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may do, daring in my heart; for I indeed, O Maruts, am known as terrible: of all that I threw down, I, Indra, am the lord.

Indra speaks:

11. O Maruts, now your praise has pleased me, the glorious hymn which you have made for me, ye men!-for me, for Indra, for the powerful hero, as friends for a friend, for your own sake and by your own efforts.1

Indra speaks:

12. Truly, there they are, shining towards me, assuming blameless glory, assuming vigour. 0 Maruts, wherever I have looked for you, you have appeared to me in bright splendour: appear to me also now!

The Epilogue.

The sacrificer speaks:

13. Who has magnified you here, O Maruts? Come

LANGLOIS O Marouts, l'éloge que vous avez fait de moi m'a flatté et surtout votre attention à me laisser votre part du sacrifice. Indra est généreux, et fêté par de nombreux hommages. Soyez mes amis, et développez vos corps (légers).

12. WILSON: Maruts, verily, glorifying me, and enjoying boundless fame and food (through my favour), do you, of golden colour, and invested with glory, cover me in requital, verily, (with renown.)

LANGLOIS: Ainsi brillant à mes côtés, prenez dans les offrandes et dans les hymnes la part conforme à votre rang, O Marouts, vos couleurs sont merveilleuses. Resplendissons ensemble, et couvrez-moi (de vos corps) comme vous l'avez fait jusqu'à présent.

13. WILSON: (Agastya): What mortal, Maruts, worships you in this world: hasten, friends, to the presence of your

sákhin ákkha sakhâyah, mánmâni kitrah api-vâtáyantah eshẩm bhûta návedâh me ritấnâm.

Agastyah.

14. A yát duvasyất duváse ná kârúh asmẩn kakré mânyásya medhấ, ó (íti) sú varta marutah vípram ákkha ima bráhmâni garita vah arkat.

Agastyah.

15. Esháh vah stómah marutah iyám gîh mândâryásya mânyásya kâróh, a isha yâsîshta tanvẽ vayẩm vidyẩma ishám vrigánam gîrá-dânum.

friends; wonderful (divinities), be to them the means of acquiring riches; and be not uncognisant of my merits.

LANGLOIS (Le poëte parle): Quel est celui qui vous chante en ce moment, ô Marouts? Soyez-nous agréables, et venez vers des amis. D'un souffle propice favorisez nos vœux. Possesseurs de biens variés, daignez visiter notre sacrifice.

14. WILSON: Since the experienced intellect of a venerable (sage), competent to bestow praise upon (you), who deserve praise, has been exerted for us: do you, Maruts, come to the presence of the devout (worshipper) who, glorifying (you), worships you with these holy rites.

LANGLOIS: Si la, science d'un sage nous a, comme un

COMMENTARY.

According to the Anukramanikâ this hymn is a dialogue between Agastya, the Maruts, and Indra. A careful consideration of the hymn would probably have led us to a similar conclusion, but I doubt whether it would have led us to adopt the same distribution of the verses among the poet, the Maruts, and Indra, as that adopted by the author of the

hither, O friends, towards your friends. Ye brilliant Maruts, cherish these prayers, and be mindful of these my rites.

14. The wisdom of Mânya has brought us to this, that he should help as the poet helps the performer of a sacrifice bring (them) hither quickly! Maruts, on to the sage! these prayers the singer has recited for you.'

15. This your praise, O Maruts, this your song comes from Mândârya, the son of Mâna,' the poet. Come hither with rain! May we find for ourselves offspring, food, and a camp with running water.

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artiste habile, façonnés au culte pompeux que nous vous rendons, ô Marouts, traitez avec bonté l'homme qui, par ses prières et ses chants, vous a honorés.

15. WILSON: This praise, Maruts, is for you: this hymn is for you, (the work) of a venerable author, capable of conferring delight (by his laudations). May the praise reach you, for (the good of your) persons, so that we may (thence) obtain food, strength, and long life.

LANGLOIS O Marouts, cet éloge et cet hymne d'un respectable poëte s'addressent à vous. Il a voulu vous plaire. Venez avec l'abondance, en étendant vos réseaux. Que nous connaissions la prospérité, la force et l'heureuse vieillesse !

