature of the ascent of the gods, Agni or Indra, in that upward progress to the plane of the Truth, Swar, of which Agni here is the
पूरएता, he who goes in front.
Sayana's rendering.
Come, O Agni, sit here as the summoning priest; because thou art beyond the injury (of the Rakshasas) be well he who goes in front of us. May all-pervading earth and heaven protect thee; worship with sacrifice the divine ones for great grace.
Psychological rendering.
Hither come, O Flame, and take thy seat within as the priest of our oblation: by the unconquerable power that marches (leading and defending us) aright in our front; may our heaven and our earth, all-embracing, foster thee; sacrifice for a vast right-mindedness to the gods.
3. प्र सु विश्वान् रक्षसो धक्षग्ने भवा यज्ञानामभिशस्तिपावा |
अथा वह सोमपतिं हरिभ्यामातिथ्यमस्मै चकृमा सुदाव्ने ||
सोमपतिं. Sayana: सर्वेषां सोमानां पालकम्. Rather, lord of the Somas as he is of the गिर, not in the sense that Soma is of the wine or Brihaspati is master of the ब्रह्माणि, because to him all speech and all outpourings of the intoxicating wine go as rivers to their sea, as herds to the bull, as women to their lord, अजोषा वृषभं पतिम्.
Indra, the Divine Mind-Power, is to be brought, after the path has been cleared of all Rakshasas, all wealth-detaining and destroying agencies, who prevent the
सौमनस and break (अभिशस्ति) the
uninterrupted progress of the अध्वर यज्ञ. Indra comes with his
two bright powers to drink the purified wine of the Ananda offered in the clear
and happy state of the mind (सौमनस) and to give in return the wealth of his
world. स्वः(सुदाव्ने) .
चकृम. Possibly = we have prepared; i.e. the
Soma is ready for the divine guest.
Psychological rendering.
Utterly burn before thee all the Rakshasas, O Flame; become the protector of our sacrifices against the destroyer; then bring to us the master of our Soma-pourings with his two shining steeds; for him we have prepared guest-honour, for the perfect giver.
4. प्रजावता वचसा वह्निरासा च हुवे नि च सत्सीह देवैः |
वेषि होत्रमुत पोत्रं यजत्र बोधि प्रयन्तर्जनितर्वसुनाम् ||
प्रजावता प्रजा here seems not to be अपत्य in the technical Vedic sense, but to refer to all fruits of the sacrifice; Sayana: दातव्यापत्यादिफलोपेतेन.
वचसा Sayana: स्तुतः सन्. I cannot accept such a clumsy construction; it means that Agni upbears the sacrifice (वह्निः) by means of the word and by his flaming mouth. That is to say, if वह्निः really refers to Agni and आसा to his flame, आस्यस्थानीयया ज्वालया as Sayana suggests. In that case we have to understand असि with the first pada. But the natural rendering would be to take वह्निः as referring to the Rishi. "I, upholder of the word by the breath of my mouth call thee by the fruitful word and do thou at once take thy seat with the gods."
वह्निः. "Upholder, maintainer" either of the word (cf. सखायः, स्तोमवाहसः, गिर्वाहः etc.) which is most appropriate here, - "as the
sustainer of the divine chant by his breath he calls him with the fruitful word", or else of the whole sacrifice, the inspired word of the hymn and therefore the breath of the mouth being the means by which the वह्निः upholds the course and strength of the sacrifice. Cf. I.3.11, यज्ञं दधे सरस्वती.
आसा. 1. breath. 2. mouth. The first seems to me the appropriate sense; it is the Pranic force, मुख्यः प्राणः, by which the ब्रह्म is uplifted from the heart where it has been shaped and held in the mind हृदा तष्टम्.
आ च . . .नि च, gives importance to the prepositions; there are two immediately successive actions, the motion of the Rishi drawing the Seer-Will to him by the word, the motion of Agni and the Gods entering and taking their settled station within him नि.
वेषि. Sayana: कामयस्व. I think it is यासि. the verb used in its pure indicative sense, "tis thou takest upon thee the office of होता and the office of पोता. O master of sacrifice, (therefore) awake."
यज्ञत्र. Sayana
: यजनीय. Rather त्र here seems to
express the agent as in मित्र.
Agni is here the sacrificer (होतः . . . यजस्वः v.5) and
not the god to whom sacrifice is given.
