All translations of hymns to Agni from the Rig Veda and other Vedic hymns; and related writings.
On Veda
All translations of Vedic hymns to Agni; and related writings. The material includes all the contents of Hymns to the Mystic Fire (translations of hymns to Agni from the Rig Veda, with a Foreword by Sri Aurobindo) as well as translations of many other hymns to Agni, some of which are published here for the first time.
THEME/S
[word] - word(s) omitted by the author or lost through damage to the manuscript that are required by grammar or sense, and that could be supplied by the editors.
1) उपप्रयन्तो अध्वरं मंत्रं वोचेम अग्नये । आरे अस्मे च शृण्वते ॥
उपप्रयंतः. S. उपेत्य प्रकर्षेण गच्छंतः which he considers equivalent to beginning and carrying out perfectly. I take अध्वरः in the sense of the sacrifice that travels to the gods by the divine path, that of the Truth; the offerings also so travel & the sacrificer. Therefore उपप्रयंतो अध्वरं यज्ञं means "entering upon (उप) and proceeding forward (प्र) with the sacrifice on its journey". The right performance of the sacrifice is a right progress to the godhead and the Truth.
मंत्रं. S. मननीयं स्तोत्रं ; rather वचनीयं मननं. त्र expresses either the action or the means. "Let us express (by the word) the thought in our minds," ie the thing we are meditating, the truth of the godhead we are seeking to express (शास, उक्थ, गीः, वचः, प्रशस्ति) and to fix in ourselves (स्तोम, धी).
आरे अस्मे, च. Far (from a distance) and in us. Sayana gets rid of the idea by taking च = अपि and attaching it to आरे, who hears us even from afar. I prefer to take the natural order and the plain sense of the words. The distinction of far and near or far and within is common enough in the Veda; Agni is also constantly spoken of as in mortals, विक्षु, मर्त्येषु that this does not mean simply among—or here "from far and from among us"—is shown by I.60.2 where Agni is described as विश्पतिर्विक्षु वेधाः and the विक्षु is explained by 3, तं .. हृद आ जायमानं. Agni
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created by the human Ritwiks and born from the heart cannot be the sacrificial fire or lightning, but must be the inner flame, the godhead within, who is also the cosmic godhead who hears from without, आरे.
शृण्वते. What is meant by the god hearing the thought? Not merely that he hears physically the Vedic hymn and comes to the sacrifice. As we see from other Suktas, this hearing is a response; it is the turning of the Godhead to the God-seeker; it is the answer of the Truth, सत्यमृतं, to the thought and word in the mind of man. The god hearing the mantra means that the divine truth it seeks to express comes and illumines and dwells in the mentality; the Word becomes a chariot of the godhead, रथं न, a robe that he wears, वासः, a dwelling he inhabits, ओकः. So long as the Word is not heard by the god, does not call him into itself to manifest his status and working in the mental realisation it produces, it is not effective, nor is the realisation a true seeing.
Sayana's rendering.
Approaching and carrying on the sacrifice let us speak the hymn to Agni who hears us even from a distance.
Psychological rendering.
Advancing on the journey of the sacrifice let us express the thought to the Flame who heareth us from afar and heareth from within.
2) यः स्रीहितीषु पूर्व्यः संजग्मानासु कृष्टिषु । अरक्षद् दाशुषे गयं ॥
This rik is full of difficulties; we are in doubt about the meaning of three important words, स्नीहितिः, कृष्टिः & गयः. Sayana renders "when the killing peoples come together (to attack), he guards the wealth for the sacrificer." The one strong objection to this version is that it has absolutely nothing to do with what comes before or what goes after and this is contrary to the rule of Vedic construction.
कृष्टिषु. This is rendered "people", but it is doubtful whether it has fundamentally or always that sense. कृष् is originally a derivative of कृ, like वक्ष् from वह्, स्पृश् from स्पृ etc and only
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intensifies its sense. कृ is, originally, do, make, hurt, cut, divide (कृत्, कृ); कृष् is to do any strong or forceful labour, eg to drag, draw (कर्षण), plough (कृषि)—senses which survive, and to hurt, waste with the various results of being hurt, killed, wasted still preserved in various significances of words like कृष्ण. If कृष्टि means people, it must be from the original sense of cultivator or labourer. In the Veda it seems to me that it meant (like चर्षणि, intensive of चर्), one who does the works of sacrifice; but also it means in certain passages, earths, worlds, places where work (of cultivation or other) is done,—just as क्षिति means sometimes an earth or world inhabited or the people dwelling in it or those possessing it. It is this sense of earths or worlds which obtains here; कृष्टयः means the worlds in which the five human peoples, पंचकृष्टीः, labour at the work of the Aryan. These worlds are described as coming together, meeting so as to become one. The idea of the seven rivers, various earths, different planes coming together is common enough in the Veda; eg कथा न क्षोणीः समारत, "How should not the earths come together (at the command of Indra)?" They unite their various movements or workings, welding their distinct laws and types into a harmony.
स्नीहितीषु. S. वधकारिणीषु. ष्णिह स्नेहने—स्नेहयतीति वधकर्मसु पठितः. But is it so? That sense is very doubtful. स्नीह् like स्निट् means to love, but that sense cannot be certainly proved in the Veda; स्निट् means to go, move (cf स्नु to flow) and स्नेहः means in the Veda a thick, fat or oily dropping or flowing; finally स्निह् means to stick, cleave, be thick, compact etc. It is possible that स्नीहितयः means (the worlds) that move compactly together or adhere to each other and it will then describe the result of the coming together and moving together संजग्मानासु.
