The Maruts cling to their own thought or will. (Sây. vrishtyâ samyak siñkanti.) i. 167, 4. yavyẩ (i. e. yavîyấ) sâdhâranya-iva marútah mimikshuh. A difficult passage which receives little light from i. 173, 12; viii. 98, 8; or vi. 27, 6. i. 87, 6. bhânú-bhih sám mimikshire. The Maruts were joined with splendour. (Sây. medhum ikkanti.) 4. With accusative: viii. 61, 18. ní ya vágram mimikshátuh. Thy two arms which have firmly grasped the thunderbolt. (Sây. parigrihnitah.) Here I should also prefer to place vii. 20, 4, if we might explain mímikshan as a participle present of myaksh in the Hu-class: ní vágram índrah mímikshan. Grasping firmly the thunderbolt. (Sây. satrushu prâpayan.) vi. 29, 3. sriyé te padâ dúvah a mimikshuh. Thy servants embrace thy feet for their happiness. (Sây. âsinkanti, samarpayanti.) Like other verbs which mean to join, myaksh, if accompanied by prepositions expressive of separation, means to separate. (Cf. vi-yukta, se-junctus.) ii. 28, 6. ápo (íti) sú myaksha varuna bhiyásam mát. Remove well from me, O Varuna, terror. (Sây. apagamaya.) Quite distinct from this is the desiderative or inchoative verb mimiksh, from mih, in the sense of to sprinkle, or to shower, chiefly used with reference to the gods who are. asked to sprinkle the sacrifice with rain. Thus we read: i. 142, 3. mádhvâ yagñám mimikshati. (Narâsamsa) sprinkles the sacrifice with rain. ix. 107, 6. mádhvâ yagñám mimiksha nah. Sprinkle (O Soma) our sacrifice with rain. i. 34, 3. tríh adya yagñám mádhunâ mimikshatam. O Asvins, sprinkle the sacrifice with rain thrice to-day! i. 47, 4. mádhvâ yagñám mimikshatam. O Asvins, sprinkle the sacrifice with rain! 5. Without mádhu: i. 22, 13. mahĩ dyaúh prithivĩ ka nah imám yagñám mimikshatâm. May the great heaven and earth sprinkle this our sacrifice. 6. With mádhu in the accusative: vi. 70, 5. mádhu nah dyavâprithivï (íti) mimikshatâm. May heaven and earth shower down rain for us. Very frequently the Asvins are asked to sprinkle the sacrifice with their whip. This whip seems originally, like the whip of the Maruts, to have been intended for the cracking noise of the storm, preceding the rain. Then as whips had probably some similarity to the instruments used for sprinkling butter on the sacrificial viands, the Asvins are asked to sprinkle the sacrifice with their whip, i. e. to give rain: us. i. 157, 4. mádhu-matyâ nah kásayâ mimikshatam. O Asvins, sprinkle us with your rain-giving whip. i. 22, 3. táyâ yagñám mimikshatam. O Asvins, sprinkle the sacrifice with it (your whip). 7. Lastly, we find such phrases as, i. 48, 16. sám nah râyẩ―mimikshvá. Sprinkle us with wealth, i. e. shower wealth down upon Here mih is really treated as a Hu-verb in the Âtmanepada. As an adjective, mimikshú is applied to Indra (iii. 50, 3), and mimikshá to Soma (vi. 34, 4). 3 Verse 1, note 3. I do not see how étâsah can here be taken in any sense but that suggested by the Pada, ẩ-itâsah, come near. Professor Roth thinks it not impossible that it may be meant for étâh, the fallow deer, the usual team of the Maruts. These Etas are mentioned in verse 5, but there the Pada gives quite correctly étân, not a-itân, and Sâyana explains it accordingly by gantûn. Verse 1, note. The idea that the Maruts proclaim their own strength occurred before, i. 87, 3. It is a perfectly natural conception, for the louder the voice of the wind, the greater its strength. Verse 2, note 1. Mánas here, as elsewhere, is used in the sense of thought preceding speech, devotion not yet expressed in prayer. See Taitt. Sanh. v. 1, 3, 3. yat purusho manasâbhigakkhati tad vâkâ vadati, what a man grasps in his mind that he expresses by speech. Professor Roth suggests an emendation which is ingenious, but not necessary, viz. maha námasâ, with great adoration, an expression which occurs, if not in vi. 52, 17, at least in vii. 12, 1. We find, however, the phrase maha mánasâ in vi. 40, 4. a yâhi sásvat usata yayâtha índra maha mánasâ soma-péyam, úpa bráhmâni srinavah ima nah átha te yagñáh tanvẽ váyah nhất. Come hither, thou hast always come, Indra, to our libation through our yearning great devotion. Mayest thou hear these our prayers, and may then the sacrifice place vigour in thy body. It is curious to observe that throughout the Rigveda the instrumental singular maha is always used as an adjective belonging