Hymns to the Mystic Fire

[24]

RV IV.3

3. Vamadeva's third hymn to Agni.

1) आ वो राजानमध्वरस्य रुद्रं
होतारं सत्ययजं रोदस्योः ।
अग्निं पुरा तनयित्नोरचित्ता-
द्धिरण्यरुपमवसे कृणुध्वं ॥

The fierce king of the sacrifice, the offerer, who effects by sacrifice truth in the two firmaments, Agni for yourselves before the extending ignorance set in his brilliant form for your growth (or for your protection).

तनयित्नोः. Say. renders "before that thunder death", अचित्त being death because in death there is no sense-consciousness. This far-fetched learned scholastic ingenuity is typical. तन् means to extend as well as to thunder, & in Vedic Sanscrit the different possible senses of a root had not been so rigidly distributed between its various forms & derivatives as afterwards in the classical tongue. Moreover तनयित्नु is here obviously an adjective & not the noun thunder.

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2) अयं योनिश्चकृमा यं वयं ते
जायेव पत्य उशती सुवासाः ।
अर्वाचीनः परिवीतो नि षीद
इमा उ ते स्वपाक प्रतीचीः ॥

Here is the place of thy joy we have made for thee as a wife for her lord passionate, beautifully-robed; descended, widely-manifest take there thy seat; lo these (thy energies), O perfect worker, move to thy encounter.

योनिः. There is here the double sense, the woman's yoni & the receptacle, symbolically the altar, psychologically the human heart. परिवीतो. Not "surrounded by the gods" as Sayana would have it, but either "widely manifested" or "encompassing, going all round, pervading" = परिणीतः. इमाः either "these energies" of action in the human being or these mantras expressing the sense of that action; in either case Agni is to take & fulfil them in energies of divine activity.

3) आशृण्वते अदृपिताय मन्म
नृचक्षसे सुमृळीकाय वेधः ।
देवाय शस्तिममृताय शंस
ग्रावेव सोता मधुषुद्यमीळे ॥

Odisposer of the sacrifice, express thy thought to the kindly one, the puissant of vision, who responds to the mantra & is beyond all harms (or is not violent), a means of expression for the god in his immortality; like the stone

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of the distilling he bringeth out the wine of sweetness whom I adore.

अदृपिताय—"who hears & is not arrogant" is Sayana's rendering. दृप् is of the दृ family, admits the sense of hurting, tearing; it is from this sense that the idea of violence, then of insolence—in action, manner or feeling—is derived. Cf also द्रापिः etc. दृपित may be either passive or active, either "unhurt" or "violent, hurtful" as opposed to सुमृळीकाय. ग्रावेव. Sy. interprets "Agni whom the Yajaman praises pressing out Soma as the stone presses it out". Applied to the Yajaman the image is wholly needless & becomes a stupid & inappropriate ornament; for what is meant by the Yajamana producing Soma with the stone just as the stone produces it by itself? The simile has force & propriety only if applied to Agni who produces the Ananda as the stone of the grinding produces the Soma wine.

4) त्वं चित्रः शम्या अग्ने अस्या
ऋतस्य बोधि ऋतचित् स्वाधीः ।
कदा त उक्था सधमाद्यानि
कदा भवंति सख्या गृहे ते ॥

Do thou verily, O Agni, waken in us to this peace, waken to the Truth with the Truth-consciousness, perfectly putting thought to its work. When shall there be thy hymns of the joy of fulfilment, when in this house the works of thy friendship?

शम्याः. Sy. कर्मनाम. But it may mean, like शमः, the peace or inner quiet of the mind in which the vijnâna manifests. सधमाद्यानि. सध् & साध् have one sense in Vedic Sanscrit, eg सधनित्वं, सधन for साधन etc.

5) कथा ह तद्वरुणाय त्वमग्ने
कथा दिवे गर्हसे कन्न आगः ।
कथा मित्राय मीळ्हुषे पृथिव्यै
ब्रवः कदर्यम्णे कद्भगाय ॥

How hast thou declared that to Varuna,O Agni, how to Heaven? what sin in us dost thou rebuke? How to Mitra bounteous or to the earth hast thou said it or what to Aryaman & what to Bhaga?

6) कद् धिष्ण्यासु वृधसानो अग्ने
कद्वाताय प्रतवसे शुर्भंये ।
परिज्मने नासत्याय क्षे
ब्रवः कदग्ने रुद्राय नृघ्ने ॥

What hast thou said in the seats of being, O increasing Agni? what to Wind who driveth forward in his force, the giver of bliss, or to the wide-extending Nasatya & to earth? Or what didst thou declare, O Agni, to Rudra the slayer of men?