गयं. गय may mean either "movement, march" or "that which is attained" = धनं or "that which is reached" = आश्रयः, शर्म, गृहं, in which case it will be equivalent in sense to the Vedic क्षयः. It is easy to see that any of these might be threatened whether by a banded attack of hostile people or in the psychological sense by the disturbance of a new combined movement of the "earths". If the latter is the sense of the first two padas, then गयः must mean either movement or abiding-place: in the former case, the
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Seer-Will, Agni, guards the movement of the sacrificer travelling to the Truth-plane and harmonises it with the new-combined general movement; in the latter he keeps for him his abiding place or his goal, which has practically the same sense. If it is "the peoples assembling to slay", then the psychological sense is that the powers (people) of the regions which the divine traveller seeks to overpass unite to oppose and destroy him and the Seer-Will protects his march or his goal or his spiritual gains and possessions from their attack. We have then in this phrase the basis of the image of ten nations combined against the Tritsus, "those who seek to pass beyond".
3) उत ब्रुवंतु जंतव उदग्निर्वृत्रहाजनि । धनंजयो रणे रणे ॥
जंतवः. Sayana जाताः सर्वे ऋत्विजः. "Agni has risen, let people (priests) speak (hymn him)." Sayana's glosses are always those of the pedant; जंतवः, "creatures, those born", is a most general term and obviously intended to be quite wide in its connotation, not confined to a particular class of men. No one says "let men say", when he means "let the priests chant". The sense is "let all men born see and declare that Agni the Vritra-slayer has risen up into birth". The manifestation of the Flame is to be so great that the whole world will bear witness to it. There is no idea of chanting the hymn in ब्रुवंतु. Cf I.4.5, उत ब्रुवंतु नो निदो निरन्यतश्चिदारत.
वृत्रहा. Sayana, bound by his rendering of कृष्टिषु as men, has to take वृत्रं = आवरकाणां शत्रूणां; but वृत्रहा applied thus formally to the gods can mean only slayer of Vritra or at the most slayer of Vritra and his hosts. That Agni is, like Indra, Saraswati and others, a slayer of Vritra and releaser of the waters, there are several passages of the Veda to show, eg I.59.6, यं पूरवो वृत्रहणं सचंते । वैश्वानरो दस्युमग्निर्जधन्वाँ अधुनोत्काष्ठा अव शंबरं भेत्. If, therefore, the कृष्ठयः of the last verse are the assailing peoples who attack on the path & the same battles are referred to here, they cannot be men, but must be Vritra-powers. The Dasyus are called दासीर्विशः, but not thus vaguely कृष्ठयः. उत probably brings in a new idea; not only is the sacrificer to be guarded in his march to the goal of the
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Truth, but Vritra the Coverer and his hosts who withhold the wealth of the Truth must be slain so that wealth on new wealth may be won in battle after battle.
Let all the born (ritwiks) declare (praise) him, Agni has been born, slayer of the enveloping enemies, conqueror of (the enemy's) wealth in all battles.
Yea and let men say, "The Flame that slays the Coverer has risen into birth, conqueror of our wealth in fight after fight."
4) यस्य दृतो असि क्षये वेषि हव्यानि वीतये । दस्मत् कृणोषि अध्वरं ॥
क्षये. S. the house of sacrifice. It is rather the house generally, not here the goal or habitation to which he is proceeding, but that in which he is at present lodged, the adhara or dwelling-place of the soul,—the body with life and mind. This is the house of sacrifice, the triple सधस्थ. It is possible however that दूतः क्षये may be "messenger to the home" of Agni and the gods, the Truth-plane, which is also the goal of the pilgrim sacrifice.
वेषि. S. गमयसि, though elsewhere in a similar context, he renders it कामयसे. वीतये he takes as भक्षणाय. "Thou carriest the offerings to the gods for their eating." वेषि often means to go or come, but it cannot be here "thou comest to eat his offerings", हव्यानि accusative after वीतये, because that is not the office of the messenger. It is to carry the offering to the gods and to bring the gods to the sacrifice. वेषि .. वीतये suggests that वीतये may also have here the sense of motion, "thou comest (or, goest) for the taking thither of the offerings." Either interpretation is possible and it is difficult to choose.
दस्मत्. S. सर्वदर्शनियं, visible to all; but this has no sense and no connection with the rest of the context. There must be some connection between the taking of the offerings and the making दस्मत् the sacrifice. I have taken दस्म consistently = effective, achiever, from दस् to do, perform, cf दंसः action, दास a slave, and दस्मत् must be taken in the same sense; "thou makest effective
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the journeying sacrifice". It is evident that the carrying of the offerings to the gods is the first necessary effectivity of the अध्वर; the various offerings first, ie all human powers and activities directed Godwards, are lifted to the Truth and return as enriched being and power,—this is the first achievement and effectivity: next, the whole sacrifice reaches the godhead,man's entire being, power, consciousness is accepted by the divine Truth,—this is the second achievement and effectivity: last, the man himself attains that plane and lives upon it, divine, स्वराट्, सम्राट्, immortal; this is the क्षयः, the third and last effectivity, completing the अध्वर यज्ञ. The suffix मत् to a verbal stem is a peculiar and early form unless indeed दस् was originally a noun = action as well as a verb.
5) तमित् सुहव्यमंगिरः सुदेवं सहसो यहो । जना आहुः सुबर्हिषं ॥
अंगिरः. S. अंगनादिगुणयुक्ताग्ने; he treats it as equivalent in meaning to the name अग्नि itself. But Angiras has a special sense in the Veda; Agni is the original Angiras and the seven seers are the powers of the luminous Flame, his children. The Angiras is the Seer who seeks the Light by the force of the will and finds first the Word as the mouths of Brihaspati, then the Light itself as the army of Indra. Agni Angiras is the Seer-Puissance; that as the messenger makes the human activities acceptable to the Truth and the sacrifice effective.
