vii. 32, 18, in my History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 545: If I were lord of as much as thou, I should support the sacred bard, thou scatterer of wealth, I should not abandon him to misery. I should award wealth day by day to him who magnifies, I should award it to whosoever it be.' Another parallel passage is pointed out by Mr. J. Muir. (On the Interpretation of the Veda, p. 79.) viii. 19, 25: 'If, Agni, thou wert a mortal, and I were an immortal, I should not abandon thee to malediction or to wretchedness; my worshipper should not be miserable or distressed.' Still more to the point is another passage, viii. 44, 23: 'If I were thou, and thou wert I, then thy wishes should be fulfilled.' See also viii. 14, 1, 2.

As to the metre it is clear that we ought to read

Verse 5, note 1. Ma, though it seems to stand for ná, retains its prohibitive sense.

Verse 5, note 2. Yávasa is explained by Sâyana as grass, and Wilson's Dictionary, too, gives to it the meaning of meadow or pasture grass, whereas yava is barley. The Greek (eά or Celá is likewise explained as barley or rye, fodder for horses. See i. 91, 13. gấvah ná yávaseshu, like cows in meadows.

Verse 5, note 3. The path of Yama can only be the path that leads to Yama, as the ruler of the departed.

x. 14, 8. sám gakkhasva pitrí-bhih sám yaména. Meet with the fathers, meet with Yama, (x. 14, 10; 15, 8.) X. 14, 7. yamám pasyâsi várunam ka devám.

Thou wilt see (there) Yama and the divine Varuna. x. 165, 4. tásmai yamấya námah astu mrityáve. Adoration to that Yama, to Death!

Wilson: 'Never may your worshipper be indifferent to you, as a deer (is never indifferent) to pasture, so that he may not tread the path of Yama.' Benfey: Wer euch besingt, der sei euch nicht gleichgültig, wie das Wild im Gras, nicht wandl' er auf des Yama Pfad.' Agoshya is translated insatiable by Professor Goldstücker.

Verse 6, note 1. One of the meanings of nírriti is sin. It is derived from the same root which yielded ritá, in the sense of right. Nírriti was conceived, it would seem, as going away from the path of right, the German Vergehen. Nírriti was personified as a power of evil and destruction.

vii. xo4, 9. áhaye và tấn pra-dádâtu sómah ẩ và dadhâtu níh-riteh upá-sthe.

May Soma hand them over to Ahi, or place them in the lap of Nirriti.

i. 117, 5. susupvẩmsam ná níh-riteh upá-sthe.

Like one who sleeps in the lap of Nirriti.

Here Sâyana explains Nirriti as earth, and he attaches the same meaning to the word in other places which will have to be considered hereafter. Cf. Lectures on the Science of Language, Second Series, pp. 515, 516.

Wilson treats Nirriti as a male deity, and translates the last words, 'let him perish with our evil desires.'

Verse 6, note 2. Padîshtá is formed as an optative of the Âtmanepada, but with the additional s before the t, which, in the ordinary Sanskrit, is restricted to the so-called benedictive (Grammar, § 385; Bopp, Kritische Grammatik, ed. 1834, § 329, note). Pad means originally to go, but in certain constructions it gradually assumed the meaning of to perish, and native commentators are inclined to explain it by pat, to fall. One can watch the transition of meaning from going into perishing in such phrases as V. S. xi. 46. mâ pâdy âyushah purâ, literally, 'may he not go before the time,' but really intended for 'may he not die before the time.' In the Rig-veda padîshtá is generally qualified by some words to show that it is to be taken in malam partem. Thus in our passage, and in iii. 53, 21; vii. 104, 16; 17. In i. 79, 11, however, padîshtá sáh is by itself used in a maledictory sense, pereat, may he perish! In another, vi. 20, 5, pẩdi by itself conveys the idea of perishing. This may have some weight in determining the origin of the Latin pestis (Corssen, Kritische Beiträge, p. 396), for it shows that, even without prepositions, such as á or vi, pad may have an ill-omened meaning. In the Aitareya-brâhmana vii. 14 (History of

Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 471), pad, as applied to a child's teeth, means to go, to fall out. With sam, however, pad has always a good meaning, and this shows that originally its meaning was neutral.

Verse 7, note1. The only difficult word is avâtẩm. Sâyana explains it, without wind.' But it is hardly possible to understand how the Maruts, themselves the gods of the storm, the sons of Rudra, could be said to bring clouds without wind. Langlois, it is true, translates without any misgivings: 'Ces dieux peuvent sur un sol desséché faire tomber la pluie sans l'accompagner de vent.' Wilson: 'They send down rain without wind upon the desert.' Benfey saw the incongruous character of the epithet, and explained it away by saying that the winds bring rain, and after they have brought it, they moderate their violence in order not to drive it away again; hence rain without wind. Yet even this explanation, though ingenious, and, as I am told, particularly truthful in an Eastern climate, is somewhat too artificial. If we changed the accent, ávâtâm, unchecked, unconquered, would be better than avâtấm, windless. But ávâta, unconquered, does not occur in the Rig-veda, except as applied to persons. It occurs most frequently in the phrase vanván ávâtah, which Sâyana explains well by himsan ahimsitah, hurting, but not hurt: (vi. 16, 20; 18, 1; ix. 89, 7.) In ix. 96, 8, we read prit-sú vanván ávâtah, in battles attacking, but not attacked, which renders the meaning of ávâta perfectly clear. In vi. 64, 5, where it is applied to Ushas, it may be translated by unconquerable, intact.

