x. 55, 8. pîtvi sómasya diváh a vridhânáh surah níh yudha adhamat dásyûn.

The hero, growing, after drinking the Soma, blew away from the sky the enemies with his weapon. See also

X. 103, 4

I therefore take yúdh in our passage also in the sense of weapon or sword, and, in accordance with this, I assign to aídh the meaning of torch. Whether aidh comes from idh with the preposition â, which after all, would only give edh, or whether we have in the Sanskrit aídh the same peculiar strengthening which this very root shows in Greek and Latin*, would be difficult to decide. The torch of the Maruts is the lightning, the weapon the thunderbolt, and by both they manifest their strength.

Wilson: We proclaim eagerly, Maruts, your ancient greatness, for (the sake of inducing) your prompt appearance, as the indication of (the approach of) the showerer (of benefits). Loud-roaring and mighty Maruts, you exert your vigorous energies for the advance (to the sacrifice), as if it was to battle.'

Langlois: 'Le généreux (Agni) a donné le signal; chantons l'hymne du matin en l'honneur d'une race impétueuse. O puissants et rapides Marouts, que la marche accroisse votre éclat; que l'élan du combat augmente vos forces !'

Verse 2, note 1. That úpa can be construed with the accusative is clear from many passages:

iii. 35, 2. úpa imám yagñám a vahâtah índram. Bring Indra to this sacrifice!

i. 25, 4. váyah ná vasatíh úpa.

As birds (fly) to their nests.

Verse 2, note 2. Nítya, from ni+tya, means originally what is inside, internus, then what is one's own; and is opposed to níshtya, from nis + tya, what is outside, strange, or hostile. Nítya has been well compared with nigá, literally

Schleicher, Compendium, § 36, aïow, al0hp, ailovσa; and § 49, aides, aidilis, œstas.

eingeboren, then, like nítya, one's own.

What is inside, or

in a thing or place, is its own, is peculiar to it, does not move or change, and hence the secondary meanings of nítya, one's own, unchanging, eternal. Thus we find nítya used in the sense of internal or domestic:

i. 73, 4. tám tvâ nárah dáme a nítyam iddhám ágne sákanta kshitíshu dhruvasu.

Our men worshipped thee, O Agni, lighted within the house in safe places.

This I believe to be a more appropriate rendering than if we take nítya in the sense of always, continuously lighted, or, as some propose, in the sense of eternal, everlasting.

vii. 1, 2. dakshẩyyah yáh dáme ãsa nítyah.

Agni who is to be pleased within the house, i.e. as belonging to the house, and, in that sense, who is to be pleased always. Cf. i. 140, 7; 141, 2; x. 12, 2, and iii. 25, 5, where nítyah, however, may have been intended as an adjective belonging to the vocative sûno.

Most frequently nítya occurs with sûnú, i. 66, 1; 185, 2; tánaya, iii. 15, 2; x. 39, 14; toká, ii. 2, 11; âpí, vii. 88, 6; páti, i. 71, 1, and has always the meaning of one's own, very much like the later Sanskrit niga, which never occurs in the Rig-veda, though it makes its appearance in the Âtharvana.

Níshtya, extruneus, occurs three times in the Rig-veda : vi. 75, 19. yáh nah sváh áranah yah ka níshtyah gíghâm sati.

Whoever wishes to hurt us, our own friend or a stranger from without,

x. 133, 5. yah nah indra abhi-dasati sá-nâbhih yah ka níshtyah.

He who infests us, O Indra, whether a relative or a stranger.

viii. 1, 13. ma bhûma níshtyâh-iva índra tvád áranâh-iva. Let us not be like outsiders, O Indra, not like strangers to thee.

Wilson: 'Ever accepting the sweet (libation), as (they would) a son, they sport playfully at sacrifices, demolishing (all intruders).'

Langlois: Acceptant la douce libation sans cesse renou

velée, comme (un père adopte) un nouveau-né, ils se livrent à leurs jeux au milieu des sacrifices, terribles (pour leurs ennemis).'

Verse 4, note1. Kvyata, a Vedic second aorist of vî (ag), to stir up, to excite. From it pravayana, a goad, pra-vetar, a driver. The Greek of-σ-rpos, gad-fly, has been referred See Fick, Wörterbuch, p. 170.

to the same root.

Verse 4, note 2. Adhragan, from dhrag, a root which, by metathesis of aspiration, would assume the form of dragh or dragh. In Greek, the final medial aspirate being hardened, reacts on the initial media, and changes it to t, as bahu becomes πήχυς, budh πυθ, bandh πενθ. This would give us Tрex, the Greek root for running, Goth. thrag-jan.