प्रयन्तः:.
Sayana: प्रकर्षेण नियन्तः | वसून्यस्मदायत्तानि कुर्वन् |
जनितः. Sayana:
आहुतिद्वारा सर्वस्य जनयितरग्ने I presume Sayana means सर्वस्य धनस्य.
प्रयन्तर्जनितः. जनितः,
he who brings the spiritual wealth into being in man.
प्रयन्तः , he who brings it by his labour into right use
or possession by man.
बोधि. Sayana:
अस्मान्बोधय. There is no reason to take transitively a verb usually intransitive.
Psychological rendering.
By the fruitful word I, bearer of the sacrifice by the force of my breath, call thee to me and, thou, take thy seat here within with the gods; 'tis thou takest on thee the oblation and the purifying: wake, O bringer into being, O bringer into use of our riches.
Sayana's rendering.
(Hymned) by a fruitful word (he who is) the bearer of the offerings to the gods, him 1 call; and, thou,sit down here with the gods.
desire that which is done by the Hota and the Pota; wake us, O thou who entirely controllest riches and producest (all things).
5. यथा विप्रस्य मनुषो हविर्भिर्देवाँ अयजः कविभिः कविः सन् |
एवा होतः सत्यतर त्वमद्याग्ने मन्द्रया जुह्वा यजस्व ||
मनुषः. Sayana: मनोः | मन ज्ञाने, मनुषः does indeed mean the thinker. but the mental being generally, not Manu.
विप्रस्य. Sayana: मेधाविनः. from विप् to be luminous cf. सूरिः which like सूर्यः means also luminous; men of knowledge are in the Rig-veda frequently called द्युमतः, luminous.
अयजः. Probably an aoristic past; "as thou hast always sacrificed."
कविभिः कविः.
Sayana renders कविः = क्रान्तदर्शी
, and कविभिः मेधाविभिः. He makes a difference between the
two senses in a note on 1.79.5, कविः
क्रान्तदर्शोनो मेधावी वा. I presume that the former means a seer, one whose vision is active, the other merely an intelligent man or thinker. Perhaps Sayana is unwilling to attribute omniscient seerhood to men. But why should there be a difference of meaning between कविभिः कविः? I cannot understand this
remarkable principle of composition attributed to the
Rishis of putting the same word together in different
cases or with different governing words in order to
convey quite different ideas and with nothing to show the difference!
It is only in Bedlam or else in Pundit-land that such a rule can stand. Mark that sometimes Sayana makes कवि mean simply
क्रान्त! As a matter of fact there
is no reason to suppose that कवि ever means anything in the Veda but a seer. Who are the कविs
here? Not I think men, but the divine powers who assist
the Seer-Will.
होतः. Sayana:
होमनिष्पादक. This passage - होतः. . .
जुह्वा यजस्व - and others show clearly enough that
होता meant originally the priest
who conducted or made the offering ; the other sense
देवानामाह्वाता is, in the Rig-veda , extremely doubtful.
सत्यतर.
Sayana : अतिशयेन सत्सु साधो! An extremely clumsy and unnecessarily philological antic. Agni is frequently called
सत्य, cf. 1.1 . 5 , होता कविक्रतुः
सत्यश्चित्रश्रवस्तमः. Here also Agni is the
होता, कविः and सत्यतरः. In 1.1.5
Sayana interprets सत्य giver of true results of the sacrifice, here in a precisely similar context where the same words and ideas are repeated , he gives quite another and fantastic
explanation. सत्य means true, full in his being of the
truth of the ऋतं बृहत् of
which the कवि is the knower, and
therefore no doubt a giver of the riches of the truth to
the sacrifice; but the latter idea cannot justly be read
into सत्य when that word is divorced by Sayana from all
idea of the ऋतम् and the
काव्य. The comparative means ever growing in truth.
मन्द्रया जुह्वा.
Sayana: हर्षयित्र्या होमसाधनभूतया स्रुचा. The
जुहू is the flame of Agni by which he gives the offering to the gods, as Sayana's explanation would lead us to believe: but perhaps he means the fire-tongue by
स्रुच्.
It is the flame or uplifting movement of the Will that
lifts the Soma etc. from the mind upward to the divine Superconscient with a motion of rapture - the rapturous will-movement, not, I think, the joy-giving will. The rapture comes from the state of सौमनस, clear of the Rakshasas etc ., which
Agni's priesthood, the conduct of the Yoga by the divine
Will, brings to man.