There are several passages, however, where avâta occurs with the accent on the last syllable, and where it is accordingly explained as a Bahuvrîhi, meaning either windless or motionless, from vâta, wind, or from vâta, going, (i. 62, 10.) In some of these passages we can hardly doubt that the accent ought to be changed, and that we ought to read ávâta. Thus in vi. 64, 4, avâte is clearly a vocative applied to Ushas, who is called ávâtâ, unconquerable, in the verse immediately following. In i. 52, 4, the Maruts are called avâtâh, which can only be ávâtâh, unconquerable; nor can we hesitate in viii. 79, 7, to change avâtáh into ávâtah, as an

epithet applied to Soma, and preceded by ádriptakratuh, of unimpaired strength, unconquerable.

But even then we find no evidence that ávâta, unconquered, could be applied to rain or to a cloud, and I therefore propose another explanation, though equally founded on the supposition that the accent of avâtâm in our passage should be on the first syllable.

I take vâta as a Vedic form instead of the later vâna, the past participle of vai, to wither. Similarly we find in the Veda gîta, instead of gîna, the latter form being sanctioned by Pânini. Vâ means to get dry, to flag, to get exhausted; ávâta therefore, as applied to a cloud, would mean not dry, not withered, as applied to rain, not dried up, but remaining on the ground. It is important to remark that in one passage, vi. 67, 7, Sâyana, too, explains ávâta, as applied to rivers, by asushka, not dry; and the same meaning would be applicable to avâtấh in i. 62, 10. In this sense of not withered, not dry, ávâtâm in our passage would form a perfectly appropriate epithet of the rain, while neither windless nor unconquered would yield an appropriate sense. In the famous passage x. I29, 2, ấnît avâtám svadháyâ tát ékam, that only One breathed breathless by itself, avâtám might be taken, in accordance with its accent, as windless or breathless, and the poet may have wished to give this antithetical point to his verse. But ávâtam, as an adverb, would here be equally appropriate, and we should then have to translate, 'that only One breathed freely by itself.'

Verse 8, note1. The peculiar structure of the metre in the seventh and eighth verses should be noted. Though we may scan

by throwing the accent on the short antepenultimate, yet the movement of the metre becomes far more natural by throwing the accent on the long penultimate, thus reading

Sâyana: Like a cow the lightning roars, (the lightning)

attends (on the Maruts) as the mother cow on her calf, because their rain is let loose at the time of lightning and thunder.' Wilson: The lightning roars like a parent cow that bellows for its calf, and hence the rain is set free by the Maruts.'

6

Benfey: Es blitzt wie eine Kuh brüllt es-die Mutter folgt dem Kalb gleichsam-wenn ihr Regen losgelassen. (Der Donner folgt dem Blitz, wie eine Kuh ihrem Kalbe.)'

Vâsrá as a masculine means a bull, and it is used as a name of the Maruts in some passages, viii. 7, 3; 7. As a feminine it means a cow, particularly a cow with a calf, a milch cow. Hence also a mother, x. 119, 4. The lowing of the lightning must be intended for the distant thunder, and the idea that the lightning goes near or looks for the rain is not foreign to the Vedic poets. See i. 39, 9: 'Come to us, Maruts, with your entire help, as lightnings (come to, i, e. seek for) the rain!"

Verse 9, note 1. That pargánya here and in other places means cloud has been well illustrated by Dr. Bühler, Orient und Occident, vol. i. p. 221. It is interesting to watch the personifying process which is very palpable in this word, and by which Parganya becomes at last a friend and companion of Indra.

Verse 10, note 1. Sádma, as a neuter, means originally a seat, and is frequently used in the sense of altar: iv. 9, 3. sáh sádma pári nîyate hótâ; vii. 18, 22. hótâ-iva sádma pári emi rébhan. It soon, however, assumed the more general meaning of place, as

X. I, 1. agníh bhânúnâ rúsatâ vísvâ sádmâni aprâh.
Agni with brilliant light thou filledst all places.

It is lastly used with special reference to heaven and earth, the two sádmanî, i. 185, 6; iii. 55, 2. In our passage sádma parthivam is the same as parthive sádane in viii. 97, 5. Here the earth is mentioned together with heaven, the, sea, and the sky. Sâyana takes sádma as 'dwelling,' so do Wilson and Langlois. Benfey translates 'der Erde Sitz,' and makes it the subject of the sentence: From the roaring of the Maruts the seat of the earth trembles, and all men tremble.' Sadman,