I, 2. To Vâyu

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

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MANDALA I, HYMN 2.

ASHTAKA I, ADHYÂYA 1, VARGA 3-4.

To Vâyu.

1. Come hither, O Vâyu, thou beautiful one 1! These Somas are ready, drink of them, hear our call!

2. O Vâyu, the praisers celebrate thee with hymns, they who know the feast-days 1, and have prepared the Soma.

3. O Vâyu, thy satisfying stream 1 goes to the worshipper, wide-reaching, to the Soma-draught.

4. O Indra and Vâyu, these (libations of Soma) are poured out; come hither for the sake of 1 our offerings, for the drops (of Soma) long for you.

5. O Indra and Vâyu, you perceive the libations, you who are rich in booty 1; come then quickly hither!

6. O Vâyu and Indra, come near to the work 1 of the sacrificer, quick, thus is my prayer 2, O ye men!

7. I call Mitra, endowed with holy strength 1, and Varuna, who destroys all enemies; who both fulfil a prayer accompanied by fat offerings 2.

8. On the right way, O Mitra and Varuna, you have obtained great wisdom, you who increase the right and adhere to the right 1;

9. These two sages, Mitra and Varuna, the mighty, wide-ruling, give us efficient strength.

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NOTES.

Ascribed to Madhukkhandas Vaisvâmitra, and addressed to Vâyu (1-3), Indra and Vâyu (4-6), and to Mitra and Varuna (7-9). Metre, Gâyatrî. Verse 4 = VS. VII, 8; XXXIII, 56; TS. I, 4, 4, 1; MS. I. 3, 6. Verse 7 = SV. II, 197; VS. XXXIII, 57: Verse 8 = SV. II, 198. Verse 9 = SV. II, 199.

This hymn, with the hymn I, 3, belongs to the Pra-uga ceremony. It consists of three trikas.

Verse 1.

Note 1. Darsata, as applied to the wind, may be intended for visible, but its more general meaning is conspicuous, clarus, insignis.

Verse 2.

Note 1. Aharvid, which Benfey translates by tagekundig, Grassmann, die des Tages (Anbruch) kundig, seems to have two meanings. When applied to men, poets or priests, it means those who know (vid) the right days or seasons for every sacrifice, but when it is applied to certain deities, particularly those of the morning, it means finding (vind), bringing back the day, like lucifer. Thus the Asvins are called aharvidâ (VIII, 5, 9; 21). The power (daksha) of Vishnu is called aharvid, conquering, or bringing, the light of the day (I, 156, 4). The priests, as inviting these gods, might possibly themselves be called aharvid, bringing back the light of day, but this seems doubtful.

Verse 3.

Note 1. This verse, though it seems easy, is really full of difficulties. The meaning of dhenâ is very doubtful. It is explained as lips by native authorities, and would in that case be derived from dhe, to suck. But though this meaning is possible in some passages, particularly where dhene occurs in the dual, in other passages dhenâ seems clearly to

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mean a stream of milk, or of some other liquid, poured out (visrishta) from the clouds or at a sacrifice. It often occurs in the dual dhene, and has then been taken as the upper and lower lips (not the nares, as Roth suggests), distinguished from sipre, the upper and lower jaws. See note on II, 34, 3. Sâyana (Rv. Bh. I, 101, 10) explains it by gihvopagihvike. Durga adds (Nirukta Bhâshya, VI, 17) âdhastye damshtre vâ gihvopagihvike vâ, ity eke, tayor hy annam dhîyate.

Benfey translates: 'Vâyu, deine vorkostende Lippe schreitet zum Opferer, weit hingestreckt zum Somatrank.' Prapriñkatî can hardly mean vorkostend.

Verse 4.

Note 1. The instrumental práyobhih is best translated here by 'for the sake of;' see Wenzel, Instrumental, p. 104.

Verse 5.

Note 1. On vâginî and vâga, see 'India, what can it teach us?' pp. 164, 166. The transition of meaning from vâga, booty, to vâga, wealth in general, finds an analogy in the German kriegen, to obtain, also in Gewinn, and A. S. winnan, to strive, to fight, to obtain. Vâginîvasû, in the dual, is a frequent epithet of the Asvins, II, 37, 5; V, 74, 6; 7; 75, 3; 78, 3; VIII, 5, 3; 12; 20; 8, 10; 9, 4; 10, 5; 22, 7; 14; 18; 26, 3; 85, 3; 101, 8; of Indra, III, 42, 5; X, 96, 8.

It differs little from vâginîvat, which is likewise applied to the Asvins, I, 120, 10, and comes to mean simply wealthy, liberal; cf. I, 122, 8; VII, 69, 1. Vâginîvati is an epithet of Ushas, Sarasvatî, and Sindhu. A common phrase is vâ´gebhih vâgínîvatî, lit. wealthy in wealth, cf. I, 3, 10. Vâginî occurs as the feminine of vâgin, wealthy, or strong, but never in the sense of mare; cf. III, 61, 1. úshah vâ´gena vâgini, Ushas wealthy by wealth or booty; VI, 61, 6. Sarasvati vâ´geshu vâgini, Sarasvati, strong in battles; cf. I, 4, 8; 9. Native commentators generally explain vâgini by sacrifice, vâginîvasu, by dwelling in the sacrifice. I take vâgini in compounds like vâginîvasu as a collective

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substantive, like padminî, ûhinî, vâhinî, tretinî, anîkinî, &c., and in the sense of wealth; unless we may look upon vâginîvat as formed in analogy to such words as tavishî-mat, only that in this case tavishî exists in the sense of strength. Pischel's explanation, Ved. Stud. p. 9, rich in mares, takes for granted the existence of vâgini in the sense of mare. I have not found any passage where vâginî has necessarily that sense.

Verse 6.

Note 1. Nishkrita can hardly mean here what it means in later Sanskrit, a rendezvous.

Note 2. On ítthâ´ dhiyâ´, see Pischel, Ved. Stud. p. 184.

Verse 7.

Note 1. Pûtádaksha, cf. pûtákratu, VIII, 68, 17.

Note 2. Ghritâkî seems to be taken here in a technical sense, like ghritavat, i. e. with oblations of butter thrown into the fire. In I, 167, 3, I took ghritâkî in the more general sense of bright, resplendent, while others ascribed to it the meaning of bringing fatness, i. e. rain. It may also mean accompanied by ghee. See B.-R. s. v.

Verse 8.

Note 1. Ritasprís, probably not very different from ritasâ´p.