*
Additional Notes on Rig-veda I.74.1
अध्वरम्. According to Sayana, the word is
अ-ध्वर from ध्वृ, to hurt, and means unhurt by the Rakshasas etc. But the word unhurt thus used could never have become by itself a synonym for sacrifice, as
अध्वर has done. Throughout the Veda अध्वर
is associated with the idea of movement on the path to
the goal, and it is therefore more reasonable to connect
it with अध्वन् a path; the adhvara is the
sacrifice that travels on the paths of the divine journey
(अध्वनो देवयानान्) and reaches the heavens of the gods. We have the words अध्वन्,
sky, and अध्वर, sky; which show that the two words are
from the same root and of a similar formation. That root
is evidently an old root अध्, no
longer formed as a verb, which must have had the same sense as
अत्. We have also a lost root अथ्
surviving in अथर्यति, to move constantly and अथर्यु, moving. For the Adhwara Yajna see
Appendix I.
उपप्रयन्तो
अध्वरम्. Coming to the sacrifice of the path with the progressive movement which belongs to the sacrifice,
प्रयति अध्वरे.
आरे अस्मे च.
Sayana takes च rather unnaturally with the whole phrase because he could not understand the distinction "afar and in us". There is always the distinction in the Veda between the far and the near, दूरे . . .अन्ति, in the planes of
our being, the क्षेत्र or field of
conscious existence, and the nearest, नेदिष्ठ, is within
ourselves, अन्तः
शृण्वते. The
hearing of the mantra by the gods always implies a response, the divine
accepting the human thought and replying to it by its own vibration. See I.
10.4, एहि स्तोमाँ अभि स्वराऽभि गृणीह्या रुव | ब्रह्म च नो वसो सचेन्द्र यज्ञं च
वर्धय || which gives in a few words the theory of the divine acceptance of the
mantra.
स्नीहितीषु. Sayana takes as "slaying those
who slay" and he explains that Agni protects the sacrificer's wealth, गय, when
the peoples who hurt come together in the battle to destroy or plunder. His
note is वधकारिणीषु . . . ष्णिह स्नेहेने | . . . स्नेहयतीति वधकर्मसु पठितः |
स्नेह्यन्ते हिंस्यन्ते प्रजा आभिरीति स्नेहितयः || The ordinary senses of
स्निह are ( 1) to be moist , wet, fluid ; (2) to be thick , dense; (3) to be
thickly fluid, so viscous, oily, greasy, fat; (4) by figure, to be full of love,
affection, kindness; (5) to flow or make flow thickly, or continuously, anoint
etc. We may compare स्नु, to ooze, trickle, flow , stream and स्निट्, to go,
where the sense of motion comes out more clearly. स्नेहः in the
Veda seems to be used for the thick-flowing ghrta.
स्नीह् here may mean then to drip the richness of the ghrta ,
cf. the घृतस्नु of Indra's horses etc., - or to move in a dense mass or to
adhere together; the कृष्टयः: come together and become cohesive or come together
and move in a mass.
कृष्टिषु. This latter sense of स्नीहितीषु = शश्वत्सु would apply if कृष्टि means either people or the powers that labour in us; the sense of cohesion, if कृष्टि means the worlds which are the field of the working. For the sense of कृष्टि see Appendix II.
पूर्व्यः. Literally first or pristine. But in the Veda पूर्व्यः, प्रथमः often mean first also in the sense of supreme. Agni is the original power of the world and therefore the supreme power.
गयम्. Sayana take the word sometimes as wealth, sometimes as house. गयः must have meant originally movement, the mover or the goal of movement. If it is the object of movement, it may mean क्षयः, the home to which we go; but it would more naturally be either the thing attained by the movement, the spiritual wealth, or that which comes to us, still meaning the wealth ; or else the movement itself.
The First Hymn of the Rig-veda
Mandala I, Sukta 1
अग्निमीळे पुरोहितं यज्ञस्य देवमृत्विजम् | होतारं रत्नधातमम् ||
[agnim ile purohitam yajnasya devam rtvijam, hotaram ratnadhatamam.]
