X, 77. To the Maruts (the Storm-gods)

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

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MANDALA X, HYMN 77.

ASHTAKA VIII, ADHYÂYA 3, VARGA 10-11.

To the Maruts (the Storm-gods).

1. Let me with my voice shower 1 wealth like cloud-showers 2, like sacrifices of a sage, rich in oblations. I have praised the goodly host of the Maruts 3, so that they may be worthy of a Brahman 4 so that they may be glorious.

2. These boys have prepared their ornaments for beauty, the goodly host of the Maruts, through many nights; the sons of Dyu struggled, like harts, they, the Âdityas, grew high, like banners 1.

3. They who by their own might seem to have risen above heaven and earth, like the sun above the cloud, they are glorious, like brilliant heroes, they shine forth like foe-destroying youths.

4. When you move along on the bottom of the waters, the earth seems to break and to melt 1. This perfect sacrifice is meet for you, come hither together, as if enjoying our offerings.

5. You are as drivers 1 on the poles with their reins, and as brilliant with light at daybreak; like hawks, you are famous destroyers of foes; like wells 2 springing forth, you scatter moisture.

6. When you, O Maruts, come from afar, knowing the great treasure of the hidden place, O Vasus, the treasure which has to be gained, then keep away also from afar all who hate us.

7. The man who, firm in his sacrifice, offers gifts to the Maruts to the end of the ceremony 1, he

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gains health and wealth, blessed with offspring; he shall also be in the keeping of the gods.

8. They are indeed our guardians, to be worshipped at all sacrifices, most blissful by their name of Âdityas; may they, swiftly driving on their chariots, protect our prayer, quick even on their march, delighting in our sacrifice.

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NOTES.

Ascribed to Syûmarasmi Bhârgava. On the metre, see Rig-veda, translation, Introd. p. civ; Benfey, Quantitätsversch. IV, 2; 38-39; Oldenberg, Prolegomena, 92. This hymn and the next belong closely together. They are both so artificial and obscure that a translation of them can only be tentative. None of its verses occurs in SV., VS., AV., TS., TB., MS.

Verse 1.

Note 1. I take prushâ for prushâni.

Note 2. I do not think that abhraprúshah can be meant for the Maruts.

Note 3. The ná in many of the verses seems to be due to a mere trick, and untranslatable.

Note 4. Or, 'I have praised the priestly host, so that they may be worthy of good Marut-hood.'

Verse 2.

Note 1. Akrâ´h, banners, Grassmann; columns, Ludwig. The meaning is utterly unknown.

Verse 4.

Note 1. See Aurel Mayr, Beiträge aus dem Rig-Veda. p. 12. 'The earth melted,' see Ps. xlvi. 6.

Verse 5.

Note 1. Prayug seems to mean here a driver; pra-yug is often used of the Maruts as harnessing or driving their horses; see I, 85, 5; V, 52, 8.

Note 2. Prava has been derived from pru, to float. I should prefer to derive it from pra-van, from which we have pra-vana, precipice, possibly the Latin adjective pronus, and, very irregularly, Greek πρηνής. Stems in radical n frequently enter the class of stems in â and a, and pravan would become pravâh or pravah, as -gan becomes -gâh and -gah; cf. Lanman,

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p. 478. Others take vana for a mere suffix like vat. Prava, rushing forward, would have been a good name for a spring. This, of course, is a mere conjecture. Others derive pravâ-s from vâ, to blow. As a substantive pravâ as well as upavâ occurs AV. XII, 1, 51. vâ´tasya pravâ´m upavâ´m ánu vâty arkíh. But these words mean the blowing before and the blowing after, and not blowers. There are the verbs pravâ and anuvâ in Tândya Br. I, 9, 7; TS. III, 5, 2, 3; IV, 4, 1, 1. They are there referred to dawn and night. These passages, however, seem too technical to allow us to fix the original meaning of prava-h. Pravâ in RV. I, 34, 8, remains unexplained.

Verse 7.

Note 1. On udriki, see Ludwig's note.