Vedic Hymns, Part II (SBE46): IV, 10

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Vedic Hymns, Part II (SBE46), by Hermann Oldenberg [1897], at sacred-texts.com

MANDALA IV, HYMN 10.

ASHTAKA III, ADHYÂYA 5, VARGA 10.

1 1. O Agni! May we to-day successfully perform, with thy heedfulness 2, this praise 3 which touches thy heart, which is like a horse, like auspicious power of the mind.

2. For verily thou, O Agni, hast become the charioteer of auspicious power of the mind, of real ability, and of the mighty Rita.

3. Through these our hymns direct thyself hither-wards to us like the sun with its light 1, O Agni, gracious with all thy faces.

4. May we to-day worship thee, O Agni, praising thee with these songs. Thy roarings thunder like (the thunder) of Heaven.

5. Thy sweetest aspect, O Agni, shines near us for glory's sake, now by day, now by night, like gold.

6. Like purified ghrita is thy stainless body; (it is) brilliant gold: that (body) of thine has shone 1, O self-dependent one, like gold.

7. For even a malice which one has committed, thou verily drivest away entirely, O righteous Agni, from the sacrificing mortal 1.

8. May our friendship, O Agni, our brotherhood with you, the gods, be blessed. This is our navel (i. e. relation) in our seat, in this udder 1.

p. 351

NOTES.

The same Rishi. The metre is stated to be Padapaṅkti (verses 4, 6, 7, Padapaṅkti or Ushnih; verse 5, Mahâpadapaṅkti; verse 8, Ushnih): see on this metre M. M., vol. xxxii, p. xcviii seq.; H. O., Prolegomena, p. 98; Kühnau, Die Trishtubh-Gagatî-Familie, p. 234 seq.—Verse 1 = SV. I, 434; MS. I, 10, 3. Verses 1–3 = SV. II, 1127–1129; VS. XV, 44–46. Verses 1–4 = TS. IV, 4, 4, 7. Verse 1, 2, 4 = MS. II, 13, 8. Verse 3 = MS. IV, 10, 2. Verse 6 = TS. II, 2, 12, 7; MS. IV, 12, 4.

Verse 1.

Note 1. The Avasâna in this verse ought to stand before hridisprisam, not after this word, as the traditional text places it. Ridhyâma, consequently, cannot be accented.

Note 2. Dr. Neisser's opinion on óha is different (Bezzenberger's Beiträge, XVIII, 312).

Note 3. I read stómam, which is frequently found as the object of the verb ridh, and which in several passages receives the epithet hridisprís.

Verse 3.

Note 1. On the syntactical form of this comparison, see Bergaigne, Mélanges Renier, p. 95.

Verse 6.

Note 1. Or rokate, 'shines'?

Verse 7.

Note 1. The Avasâna ought to stand before mártât. Cf. above, verse 1, note 1.

Verse 8.

Note 1. Cf. above, IV, 7, 7. The meaning seems to be: in this sacrificial place, where the cows give milk.

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