THE

SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST

[32]

HENRY FROWDE

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE

AMEN CORNER,

E.G.

THE

SACRED BOOKS OF THE EASTTRANSLATED

BY VARIOUS ORIENTAL SCHOLARS

AND EDITED BY

F.

MAX M0LLER

VOL, XXXII

fc

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS1891[

All rights reserved ]

PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESSBY HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY

VEDIC HYMNSTRANSLATED BY

F.

MAX MULLER

PART

I

HYMNS TO THE MARUTS, RUDRA, VAYU, AND VATA

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS1891{All rights reserved }

\

i

CONTENTS.PAGE

INTRODUCTION

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITIONHYMNS, TRANSLATION AND NOTES:

Maw^ala X, 121,I,,,

The Unknown GodIndra and the Maruts

.

i.

6,

14

19,

37,

Agni and the Maruts The Maruts.

.

-53638l

38, 39,n

H,3

64

97 I06

,

85

126,

86, 87,

154159.-.

88,

169

165, 166,

The Maruts and Indra . The Maruts.

.

179

209272-

167, 168,

5,

and Agastya 170, Dialogue between Indra Maruts The 171,.

.

279 286

2892 93

172,II,

34, 52,

,5

2 95

V,,,

312n

53, 54, 55,56,

319

,,

...

325333 337

57,

58,59>

.....

340 343347

CONTENTS.PAGEMaz>zavama expresses an exhortation, not a simple fact, and on this point Grassmann s metrical transla

By

this translation, the contrast

tion

is

decidedly preferable.

Verse

8.

Von Roth

:

Vrztra schlug ich mit eigner Kraft, ihr Marut,

Und

meine

Wuth war s,

die so kiihn

mich machte,

INTRODUCTION.Ich wars,

XV11

der

in

der Faust den Blitz

dem Menschen

Den Zugang bahnteThisis

zu den blinkenden Gewassern.

some

a very good translation, except that there are syllables too much in the last line. What I miss is theI.

accent on thetranslating:

Perhaps

this

might become stronger by

tra nieder, Ich schlug mit eigner Kraft den Ich, Maruts, stark durch meinen Zorn geworden

Wz

;

Ich war

s,

der blitzbewaffnet fur den Menschen

Dem

lichten

Wasser

freie

Bahn9.

geschaffen.

Verse

Von Roth

:

Gewiss, nichts ist was je dir widerstiinde, Und so wie du gibts keinen zweiten Gott mehr, Nicht jetzt, noch kunftig, der was du vermochte

:

begeistert was zu thun dich liistet. Here I doubt about begeistert being a true rendering of pravrz ddha, grown strong. As to karishya^ instead of karishya, the reading of the MSS., Roth is inclined to adopt

Thu denn

my

conjecture, as supported

IV, 30, 23.

by the analogous passage in The form which Ludwig quotes as analogous

to karishyam, namely, pravatsyam, I cannot find, unless it is meant for Apast. vSrauta S. VI, 27, 2, namo vo*stu

pravatsyam iti Bahwz/a^, where however pravatsyam is probably meant for pravatsam. Grassmann has understood devata rightly, while Roth stranslation leavesit

doubtful.

Verse

10.

Von Roth1

:

So

soil

der Starke Vorrang mir allein sein

:

Was ich gewagt, vollfiihr ich mit Verstandniss. Man kennt mich als den Starken wohl, ihr Marut, An was ich riihre, Indra der bemeistert s.Von RothwhichI

has adopted the translation of the second;

line,

suggested in a noteI

Ludwig

prefers the

more

abrupt construction whichIt is difficult to decide.

preferred in the

translation.

b

VEDIC HYMNS.Verse 11.

Von Roth

:

Entzuckt hat euer Riihmen mich, ihr Marut, Das lobenswerthe Wort, das ihr gesprochen, den Indra fur den freud gen Helden, Fiir mich Als Freunde fur den Freund, fur mich von selbst ihr. The last words fiir mich von selbst ihr are not very

same may be said of the original tanve tanubhi/z. I still adhere to my remark that tanu, self, must refer to the same person, though I see that all other translatorsclear, but

the

take an opposite view.

Non

liquet.12.

Verse

Von Roth

:

Gefallen find ich, wie sie sind, an ihnen, In Raschheit und in Frische unvergleichlich.

