antiqui dicebant, qui conducti militabant, àπò Tŷs λaTpelas,' seems to me one of those etymologies in which the scholars of Rome, who had learnt a little Greek, delighted as much as scholars who know a little Sanskrit delight in finding some plausible derivation for any Greek or Latin word in Sanskrit. I know that Curtius (Grundzüge, p. 326) and Corssen (Kritische Nachträge, p. 239) take a different view; but a foreign word, derived from λáτρov, pay, hire, would never have proved so fertile as latro has been in Latin. If then we could write alâtrinasah, we should have an appropriate epithet of the Maruts, in the sense of not assailing or not reviling, in fact, free from malevolence, as Wilson translated the word, or rather Sâyana's explanation of it, âtardanarahita. What gives me some confidence in this explanation is this, that it is equally applicable to the other passage where alâtrina occurs, iii. 30, 10: alâtrináh valáh indra vragáh góh pura hántoh bháyamânah ví âra. Without barking did Vala, the keeper of the cow, full of fear, open, before thou struckest him. If it should be objected that vragá means always stable, and is not used again in the sense of keeper, one might reply that vragáh, in the nom. sing., occurs in this one single passage only, and that bháyamânah, fearing, clearly implies a personification. Otherwise, one might translate: 'Vala was quiet, O Indra, and the stable of the cow came open, full of fear, before thou struckest.' The meaning of alâtriná would remain the same, the not-barking being here used as a sign that Indra's enemy was cowed, and no longer inclined to revile or defy the power of Indra. Hom. hymn. in Merc. 145, οὐδὲ κύνες λελάκοντο. Verse 7, note 2. See i. 38, 15, note 1, page 78. Verse 8, note 1. Abhí-hruti seems to have the meaning of assault, injury, insult. It occurs but once, but abhíhrut, a feminine substantive with the same meaning, occurs several times. The verb hru, which is not mentioned in the Dhâtupâtha, but has been identified with hvar, occurs in our hymn, verse 12: i. 128, 5. sáh nah trâsate duh-itất abhi-hrútah sámsât aghất abhi-hrútah. He protects us from evil, from assaults, from evil speaking, from assaults. x. 63, 11. trẩyadhvam nah duh-évâyâh abhi-hrútah. Protect us from mischievous injury! i. 189, 6. abhi-hrútâm ási hí deva vishpát. For thou, god, art the deliverer from all assaults. Vishpáť, deliverer, from vi and spas, to bind. Ví-hruta, which occurs twice, means evidently what has been injured or spoiled: viii. 1, 12. íshkartâ ví-hrutam púnar (íti). He who sets right what has been injured. Cf. viii. 20, 26. Verse 9, note 1. Tavishá certainly means strength, and that it is used in the plural in the sense of acts of strength, we can see from the first verse of our hymn and other passages. But when we read that tavishani are placed on the chariots of the Maruts, just as before bhadra, good things, food, &c., are mentioned, it is clear that so abstract a meaning as strength or powers would not be applicable here. We might take it in the modern sense of forces, i. e. your armies, your companions are on your chariots, striving with each other; but as the word is a neuter, weapons, as the means of strength, seemed a preferable rendering. Verse 9, note 2. The rendering of this passage must depend on the question whether the khâdís, whatever they are, can be carried on the shoulders or not. We saw before (p. 102) that khâdís were used both as ornaments and as weapons, and that, when used as weapons, they were most likely rings or quoits with sharp edges. There is at least one other passage where these khâdís are said to be worn on the shoulders: vii. 56, 13. ámseshu a marutah khâdáyah vah vákshah-su rukmah upa-sisriyânãh. On your shoulders are the quoits, on your chests the golden chains are fastened. In other places the khâdís are said to be in the hands, hásteshu, but this would only show that they are there when actually used for fighting. Thus we read : i. 168, 3. a eshâm ámseshu rambhínî-iva rarabhe, hásteshu khâdíh ka kritíh ka sám dadhe. To their shoulders (the spear) clings like a creeper, in their hands the quoit is held and the dagger. In v. 58, 2, the Maruts are called khẩdi-hasta, holding the quoits in their hands. There is one passage which was mentioned before (p. 94), where the khâdís are said to be on the feet of the Maruts, and on the strength of this passage Professor Roth proposes to alter prá-patheshu to prá-padeshu, and to translate, 'The khâdís are on your forefeet.' I do not think this emendation necessary. Though we do not know the exact shape and character of the khâdí, we know that it was a weapon, most likely a ring, occasionally used for ornament, and carried along either on the feet or on the shoulders, but in actual battle held in the hand. The weapon which Vishnu holds in one of his right hands, the so-called kakra, may be the modern representation of the ancient khâdí. What, however, is quite certain is this, that khâdí in the Veda never means food, as Sâyana optionally interprets it. This interpretation is accepted by Wilson, who translates, 'At your restingplaces on the road refreshments (are ready).' Nay, he goes on in a note to use this passage as a proof of the advanced civilisation of India at the time of the Vedic Rishis. 