rapture, for in rapture he bestows gifts upon us.

i. 51, 2.

Cf.

The horses of Indra are called madakyút, i. 81, 3; viii. 33, 18; 34, 9. Ordinary horses, i. 126, 4.

It is more surprising to see this epithet applied to the Asvins, who are generally represented as moving about with exemplary steadiness. However we read:

viii. 22, 16. mánah-gavasâ vrishanâ mada-kyutâ.

Ye two Asvins, quick as thought, powerful, wildly moving; or, as Sâyaną proposes, liberal givers, humblers of your enemies. See also viii. 35, 19.

Most frequently madakyút is applied to Soma, x. 30, 9; ix. 32, 1; 53, 4; 79, 2; 108, 11; where particularly the last passage deserves attention, in which Soma is called madakyútam sahásra-dhâram vrishabhám.

Lastly, even the wealth itself which the Maruts are asked to send down from heaven, most likely rain, is called, viii. 7, 13, rayím mada-kyútam puru-kshúm visvá-dhâyasam.

In all these passages we must translate mada-kyút by bringing delight, showering down delight.

We have thus arrived at the conclusion that vríshanam mada-kyútam, as used in our passage i. 85, 7, might be meant either for Indra or for Soma. If the Asvins can be called vríshanau mada-kyútâ, the same expression would be even more applicable to Indra. On the other hand, if Soma is called vrishabháh mada-kyút, the same Soma may legitimately be called vríshâ mada-kyút. In deciding whether Indra or Soma be meant, we must now have recourse to other hymns, in which the relations of the Maruts with Vishnu, Soma, and Indra are alluded to.

If Indra were intended, and if the first words meant 'When Vishnu perceived the approach of Indra,' we should expect, not that the Maruts sat down on the sacrificial pile, but that they rushed to the battle. The idea that the Maruts come to the sacrifice, like birds, is common enough :

viii. 20, 10. vrishanasvéna marutah vrísha-psunâ ráthena vrísha-nâbhinâ, a syenasah ná pakshinah vríthâ narah havyẩ nah vîtáye gata.

Come ye Maruts together, to eat our offerings, on your

strong-horsed, strong-shaped, strong-naved chariot, like winged hawks!

But when the Maruts thus come to a sacrifice it is to participate in it, and particularly in the Soma that is offered by the sacrificer. This Soma, it is said in other hymns, was prepared by Vishnu for Indra (ii. 22, 1), and Vishnu is said to have brought the Soma for Indra (x. 113, 2). If we keep these and similar passages in mind, and consider that in the preceding verse the Maruts have been invited to sit down on the sacrificial pile and to rejoice in the sweet food, we shall see that the same train of thought is carried on in our verse, the only new idea being that the keeping or descrying of the Soma is ascribed to Vishnu.

Verse 9, note 1. Tváshtar, the workman of the gods, frequently also the fashioner and creator.

Verse 9, note 2. Nári, the loc. sing. of nri, but, if so, with a wrong accent, occurs only in this phrase as used here, and as repeated in viii. 96, 19. nári ápâmsi kártâ sáh vritra-ha. Its meaning is not clear. It can hardly mean 'on man,' without some more definite application. If nri could be used as a name of Vritra or any other enemy, it would mean, to do his deeds against the man, on the enemy. Nri, however, is ordinarily an honorific term, chiefly applied to Indra, iv. 25, 4. náre náryâya nrí-tamâya nrinẩm, and hence its application to Vritra would be objectionable. Sâyana explains it in the sense of battle. I believe that nári stands for náryâ, the acc. plur. neut. of nárya, manly, and the frequent epithet of ápas, and I have translated accordingly. Indra is called nárya-apas, viii. 93, 1.

Verse 10, note1. Avatá, a well, here meant for cloud, like útsa, i. 64, 6.

Verse 10, note 2. Dhámantah vânám is translated by Sâyana as playing on the lyre, by Benfey as blowing the flute. Such a rendering, particularly the latter, would be very appropriate, but there is no authority for vâná meaning either lyre or flute in the Veda. Vâná occurs

five times only. In one passage, viii. 20, 8, góbhih vânáh agyate, it means arrow; the arrow is sent forth from the bow-strings. The same meaning seems applicable to ix. 50, 1. vânásya kodaya pavím. In another passage, ix. 97, 8, prá vadanti vânám, they send forth their voice, is applied to the Maruts, as in our passage; in iv. 24, 9, the sense is doubtful, but here too vâná clearly does not mean a musical instrument. See iii. 30, 10.

Vríshan.