Marut, im Schmuck erblickte, mich und freue jetzt an euch mich. This is again one of those verses which it is far easier to A//Mnta me may mean, they translate than to construe. pleased me, but then what is the meaning of Madayatha a nunam, may you please me now, instead of what we In order to avoid should expect, you do please me now. I took the more frequent meaning of Mad, to appear, this, and translated, you have appeared formerly, appear to me

So

oft ich euch,

Erfreut

ich

now.

To how5.

translate anedya/* jrava^ a isha^ dadhana/*,3

by

c

in

Raschheit unddoesit

Frische unvergleichlich, is poetical, but I take a dha in the benefit the scholar?init

sense of bringing or giving, as

is

often used

;

cf.

II, 38,

more compatible with isha//, food, vigour. I am not certain that anedya^ can mean blameless. Roth s. v. derives anedya from a-nedya, and nedya from nid. But how we get from nid to nedya, he does not say. HeThisis

I sug suggests anedya// or anedya^rava^ as emendations. gested anedyam. But I suspect there is something else

behind

Anediya^ may have been intended for having nothing coming nearer, and like an-uttama, might Or anedya/z may have been an adverb, express excellence.all

this.

not nearly.

INTRODUCTION.

XIX

These are mere guesses, and they are rather contradicted

by anedya/, usedtranslatingItis

in the plural,

with anavadyaA

Still it is

better to point out difficulties than to slurin

them over bythought that

Raschheit und in Frische unvergleichlich.

possible that both

Roth and

Sa.ya.na.;

anedya/z was connected with nediya/z but what scholars want to know is the exact construction of a sentence.

^ Von RothTT*-r>

Verse:

13.

1st

irgendwo ein Fest fiir euch bereitet, So fahrt doch her zu unsrer Schaar, ihr Schaaren

!

Der Andacht Regungen in uns belebend, Und werdet Zeugen unserer frommen Werke.In this verse thereis

no

difficulty,I

meaning of apivatayanta/;, on whichnotei.

except the exact have spoken in

Verse

14.

Von Roth

:

WoDa

dankbar huldigend der Dichter lobsingt,

zusammenfiihrte, Marut, bei den Frommen, Euch gelten ja des Beters heil ge Spriiche. Prof, von Roth admits that this is a difficult verse.kehretein, ihr

Hier

wo

uns

Manya s Kunst

He

translates

it, but again he does not help us to construe it. Grassmann also gives us a metrical translation, but it differs:

widely from von Roth s Wenn wie zur Spende euch der Dichter herlockt, Und der Gesang des Weisen uns herbeizog, &c.

;

and so does Geldner s version,, unless we are to consider this as an improved rendering from von Roth s own pen:

WennWie

uns des

Manya Kunst

zur Feier herzieht,

Dichter ja zu Festen gerne rufen/ &c.for duvasyat,

Here Geldner conjectures duvasya takes duvase as an infinitive.

and

Von Roth:Geweihtist

Verseeuch der

15.

Preis,

Marut, die Lieder,

Des Manya, des Mandarasohns, des Dichters, Mit Labung kommt herbei, mir selbst zur Starkung [Gebt Labung uns und wasserreiche Fluren]. b 2

XX

VEDIC HYMNS.tanve

How

vayam

is

to

mean mir

selbst zur

Starkung

has not been explained by von Roth. No doubt tanve may mean mir selbst, and vayam zur Starkung but though this;

may satisfy a poet, scholars want to know how to construe. It seems to me that Roth and Lanman (Noun-inflection, p.553) have

isham

for

andI

in

taking an accusative of ish, which ought to be isham, admitting the masculine gender for vrigana. in the

made

the same mistake which

I

made

in

sense ofstill

Flu r.take yasish/a for the 3p. sing, of

the precative Atmanepada, like ^anishish/a and vanishish/a. With the preposition ava, yasisish^a^ in IV, i, 4, means to turn

With the preposition a therefore yisishfe may If we took yasishfe well mean to turn towards, to bring. as a 2 p. plur. in the sense of come, we could not accountaway.thus get long i, nor for the accusative vayam. the meaning, May this your hymn of praise bring vayam, i. e. a branch, an offshoot or offspring, tanve, for ourselves,for theisha,

We

together with food.findIt is

May werain.