परिज्मन्. Sy. परितो गंत्रे. I take it = capacious, Rt जम्.

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7) कथा महे पुष्टिंभराय पूष्णे
कद्रुद्राय सुमखाय हविर्दे ।
कद्विष्णव उरुगायाय रेतो
ब्रवः कदग्ने शरवे बृहत्यै ॥

How to Pushan great, bringing increase or what to Rudra the good sacrificer, the giver of the oblation? what offence to Vishnu wide-striding hast thou told? what to Sri of the Vastness (or Sri who is mighty)?

सुमखाय. I accept provisionally "sacrifice" for मख, sin for रेतः (from री to injure, offend). उरुगाय I take to be wide-moving—त्रिविक्रमाय—from O.A. गा to move, & शरु = श्री, lit. Movement or Force, the Energy of Vishnu.

8) कथा शर्धाय मरुतामृताय
कथा सूरे बृहते पृच्छ्यमानः ।
प्रति ब्रवो अदितये तुराय
साधा दिवो जातवेदश्चिकित्वान् ॥

How to the strength of the Maruts that is true in its paths, how to Surya vast when he questioned thee? or what didst thou reply to Aditi & Tura? Know & perfect the heavens in us, O world-Knower.

9) ऋतेन ऋतं नियतमीळ आ गोर्
आमा सचा मधुमत्पक्वमग्ने ।
कृष्णा सती रुशता धासिनैषा
जामर्येण पयसा पीपाय ॥

By the truth I seek continually the truth of the Cow of Light, together the unripe fruits and that which is ripe & full of sweetness, O Agni; she being black nourishes with milk that is bright and firm and full of substance.

ईळे. We get here the true meaning of ईळ्—to seek (इ to go), desire, & so love, adore & to pray rather than to praise. धासिना. धासि is firm settlement, firm place etc, धासिन् should be that which is firm or that which makes firm. Sy. प्राणिनां धारकेण. जामर्येण. Sy. makes a wild guess at the sense; I take it from the sense of body, substance in the ज roots which we find in जम्व

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mud, mire, in the Persian, & the vernaculars, in परिज्मा (as I interpret it = capacious). We must be content with uncertainty.

10) ऋतेन हि ष्मा वृषभश्चिदक्तः
पुमाँ अग्निः पयसा पृष्ठ्येन ।
अस्पन्दमानो अचरद्वयोधा
वृषा शुकं दुदुहे पृश्निरुधः ॥

For by truth as his mover he too, Agni, the Bull, the Male, by the water from the levels, unmoving ranged establishing wide being; the dappled Bull milked a pure-bright udder.

Sy. takes वृषभः as फलवर्षकः, but वृषा as अपां वर्षकः सूर्यः. Obviously both must have a single meaning & allusion, if we are to credit Vamadeva with the least scintilla of the literary faculty. The image is of Agni, the bull calf, sucking the pure-bright teats of the Cow of Knowledge.

11) ऋतेन अद्रिं व्यसन्भिदंतः
समंगिरसो नवंत गोभिः ।
शुनं नरः परि षदन्नुषासम्
आविः स्वरभवज्जाते अग्नौ ॥

By truth the Angirasas broke the hill and parted it asunder and they moved forward with the herds of light; men, they entered into the blissful dawn (the bliss, the dawn), Heaven was revealed because Agni was born.

शुनं. Sy. सुखेन. It means properly सुखं & may be either a noun or an epithet qualifying उषासं or as Sayana takes it an adverb. स्वर्. Sy. सूर्यः. It suits Sayana's naturalistic & ritualistic theory to take स्वर्, wherever possible, as the Sun; I take स्वर् always = Heaven, the third vyahriti, & सूर् or सूर्य only as the sun.

12) ऋतेन देवीरमृता अमृक्ता
अर्णोभिरापो मधुमद्भिरग्ने ।
वाजी न सर्गेषु प्रस्तुभानः
प्र सदमित् स्रवितवे दधन्युः ॥

By truth the divine, immortal and undammed rivers with their

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streams of honey, O Agni, as a horse that sets its breast against the wind when loosed to its gallopings, so have ever & always grown in mass for the flowing.