Verse 4, note. Harmyá is used here as an adjective to bhúvana, and can only mean living in houses. It does not, however, occur again in the same sense, though it occurs several times as a substantive, meaning house. Its original meaning is fire-pit, then hearth, then house, a transition of meaning analogous to that of ades. Most of the ancient nations begin their kitchen with a fire-pit. They dig a

hole in the ground, take a piece of the animal's raw hide, and press it down with their hands close to the sides of the hole, which thus becomes a sort of pot or basin. This they fill with water, and they make a number of stones red-hot in a fire close by. The meat is put into the water, and the stones dropped in till the meat is boiled. Catlin describes the process as awkward and tedious, and says that since the Assinaboins had learnt from the Mandans to make pottery, and had been supplied with vessels by the traders, they had entirely done away the custom, excepting at public festivals; where they seem, like all others of the human family, to take pleasure in cherishing and perpetuating their ancient customs*" This pit was

• Tylor, Early History of Mankind, p. 262.

called harmyá, which is the Zend zairimya*, or gharmá, which is the Latin formus. Thus we read:

vii. 56, 16. té harmye-sthäh sísavah ná subhrẩh. The Maruts bright like boys standing by the hearth. From meaning fire-pit, or hearth, harmyá afterwards takes the more general sense of house:

vii. 55, 6. téshâm sám hanmah akshẩni yáthâ idám harmyám táthâ.

We shut their eyes as we shut this house, (possibly, this oven.)

vii. 76, 2. pratîkî a agât ádhi harmyébhyah.

The dawn comes near, over the house-tops.

x. 46, 3. gâtáh a harmyéshu.

Agni, born in the houses.

Xx. 73, 10. manyóh iyâya harmyéshu tasthau.

He came from Manyu, he remained in the houses. In some of these passages harmyá might be taken in the sense of householder; but as harmyá in vii. 55, 6, has clearly the meaning of a building, it seems better not to assign to it unnecessarily any new significations.

But there is one other meaning which harmyá has clearly assumed in the Veda, and that is pit, or the region of darkness, the abode of evil spirits, lastly the abode of the departed. The transition of meaning is intelligible enough, the fiery oven becoming naturally the symbol of any other place of torment:

v. 32, 5. yúyutsantam támasi harmyé dhah.

When thou, Indra, hadst placed Sushna, who was anxious to fight, in the darkness of the pit. In the next verse we find

asûryé támasi, in the ghastly darkness.

viii. 5, 23. yuvám kánvâya nâsatyâ ápi-riptâya harmyé sásvat ûtîh dasasyathah.

You, Nâsatyas, always grant your aid to Kanva when thrown into the pit.

* Justi, Handbuch, p. 119, zairimyañura, adj. in der Tiefe essend, Name eines Daêva oder, da er dem Hund gegenüber genannt wird, eines abrimanischen Thieres, Spiegel (Av. übers. vol. i. p. 190) vermuthet des Hamsters.

This fiery pit into which Atri is thrown, and where he, too, was saved by the Asvins, is likewise called gharmá, i. 112, 7; 119, 6; viii. 73, 3; x. 80, 3.

Lastly we find:

x. 114, 10. yada yamáh bhávati harmyé hitáh.

When Yama is seated in his house, or in the nether world.

The Pitars, too, the spirits of the departed, the Manes, are called gharma-sád, dwelling in the abode of Yama, x. 15, 9, and 10.

Wilson: 'Those, your coursers, which traverse the regions in their speed, proceed, self-guided: all worlds, all dwellings are alarmed, for marvellous is your coming: (such fear as is felt) when spears are thrust forth (in battle).'

Kuhn, Zeitschrift, vol. ii. p. 234: Die ihr die Luft erfüllt mit eurer Kraft, hervorstürmt ihr selbst-gelenkten Laufes.'

Verse 5, note. Nad certainly means to sound, and the causative might be translated by 'to make cry or shriek.' If we took párvata in the sense of cloud, we might translate, 'When you make the clouds roar;' if we took párvata for mountain, we might, with Professor Wilson, render the passage by 'When your brilliant coursers make the mountains echo.' But nad, like other roots which afterwards take the meaning of sounding, means originally to vibrate, to shake; and if we compare analogous passages where nad occurs, we shall see that in our verse, too, the Vedic poet undoubtedly meant nad to be taken in that

sense:

viii. 20, 5. ákyuta kit vah agman ã nānadati párvatâsah vánaspátih, bhumih yameshu regate.

At your racing even things that are immovable shake, the rocks, the lord of the forest; the earth trembles on your ways. (See i. 37, 7, note1, page 62.)

Verse 5, note. See i. 37, 7, note1, page 62.

Verse 5, note. Rathiyántî-iva does not occur again.