यहो. S. पुत्र. Has this sense of यहु any other reality than the idea of the commentators and grammarians that the phrase सहसो यहो in which alone it occurs must be equivalent to सहसः सूनो? यहू, यहूी in the Veda means mighty, puissant; should not यहु be kin in sense, the puissant, the master? On the other [hand] the connection between the epithet Angiras, Seer-Puissance, and the description "Son of Force" is very close, eg V.11.6, त्वामग्ने अंगिरसो गुहा हितमन्वविंदञ्छिश्रियाणं वने वने । स जायसे मथ्यमानः सहो महात्वामाहुः सहसस्पुत्रमंगिरः ॥
सुबर्हिषं S. शोभनयज्ञं. I cannot accept Sayana's frequent rendering of बर्हिः as यज्ञ. It means figuratively the seat of sacrifice and literally, from बृह्, the extension, the outspreading, the wide
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fullness of the inner state upon which the work of the sacrifice is founded and on which the gods take their seat. It is, in the physical sacrifice, the thing outspread, स्तीर्णं बर्हिः, and, this being the sacred doorva grass, it came to mean the doorva. It is connected in sense with बृहत्, बर्हणा and often means a mass, stream, crest of light or force etc, anything spread wide or streaming out, thus the wide ether, the outstreaming peacock's tail, water flowing in a mass, a stream of flame, the बर्हींषि of Agni, radiating light. All its senses can be traced back to the one original sense of extension or wide fullness. So also the verbal senses of बर्ह् come from the idea of a heavy pervading pressure; it means to cover, spread, crush, overtop and so be preeminent or excel; to give in the sense of lavishing, cf राः; to speak, from the sense of outbreathing. बर्हिः as a seat comes, like all the rest, from this sense of spreading widely and thickly or fully.
There are three elements given here for the sacrifice, the perfect offering, the effective godhead, the entire purity and fullness of the seat on which the godhead shall base himself and his working—psychologically, a pure, wide state of the soul.
He in whose house thou art a messenger, whose offerings thou carriest to be eaten (by the gods) and whose sacrifice thou makest to be seen by all, him indeed, O Angiras, son of Force, all men speak of as having good offerings, a good godhead and a good sacrifice.
When in man's dwelling-place thou art the envoy, thou takest his offerings to be enjoyed by the gods (or thou comest to carry his offerings) and thou makest effective the journey of his sacrifice; him verily men speak of as perfect in his oblations, perfect in his godheads present, perfect in the wide seat of his sacrifice.
6) आ च वहासि ताँ इह देवाँ उप प्रशस्तये । हव्या सुश्चंद्र वीतये ॥
सुश्चंद्र. S. शोभनाळ्हादन. चंद्र has two senses, "shining" and
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"delightful", both present in all the names of the Soma, चंद्र, सोम, इंदु; but it is the sense "delight" which it usually carries in the Veda.
वहासि. In the early Aryan tongue the long and short syllable were entirely interchangeable and traces of this linger in the Veda—चरथ, चराथ; भवसि, भवासि, पथः, पाथः. Sayana takes as imperative, but it is obviously a continuation of the statements वेषि, कृणोषि, and now आवहासि.
प्रशस्तये. The प्रशस्ति is the expressing or manifesting of the god by the word, not yet his birth or creation, but a temporary mental realisation by the thought. It is not merely praise; there is no need for the gods to be carried to the sacrifice to be praised; but certainly the word must be an assertion of the powers, functions, characteristics of the godhead.
हव्या .. वीतये. Sayana takes आगतेभ्यो हव्यानि भक्षणाय प्रापय; but there is no प्रापय and we cannot extract one from आवहासि which gives the quite different idea of bringing from heaven. हव्यानि is an accusative governed by the verbal force in वीतये, a common Vedic construction, eg चकिं विश्वानि चकये. I.9.2.
ताँ. The gods there in heaven of whom you are the envoy.
वीतये. Here it seems necessary to take as"eating" or"enjoying", otherwise we shall have to translate the last pada separately, "Come, O perfect in delight, for the carrying of the oblations"; but this gives an insufficient coherence.
There are always two aspects of Agni's embassy which seem to be inconsistent with each other, one the bringing of the gods to eat of the oblations in the house of the sacrificer, the other the taking of the oblations to be eaten by the gods in mid-air or heaven. In the physical sacrifice it may be said that the fire first carries the consumed offerings into the air to be eaten in their subtle parts by the gods of heaven and mid-air, then the gods are attracted by the voice and light of the flame and come to eat the rest of the offerings at the sacrifice itself. But this is not satisfactory. And what is meant by the fire carrying the gods from heaven to the place of sacrifice,—vahasi, vehis? That corresponds to no possible physical fact. Psychologically, the sense is clear enough. he Seer-Will first bears man's activities to the higher planes by
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his purified consecration of them to the Godhead. This is the first part of the embassy. Then comes the time for the descent of the divine Powers into the human mind & body, at first temporary, to enjoy there the activities offered to them, each activity to its proper god, then permanent by the creation, birth, growth (तातिः, वीतिः, अवः) of the divinities in the human being, each conducting his own proper activity first मनुष्वत् in the human type, then in the human divine, as Usha is described डेवि मानुषि, O divine and human. In all these stages it is Will-with-Knowledge that leads. That summons and brings, in a way carries the gods in their descent, supports them in their workings.
O thou of the good delighting, bring hither those gods for the praise and give them the oblations for their eating.
And thou bringest hither those gods for their expression by the word, O perfect in delight, for the enjoying of the oblations.
7) न योरुपब्दिरश्व्यः शृण्वे रथस्य कच्चन । यदग्ने यासि दृत्यं ॥
Sayana explains that this absence of sound is due to the swiftness of the chariot. This cannot be the explanation: a swift chariot is likely to make a greater noise than a slow one. Either the phrase means simply that it is not a physical, but figurative or immaterial horses & chariot that are meant; or else the emphasis is on अश्व्यः. Aҫwa, the horse, is the Pranic power and swiftness of Pranic activity brings with it usually a disturbance and tumult pleasant or unpleasant in the being, but Agni's being the horses of the purified Prana, there is no disturbing sound of their gallop. उपब्दिः is, I think, an ear-oppressing clamour, din. That this is the sense is proved, I think, by the next verse where the image of the horse is again taken up and the idea varied. The horse of Agni is वाजी अह्रयः, the undeviating horse, that which does not go crookedly, that is the Pranic energy not stumbling into sin, error, false desire, but galloping on the straight path ऋजुना पथा of the Truth.