We then begin a new sentence an invigorating autumn with quickening true that isha, as a name of an autumn month,:

does not occur again in the Rig-veda, but it is found in the vSatapatha-brahma/za. Vrz^ana, possibly in the senseor enemies, we have in VII, 32, 27, a^ata/z where Roth reads wrongly a^Tzata vrz^ana V, vrz^ana^, i iradanu also would be an appropriate VI, 44, 35, 5. (?);of people;

me the following notes on hymn. He thinks it is what he calls an Akhyana-hymn, consisting of verses which originally formedthisdifficult

epithet to isha. Professor Oldenberg has sent

He has treated of this class of part of a story in prose. in the Zeitschrift der D. M. G. XXXIX, 60 seq. hymnswould prefer to ascribe verses i and 2 to Indra, who addresses the Maruts when he meets them as they return from a sacrifice. In this case, however, we should have toaccept

He

riramama as a pluralis majestaticus, and I doubt whether Indra ever speaks of himself in the plural, except it may be in using the pronoun na/. In verse 4 Professor Oldenberg prefers to take pra-

INTRODUCTION.bhrzto

XXI

adiik in the sense of the stone for pressing has been brought forth/ and he adds that me need not mean my stone, but brought forward for me.the

me

Soma

c

*

He wouldX,75, 3,

iyarti, as in IV, 17, 12 though he does not consider this alteration of the;

prefer to read

.yushmam

text necessary. Professor Oldenberg would ascribe vv. 13 and 14 to Indra. The 1 4th verse would then mean, After Manya has brought us (the gods) hither, turn, Of Maruts, towards the sage.

O

should like to adopt at all events the last sentence, taking varta for vart-ta, the 2 p. plur. imperat of vrtt, after the Ad class.this interpretation I

The by Dr.

text of the Maitraya/zi Sa///hita, lately published L. von Schrceder, yields a few interesting various:

readings of jrava

v. 5,

ekam1

instead of etan

;

v. 1 2,

jrava instead

;

and

v.

5, vaya7//si as a variant for

vayam, which

looks like a conjectural emendation. comparison like the one we have here instituted between

A

two translations of the same hymn, will serve to show how useless any rendering, whether in prose or poetry, would bewithout notes to justify the meanings of every doubtful It will, no doubt, disclose at the same sentence. time the unsettled state of Vedic scholarship, but the more

word and

fully this fact

be

for

acknowledged, the better, I believe, it will the progress of our studies. They have sufferedis

more than from anything else from that baneful positivism which has done so much harm in hieroglyphic and cuneiform That the same words and names should be researches.interpreted differently from year to year, is perfectly in telligible to every one who is familiar with the nature of

these decipherments. What has seriously injured the credit of these studies is that the latest decipherments have alwaysfinal and unchangeable. Vedic hymns easy to decipher than Babylonian and But Egyptian inscriptions, and in one sense they are. when we come to really difficult passages, the Vedic hymns

been represented as

may seem more

often require a far greater effort of divination than the hymns addressed to Egyptian or Babylonian deities. And

there

is

this additional difficulty that

when we

deal with

XX11

VEDIC HYMNS.

inscriptions,

we have

at

all

events the text

as

it

waslater

engraved from the

first,

and we are

safe against

modifications and interpolations, while in the case of the Veda, even though the text as presupposed by the Prati-

jakhyas

it may have century Nor can I help giving undergone before that time? expression once more to misgivings I have so often ex pressed, whether the date of the Pratuakhyas is really beyond the reach of doubt, and whether, if it is, there is no other way of escaping from the conclusion that the whole collection of the hymns of the Rig-veda, including even the Valakhilya hymns, existed at that early time a

B. C.,

may be considered as authoritative how do we know what changes

for

the

fifth

.

The morehave

study the hymns, the more I feel staggered at the conclusion at which all Sanskrit scholars seem toI

arrived, touching their age.

That many of them are

than anything else in Sanskrit, their grammar, if else, nothing proclaims in the clearest way. But that someold, older

of

them

are

modern

imitations

is

a conviction that forces

itself

even on the least sceptical minds.