आपः. It is difficult to say why Sy. renders आप्तव्याः सत्यः—देवीरापः is a common enough expression in the Veda. अमृक्ताः—rendered usually unhurt. Sy. अबाधिताः. It is, I think, unopposed, unobstructed. Cf मर्चयति द्वूयेन, limits by division or duality. दधन्युः. Sy. प्रगच्छंति. But "ran to flow" would be a curious tautology; moreover धन् means either sound or mass & substance, धन, धनुः a sandy shore, धन्वन् desert, shore, dry land, sky, or sometimes perhaps hurt, injury. In the whole ध् clan, it is only the धू roots, a few derivatives like ध्रज्, etc, & धेनः, धेना ocean, river, which retain the sense of motion. Probably, then, दधन्युः means either sounded, neighed like a horse for its gallop or to get mass, volume. The latter agrees best both with the image in प्रस्तुभानः & the stress on ऋतेन.

13) मा कस्य यक्षं सदमिद् धुरो गा
मा वेशस्य प्रमिनतो मा आपेः ।
मा भ्रातुरग्ने अनृजोर्ऋणं वे-
र्मा सख्युर्दक्षं रिपोर्भुजेम ॥

Go not thou ever to the control (or the sacrificial activity) of any who would rob us, nor of the neighbour or the friend who seeks to limit us; manifest not in us, O Agni, the knowledge (or the journeying) of a brother who goes not straight, nor suffer us to enjoy as our own the thought (or the share) of friend or of foe.

हुरो. Sy. हिंसकस्य. But cf जुहुराणमेनः. It means that which takes us out of our straight path or else that which robs us of knowledge: the idea is always drawing, seizing, ravishing. ऋणं. Sy. ऋणवद् देयं हविः. This is absurd. ऋणं = motion, the root ऋ implies straight or forward motion and often attains to the sense of knowledge, rule or right—eg ऋतं, ऋषिः, ऋभु, ऋजु. It may mean here either the knowledge attained or the progress on the Vedic journey. वेः may mean either "enter into", "resort to" or "manifest in us". The last is most probable. दक्षं, either "share", cf दश् to distribute, or discernment, cf Gr. doxa, dokeo—idea.

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14) रक्षा णो अग्ने तव रक्षणेभी
रारक्षाणः सुमख प्रीणानः ।
प्रति ष्फुर वि रुज वीडु अंहो
जहि रक्षो महि चिद्वावृधानं ॥

Guard us, O Agni, with thy protections, putting forth thy vehemence, O full of substance, in thy gladness (or revelling in thy delight); break forth, shatter strong-piled evil, slay the Rakshasa, huge though he be, in his increase.

रारक्षाणः. It is hardly likely that the idea of protection should be thrice repeated. रह् means to separate, screen, cover, conceal, hence the sense of protection or keeping in रक्ष्; but, also, like रभ्, it means swiftness, violence, vehemence & may mean passionate delight like रभस. The three closing words will then be connected & complementary in sense in the true Vedic style.

15) एभिर्भव सुमना अग्ने अर्कै-
रिमान्स्पृश मन्मभिः शूर वाजान् ।
अत ब्रह्माणि अंगिरो जुषस्व
सं ते शस्तिर्देववाता जरेत ॥

By these hymns of realisation become gracious to us, O Agni, & touch by their thoughts, O Agni, these riches; cleave too to the soul-mantras, O Angiras, & let that expression of thee manifesting thy godhead (manifested by the gods) woo thee for us.

अंगिरः. Sy. ये अंगारा आसंस्ते अंगिरसोऽभवत्रिति ब्राह्मणं । ये अंगिरसः सूनवस्ते अग्नेः परि जज्ञिरे । ऋ. १०.६२.५. अग्नि, अंगति, अंगार, अंगिर्, अंगिरस् all come from अग् & its nasal form अंग्, to be strong in being, forceful in motion, action, heat or brilliant in light. These are the ideas contained in the Vedic idea of Agni, the divine Lord of Tapas, who is अंगिरः full of strength & force, heat & brilliance. सं जरेत. Sy. संवर्धयतु. But the sense of जृ in the Veda is fixed & there is no ground here for departure from its ordinary significance.

16) एता विश्वा विदुषे तुभ्यं वेधो
नीथान्यग्ने निण्या वचांसि ।
निवचना कवये काव्यानि
अशंसिषं मतिभिर्विप्र उक्थैः ॥

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Lo, all these secret words that guide us in the journey, for thee, O Agni, Disposer, who hast the knowledge, I illumined in the thoughts of the mind, in the expressions of the speech have uttered forth,—secrets of seers' wisdom expressive for the seer.