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कच्चन. Sayana कदाचन; more probably "at all", "in anyway".
यासि दूत्यं. S. देवानां दूतत्वं प्राप्नोषि, but I think this is a purely Vedic construction meaning practically यासि दूतयात्रां, the दूत्यं being loosely made the object of यासि as a sort of cognate accusative, not because it is strictly so, but from a general idea of its sense, because the दूत्य here is in its essence यान or यात्रा, a going.
O Agni, no sound of thy moving car is ever heard made by horses when thou becomest the (gods') envoy.
No sound of horses is heard at all from thy chariot in its motion, when O Agni, thou goest on thy embassy.
8) त्वोतो वाजी अह्रयो अभि पूर्वस्मादपरः । प्र दाश्वाँ अग्ने अस्थात् ॥
In the metre of this verse त्वोतः has to be taken as a trisyllable and अह्रयः separated from वाजी.
त्वोतः—see Appendix for अव् = foster, increase. Even with Sayana's rendering of the rest of the verse "fostered" gives a better sense than "protected from harm".
अह्रयः. Sayana's लज्जारहितः is absurd. हृ is used in the sense of crookedness as well as हूृ in the Veda, cf जुहुराण crooked. If not, we must take हृ not in the sense of shame, but of a violent emotion; it means joy and wrath as well as shame, or any disturbance of the emotional being. अह्रयः must then be taken with दाश्वान्, the sacrificer becomes full of the divine plenitudes, free from all violent emotions and so goes forward on his journey प्र अस्थात्.
अभि पूर्वस्मादपरः. S. यः पुरुषः पूर्वस्मात् स्वस्मादधिकारादपरो निकृष्टो भवति; he now becomes rich in food and free from shame. This is one of those forced & ingenious interpretations which illustrate the learning of the commentator, but not the text. पूर्वस्मादपरः can only mean "a later after the former" or if पूर्व means superior, a lower after the higher, but never an inferior to the former, because then the sense-correlation of पूर्व & अपर is entirely lost;
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nor is there any hint of any अधिकार in the text. There must be either a later वाजी (or दाश्वान्) opposed to a former or an inferior दाश्वान् opposed to a superior दाश्वान्. In the latter case, the sense may be "the sacrificer inferior to the supreme sacrificer advances when fostered by thee and becomes वाजी like the one who was superior to him." But this is very forced and clumsy. More naturally it would mean, if we suppose only one clause, "The later sacrificer after the former", that is, "one sacrificer after another goes forward (प्र) fostered by thee to the goal (अभि), full of plenitude, straight in his course." It is possible, however, to take वाजी in the sense of horse, the Pranic अश्व and अभि will stand for a verb; "fostered by thee, one steed of thine following its leader, undeviating, reaches the goal; the sacrificer (as the result of Agni's journeying) passes forward on his journey."
प्र अस्थात्. Sayana takes अभि = ऐश्वर्यमभिप्राप्य and प्रास्थात् = प्रतितिष्ठति सर्वोत्कृष्टो भवति. Neither can stand. Too much is read by him into अभि and the second preposition is प्र not प्रति; the verse speaks of प्रस्थान not प्रतिष्ठा. Sayana quite missed the Vedic image of the sacrificial journey or ascent to Swar and is therefore always at a loss when this idea becomes prominent.
The man that has become lower than his former position, now giving thee offerings and being protected by thee becomes rich in food and free from shame and thus attaining is established.
Fostered by thee, steed following after steed undeviating reaches the goal, (so), O Flame, the giver of the sacrifice goes ever forward.
or
Fostered by thee, the later sacrificer following him who went before (or simply sacrificer after sacrificer) goes forward undeviating, rich in the plenitudes.
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9) उत द्युमत्सुवीर्यं बृहदग्ने विवाससि । देवेभ्यो देव दाशुषे ॥
सुवीर्यं. Sayana takes शोभनवीर्योपेतं धनं. I see no धनं anywhere in the verse, and therefore take सुवीर्यं as a noun, सु + वीर्यं as in सुनयः, सुप्रयोगः, सुपथ् etc. Even when सुवीर्यं occurs entirely by itself as in I.94.2, Sayana renders it as शोभनवीर्योपेतं धनं; yet nothing is commoner in the Veda than the idea of strength and the prayer for strength. Here the vast and luminous energy is the pranic force made a vastness by the vastness of the Truth-will, ऋतं बृहत् and full of the light of the supreme knowledge, ऋतं ज्योतिः.
विवाससि. Sayana abandons his favourite परिचरसि and interprets गमयितुमिच्छसि—प्रापयसीति यावत् basing himself on the sense of वा to go. वास् (वस्) means either to dwell or to shine. विवाससि means either thou makest to dwell or thou makest to shine widely in all the being. It is difficult to decide, for दयुमत् favours "shine" and बृहत् favours "dwell".
देव. Sayana द्योतमानाग्ने. Sayana feels that an importance is attached to the appellation, but misses the equal importance of the collocation देवेभ्यो देव. To him who gives to the godheads, the Seer-Will representing the divine existence responds with the gift of light, of power, of vastness.
Also, O shining Agni, to him who gives to the gods, thou bringest a shining wealth endowed with good energy.
Yea, and for him who giveth to the divine Ones, thou, O divine, O Flame, lodgest wide in all his being a perfect forcefulness vast and illumined.
