Varga XXIII. 3. We invoke you, who know all things. May you, who are omniscient, declare to us, to-day, the praise that is acceptable. Desirous of your presence, I reverence you, offering (oblations). 4. I invite not the gods, immature (in wisdom),a but you, DASRAS. DASRAS. Drink of the wonderful and strength-giving burnt-offering, and make us vigor ous. 5. (Powerful is) the hymn that was repeated by the son of GHOSHÁ, and by BHṚIGU, and with which hymn the ANGIRASAS adore you. May the sage (KAKSHÍVAT), desirous (of food), obtain it abundantly. 6. Hear the song of the stumbling (blind man);" for, verily, AsWINS, I glorify you, recovering my eyes (through you), who are protectors of good works. 7. You have been givers of great riches; you have again caused them to disappear. Do you, who are donors of dwellings, become our preservers: protect us from the felonious robber. 8. Deliver us not, AśWINS, to our enemies: never may our cows, who nourish us with their udders, stray from our houses, separated from their calves. 9. Those who adore you obtain (wealth), for the support of their friends. Direct us to opulence а Pákyá, to be ripened;' not yet mature in wisdom (paktavyaprajnánán). b Who is called, by the Scholiast, Suhastya. [See X., XLI., 3 ] bestowing food: direct us to food associated with kine. 10. I have obtained, without horses, the car of the food-bestowing AśWINS, and expect (to gain), by it, much (wealth). 11. This (is he who has obtained thee), wealthbearing (car). Augment (my prosperity). May the delightful car bear the Soma-beverage of men (to the AśWINS). 12. Now am I disdainful of sleep, and of the rich man who benefits not others; for both (the morning sleep and the selfish rich man) quickly perish. ANUVAKA XVIII. SÚKTA I. (CXXI.) The deities are the VISWADEVAS, or INDRA; the Rishi is Kakshívat ; the metre, Trishtubh. 1. When will INDRA, the protector of men, and Varga XXIV. granter of riches, listen to the praises, thus (recited), of the ANGIRASAS, who are devoted to the gods? When he perceives the ministers of the master of the mansion, and is to be the object of worship in the sacrifice, he greatly exults. 2. He, verily, upholds the heaven: he, the brilliant, the leader of the (stolen) herd, pours forth the flowing (water), for the sake of food: the mighty INDRA manifests himself after his own daughter,a a Indra is here identified with the Sun. Varga XXV. (the dawn): he made the female of the horse unnaturally the mother of the cow.a 3. May he, illuminating the purple (dawn), listen to the invocation (addressed to him) of old, daily bestowing wealth upon the race of ANGIRAS. He has sharpened his fatal shaft: he has supported the heaven, for the good of men, of quadrupeds, and bipeds. 4. In the exhilaration of this Soma juice, you have restored the celebrated herd of cattle, hidden (in the cave), for the sake of sacrifice, (to the ANGIRASAS). When, INDRA, the threefold crest engages in combat, he opens the doors of the tyrannical descendants of MANUS ; b 5. When your parents, (heaven and earth), the protectors (of the world), brought the nutritious and invigorating oblation to thee, who art quick in act, and when they offered thee the pure and precious milk of the milch-cow.d 6. Now is INDRA manifested. May he, the overcomer (of his foes), grant us happiness,-he, who a calf. Indra, in sport, is said to have made a mare bring forth a d That is, the clarified butter of the oblations, from which the nutriment of all things proceeds; for the oblation ascends to the sun, by whom rain is engendered, from which springs corn, the support of living beings. When this has been done, Indra opens the doors of the cave, and rescues the cattle, as described in the preceding verse, with which this is connected. shines brightly, like the sun of this dawn. May the excellent Soma, being sprinkled upon the place of sacrifice with a ladle, (exhilarate us), by whom, presenting the oblations we had prepared, it was imbibed. 7. When the bright-edged hatcheta is ready for its work, the directing priest is able to have the victim bound in the sacrifice." When, INDRA, you shine upon the days that are appropriated to sacred rites, then (success attends) upon the man who goes, with his cart, (for fuel), the driver (of cattle), or the active (shepherd). с 8. Send hither thy horses, the quaffers of the ex а Vanadhiti, the instrument that is to be applied to the forest, to cut down the trees. b Pari rodhaná goh. The phrase is rather elliptical; and there is no verb. The Scholiast interprets it, paso rodhanaya yúpe niyojanáya, pari samartho bhavati,—the priest, the adhwaryu, is competent for the attachment of the animal to the stake. Or the whole passage may be differently rendered; vanadhiti being interpreted a collection of water' (vana), that is, a body of clouds (meghamálá): when this is ready for its office of raining, then Indra, being in the firmament, is able to remove any impediment to the shower;-goh being, also, rendered 'water,' or 'rain.' • Indra being the same with the Sun, d The phraseology is, here, very elliptical and obscure, the whole being merely anarvise paświshe turáya, being, literally, "to the carman, to the cattle-driver, to the quick," without any verb. The Scholiast, therefore, supplies the connexion, abhimatam sidhyet, "his wish may succeed," and amplifies, or translates, anarvise, 6 carman,' as "he who goes to fetch fuel from the wood, in his Varga XXVI. hilarating libation: overcome, warrior, the adversary plundering us of our treasure, when they express, with stones, for the increase (of thy strength), the delightful, exhilarating, invigorating (juice), to be overtaken by thee, who art swifter than the wind. 9. Thou didst hurl thy iron bolt upon the quickmoving (Asura), -the swift destroyer of foes, that was brought (to you), by ṚIBHU, from heaven,"-when thou, who art worshipped by many, striking S'USHNA, for the sake of KUTSA, didst encompass him with numberless fatal (weapons).b 10. When the sun (had emerged) from the struggle with darkness, thou didst break, wielder of the thunderbolt, the cloud that had been his annoyance, and didst sunder the well-fastened covering in which S'USHNA had enveloped him. 11. Then the vast, powerful, and immoveable earth and heaven animated thee, INDRA, to glorious deeds; and thou didst hurl down, into the waters, with thy mighty thunderbolt, the everywherespreading and destroying VRITRA. cart;" paświshe, the driver of cattle; and turdya, the active, or quick, gopála, or shepherd. * a Divah upanitam Ribhwá. The Scholiast considers the latter to be the same as Twashtrá, "by Twashtri." No doubt, Twashtri is, most usually, considered to be the fabricator of Indra's thunderbolt; but we have had it before stated, that the thunderbolt was brought to Indra by Ribhu (p. 285). [?] This is, most probably, allegorical, if it have any meaning at all. Sushna is drought;' and this, Indra removes, for the benefit of his worshippers, by many drops of rain. |