I, 171. To the Maruts (the Storm-gods)

Vedic Hymns, Part I (SBE32), by Max Müller, [1891], at sacred-texts.com

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MANDALA I, HYMN 171.

ASHTAKA II, ADHYÂYA 4, VARGA 11.

To the Maruts (the Storm-gods).

1. I come to you with this adoration, with a hymn I implore the favour 1 of the quick (Maruts). O Maruts, you have rejoiced 2 in it clearly 3, put down then all anger and unharness your horses!

2. This reverent praise of yours, O Maruts, fashioned in the heart, has been offered by the mind 1, O gods! Come to it, pleased in your mind, for you give increase to (our) worship 2.

3. May the Maruts when they have been praised be gracious to us, and likewise Maghavat (Indra), the best giver of happiness, when he has been praised. May our trees (our lances) 1 through our valour stand always erect, O Maruts!

4. I am afraid of this powerful one, and trembling in fear of Indra. For you the offerings were prepared,—we have now put them away, forgive us!

5. Thou through whom the Mânas 1 see the mornings, whenever the eternal dawns flash forth with power 2, O Indra, O strong hero, grant thou glory to us with the Maruts, terrible with the terrible ones, strong and a giver of victory.

6. O Indra, protect thou these bravest of men 1 (the Maruts), let thy anger be turned away 2 from the Maruts, for thou hast become 3 victorious together with those brilliant heroes. May we have an invigorating autumn, with quickening rain!

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NOTES.

The Anukramanî assigns verses 1 and 2 to the Maruts, the rest to Indra Marutvat. The poet is again Agastya. The whole hymn corresponds to the situation as described in the preceding hymns, and leads on to a kind of compromise between the Maruts, who seem really the favourite gods of the poet, and Indra, an irresistible and supreme deity whose claims cannot be disregarded.

None of the verses of this hymn occurs in SV., VS., TS., AV.

Verse 1.

Note 1. Sumati here means clearly favour, as in I, 73, 6, 7; while in I, 166, 6 it means equally clearly prayer.

Note 2. Ludwig takes rarânátâ as referring to sûkténa and námasâ. The accent of rarânátâ is irregular, and likewise the retaining of the final long â in the Pada text. Otherwise the form is perfectly regular, namely the 2 p. plural of the reduplicated aorist, or the so-called aorist of the causative ^a. Pânini (VII, 4, 2, 3) gives a number of verbs which form that aorist as  ̆  ̆  ̄, and not as  ̆  ̄  ̆ e. g. asasâsat, not asîsasat; ababâdhat, ayayâkat, &c. Some verbs may take both forms, e. g. abibhragat and ababhrâgat. This option applies to all Kânyâdi verbs, and one of these is ran, which therefore at the time of Kâtyâyana was supposed to have formed its reduplicated aorist both as árarânat and as árîranat. Without the augment we expect rî´ranata or rárânata. The question is why the final a should have been lengthened not only in the Samhitâ, that would be explicable, but in the Pada text also. The conjunctive of the perfect would be râránata. See also Delbrück, Verbum, p. 111.

Note 3. Vedyâbhis, which Ludwig translates here by um dessentwillen, was ihr erfaren sollt, I have translated by clearly, though tentatively only.

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Verse 2.

Note 1. The same idea is expressed in X, 47, 7. hridisprísah mánasâ vakyámânâh.

Note 2. Námasah vridhâ´sah is intended to convey the idea that the Maruts increase or bless those who worship them.

Verse 3.

Note 1. The second line has given rise to various interpretations.

Grassmann:

Ludwig: Hoch mögen sein unsere kämpfenden lanzen, alle tage, O Marut, sigesstreben.

As komyâ never occurs again, it must for the present be left unexplained.

There was another difficult passage, I, 88, 3. medhâ´ vánâ ná krinavante ûrdhvâ, which I translated, 'May the Maruts stir up our minds as they stir up the forests.' I pointed out there that ûrdhva means not only upright, but straight and strong (I, 172, 3; II, 30, 3), and I conjectured that the erect trees might have been used as a symbol of strength and triumph. Vana, however, may have been used poetically for anything made of wood, just as cow is used for leather or anything made of leather. In that case vana might be meant for the wooden walls of houses, or even for lances (like δούρατα from δόρυ = Sk. dâru), and the adjective would probably have to determine the true meaning. If connected with komala it might have the same meaning as εὐξεστός.

Prof. Oldenberg suggests that vanâni may be meant for the wooden vessels containing the Soma.

Verse 5.

Note 1. The Mânas are the people of Mânya, see I, 165, 15, note 1, and there is no necessity for taking mâna, with Grassmann, as a general name for poet (Kuhn's Zeitschrift, vol. xvi, p. 174).

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Note 2. It is doubtful to which word savasâ belongs.

I take it to be used adverbially with vyushtishu.

Verse 6.

Note 1. We might also translate, 'protect men from the stronger one,' as we read I, 120, 4. pâtám ka sáhyasah yuvám ka rábhyasah nah; and still more clearly in IV, 55, 1. sáhîyasah varuna mitra mártât. But I doubt whether nrîn by itself would be used in the sense of our men, while narah is a common name of the Maruts, whether as diváh nárah, I, 64, 4, or as nárah by themselves, I, 64, 10; 166, 13, &c.

Note 2. On the meaning of avayâ in ávayâtahelâh, see Introduction, p. xx.

Note 3. On dadhânah, see VIII, 97, 13, &c.

Footnotes

290:a See Sanskrit Grammar, § 372, note.