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without an object, means to shine, as Professor Benfey translates it. The real difficulty, however, lies in makhá, which Sâyana explains by sacrifice, and which I have ventured to translate by priest or sacrificer. Makhá, as an adjective, means, as far as we can judge, strong or vigorous, and is applied to various deities, such as Pûshan i. 138, 1, Savitar vi. 71, 1, Soma xi. 20, 7, Indra iii. 34, 2, the Maruts i. 64, 11; vi. 66, 9. By itself, makhá is never used as the name of any deity, and it cannot therefore, as Professor Roth proposes, be used in our passage as a name of Indra, or be referred to Indra as a significant adjective. In i. 119, 3, makhá is applied to men or warriors, but it does not follow that makhá by itself means warrior, though it may be connected with the Greek μαχος in σύμμαχος. See Curtius, Grundzüge, p. 293; Grassmann, in Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. xvi. p. 164.

There are two passages where makhá refers to an enemy of the gods, ix. 101, 13; X. 171, 2.

Among the remaining passages there is one where makhá is used in parallelism with váhni, x. 11, 6. vívakti váhnih, su-apasyáte makháh. Here I propose to translate, The poet speaks out, the priest works well. The same meaning seems to me applicable likewise to the phrase makhásya dâváne, to the offering of the priest.

i. 134, 1. a yâhi dâváne, vayo (íti), makhásya dâváne. Come, Vâyu, to the offering, to the offering of the priest. viii. 7, 27. ấ nah makhásya dâváne—dévâsah úpa gantana. Come, gods, to the offering of our priest.

Professor Roth proposes to render makhá in these passages by 'attestation of joy, celebration, praise,' and he takes dâváne, as I have done, as a dative of dâván, a nomen actionis, meaning, the giving. There are some passages where one feels inclined to admit a noun dâvána, and to take dâváne as a locative sing.

vi. 71, 2. devásya vayám savitúh sávîmani

sréshthe syâma vásunah ka dâváne.

May we be in the favour of the god Savitar, and in the best award of his treasure.

In ii. 11, 1, and ii. 11, 12, the locative would likewise be preferable; but there is a decided majority of passages

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and seventh Mandalas (vi. 16, 9; vii. 16, 9), in the phrase váhnih âsa vidúh-tarah, applied to Agni in the sense of the priest wise with his mouth, or taking váhnih âsa as it were one word, the wise poet.

i. 129, 5. váhnih âsã, váhnih nah ákkha.

Indra, as a priest by his lips, as a priest coming towards us. From the parallelism of this passage it would seem that Professor Roth concluded the meaning of âsa* to be near,

or coram.

i. 76, 4. praga-vatâ vákasâ váhnih âsa a ka huvé ní ka satsi ihá devaíh.

With words in which my people join, I, the poet, invoke, and thou (Agni) sittest down with the gods.

vi. 11, 2. pâvakáyâ guhva váhnih âsa.

Thou, a poet with a bright tongue, O Agni!

The question now arises in what sense váhni is used when applied without further definition to certain deities. Most deities in the Veda are represented as driving or driven, and many as poets or priests. When the Asvins are called váhnî, viii. 8, 12; vii. 73, 4, it may mean riders. But when the Visve Devas are so called, i. 3, 9, or the Ribhus, the exact

*

Âs, mouth, the Latin os, oris, has been derived from a root as, to breathe, preserved in the Sanskrit as-u, spirit, asu-ra, endowed with spirit, living, the living god. Though I agree with Curtius in admitting a primitive root as, to breathe, from which as-u, breath, must have sprung, I have always hesitated about the derivation of âs and âsya, mouth, from the same root. I do not think, however, that the lengthening of the vowel in âs is so great a difficulty as has been supposed (Kuhn, Zeitschrift, vol. xvii. p. 145). Several roots lengthen their vowel a, when used as substantives without derivative suffixes. In some cases this lengthening is restricted to the Anga base, as in anadvâh; in others to the Anga and Pada base, as in visvavât, visvavâɗbhih, &c.; in others again it pervades the whole declension, as in turâshât: (see Sanskrit Grammar, §§ 210, 208, 175.) Among ordinary words vâk offers a clear instance of a lengthened vowel. In the Veda we find ritîsháham, vi. 14, 4, and ritîshấham (Sanhitâ), i. 64, 15. We find vâh in apsu-vâh (Sâm. Ved.), indra-vâh, havya-vâh. Sah at the end of compounds, such as nri-sah, pritanâ-sah, bhûri-sah, satrâ-sah, vibhâ-sah, sadâ-sah, varies between a long and short â: (see Regnier, Étude sur l'idiome du Védas, p. 111.) At all events no instance has yet been pointed out in Sanskrit, showing the same contraction which we should have to admit if, as has been proposed, we derived âs from av-as, or from an-as. From an we have in the Veda âná, mouth or face, i. 52, 15. From as, to breathe, the Latin omen, originally os-men, a whisper, might likewise be derived.

meaning is more doubtful. The Maruts are certainly riders, and we can even prove that they were supposed to sit on horseback and to have the bridle through the horse's nostrils (v. 61, 2). But if in our verse i. 6, 5, we translate váhni as an epithet, rider, and not only as an epithet, but as a name of the Maruts, we cannot support our translation by independent evidence, but must rely partly on the authority of Sâyana, partly on the general tenour of the text before us, where the Maruts are mentioned in the preceding verse, and, if I am right, in the verse following also. On the other hand, if váhni can thus be used as a name of the Maruts, there is at least one other passage which would gain in clearness by the admission of that meaning, viz.

x. 138, 1. táva tyé indra sakhyéshu váhnayah-ví adardiruh valám.