Here too we must

guard against positivism, and suspend our judgment, and accept correction with a teachable spirit. No one would be more grateful for a way out of the maze of Vedic chronology than I should be, if a more modern date could be assigned to some of the Vedic hymns than theperiod

Buddhism. But how can we account for Buddhism without Vedic hymns ? In the oldest Buddhist Suttas the hymns of three Vedas are constantly referred to, and warnings are uttered even against the fourth Veda,rise of

of the

the

Athabbana b

.

The Upanishads

also, the latest

pro

period, must have been known to the founders of Buddhism. From all this there seems to be no escape, and yet I must confess that my conscience

ductions of the

Brahma^a

quivers in assigning such compositions as the Valakhilya hymns to a period preceding the rise of Buddhism inIndia.&b

See Preface to thexiii.

first edition, p. xxxii.

Tuva/akasutta, ver. 927; Sacred Books of the East, vol.

x, p.

176; Intro

duction, p.

INTRODUCTION.I

XX111

have often been asked

why

I

began

my

translation of

the Rig-veda with the hymns the Storm-gods, which are certainly not the most attractiveI had several reasons, though, as often of Vedic hymns. I could hardly say which of them determined my happens,

addressed to the Maruts or

choice.

First

of

all,

they are the most

difficult

hymns, and

therefore they had a peculiar attraction in eyes. Secondly, as even when translated they required a con

my

siderable effort before they could be fully understood, I hoped they would prove attractive to serious students only, and frighten away the casual reader who has done so much

harm by meddling with Vedic

antiquities.

Our

grapes. Ifor

am

glad to say, arelonger.

still

sour,

and ought to remain so

some time

Thirdly, there are few hymns which place the original character of the so-called deities to whom they are addressedin so clear a light as the

hymns addressed

to the

Maruts

or Storm-gods. There can be no doubt about the meaning of the name, whatever difference of opinion there may be about its etymology. Marut and maruta in ordinary Sanskrit

mean wind, and moreits

particularly a strong wind, differing by violent character from vayu or vat a a Nor do the hymns.

themselves leave us in any doubt as to the natural phe nomena with which the Maruts are identified. Storms

which root up the trees of the forest, lightning, thunder, and showers of rain, are the background from which the Maruts in their personal and dramatic character rise before our eyes. In one verse the Maruts are the very phenomenaof nature as convulsed

by a thunderstorm

;

in

the next,

with the slightest change of expression, they are young men, driving on chariots, hurling the thunderbolt, and crushingthe clouds in order to win the rain.

sons of

Rudra and Prism, the

friends

Now they are the and brothers of Indra,

quarrel with Indra and claim their own rightful share of praise and sacrifice. Nay, after a time the stormin like the India, gods storm-gods in other countries,a

now they

The Vayus

are mentioned

by the side of the Maruts, Rv.

II,

n,

14.

XXIV

VEDIC HYMNS.

obtain a kind of supremacy, and are invoked by them In selves, as if there were no other gods beside them.

most of theis

later native dictionaries, in the Medini, VLrva,

Hema^andra, Amara, and Anekarthadhvanima/^ari, Marut a and so is given as a synonym of deva, or god in general,

Maru

in Pali.

But while the hymns addressed to the Maruts enable us to watch the successive stages in the development of so-called deities more clearly than any other hymns, there is no doubt one drawback, namely, the uncertainty of the etymology of Marut. The etymology of the name is and always mustbe the best key to the original intention of a deity. What ever Zeus became afterwards, he was originally conceived

Whatever changes came over as Dyaus, the bright sky. Ceres in later times, her first name and her first conception was vSarad, harvest. With regard to Marut I have myselfno doubt whatever that Mar-ut comes from the root M^R,in the sense of grinding, crushing,

pounding (Sk.;

mrzVzati,

hi;;zsayam, part, murwa,

crushed, like mrzdita

amur and

There is no objection to this etymology, amuri, destroyer). either on the ground of phonetic rules, or on account ofthe meaning of Marut b Professor Kuhn s idea that the name of the Maruts was derived from the root MM, to die,.

and that the Maruts were originally conceived as the souls of the departed, and afterwards as ghosts, spirits, winds, and lastly as storms, derives no support from the Veda. Another etymology, proposed in Bohtlingk s Dictionary, which derives Marut from a root MAi, to shine, labours under two disadvantages first, that there is no such root in;

Sanskrit

ning is Maruts.

secondly, that the lurid splendour of the light but a subordinate feature in the character of the;

No better etymology having been proposed, I still maintain that the derivation of Marut from MM, to pound, to smash, is free from any objection, and that the original conception of the Maruts was that of the crushing, smashing, striking, tearing,a

destroying storms.

bc

Anundoram Borooah, Sanskrit Grammar, vol. iii, p. 323. See Lectures on the Science of Language, vol. ii, p. 35 7 seq.