अग्निम् [agnim] . The primitive root अ
[a], to be; when combined with certain consonants,
क् [k], ग् [g],
ज् [j], र् [r ], contracted a
sense of existence in the superlative, क्
[k] giving more the sense of height and intensity,
ग् [g], of strength, solidity or quantity,
ज् [j], र् [r], of rapidity, vigour, activity, command. All strong action or quality could be denoted by अग् [ag], as in
अग्रः [agrah], Greek
[akros], topmost, first, foremost ;
[ago], ago, I lead, act ;
[agathos], good, brave;
[agan], excessive; names like Agis, Agamemnon, Agamedes (cf. Sanskrit अजः: [ajah],
अजमीळ्हः [ajamilhah] );
[aglaos], brilliant ; etc. In Sanskrit the root अर् [ar]
is much preferred to the guttural combination. There can
be no doubt, however, that अग् [ag]
in अग्निः [agnih] meant strong,
brilliant, forceful. Nasalised, we have it in
अङ्गति [angati], fire (also a conveyance, cf.
and Sanskrit अङ्ग् [ang]; अङ्गारः
[angarah], a live coal ; अङ्ग् [ang], to stir, move ; and
in अङ्गिरः [angirah] and अगस्ति [agasti],
- the former term often applied to Agni. There was
another signification, to cling. embrace,
love, which we find in the Greek
[agape], love;
,
[aganos], tender, gentle, charming, which seems to have been another meaning of अङ्गिरः [angirah]
, loving, and appears in the mode of address
अङ्ग [anga], in
अङ्कः [ankah], अङ्गम् [angam],
and in अनङ्ग [ananga], the god of love; etc. Agni is the bright and strong, the bright god of fire, the strong, burning god of Tapas, heat and force.
ईळे [ile]. The root is इल् [il] or ईल् [īl], ळ् [l] being a modification which now survives only in the Southern Aryan tongues, Marathi, Tamil, etc. इल् [il] is itself a secondary root from इ [i], to go, move, go after. wish for, desire, go to , reach, embrace, possess, control (cf. ईह् [ih] , इच्छ् (icch) . ईष् [īs] . The labial increases the closeness of contact, steadiness of action, or soft intensity of feeling. ईल् [īl) is to love, woo, desire, adore, embrace, press upon physically or mentally
urge, crowd. The meaning praise, is of later development, from the sense of wooing or adoration. In words like इला [ila], the earth, इल् [il] has the original sense of motion. I adore or desire, or I praise will equally fit the first line, but in view of the second , where the coincident root इड़् [id] means obviously desirable or adorable, not praiseworthy, the more primitive meaning must be preferred.
पुरो हितम [puro hitam]. Not Purohit, but placed in front. Unless we take Yajna in the sense of sacrifice, there is no need to take पुरोहितम् [purohitam] in any but its original and primitive sense. Agni may be described as the Purohita or representative of the gods in the sacrifice, he is in no sense a sacrificer at the ceremony, in no sense either Purohit or Ritwik. He is the eater of the sacrifice, not its priest. Even if Yajna is taken to mean sacrifice, Agni can not rightly be called its priest, and पुरोहितम् [purohitam] will still have to mean standing in front, but with the idea of the Gods supplied and the genitive यज्ञस्य [yajnasya] understood of general relation without any idea of possession, "who stands forth for the gods at the sacrifice". But the language of the Vedas is always precise and sufficient and no such omission of a word need be supplied.
