Varga X.

poured out for the satisfaction of the drinker of the libations.

6. Thou, INDRA, performer of good works, hast suddenly become of augmented vigour, for the sake of drinking the libation, and (maintaining) seniority a (among the gods).

7. INDRA, who art the object of praises, may these pervading Soma juices enter into thee: may they be propitious for thy (attainment of) superior intelligence.

8. The chants (of the Sáma) have magnified thee, S'ATAKRATU; the hymns (of the Rich) have magnified thee may our praises magnify thee.

9. May INDRA, the unobstructed protector, enjoy these manifold (sacrificial) viands, in which all manly properties abide.

10. INDRA, who art the object of praises, let not men do injury to our persons. Thou art mighty: keep off violence.

a Jyaishthyam, abstract of jyaishtha, elder, oldest; but it may, also, mean best or chiefest.

The Scholiast supplies these particulars, the terms of the text being simply stomáh and uktha: the former, he says, are the praises of the singers of the Sáma (Sámagánám stotrání); the latter, the hymns of the reciters of the Bahvrich (Bahvṛichánám śastráni). But, of this and other passages where Sáyaña inserts the designation of other Vedas,-the Sáma and the Yajush,-it is to be observed, that the accuracy of his additions involves the prior existence of those Vedas, at least to the hymns of the Rich in which they are supposed to be alluded to; a conclusion which there is reason to hesitate admitting.

SÚKTA III. (VI.)

The Rishi and metre continued. The three first stanzas and

the last are addressed to INDRA; the rest, to the MARUTS, or Winds, with, or without, INDRA.

1. The circumstationed (inhabitants of the three Varga XI. worlds) associate with (INDRA), the mighty (Sun), the indestructive (fire), the moving (wind), and the lights that shine in the sky."

2. They (the charioteers,) harness to his car his

a The text has only pari tasthushah, those who are standing around. The lokatrayavartinah práñinah, the living beings of the three worlds, is the explanation of the Scholiast.

b Of the three first objects the text gives only the epithets bradhna, the mighty, to which Sáyana adds Aditya, the Sun; arusha, the non-injuring, to which Fire is supplied; and charat the moving, an epithet of Wind. The last phrase is complete,rochante rochaná divi. Sáyaña's additions are supported by a Brahmana, which explains the epithets as equivalent, severally, to Aditya, Agni, and Váyu (Asau vá, Adityo bradhnah;** Agnir vá arushah ;** Váyur vai charan): we may, therefore, admit it. The identification of Indra with the three implies, the Scholiast says, his supremacy; he is paramaiswaryayukta: but the text says they join (yunjanti); and it does not appear, exactly, whom; for Indra is not named. As the following stanzas show, however, that the hymn is addressed to Indra, he may be allowed to keep his place as essentially one with the sun, fire, wind, and the constellations.

a

two desirable coursers, placed on either hand," baycoloured, high-spirited, chief-bearing.

с

3. Mortals, you owe your (daily) birth (to such an INDRA), who, with the rays of the morning, gives sense to the senseless, and, to the formless, form.d

4. Thereafter, verily, those who bear names invoked in holy rites, (the MARUTS), having seen the rain about to be engendered), instigated him to resume his embryo condition (in the clouds).

5. Associated with the conveying MARUTS, the traversers of places difficult of access, thou, INDRA, hast discovered the cows hidden in the cave.

a The horses of Indra are named hari, usually considered as denoting their colour, green or yellow, or, as Rosen has it, flavi. In this same verse, we have them, presently, described as śoña, crimson, bright bay, or chestnut.

b Vipakshasá, harnessed on different sides,-Sáyana says, of the chariot; we should say, of the pole. But the Hindu ratha not have had a pole.

may

с

Literally, men-bearing,-nriváhasá.

a Indra is here, again, identified with the sun, whose morning rays may be said to reanimate those who have been dead, in sleep, through the night. There is some difficulty in the construction: for maryáh, mortals, is plural, while ajáyatháh is the second person singular of the first preterite. Sáyana is of opinion that the want of concord is a Vaidik license, and that the plural substantive maryáh has been put for the singular maryah.

e The Maruts are not named in the text; but the allusions justify the commentator's specification: the winds drive Indra, or the firmament, into an aggregation of clouds, in which the rain again collects, as in their womb.

f Allusion is here made to a legend, which is frequently ad

6. The reciters of praises praise the mighty Varga XII. (troop of MARUTS), who are celebrated, and conscious of the power of bestowing wealth, in like manner as they (glorify) the counsellor, (INDRA).

7. May you be seen, MARUTS, accompanied by the undaunted INDRA; (both,) rejoicing, and of equal splendour.

8. This rite is performed in adoration of the powerful INDRA, along with the irreproachable, heavenward-tending, and amiable bands (of the MARUTS).

9. Therefore, circumambient (troop of MARUTS), come hither, whether from the region of the sky, or from the solar sphere; for, in this rite, (the priest) fully recites your praises.

b

10. We invoke INDRA,—whether he come from

verted to, of the Asuras named Pañis having stolen the cows of the gods, or, according to some versions, of the Angirasas, and hidden them in a cave, where they were discovered by Indra, with the help of the bitch Saramá. A dialogue between her and the robbers is given, in another place, in which she conciliates them. In other passages, the cows are represented as forcibly recovered by Indra, with the help of the Maruts.

a

Allusion, it is said, is here made to a battle between Indra and Vritra. The gods who had come to the aid of the former were driven away by Vritra's dogs; and Indra, to obtain the superiority, summoned the Maruts to his assistance.

b The region of the winds is, properly, the dyuloka, the heaven, or region above the antariksha, or sky. Or they may come from a sphere of light further above, or the solar region, ádityamandalát.

Varga XIII.

this earthly region, or from the heaven above, or from the vast firmament, "-that he may give (us) wealth.

SÚKTA IV. (VII.)

The deity is INDRA; the Rishi and metre, as before.

1. The chanters (of the Sáma) extol INDRA with songs; the reciters of the Rich, with prayers; (the priests of the Yajush), with texts."

Either the prithiviloka or the dyuloka. The text adds maho rajasah, which the Scholiast explains the great antarikshaloka, the sphere of the firmament, which is, properly, the space between the earth and heaven, corresponding with vyoman or ákáśa, the sky or atmosphere.-Manu, I., 13.

The Scholiast supplies the specification of the several Vedas. The first term, gáthinah, merely means singers, although he renders it gíyamánasámayukta udgátárah, "the Udgátṛis, with Sámas to be chanted;" an interpretation, he thinks, confirmed by the next term, (songs), brihat, for brihatá, "with the Brihat Sáma." The next phrase, arkebhir arkiñah, is more akin to Rich, "Those of the Rig-veda, with stanzas:" but it is not necessarily confined to that sense; and, as arka is a synonym of mantra, a prayer, the sense may be, those who pray, or praise, Indra with prayers. For the Adhwaryus, or priests of the Yajush, we have nothing at all in the original; and the term váníh, for váñíbhih, "with texts or words," which occurs, apparently without any grammatical connexion, may be referred either to the singers, or the reciters, of the prayers. It is applied, by the Scholiast, to the texts of the Yajush,-apparently, only because he had connected the preceding expressions with the other two Vedas. As already remarked, any reference to the Yajush, or Sáma, in a verse of the Rich, implies the priority of the two former to the latter.