'The expression,' he says, 'is worthy of note, as indicating the existence of accommodations for the use of travellers: the Prapatha is the choltri of the south of India, the sarai of the Mohammedans, a place by the road-side where the travellers may find shelter and provisions.' Verse 9, note 3. This last passage shows that the poet is really representing to himself the Maruts as on their journey, and he therefore adds, 'your axle turns the two (iv. 30, 2) wheels together,' which probably means no more than, 'your chariot is going smoothly or quickly.' Though the expression seems to us hardly correct, yet one can well imagine how the axle was supposed to turn the wheels as the horses were drawing the axle, and the axle acted on the wheels. Anyhow, no Anyhow, no other translation seems possible. Samáyâ in the Veda means together, at once, and is the Greek ὁμῇ, generally ὁμοῦ or ὁμῶς, the Latin simul. Cf. i. 56, 6; 73, 6; 113, 10; 163, 3; vii. 66, 15; ix. 75, 4; 85, 5; 97, 56. Vrit means to turn, and is frequently used with reference to the wheels: viii. 46, 23. dása syâvấh—nemím ní vavrituh. The ten black horses turn the felly or the wheel. iv. 30, 2. satra te ánu krishtáyah vísvâh kakrẩ-iva vavrituh. All men turn always round thee, like wheels. That the Âtmanepada of vrit may be used in an active sense we see from i. 191, 15. tátah vishám prá vavrite. I turn the poison out from here. All the words used in this sentence are very old words, and we can with few exceptions turn them into Greek or Latin. In Latin we should have axis vos(ter) circos simul divertit. In Greek ἄξων ὑμῶν) κύκλω ὁμῇ . Verse 10, note 1. See i. 64, 4, note 1, page 94. I ought to have mentioned there that in the Âsvalâyana Srautasûtras ix. 4, rukma occurs as the fee to be given to the Hotar, and is explained by âbharanavisesho vrittâkârah, a round ornament. Verse 10, note 2. See i. 166, 1, note, page 200. Verse 10, note 3. On éta in the sense of fallow deer, or, it may be, antelope, see i. 165, 5, note 2, page 185. Éta originally means variegated, and thus becomes a name of any speckled deer, it being difficult to say what exact species is meant. Sâyana in our passage explains étâ by suklavarnâ mâlâh, many-coloured wreaths or chains, which may be right. Yet the suggestion of Professor Roth that étâh, deer, stands here for the skins of fallow deer, is certainly more poetical, and quite in accordance with the Vedic idiom, which uses, for instance, go, cow, not only in the sense of milk,-that is done even in more homely English,-but also for leather, and thong. It is likewise in accordance with what we know of the earliest dress of the Vedic Indians, that deer-skins should here be mentioned. We learn from Âsvalâyana's Grihyasûtras, of which we now possess an excellent edition by Professor Stenzler, and a reprint of the text and commentary by Râma Nârâyana Vidyaratna, in the Bibliotheca Indica, that a boy when he was brought to his tutor, i. e. from the eighth to possibly the twenty-fourth year, had to be well combed, and attired in a new dress. A Brahmana should wear the skin of an antelope (aineya), the Kshatriya the skin of a deer (raurava), the Vaisya the skin of a goat (âga). If they wore dresses, that of the Brahmana should be dark red (kâshâya), that of the Kshatriya bright red (mâñgishtha), that of the Vaisya yellow (hâridra). The girdle of the Brâhmana should be of Muñga grass, that of the Kshatriya a bow-string, that of the Vaisya made of sheep's wool. The same regulations occur in other Sûtras, as, for instance, the Dharma-sûtras of the Apastambîyas and Gautamas, though there are certain characteristic differences in each, which may be due either to local or to chronological causes. Thus according to the Âpastambîya-sûtras, which have just been published by Professor Bühler, the Brahmana may wear the skin of the harina deer, or that of the antelope (aineyam), but the latter must be from the black antelope (krishnam), and, a proviso is added, that if a man wears the black antelope skin, he must never spread it out to sit or sleep on it. As materials for the dress, Âpastamba allows sana, hemp*, or kshumâ, * Sana is an old Aryan word, though its meanings differ. Hesychius and Eustathius mention κávva as being synonymous with fiabos, reed. Pollux gives two forms, κάννα and κάνα, (Pollux x. 166. πτανάκα δέ ἐστι ψίαθος ἡ ἐν τοῖς ἀκατίοις ἣν καὶ κάναν καλοῦσιν. vii. τ76. κάνναι δὲ τὸ ἐκ κανάβων πλέγμα.) This is important, because the same difference of spelling occurs also in |