यज्ञस्य [yajnasya]. यज्ञ [yajna] is acknowledged to be a name for Vishnu, for the Supreme Lord, and the Supreme is not a sacrifice. We must find some other meaning for यज्ञ [yajna] in the etymology of the word. We find the kindred यमः [ yamah], which means he who controls, governs, as in नियन्ता [niyanta] and other members of the य् [y] family of roots. The sense of force put forth to reach , obtain or control is a common significance in this group. "Restraint" is a sense of the word यः [yah], "obtaining" of या [yā]; "effort, control, mastery", is found in यत् [yat], यतः [yatah], यतिः [yatih], यत्न [yatna], यन्ता [yantā], यन्त्र् [yantr], यम् [yam], यमः [yamah] (नियमः [niyamah], संयमः [samyamah] ), यामः [ yamah]; ययी [yayi] is a name of Shiva ; यज्ञः [yajnah] itself is a name of Agni, the master of (तपः [tapah] or force in action and exertion; यशः [ yasah] is fame, glory, beauty, wealth, - in Bengali, success, attainment, probably a survival of its original sense; in यविष्ठ [yavistha], youngest, from a lost यवः [yabah], not lost to the Veda, युवन् [yuvan], youth, etc., and in यव [yava], barley. यवसः [yavasah], grass, the root sense is "strong, flourishing, vigorous";
यस् [yas], यासः [ yasah] ( आयासः [ayasah] , प्रयासः
[prayasah] ) brings us back to the idea of effort and labour. These significations are developments from the sense of going (combined with effort or an original impetus), with its common, almost invariable development of going after, seeking, striving, desiring (या
[ya], याच् [yac] ) also reaching, meeting, mixing, acquiring, joining,
embracing, enjoying (यु [yu], युज् [yuj], योगः [ yogah] यामी [yami] , योषा
[yosa] , युध् [yudh], योनि [yoni] ) and the sense of reaching to, jo ining to or
handing, from which we have the idea of giving, यच्छ् [yacch], यज् [yaj] in the
sense of sacrifice, cf. याजयति [yajayati]. The sense of strong one, master,
controller, lord is established for यज्ञः [yajnah] by the application to Vishnu
and Agni, continued at a lime when the etymological justification had been lost
; the sense of sacrifice is established by the universal later use. But it is
also capable of the same senses as योगः [yogah], यत्न [yatna] or the lost यत्
[yat], from which we have यतिः [yatih], यतः [ yatah] , etc. ; it could mean
effort, action, tapasya, Yoga ; this sense is the basis of the idea
attached to the word यज्ञः [yajnah] in the Gita and of the meaning of
adhiyajna there as the One in whom all action , tapasya and Yoga rest
and to whom they are consciously or unconsciously devoted. The modern form of
the Gita is there trying to assimilate an older form in which यज्ञ [yajna] had
its natural meaning, - Yoga, action, tapasya.
देवम् [devam]. The root दिव् [div]. दीव् [dīv] commonly means either "to shine" or "to play". It is the former sense that gives us
देवाः [devah] the shining ones, referring to the luminous tejomaya bodies proper
to the inhabitants of the Swarloka, where tejah is the primary element in
all forms. देव [deva] by detrition of the व् [v] gives Latin deus and
Greek
[theos] ; from the long root दीव् [dīv] we have
divus and diva.
ऋत्विजम् [rtvijam]. For a reason already alleged, this word need not and should not be taken in the modern sense. The modern derivation ऋतु [rtu] and इज् [ij], sacrificing in season, is a forced etymology, imposed after the word had contracted its modern meaning. The Ritwik was not a sacrificer in season any more than the Purohit. Hota, Brahma or Adhwaryu. The word meant originally "seer or knower of the truth, the right, the law, the Ritam", and in this sense
it was applied to the priest whose duty it was to see that everything was done according to the fixed rule and rationale of the sacrifice. But originally it had no such narrow significance. It meant "the seer of the rtam" and as applied to Agni it had the same sense as "jatavedah", he to whom the Veda or direct vision of truth has appeared, for jata in this word has nothing to do with birth. Even, if we take the etymology to be ऋतु [rtu] and इज् [ij], this sense is perfectly possible, ऋतु [rtu] will then be used in its original sense of established truth, ascertained thought, fixed law (from which the sense of "proper time, season" arose) and इज् [ij] in the sense "obtain, acquire, know", common to the groups of roots which have the sense of motion towards. I suggest, however, that the combination is ऋत् [rt]. truth, and विज् [vij], to see perfectly or decisively. The combination is not contrary to the old laws of sandhi. e.g. वर्त् + म = वर्त्म [vart + m = vartma], पत् + नी = पत्नी [pat + ni = patni], etc. The liquid and nasal consonants did not originally call for the modification of the preceeding hard consonant in composition.
The root ऋत् [rt] contracts the sense of truth from the original force of ऋ [r], to go, move, go to, to reach, find, know, think, fix. We find in Sanskrit ऋजु [rju], fixed, straight, honest; ऋत [rta]. right, proper, true ; ऋतम् [rtam], rule, law, truth, right; ऋतु [rtu] , a fixed time, season, period, a fixed order or rule; ऋभु [rbhu] , ॠभ्व [rbhava], wise skilful; ऋषि [rsi], thinker, knower, sage; ऋषु [rsu], wise. In Latin we have reor, I think, judge ; ratus, thought, fixed, settled, valid; ratio, rule , method, reason view, principle; also calculation, account. etc. ; rectus, straight, right; regula, a rule.