In thy friendship, Indra, these Maruts tore asunder the cloud.

Verse 5, note 2. I have translated vîlú by stronghold, though it is only an adjective meaning firm. Dr. Oscar Meyer, in his very able essay Quæstiones Homericæ, specimen prius, Bonnæ, 1867, has tried to show that this vîlú is the original form of "Ixios, and he has brought some further evidence to show that the siege and conquest of Troy, as I pointed out in my Lectures on the Science of Language, vol. ii. p. 470, was originally described in language borrowed from the siege and conquest of the dark night by the powers of light, or from the destruction of the cloud by the weapons of Indra. It ought to be considered, however, that vîlú in the Veda has not dwindled down as yet to a mere name, and that therefore it may have originally retained its purely appellative power in Greek as well as in Sanskrit, and from meaning a stronghold in general, have come to mean the stronghold of Troy.

Verse 5, note 3. The bright cows are here the cows of the morning, the dawns, or the days themselves, which are represented as rescued at the end of each night by the power of Indra, or similar solar gods. Indra's companions in that daily rescue are the Maruts, the storms, or the

breezes of the morning, the same companions who act even a more prominent part in the battle of Indra against the dark clouds; two battles often mixed up together.

Verse 6, note 1. The reasons why I take gírah as a masculine in the sense of singer or praiser, may be seen in a note to i. 37, 10.

Verse 6, note 2. yáthâ matím, lit. according to their mind, according to their heart's desire. Cf. ii. 24, 13.

Verse 7, note 1. The sudden transition from the plural to the singular is strange, but the host of the Maruts is frequently spoken of in the singular, and nothing else can here be intended. It may be true, as Professor Benfey suggests, that the verses here put together stood originally in a different order, or that they were taken from different sources. Yet though the Sâma-veda would seem to sanction a small alteration in the order of the verses, the alteration of verses 7, 4, 5, as following each other, would not help us much. The Atharva-veda sanctions no change in the order of these verses.

The transition to the dual at the end of the verse is likewise abrupt, not more so, however, than we are prepared for in the Veda. The suggestion of the Nirukta (iv. 12) that these duals might be taken as instrumentals of the singular, is of no real value.

Verse 7, note 2. Dríkshase, a very valuable form, a second person singular conjunctive of the First Aorist Âtmanepada, the termination 'sase' corresponding to Greek σn, as the conjunctive takes the personal terminations of the present in both languages. Similar forms, viz. prikshase, x. 22, 7, mamsase, x. 27, 10; Ath. Veda vii. 20, 2-6, and possibly vívakshase, x. 21, 1−8, 24, 1−3, 25, 1-11, will have to be considered hereafter. (Nirukta, ed. Roth, p. 30, Notes.)

Verse 8, note 1. Arkati, which I have here translated by he cries aloud, means literally, he celebrates. I do not know of any passage where arkati, when used, as here,

without an object, means to shine, as Professor Benfey translates it. The real difficulty, however, lies in makhá, which Sâyana explains by sacrifice, and which I have ventured to translate by priest or sacrificer. Makhá, as an adjective, means, as far as we can judge, strong or vigorous, and is applied to various deities, such as Pûshan i. 138, 1, Savitar vi. 71, 1, Soma xi. 20, 7, Indra iii. 34, 2, the Maruts i. 64, 11; vi. 66, 9. By itself, makhá is never used as the name of any deity, and it cannot therefore, as Professor Roth proposes, be used in our passage as a name of Indra, or be referred to Indra as a significant adjective. In i. 119, 3, makhá is applied to men or warriors, but it does not follow that makhá by itself means warrior, though it may be connected with the Greek μαχος in σύμμαχος. See Curtius, Grundzüge, p. 293; Grassmann, in Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. xvi. p. 164.

There are two passages where makhá refers to an enemy of the gods, ix. 101, 13; X. 171, 2.

Among the remaining passages there is one where makhá is used in parallelism with váhni, x. 11, 6. vívakti váhnih, su-apasyáte makháh. Here I propose to translate, The poet speaks out, the priest works well. The same meaning seems to me applicable likewise to the phrase makhásya dâváne, to the offering of the priest.

i. 134, 1. a yâhi dâváne, vayo (íti), makhásya dâváne. Come, Vâyu, to the offering, to the offering of the priest. viii. 7, 27. ẩ nah makhásya dâváne—dévâsah úpa gantana. Come, gods, to the offering of our priest.

Professor Roth proposes to render makhá in these passages by 'attestation of joy, celebration, praise,' and he takes dâváne, as I have done, as a dative of dâván, a nomen actionis, meaning, the giving. There are some passages where one feels inclined to admit a noun dâvána, and to take dâváne as a locative sing.

vi. 71, 2. devásya vayám savitúh sávîmani

sréshthe syâma vásunah ka dâváne.

May we be in the favour of the god Savitar, and in the best award of his treasure.

In ii. 11, 1, and ii. 11, 12, the locative would likewise be preferable; but there is a decided majority of passages

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