pleases the mother receives the milk from the father, thence the father, thence the son is nourished.2

4. In whom all beings exist; the three worlds abide from whom the waters flow in three directions (east, west, and south): the three water-shedding masses of clouds (east, west, and north,) pour the waters round the mighty (PARJANYA).

5. This praise is addressed to the self-irradiating PARJANYA: may it be placed in his heart; may he be gratified by it; may the joy-diffusing rains be ours; may the plants cherished by the deity be fruitful.

*

3

6. May he, the bull, be the impregnator of the perpetual plants, for in him is the vitality of both the fixed and moveable (world): may the rain sent by him preserve me for a hundred years: and do you (gods) ever cherish us with blessings.

The firmament withholds or sends down rain at will.

2 The father is the sky, earth the mother, who receives the rain from the former, which, producing the means of offering libations and oblations, returns again to the parent heaven, as well as supports his offspring-all living creatures. [Cf. vol. i. p. 248, note.]

3 Tasminn-átmá: the scholiast interprets the latter deha, body; probably for bodily existence, the life of the vegetable world depending upon the rain, and that of animals upon corn and the rest.

* Sáyana makes the sentence indicative, "he is," &c.; and instead of "for" he has "hence," atas.

Varga II.

Varga III.

SUKTA XIII. (CII.)

Deity and Rishi as before; the metre is Gáyatrí: the hymn constitutes a Tricha.

1. Sing aloud to the son of heaven, PARJANYA, the sender of rain may he be pleased (to grant) us food.

2. He who is the cause of the impregnation of plants, of cows, of mares, of women.

3. Offer verily to him by the mouth (of the gods, AGNI,) the most savoury oblation, so that he may yield us unfailingly food.

SÚKTA XIV. (CIII.)

The deities are frogs; the Rishi is VASISHTHA; the metre
Trishtubh, except in the first verse, in which it is Anushtubh.

1. The frogs,1 like Brahmans, observant of their vows, practising penance † throughout the year, utter aloud praises agreeable to PARJANYA.

2. When the waters of the sky fall upon (the troop of frogs) sleeping in the (exhausted) lake like a dry water-skin; then rises together the croaking of the

1 Vasishtha, it is said, having praised Parjanya in order to procure rain, observing the frogs to be delighted by his praises, addressed them in this hymn.

* This hymn has been translated by Professor Müller, in his Ancient Sanskrit Lit. p. 494.

↑ Literally, “lying still," which Sáyana explains as "performing penance for rain."

frogs, like the bellowing of cows when joined by their calves.

3. When the rainy season has arrived, and (PARJANYA) has sent the rain upon them, thirsty and longing (for its coming), then one frog meets another croaking (his congratulations) as a child (calls to) its father with inarticulate ejaculations.1

4. One of these two congratulates the other as they are both delighting in the forthcoming of rain ; the speckled frog, leaping up repeatedly when moistened (by the shower), joins greetings with the green

one.

5. When one of you imitates the croaking of another as a learner (imitates) his teacher, when, loud crying, you converse (leaping) upon the waters, then the entire body is as it were developed.'

2

6. One frog has the bellowing of a cow, another Varga IV. the bleating of a goat; one of them is speckled, one is green designated by a common appellation, they are of various colours, and, croaking, shew themselves in numerous places.

7. Like Brahmans at the Soma libation, at the Atirátra sacrifice, you are now croaking around the replenished lake (throughout the night),3 for on that

1

2

Akhkhalikritya, making the imitative sound akhkhala.

During the dry weather, says the scholiast, the frogs shrink like a lump of clay; in the rains they expand to their full size. 3 Rátrau şabdam kurvánáh, is added by the commentator, apparently to make the comparison more appropriate, the Atirátra rite being, according to him, a nocturnal ceremony, when the

day of the year you frogs are everywhere about, when it is the day of the setting in of the rains.

*

8. They utter a loud cry, like Brahmans when bearing the Soma libation, and reciting the perennial prayer: like ministrant priests with the gharma offering, they hid (in the hot weather) perspiring1 (in their holes), but now some of them appear.

9. These leaders of rites observe the institutes of the gods, and disregard not the (appropriate) season of the twelvemonth; as the year revolves, and the rains return, then, scorched and heated, they obtain freedom (from their hiding-places).

10. May the cow-toned, the goat-toned, the speckled, the green (frog, severally) grant us riches! May the frogs in the fertilizing2 (season of the rain), bestowing upon us hundreds of cows, prolong (our) lives!

priests recite the hymns at night: rátrim atítya vartate ityatirátrah, yathátirátrákhye somayáge Bráhmaná rátrau stutaṣastráni paryayena şansanti. [For the sastras used at the Atirátra, see Haug's translation of Aitareya Bráhm. p. 264.]

1 Adhwaryavo gharminah sishwidánáh: the last may apply to the adhwaryus as well as the frogs: there is a quibble upon the word gharminah, having or bearing the vessel, or performing the rite so termed (see vol. iii. p. 281); or suffering from gharma, heat, or the hot season. [For the pravargya ceremony and the gharma, see Haug's Ait. Bráhm. trans. p. 42.]

2 Sahasrasáve is explained as the generator of thousands of plants, grains, and the like.

* Rather, "the year-long prayer." Sayana makes it refer to

SÚKTA XV. (CIV.)

The deities of most of the verses are INDRA and SOMA, sometimes singly, sometimes together; the deities of the 11th verse are the DEVAS; those of the 17th and 18th respectively the Soma stones and the winds; and that of the 10th and 14th is AGNI of the first half of the 23rd verse the deity is the personified prayer; of the second half, the earth and firmament. VASISHTHA is the Rishi. The metre varies between Jagatí and Trishtubh; that of the last stanza is Anushṭubh.

1. INDRA and SOMA, afflict, destroy the Rakshasas; Varga V. showerers (of benefits) cast down those who delight in darkness; put to flight the stupid (spirits); consume, slay, drive away, utterly exterminate the cannibals.

2. INDRA and SOMA, fall upon the destructive (Rákshasa) and the performer of unprofitable acts,* so that, consumed (by your wrath), he may perish like the offering cast into the fire: retain implacable hatred to the hater of Brahmans,† the cannibal, the hideous, the vile1 (Rákshasa.)

1 Kimidine is an unusual and rather unintelligible term: the comment explains it Kimidáním iti charate, to one who goes saying, What now? that is, Piṣunáya, a spy, an informer; or cruel, vile.

Gavám ayanam, a sacrificial session, which commences and ends with the atirátra, and lasts a whole year.

* Or, as the same word, aghaṣamsa, is rendered in v. 4, “ the malignant."

+ Bramadwishe is explained by Sáyana, bráhmanebhyo 'smabhyam dweshṭre.

+ Ghorachakshase may also mean "rude in speech."