Anukramanikâ. He assigns the first two verses to Indra, the third, fifth, seventh, and ninth to the Maruts, the fourth, sixth, eighth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth to Indra, and the three concluding verses to Agastya. I think that the two verses in the beginning, as well as the three concluding verses, belong certainly to Agastya or to whoever else the real performer of the sacrifice may have been. The two verses in the beginning cannot be ascribed to Indra,

who, to judge from his language, would never say By what strong devotion may we delight the Maruts?' It might seem, in fact, as if the three following verses, too, should be ascribed to the sacrificer, so that the dialogue between Indra and the Maruts would begin only with the sixth verse. The third verse might well be addressed to Indra by the sacrificer, and in the fourth verse we might see a description of all that he had done for Indra. What is against this view, however, is the phrase prábhritah me ádrih. If used by the sacrificer, it might seem to mean, my stone, i. e. the stone used for squeezing the Soma, has been brought forth.' But though Professor Roth assigns this meaning to prábhrita in our passage, I doubt whether, in connection with ádri, or with vágra, prábhrita can mean anything but hurled. Thus we read:

i. 61, 12. asmaí ít ûm (íti) prá bhara―vritrẩya vágram. Hurl thou, Indra, the thunderbolt against this Vritra. v. 32, 7. yát îm vágrasya prá-bhritau dadabha.

When Indra conquered him in the hurling of the thunderbolt.

I therefore suppose the dialogue to begin with verse 3, and I find that Langlois, though it may be from different reasons, arrived at the same conclusion.

There can be little doubt that the other verses, to verse 12, are rightly apportioned between Indra and the Maruts. Verse 12 might perhaps be attributed again to the worshipper of the Maruts, but as there is no absolute necessity for assigning it to him, it is better to follow the tradition and to take it as the last verse of Indra's speech. It would seem, in fact, as if these ten verses, from 3 to 12, formed an independent poem, which was intended to show the divine power of the Maruts. That their divine power was sometimes denied, and that Indra's occasional contempt of them was well known to the Vedic poets, will become evident from other hymns. This dialogue seems therefore to have been distinctly intended to show that, in spite of occasional misunderstandings between the Maruts and the all-powerful Indra, Indra himself had fully recognized their power and accepted their friendship. If we suppose that this dialogue was repeated at sacrifices in honour of the

Maruts, or that possibly it was acted by two parties, one representing Indra, the other the Maruts and their followers, then the two verses in the beginning and the three at the end ought to be placed in the mouth of the actual sacrificer, whoever he was. He begins by asking, who has attracted the Maruts to his sacrifice, and by what act of praise and worship they can be delighted. Then follows the dialogue in honour of the Maruts, and after it the sacrificer asks again, Who has magnified the Maruts, i.e. have not we magnified them?" and he implores them to grant him their friendship in recognition of his acts of worship. If then we suppose that the dialogue was the work of Mândârya Mânya, the fourteenth verse, too, would lose something of its obscurity. Coming from the mouth of the actual sacrificer, it would mean, 'the wisdom, or the poetical genius, of Mânya has brought us to this, has induced us to do this, i.e. to perform this dialogue of Mânya, so that he, Mânya, should assist, as a poet assists the priest at a sacrifice.' If Mânya himself was present, the words ó sú varta, bring hither quickly,' would have to be taken as addressed to him by the sacrificer; the next, 'Maruts, on to the sage!' would be addressed to the Maruts, the sage (vípra) being meant for Mânya; and in the last words, too, 'these prayers the singer has recited for you,' the singer (garita) might again be Mânya, the powerful poet whose services the sacrificer had engaged, and whose famous dialogue between Indra and the Maruts was considered a safe means of winning their favour. It would be in keeping with all this, if in the last verse the sacrificer once more informed the Maruts that this hymn of praise was the work of the famous poet Mândârya, the son of Mâna, and if he then concluded with the usual prayer for safety, food, and progeny.

Verse 1, note 1. As samânî occurs in the Veda as the feminine of samâna (cf. iv. 51, 9; x. 191, 3; 4), samânya might, no doubt, be taken as an instrumental, belonging to subha. We should then have to translate: 'With what equal splendour are the Maruts endowed?' Sâyana adopts the same explanation, while Wilson, who seems to have

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