1) जुषस्व सप्रथस्तमं वचो देवप्सरस्तमं । हव्या जुह्वान आसनि ॥
सप्रथस्तमं. S. अतिशयेन विस्तीर्णं स्तोत्रलक्षणमस्मदीयं वचनं. But what is meant by a very wide or extended word? A long hymn? but the hymn is one of the briefest. It is clear that वचः is some thing
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more than mere speech; it is the word and all its contents, the thing expressed, an expression of a new state of wideness, प्रथस्, in the being of the god-seeker. It is because it carries this wideness. Therefore it is देवप्सरस्तमं, a great enjoyment for the gods, the children of the Infinite whose home is in the vastness. It is the wideness of the seeker's being growing towards this vastness that is the cause of their enjoyment and not the hymn itself as mere speech or praise.
प्सरः. Sayana's attribution of this noun to the root स्पृ is bad philology. There is no reason why the easier sound स्प should corrupt into the more difficult sound प्स. We should rather suppose an old root प्सृ. The initial प्स sound must have been common enough in the original Aryan tongue, since it figures so largely in Greek, but it has left few traces in Sanscrit. We have besides प्सरः, प्सु form, प्सुर lovely, beautiful, having a form, which points to a root प्सु, and प्सा to eat with its derivatives. Possibly all these three roots had a similar sense to encompass, contain (whence form), embrace, enjoy and then प्सा to eat; cf अश् which means to pervade, to enjoy and to eat.
2) अथा ते अंगिरस्तम अग्ने वेधस्तम प्रियं । वोचेम ब्रह्म सानसि ॥
अंगिरस्तम. S. अतिशयेनांगनादिगुणयुक्त—यदूा अंगिरसां वरिष्ठ. Obviously "O most Angiras" cannot mean merely the best of the Angirases, it must mean one who has most the qualities of the Angiras. We know what those qualities are, among them is the possession of the word of power and light, ब्रह्मा सानसि, the word of the seven-mouthed Angiras Brihaspati which wins the Sun, the Dawn, the Herds etc, सूर्यं सनत्, therefore ब्रह्मा सानसि.
वेधस्तम. S. वेधा इति मेधविनाम. वेधाः does not mean मेधावी but विधाता and especially the disposer, right ordainer (विध्, विंध्) of the sacrifice and its parts, prominently the hymn स्तोम. Cf I.7.7, न विंधे अस्य सुष्टुतिं, I cannot succeed in arranging (composing, putting in right order of speech and thought, cf in Bengali the use of रचना for style) his perfect affirmation. The epithets are not chosen at random; because Agni is the most Angiras, has most power of seer-will for the word that conquers the desired luminous
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wealth, because being the most Vedhâ (also a characteristic of the Angirases), that is most skilful by his right knowledge and right force to order rightly the hymn in relation to the stages of the sacrifice, therefore he can help the Rishis to speak the ब्रह्मा सानसि.
प्रियं refers us back to the idea in देवप्सरस्तमं; it means pleasing प्रीतिकरं, that which brings with it the satisfaction of the soul,—here, because of its right expression of that which the soul (ब्रह्मा) seeks to express.
सानसि. S. संभजनीयं and he gives वन षण संभक्तौ; but सन् also means to win, possess and only secondarily to enjoy. As we have ब्रह्मा सानसि in conjunction with the epithet अंगिरस्तम it can only mean the brahma that conquers, wins and takes possession of the wealth as did the hymn of the Angirases in connection with whose achievement the word सन् is continually used.
अथा ते. S. तुभ्यं. I think it is here rather तव, otherwise there is no sense in अथ = अनंतरं. In the first verse Agni is invited to cleave with love, जुषस्व = सप्रीत्या सेवस्व, to the word; and now the Rishi says "then may we speak the satisfying, conquering soul-word that is thine". It is only after Agni has embraced the वचः and made it his that it becomes not only सप्रथस्तमं & therefore देवप्सरस्तमं but also सानसि; therefore अथ. The word is frequently spoken as being the gods', especially in connection with Agni and Indra.
O best of the Angirases, O very intelligent one, then may we speak to thee a pleasing and enjoyable hymn.
Then, O most puissant in the seer-will, O most skilful Ordainer, O Flame, may we speak a soul-thought that is thine, that satisfies, that conquers.
3) कस्ते जामिर्जनानाम् अग्ने को दाश्वध्वरः । को ह कस्मिन्नसि श्रितः ॥
जामिः. Who is thy companion? That is to say, thou art alone and transcendent, अद्भुतः; what creature born (जनः) can boast of
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being a necessary twin of thy being? जामिः is more than बंधु (S.), it gives the idea of constant companion and closeness in kinship or in being, eg जामिः सिंधूनां भ्रातेव स्वस्रां. I.65.4.
दाश्वध्वरः. S. दत्तो यज्ञो येन .. कर्मण्युण्प्रत्ययः. I am sceptical of this passive sense for दाशु. S. thinks the phrase means that there is no one capable even of sacrifice to Agni, "Who is there that has
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given thee sacrifice?"; but surely this is to read more sense into the word than it will bear. Anyhow, the Rishis constantly giving sacrifice to Agni would hardly say "Who is there that has ever given thee sacrifice?", they would use some phrase which would at least hint the idea of unfitness. दाशु means naturally giver or fit to give, and we may take दाश्वध्वरः as an inverted compound = अध्वरदाशु, and the question asked is "Who is really able to give sacrifice that will reach the gods, being thy जामिः, companion and equal in being? It is really thou that speakest the word and doest the sacrifice, thou art the only वेधाः and होता and without thee man's hymn and offering have no force or power." Otherwise it is the अध्वर that is दाशु, and the question is "Whose sacrifice is able to reach the gods and give them the offering? Only Agni is able to carry the offering to the gods and lead the sacrifice to the goal." None else is his जामिः and therefore none else has the same power.