The root विज् [vij] usually means an intense state of existence as in Latin vigor, strength, vigour; vigere, to flourish, cf. vireo, to flourish, be green ; vir, a hero, Sanskrit वीरः [ vlrah] from a brother root; Sanskrit विज् [vij], to be excited (उद्वेगः [udvegah]) , वेगः [vegah]. speed, intensity, but it has other meanings, e.g. to discriminate, decide, judge. The primary वि [vi] means to appear, burst out, be divulged, to split open, separate; and transitively, to see, know, discriminate, separate, divulge, expose, etc. A great regiment of words in Tamil and a few in Latin bear evidence to this sense, especially the Tamil for eye, वीळ् [vil] and the root विल् [vil] with its numerous derivatives: a number of words meaning open, public, sale, auction, publication, etc. ; Latin vile, common, cheap; villa, open place, country place, county
seat; vendo, I sell; venalis, to be sold; but especially video, I see. In Sanskrit we have विद् [vid], to know ; विज् [vij], to separate, discriminate ; विच् [vic] in the same sense ; वि [vi] itself always implying in some form division or separation; विना [vina], except, without, from the same sense; विप् [vip] and विप्र [vipra], a wise man, seer ; आविर् [avir], manifest; विल् [vil] , to divide, break, and in the causal form to send forth, throw out (originally, to divulge, manifest); बिलम् [bilam] (विलम् [vilam] ), a hole, fissure; विश् [vis], to enter in, penetrate ; विष् [vis] to separate, disjoin; वी [vi] , to be born or produced, appear, shine, produce ; वीपा [vīpa], lightning; वियत् [viyat], the open sky; and others. विज् [vij] may therefore mean either to see, or to separate and discriminate.
होतारम् [hotaram]. The word होता [hota] again means a sacrificial priest, and it is curious, if these senses are to be taken, that three different words meaning different kinds of sacrificial priests, should be applied to Agni in the course of a short line composed of eight words and not one with any definite appropriateness either to Agni himself or to the context. We must seek a more appropriate meaning.
The root हु [hu] like all ह् [h] roots must have had originally the sense of "to use force violently or aggressively, to come into aggressive contact, to throw, throw out, strike, kill". This sense we find in
हा [ha], to throwaway, abandon; हत [hata], from ह [ha] , slain, killed; हन्
[han] , to strike, injure, kill; हिंस्[hims] , हिंसा [himsa], injury, slaughter
; हेतिः [hetih], a weapon; हंसः [hamsah], a swan (one who flies flapping the
wings); हठः [hathah] , violence, force, rapine ; हद् [had] , to discharge
(excrement, cf. Bengali हाग् [hag] ); हनुः [hanuh], weapon, disease, death
(Greek
[thanatos], death;
[thnetos], mortal): हथः [hathah], a blow, killing, death; हय् [hay] , to be
weary; हयः [hayah], horse (galloper) ; हृ [hr], to seize, ravish; हरिः [harih]
anything strong, swift, brilliant, bright coloured (cf. हरिणः [harinah], हरित्
[harit] ); हल् [hal], to plough, move strongly (we find traces of the idea of
moving strongly in the vernaculars, cf. हिल् [hil], हिल्लोल [hillola], हल् [hal]
); हस् [has], to ridicule, originally to insult, slight, humiliate. cf. हिण्ड़्
[hind], to disregard , slight; हि [hi] , to cast, shoot; हिक्क् [hikk]. to hurt.
injure, kill ; हुण्ड [hunda], a tiger ; हुल् [hul], to injure. kill: हुड़ः [hudah],
a ram (butter, fighter): हेड् [hed]. हेल् [hel ], to slight: हेठ् [heth]. to
vex, hurt; होड्र [hodr], a robber: होड् [hod] , हौड़् [haud].