This

Verse 12, note1. In vríshan we have one of those words which it is almost impossible to translate accurately. It occurs over and over again in the Vedic hymns, and if we once know the various ideas which it either expresses or implies, we have little difficulty in understanding its import in a vague and general way, though we look in vain for corresponding terms in any modern language. In the Veda, and in ancient languages generally, one and the same word is frequently made to do service for many. Words retain their general meaning, though at the same time they are evidently used with a definite purpose. is not only a peculiar phase of language, but a peculiar phase of thought, and as to us this phase has become strange and unreal, it is very difficult to transport ourselves back into it, still more to translate the pregnant terms of the Vedic poets into the definite languages which we have to use. Let us imagine a state of thought and speech in which virtus still meant manliness, though it might also be applied to the virtue of a woman; or let us try to speak and think a language which expressed the bright and the divine, the brilliant and the beautiful, the straight and the right, the bull and the hero, the shepherd and the king by the same terms, and we shall see how difficult it would be to translate such terms without losing either the key-note that was still sounding, or the harmonics which were set vibrating by it in the minds of the poets and their listeners.

Vríshan, being derived from a root vrish, spargere, meant no doubt originally the male, whether applied to animals or men. In this sense vríshan occurs frequently

in the Veda, either as determining the sex of the animal which is mentioned, or as standing by itself and meaning the male. In either case, however, it implies the idea of strength and eminence, which we lose whether we translate it by man or male.

Thus ásva is horse, but vii. 69, 1, we read:

ẩ vâm ráthah—vrísha-bhih y tu ásvaih.

May your chariot come near with powerful horses, i. e. with stallions.

The Háris, the horses of Indra, are frequently called vríshanâ :

i. 177, 1. yuktva hárî (íti) vríshanâ.

Having yoked the bay stallions.

Vrishabhá, though itself originally meaning the male animal, had become fixed as the name of the bull, and in this process it had lost so much of its etymological import that the Vedic poet did not hesitate to define vrishabhá itself by the addition of vríshan. Thus we find:

viii. 93, 7. sáh vríshâ vrishabháh bhuvat.

May he (Indra) be a strong bull.

i. 54, 2. vríshâ vrisha-tva vrishabháh.

Indra by his strength a strong bull; but, literally, Indra by his manliness a male bull.

Even vrishabhá loses again its definite meaning; and as bull in bull-calf means simply male, or in bull-trout, large, so vrishabhá is added to átya, horse, to convey the meaning of large or powerful :

i. 177, 2. yé te vríshanah vrishabhẩsah indra-átyâh. Thy strong and powerful horses; literally, thy male bull

horses.

When vrishan and vrishabhá are used as adjectives, for instance with súshma, strength, they hardly differ in meaning:

vi. 19, 8. a nah bhara vríshanam súshmam indra.

Bring us thy manly strength, O Indra.

And in the next verse:

vi. 19, 9. a te súshmah vrishabháh etu.

May thy manly strength come near.

Vámsaga, too, which is clearly the name for bull, is defined by vríshan, i. 7, 8:

vrísha yûthấ-iva vámsagah.

As the strong bull scares the herds.

The same applies to varaha, which, though by itself meaning boar, is determined again by vríshan:

x. 67, 7. vrísha-bhih varahaih.

With strong boars.

In iii. 2, 11, we read: vríshâ-nẩnadat ná simháh. Like a roaring lion.

If used by itself, vríshan, at least in the Rig-veda, can hardly be said to be the name of any special animal, though in later Sanskrit it may mean bull or horse. Thus if we read, x. 43, 8, vríshâ ná kruddháh, we can only translate like an angry male, though, no doubt, like a wild bull, would seem more appropriate.

i. 186, 5. yéna nápâtam apẩm gunẩma manah-gúvah vríshanah yám váhanti.

That we may excite the son of the water (Agni), whom the males, quick as thought, carry along.

Here the males are no doubt the horses or stallions of Agni. But, though this follows from the context, it would be wrong to say that vríshan by itself means horse.

If used by itself, vríshan most frequently means man, and chiefly in his sexual character. Thus :

i. 140, 6. vríshâ-iva pátnîh abhí eti róruvat.

Agni comes roaring like a husband to his wives.

i. 179, 1. ápi ûm (íti) nú pátnîh vríshanah gagamyuh. Will the husbands now come to their wives?

ii. 16, 8. sakrít sú te sumatí-bhih-sám pátnîbhih ná vríshanah nasîmahi.

May we for once cling firmly to thy blessings, as husbands cling to their wives.

v. 47, 6. upa-prakshé vríshanah módamânâh diváh pathấ vadhvãh yanti ákkha.

The exulting men come for the embrace on the path of heaven towards their wives.

In one or two passages vríshan would seem to have a still more definite meaning, particularly in the formula surah drísîke vríshanah ka paúmsye, which occurs iv. 41, 6; X. 92, 7. See also i. 179, I.