को ह. S. कथंभुतस्त्वं ie all cannot know what you are like. This is both fanciful and feeble. को हासि means who thou art, ie what wonderful and transcendent being, अद्भुतः. Agni is not this nor that person, not one of the जनानां, but the Deva himself, eternal and supreme.
कस्मिन्. S. कस्मिन्स्थाने. No one knows thy abode; but if Agni is the physical flame everyone knows his abode, the वन, अरणि, अप्सु etc. कस्मिन् must mean either in what object or in what person; there is nothing to indicate place. "In whom art thou lodged?" None can contain and bind to him Agni, because he is the transcendent and infinite in whom are all the gods and all the worlds.
Who among men is thy (fit) friend? Who is there that has given the sacrifice? What art thou (in thy nature)? In what place art thou lodged?
Who of creatures born can companion thee? O Flame, who can give sacrifice? Who art thou? In whom is thy abode?
4) त्वं जामिर्जनानाम् अग्ने मित्रो असि प्रियः । सखा सखिभ्य ईड्यः ॥
जामिः. Thou, being beyond all, unborn and transcendent, yet makest thyself the companion of all these human creatures, stooping to their humanity, अमृतो मर्त्येषु.
मित्रो .. प्रियः. S. प्रीणयिता यजमानानां प्रमितेस्त्रायकोऽसि. This explanation of मित्र is extravagant philology and poor sense. मि is to embrace, enjoy, love (also to contain, put together, form) and त्र here expresses the agent of the action; it means therefore friend or else giver of delight; Agni is the divine Friend and Lover, God as Mitra, प्रियतमो नृणां; therefore प्रियः, dear especially because of the satisfying principle of harmony he brings into thought, feeling, act and state. He is not only जामिः but मित्रः, a dearer word of love, since the first only expresses closeness in being, companionship in life and action, the other the embrace of love and the companionship of the heart. The answer here is to को ह & को दाश्वध्वरः. This Infinite is He who comes to man as his friend and lover and sets and helps him on his path, for Mitra जनान्यातयति, sets them moving पथिभिः साधिष्ठैः, by the most effective paths of the Truth which accomplish perfectly the sacrifice, अध्वर, and carry it and the sacrificer to their divine goal.
सखा. Although not lodged in any as his abode, yet is this infinite deity a comrade to be sought by adoration by men, his comrades, मनुष्वत्, humanly and in a human relation.
O Agni thou art the friend of all men, thou art the deliverer from harm and satisfier (of the sacrificers), and a friend to the sacrificing priests who is worthy of praise.
Thou art the companion of all beings; O Flame, thou art
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the beloved Friend, a comrade to be sought with adoration by comrades.
5) यजा नो मित्रावरुणा यजा देवाँ ऋतं बृहत् । अग्ने यक्षि स्वं दमं ॥
मित्रावरुणा. Varuna because he gives the प्रथः, the wideness, Mitra because he is the प्रिय who by his harmonising principle of light and love gives the प्सरः. The last line goes back in thought to the first; it prays for the divine fulfilment through Agni of that which has been expressed by the aspiring thought of humanity, of the सप्रथस्तमं देवप्सरस्तमं वचः.
देवाँ;. All the gods, constituting the whole Divine Birth, the ऋतं बृहत्.
ऋतं बृहत्. The vast Truth. This is either in a sort of apposition to देवाँ;, "sacrifice to (all) the gods, to the vast Truth" which is the being of the infinite Godhead; or else there is a double accusative of the person and the object: "win for us from the gods by sacrifice the vast Truth". Sayana takes ऋतं = true, and explains it as सत्यं यथार्थफलं यज्ञं, which is unnatural enough, as no one would say "sacrifice for us the true" when he means "sacrifice for us a sacrifice",—ritam may mean sacrifice, or it may mean truth; but it cannot mean "true" in the sense of "a sacrifice",—but astonishingly enough he does not take ऋतं बृहत् = "a great sacrifice", as he does elsewhere, but separates the neuter बृहत् from the neuter ऋतं to which it belongs by grammar, by verse-movement and by syntactical form & structure,—for यज .. यज .. यक्षि each naturally introduces its own clause,—and attaches it to the masculine दमं to which it has no conceivable right to belong. This is one of those purposeless and awkwardly floundering ingenuities hostile to grammar & syntax, to the evidence of parallel passages, to all literary sense and to poetic fitness, in which Sayana's commentary abounds.
यक्षि. S. makes यक्षि = यज संगच्छस्व. He thinks that it means पूजय, "worship thy own big house", but it is only when Agni is within it that the sacrificial house becomes worshipable, त्वय्यंतर्विद्यमाने सति हि यज्ञगृहं पूज्यते, therefore to ask Agni to worship his own house amounts to asking him to get into it!
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Comment on such an absurdity is hardly needed.
स्वं दमं. The ऋतं बृहत् in the form of the world called स्वः, उ लोक, उरु लोकः is the own home of Agni and all the gods.
Worship for us Mitra and Varuna, worship the gods, sacrifice a true (fruitful sacrifice), worship (ie enter) thy own big house.
For us sacrifice to Varuna andMitra, win for us by sacrifice from the gods the vast Truth; O Flame, win for us by sacrifice thine own home.
1) का त उपेतिर्मनसो वराय भुवदग्ने शंतमा का मनीषा । को वा यज्ञैः परि दक्षं त आप केन वा ते मनसा दाशेम ॥
वराय. S. तव मनसो निवारणायास्मास्ववस्थापनाय. This is a most improbable sense for वर. It is much better to take वर (= that which is वरणीय) in its ordinary Vedic significance of good, boon, thing desired, with a shade which makes it amount to "supreme good", and मनसः with उपेतिः, ie, How shall the mind approach thee so that it may gain its desirable good? Or मनसो वराय may be taken together, "for the supreme state or desirable good of the mind". In the one case the phrase anticipates & leads up to केन वा ते मनसा; in the second it anticipates and leads up to यजा महे सौमनसाय of v. 2. ते मनसो no more goes together here than ते मनसा in the fourth pada of this verse.