to slight; ह्नु [hnu], to rob, take away; ह्रस [hras], to waste, diminish; ह्राद
[hrad] and ह्रेस [hres], to sound loudly, roar, neigh ; ह्री [hrī],
to be put to shame. So insistent are these senses of this violent root that it
is impossible to believe that हु [hu] alone, unlike its secondary roots, हुण्ड्
[hund] , हुड़् [hud] and हुल् [hul], should not have shared in them. As a matter
of fact we find that the sense of sacrifice comes from the idea of throwing, to
throw in the fire, hence to sacrifice. We have also the sense of calling, हवः:
[havah] , a cry, call ; ह्वे [hve], to call, where the idea is of the violent
throwing out of the sound from the throat (cf. ह्राद् [hrad], ह्रेस [hres],
हेष् [hes] , etc.) and finally आहवः [ahavah] , battle. It is in this word आहवः
[ahavah] that we get the key to the ancient sense of हु [hu], to slay, strike,
fight. If it had this sense in the time of the Veda we may take होता [hota] as
slayer, fighter ; हव [hava] as meaning both battle and cry, call; होत्रम्
[hotram] as war, battle. On this supposition Agni hota is the slayer, the
warrior, the smiter of the foe.
रत्नधातमम् [ratnadhatamam] . Again we have a word we cannot take in its modern
sense. रत्न [ratna] in the sense of jewel comes from the idea of glittering,
coruscating, which is an original sense of the root र [ra] and its derivatives.
This root र [ra] and its brother root रा [rā]
, meant originally to vibrate, to be intense in movement, contact, feeling, so
to coruscate, glitter, break up, play, rush , shout, rejoice, feel ecstasy. We
have रः [rah] in the sense of fire, heat, love, desire, speed; रा [rā],
gold; रम् [ram], brightness, lustre ; रंह् [ramh], to go swiftly; रंहतिः [ramhatih],
रंहस् [ramhas], speed, impetuosity; रकः
[rakah], the sunstone, crystal or a hard shower; रक् [rak], to taste (take
delight of) ; रक्त [rakta], painted, brilliantly coloured, impassioned, playful;
रघु [raghu] , swift; रङ्गः [rangah], colour. amusement.
passion ; रजतः [rajatah], silver; रजस् [rajas], originally strength, swiftness,
passion, force, the dancing of broken dust , etc. , cf. रद् [rad], रन्ध्रम्
[randhram] ; रञ्ज् [ranj] , to colour, be enamoured, delighted; रट्[rat], to
shout, call out; रणः [ranah] (literally a charge) war, combat, ringing sound;
रथः: [rathah], a chariot, a hero or fighter ( महारथः [maharathah], अतिरथः
[atirathah], अधिरथः [adhirathah, where the sense is evidently a fighter and has
nothing to do with chariot), ecstasy, delight: रभ् [rahh], to clasp, embrace,
start off, begin; रभस् [rabhas], impetuosity, vehemence, in Bengali, violent
delight or ecstasy,
cf. राभस्यम् [rabhasyam], delight, violence; रम् [ram], to play,
rejoice, delight ; रम्भ् [rambh], to bellow; रय् [ray], to stream, go; रश्मिः
[rasmih], ray, beam ; रस् [ras], to cry out , scream; taste, relish; रसः
[rasah], delight , taste, liquid (from "to flow" ). Cf. also रागः [ragah], राधा
[radha], राम [rama],. रामा [ramā], रावः [rāvah], रवः [ravah], etc. The root रत्
[rat ] from which रत्न [ratna] may come (unless we compound र + त्न [ra + tna],
but this is contrary to the evidence of यत्नः [yatnah], पत्नी [patni], etc.) is
not found except in रात्रिः [ratrih] and रातिः [ratih], where it is significant
that राति [rati] means a friend , a gift, ready or generous, which may all have
come from the sense of delight, play, etc.: रात्रिः [ratrih] and रजनी [rajani]
may also mean the time of enjoyment. We have too रतिः [ratih], delight, which is
usually derived from रम् [ram]. In any case the evidence of the other roots
gives us the most probable meanings of a root रत् [rat], delight, light, or
vehemence of feeling , motion or action. In this passage the two first alone
will enter naturally into the sense of the verse. Agni is addressed either as
the giver of light, rtvij and jatavedas,- for physicaily Agni is
the disposer of delight only through Surya,- or as the giver of delight, because
tapas is the basis of all ananda. But this metaphorical sense of " light" is a
doubtful use and, for other reasons as well foreign to the etymological
considerations, I prefer the sense
of "delight" to the other and more obvious significance.
Translation
Agni I desire, who stands before the Lord, the god who seeth truth, the warrior, who disposeth utterly delight.