to some term or other for praise and prayer. Besides the passages mentioned, we find: ii. 24, 1. ayấ vidhema návayâ mahẩ girẩ. Let us sacrifice with this new great song. vi. 52, 17. su-ukténa mahẩ námasâ a vivâse. I worship with a hymn with great adoration, or I worship with a great hymn in adoration. viii. 46, 14. gâya gira maha ví-ketasam. Celebrate the wise Indra with a great song. Verse 3, note 1. We ought to scan kutah tvam indra mâhinah san, because yâsi, being anudâtta, could not begin a new pâda. It would be more natural to translate kútah by why? for the Maruts evidently wish to express their surprise at Indra's going to do battle alone and without their assistance. I do not think, however, that in the Rig-veda, even in the latest hymns, kútah has ever a causal meaning, and I have therefore translated it in the same sense in which it occurs before in the poet's address to the Maruts. Verse 3, note 2. Sat-pati, lord of men, means lord of real men, of heroes, and should not be translated by good lord, Sat by itself is frequently used in the sense of heroes, of men physically rather than morally good: ii. 1, 3. tvám agne índrah vrishabháh satẩm asi. Thee, O hero, in battles the protector of (good and true) men. Verse 3, note 3. The meaning of sám prikkhase is very much the same as that of sám vadasva in i. 170, 5. Verse 3, note. Subhâná evidently is meant as a name for the Maruts, who thus speak of themselves in the third person. This is by no means unusual in the Rig-veda; see, for instance, i. 170, 2. tébhih kalpasva sâdhu-ya ma nah sam-árane vadhîh. Be thou good with these (with us, the Maruts), do not kill us in battle! Verse 4. Indra certainly addresses his old friends, the Maruts, very unceremoniously, but this, though at first startling, was evidently the intention of the poet. He wished to represent a squabble between Indra and the Maruts, such as they were familiar with in their own village life, and this was to be followed by a reconciliation. The boorish rudeness, selfishness, and boastfulness here ascribed to Indra may seem offensive to those who cannot divest themselves of the modern meaning of deities, but looked upon from the right point of view, it is really full of interest. Verse 4, note 1. Bráhmâni and matáyah are here mentioned separately in the same way as a distinction is made between brahman, stóma, and ukthá, iv. 22, 1; vi. 23, 1; between brahmâni and gírah, iii. 51, 6; between brahma, gírah, and stómah, vi. 38, 3; between bráhma, gírah, ukthấ, and mánma, vi. 38, 4, &c. Verse 2, note 1. Mánas here, as elsewhere, is used in the sense of thought preceding speech, devotion not yet expressed in prayer. See Taitt. Sanh. v. 1, 3, 3. yat purusho manasâbhigakkhati tad vâkâ vadati, what a man grasps in his mind that he expresses by speech. Professor Roth suggests an emendation which is ingenious, but not necessary, viz. mahấ námasâ, with great adoration, an expression which occurs, if not in vi. 52, 17, at least in vii. 12, 1. We find, however, the phrase maha mánasâ in vi. 40, 4. a yâhi sásvat usata yayâtha índra maha mánasâ soma-péyam, úpa bráhmâni srinavah ima nah átha te yagñáh tanvẽ váyah nhất. Come hither, thou hast always come, Indra, to our libation through our yearning great devotion. Mayest thou hear these our prayers, and may then the sacrifice place vigour in thy body. It is curious to observe that throughout the Rigveda the instrumental singular maha is always used as an adjective belonging to some term or other for praise and prayer. Besides the passages mentioned, we find: ii. 24, 1. aya vidhema návayâ mahẩ gira. Let us sacrifice with this new great song. I worship with a hymn with great adoration, or I worship with a great hymn in adoration. viii. 46, 14. gâya gira maha ví-ketasam. Celebrate the wise Indra with a great song. Verse 3, note1. We ought to scan kutah tvam indra mâhinah san, because yâsi, being anudâtta, could not begin a new pâda. It would be more natural to translate kútah by why? for the Maruts evidently wish to express their surprise at Indra's going to do battle alone and without their assistance. I do not think, however, that in the Rig-veda, even in the latest hymns, kútah has ever a causal meaning, and I have therefore translated it in the same sense in which it occurs before in the poet's address to the Maruts. |