मनीषा. S. स्तुतिः, "How shall our praise be most happiness-giving to thee", ie there is no praise even suitable to thee, and he thinks the answer to को वा is न कोऽपि. It certainly does not mean that any more than केन वा मनसा means that no one has the right mentality in the sacrifice. The series of questions merely express the seeking of the mind for the right way of approaching Agni, the right thought, मनीषा, the right mentality in the self-giving, मनस्, the power to embrace in the human mind the right
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judgment and discernment of the divine seer-will. मनीषा does not mean स्तुति in the Veda, but either the intellectual mind as distinguished from the wider मनस् which embraces the emotional mentality and sense-mind also, or else the intellectual thought that seeks for the Truth. Cf इमं स्तोमं .. सं महेमा मनीषया (I.94.1) which certainly does not mean "we will form the hymn [of] praise by the hymn of praise." There is no reason for assigning different meanings to मनीषा here and in that passage. But Sayana can seldom forego an opportunity of making a word mean "hymn" or "food".
शंतमा, not तव सुखकरी, but full for us of the bliss.
दक्षं. S. वृद्धिं बलं वा. Neither, but the judgment, discerning thought. ते must go surely with दक्षं not with यज्ञौः.
परि .. आप. परि gives the idea of "all round", ie an embracing possession of the whole दक्ष.
O Agni, what kind of approach should there be for stopping thy mind (keeping it with us)? what kind of hymn most gives thee happiness (there is probably none); who can get strength (or increase) by sacrifices to thee? or with what mind should we give to thee?
How shall the mind of man approach thee for his supreme good? what thought, O Flame, must that be which carries with it the extreme bliss? who hath by sacrifices embraced all thy discerning? or with what mind shall we give to thee the offerings?
2) एह्यग्न इह होता नि षीद अदब्धः सु पुरएता भवा नः । अवतां त्वा रोदसी विश्वमिन्वे यजा महे सौमनसाय देवान् ॥
एहि होता takes up the idea of हवींषि implied in दाशोम. The answer to the questions of the first rik is that Agni, the Seer- Will, must himself come as the होता, the होमनिष्पादक (Sayana takes it wrongly here as देवानामाह्वाता) and bring about the right mentality by his sacrifice, महे सौमनसाय.
पुरएता, the leader in the march of the sacrifice towards the
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gods and the vast Truth, a leader who at once guides on the right path, पथिभी रजिष्ठैः and slays the besetters of the way, विश्वान्रक्षसः (v. 3). The यज्ञ of which Agni is the होता is the अध्वरो यज्ञः.
अवतां. Not "protect"; Agni is अदब्धः पुरएता who burns all the Rakshasas; what need has he of protection who protects all? अवतां means "foster, increase" the Seer-Will. Let the earth and heaven, the physical and mental being, attain their full, all-embracing wideness, विश्वमिन्वे and by that wideness give full scope to the increase of the Seer-Will.
सौमनसाय. Perfect or right mentality including मनीषा, right thought enlightened by the दक्ष and not only the emotional part of the मनः. The सौमनस is vast, महे, as a result of the wideness of the Rodasi, the mental and physical being, which prepares the manifestation of the vast Truth; this wideness of the Rodasi is always a feature of the ascent of the gods, Agni or Indra, in that upward progress to the plane of the Truth, Swar, of which Agni here is the पुरएता, he who goes in front.
Come, O Agni, sit here as the summoning priest; because thou art beyond the injury (of the Rakshasas) be well he who goes in front of us. May all-pervading earth and heaven protect thee; worship with sacrifice the divine ones for great grace.
Hither come, O Flame, and take thy seat within as the priest of our oblation; be the unconquerable power that marches (leading and defending us) aright in our front; may our heaven and our earth, all-embracing, foster thee; sacrifice for a vast right-mindedness to the gods.
3) प्र सु विश्वान्रक्षसो धक्ष्यग्ने भवा यज्ञानामभिशस्तिपावा । अथा वह सोमपतिं हरिभ्याम् आतिथ्यमस्मै चकृमा सुदान्वे ॥
Indra, the Divine Mind-Power, is to be brought, after the path has been cleared of all Rakshasas, all wealth-detaining and destroying agencies, who prevent the सौमनस and break (अभिशस्ति) the uninterrupted progress of the अध्वर यज्ञ. Indra
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comes with his two bright powers to drink the purified wine of the Ananda offered in the clear and happy state of the mind (सौमनस) and to give in return the wealth of his world, स्वः (सुदाव्ने).
सोमपतिं. S. सर्वेषां सोमानां पालकं. Rather, lord of the Somas as he is of the गिरः, not in the sense that Soma is of the wine or Brihaspati is master of the ब्रह्माणि, because to him all speech and all outpourings of the intoxicating wine go as rivers to their sea, as herds to the bull, as women to their lord, अजोषा वृषभं पतिं.
चकृम. Possibly = we have prepared; ie the Soma is ready for the divine guest.
Utterly burn before thee all the Rakshasas, O Flame; become the protector of our sacrifices against the destroyer; then bring to us the master of our Soma-pourings with his two shining steeds; for him we have prepared guest-honour, for the perfect giver.
4) प्रजावता वचसा वन्हिरासा आ च हुवे नि च सत्सीह देवैः । वेषि होत्रमुत पोत्रं यजत्र बोधि प्रयंतर्जनितर्वसूनां ॥
प्रजावता. प्रजा here seems not to be अपत्य in the technical Vedic sense, but to refer to all fruits of the sacrifice; S. दातव्यापत्यादिफलोपेतेन.
