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I, 145

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"Vedic Hymns, Part Ii (sbe46)\", by Hermann Oldenberg [1897],

p. 164

Ma
\"N"D"Ala I, Hymn 145.

Ash
\"T"Aka Ii, Adhyya 2, Varga 14.

1.
Ask ye him. He has come. He knows. He the intelligent one moves forward; He moves along (his way) (?) 1. In him all commands, all wishes dwell. He is the lord of strength, of mighty power.

2.
They ask him. He himself 1 does not ask in turn what he, the wise one, has grasped by his own mind alone 2. He does not forget the first word nor another word. Unconfused he adheres to his own power of mind.

3.
To him go the sacrificial ladles, to him go the racers 1. He alone may hear all my words. He who pronounces many praishas 2, the conqueror, the accomplisher of sacrifices whose blessings are flawless, the young child has assumed vigour.

4.
When he has come together 1 (with his companions 2), he goes to greet them 3. As soon as born he steals upon (his prey) together with his companions. He strokes the 4 to give him delight and joy, when the loving ones 5 approach him who stands on them 6.

5.
He, the animal living in the water and walking in the forest 1, has been placed on the highest skin 2 (sky?). He has proclaimed his rules to the mortals: for Agni, the knowing one, is intent upon "Ri"ta (Right) and is true.

Notes.

The same "Ri"shi. Metre, "G"agat; the last verse is Trish"t"ubh.--No verse occurs in the other Sa"m"hits.

p. 165

Verse 1.

Note 1. The Sa"m"hit text has s nv yate, the Pada text, s"h" n yate. Comp. Prti"s"khya 314. I propose to read snu (= s nu) yate.

Verse 2.

Note 1. See Geldner, Ved. Studien, II, p. 188.

Note 2. Possibly we should read svna ev.

Verse 3.

Note 1. The text (rvat"h") implies that these race-horses are mares. Probably, as Sya"n"a explains, the prayers (stutaya"h") are alluded to. See on the prayers compared with horses, Bergaigne, II, 284 seq.

Note 2. Praish is the technical designation of the sacrificial commands of one priest (or more especially, of the Maitrvaru"n"a) to another priest; comp. Schwab, Das Altindische Thieropfer, p. 90; H. O., Religion des Veda, 390.


Verse 4.

Note 1. Samrata may be the third person of singular or of plural.

Note 2. I supply 'with his companions' in consideration of the second Pda (y"g"yebhi"h"). It is difficult to say who Agni's companions are (the flames? the officiating priests?).

Note 3. Ludwig's conjecture, pa styam "k"arati, is very ingenious. 'He stealthily approaches them.'--On upasthyam, comp. also Bollensen, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenl. Gesellschaft, Xlvii, 586.

Note 4. The meaning of "s"vntm, which occurs here and in the obscure passage X, 61, 21 (dha gva"h" pamtim kany"h" nu "s"vntsya ksya "k"it pr yu"h"), is unknown. Possibly it is related to "s"vtr, which means something like 'powerful' or 'prosperous.'

p. 166

Note 5. The prayers? The oblations?

Note 6. Api-sthitm may have active or passive meaning, 'he who stands on somebody or something,' and 'he on whom somebody or something stands.'

Verse 5.

Note 1. The first Pda (and probably also the fourth) belong to the metrical. type described by H. O., Prolegomena, p. 68 seq.: the first part, before the caesura, consists of four syllables; and then the Pda goes on as if it had the pentasyllabic opening.

Note 2. After Agni's abode in the Waters and in the wood has been mentioned in the first Pda, the second Pda possibly refers to his heavenly abode to which the adjective upam (highest') seems to point. Thus the 'highest skin' would be the sky. But Sya"n"a, who refers it to the Vedi, may possibly be right. His explanation would very well agree with the second hemistich.
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