वचसा. S. स्तुतः सन्. I cannot accept such a clumsy construction; it means that Agni upbears the sacrifice (वन्हिः) by means of the word and by his flaming mouth. That is to say, if वन्हिः really refers to Agni and आसा to his flame, आस्यस्थानीयया ज्वालया as S. suggests. In that case we have to understand असि with the first pada. But the natural rendering would be to take वन्हिः as referring to the Rishi. "I, upholder of the word by the breath of my mouth, call thee by the fruitful word and do thou at once take thy seat with the gods."
वन्हिः. "Upholder, maintainer" either of the word (cf सखायः स्तोमवाहसः, गिर्वाहः etc) which is most appropriate here,—"as the sustainer of the divine chant by his breath he calls him with the fruitful word",—or else of the whole sacrifice, the inspired word of the hymn and therefore the breath of the mouth being the means by which the वन्हिः upholds the course and strength of the sacrifice. Cf I.3.11, यज्ञं दधे सरस्वती.
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आसा. 1) breath. 2) mouth. The first seems to me the appropriate sense; it is the Pranic force, मुख्यः प्राणः, by which the ब्रह्म is uplifted from the heart where it has been shaped and held in the mind, हृदा तष्टं.
आ च .. नि च, gives importance to the prepositions; there are two immediately successive actions, the motion of the Rishi drawing the Seer-Will to him by the word, the motion of Agni and the Gods entering and taking their settled station within him, नि.
वेषि. S. कामयस्व. I think it is यासि, the verb used in its pure indicative sense, "'tis thou takest upon thee the office of होता and the office of पोता, O master of sacrifice, (therefore) awake."
यजत्र. S. यजनीय. Rather त्र here seems to express the agent as in मित्र. Agni is here the sacrificer (होतः .. यजस्व v. 5) and not the god to whom sacrifice is given.
प्रयंतः. S. प्रकर्षेण नियंतः । वसुन्यस्मदायत्तानि कुर्वन् ।
जनितः S. आहुतिद्वारा सर्वस्य जनयितरग्ने. I presume S. means सर्वस्य धनस्य.
प्रयंतर्जनितः. जनितः he who brings the spiritual wealth into being in man. प्रयंतः he who brings it by his labour into right use or possession by man.
बोधि. S. अस्मान्बोधय. There is no reason to take transitively a verb usually intransitive.
By the fruitful word I, bearer of the sacrifice by the force of my breath, call thee to me and, thou, take thy seat here within with the gods; 'tis thou takest on thee the oblation and the purifying; wake, O bringer into being, O bringer into use of our riches.
(Hymned) by a fruitful word (he who is) the bearer of the offerings to the gods, him I call; and, thou,—sit down here with the gods, desire that which is done by the Hota and the Pota; wake us, O thou who entirely controllest riches and producest (all things).
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5) यथा विप्रस्य मनुषो हविर्भि- र्देवाँ अयजः कविभिः कविः सन् । एवा होतः सत्यतर त्वमद्य अग्ने मंद्रया जुह्वा यजस्व ॥
मनुषः. S. मनोः—मन जाने. मनुषः does indeed mean the thinker, but the mental being generally, not Manu.
विप्रस्य. S. मेधाविनः, from विप् to be luminous—cf सूरिः which like सूर्यः means also luminous; men of knowledge are in the R.V. frequently called द्दयुमतः, luminous.
अयजः probably an aoristic past; "as thou hast always sacrificed".
कविभिः कविः. S. renders कविः = क्रांतदर्शी, & कविभिः = मेधविभिः. He makes a difference between the two senses in a note on I.79.5, कविः क्रांतदर्शनो मेधावी वा. I presume that the former means a seer, one whose vision is active, the other merely an intelligent man or thinker. Perhaps S. is unwilling to attribute omniscient seerhood to men. But why should there be a difference of meaning between कविभिः कविः? I cannot understand this remarkable principle of composition attributed to the Rishis of putting the same word together in different cases or with different governing words in order to convey quite different ideas and with nothing to show the difference! It is only in Bedlam or else in Pundit-land that such a rule can stand. Mark that sometimes S. makes कवि mean simply क्रांत! As a matter of fact there is no reason to suppose that कवि ever means anything in the Vedas but a seer. Who are the कविs here? Not I think men, but the divine powers who assist the Seer-Will.
होतः. S. होमनिष्पादक. This passage होतः .. जुह्वा यजस्व and others show clearly enough that होता meant originally the priest who conducted or made the offering; the other sense देवानामाह्वाता is, in the R.V., extremely doubtful.
सत्यतर. S. अतिशयेन सत्सु साधो! An extremely clumsy and unnecessarily philological antic. Agni is frequently called सत्य, eg I.1.5, होता कविक्रतुः सत्यश्चित्रश्रवस्तमः. Here also Agni is the होता, कविः & सत्यतरः. In I.1.5 S. interprets सत्य giver of true results of the sacrifice, here in a precisely similar context, where the same words and ideas are repeated, he gives quite another and fantastic explanation. सत्य means true, full in his being of
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the truth of the ऋतं बृहत् of which the कवि is the knower, and therefore no doubt a giver of the riches of the truth to the sacrificer; but the latter idea cannot justly be read into सत्य when that word is divorced by Sayana from all idea of the ऋत & the काव्य. The comparative means ever growing in truth.
मंद्रया जुह्वा. S. हर्षयित्र्या होमसाधनभुतया स्त्रुचा. The जुहू is the flame of Agni by which he gives the offering to the gods, as Sayana's explanation would lead us to believe; but perhaps he means the fire-tongue by स्त्रुच्. It is the flame or uplifting movement of the Will that lifts the Soma etc from the mind upward to the divine Superconscient with a motion of rapture—the rapturous will movement, not, I think, the joy-giving will. The rapture comes from the state of सौमनस, clear of the Rakshasas etc, which Agni's priesthood, the conduct of the Yoga by the divine Will, brings to man.
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