Marii

is

a word of very doubtful origin.

INTRODUCTION.It is true that

XXVin

we have only two words

Sanskrit formed

by the suffix ut, marut and garut in garut-mat, but there are other suffixes which are equally restricted to one This ut represents an old suffix vat, or two nouns only.just as

vidus (vidushi, vidush/ara) for vid-vas, nom. vid-van, ace. vidva^sam. In a similar way we find side by side par us, knot, parvan, knot, and parvata, stone, cloud, presupposing such forms as *parvat and pa rut. If then by the side of *parut, we find Latin pars, partis, why should we object to Mars, Martis as a parallel form of Marut?us presupposes vas,inI

do not say the two words are identical, I only main tain that the root is the same, and the two suffixes are mere variants. No doubt Marut might have appearedin

Latin as

Marut,

like

the neuter cap-ut,

capitis

prae-ceps, prae-cipis, and prae - cipitis); but (cf. Mars, Martis is as good a derivation from M/R as Fors, Fort is is from GKLH a Dr. von Bradke (Zeitschrift der.

D.M.G.,

vol. xl, p. 349),

though identifying Marut with

Mars, proposes a new derivation of Marut, as being originally *Mavrzt, which would correspond well with Mavors. But *Mavrzt has no meaning in Sanskrit, andseems grammatically an impossible formation. If there could be any doubt as to the original identity of Marut and Mars, it is dispelled by the Umbrian nameb ^erfo Marti o, which, as Grassmann has shown, corre

sponds exactly to the expression ^ardha-s maruta-s, the host of the Maruts. Such minute coincidences can hardly

be accidental, though, as

I

chapter of accidents in language

have myself often remarked, the is certainly larger than we

suppose. Thus, in our case, I pointed out that we can observe the transition of the gods of storms into the godsof destruction and war, not only in the Veda, but likewise in the mythology of the Polynesians and yet the similarity;

in

the Polynesian

name

of

Mar u

can only be accidental

.

a

Biographies of Words,

p. 12.

bc

Kuhn s Zeitschrift, vol. xvi, M. M., Science of Religion,

p.

190

;

and note

to Rv. I, 37,

i,

p. 70.

p. 255.

XXVI

VEDIC HYMNS.I

And

called

may add that Marutu uled

in

Estonian also

we

find storm-gods.

or

Maruts seemed to Fourthly, the hymns to possess an interest of their own, because, as it is difficult to doubt the identity of the two names, Marut

plural addressed to the

maro,

marud a

me

and Mars, they offered an excellent opportunity for watching the peculiar changes which the same deity would undergo when transferred to India on one side and to Europe on the Whether the Greek Ares also was an offshoot of other. the same root must seem more doubtful, and I contented myself with giving the principal reasons for and againstthis theoryb.

Though hymns to the Maruts

these inducements which ledas thefirst

me

to select the

instalment of a translation of

the Rig-veda could hardly prevail with me now, yet I was obliged to place them once more in the foreground, because

the volume containing the translation of these hymns with very full notes has been used for many years as a text

book by those who were beginning the study of the RigIn order to meet the demand veda, and was out of print. for a book which could serve as an easy introduction toVedicstudies, I decided to reprint the translation of the

hymns

and most of the notes, though here and there somewhat abbreviated, and then to continue theto the Maruts,

same hymns, followed by others addressed to Rudra, Vayu, and Vata. My task would, of course, have been much easier, if I had been satisfied with making a selecand translating those hymns, or those verses only, which afford no very great difficulties. As it is, I have grappled with every hymn and every verse addressed to the Maruts, so that my readers will find in this volume all that the Vedic poets had to say about the Stormtion,

gods. In order to show, however, that Vedic hymns, though they begin with a description of the most striking phe

nomena

of nature,

are

by no means confined

to

that

a b

Bertram, Ilmatar, Dorpat, 1871, p. 98. Lectures on the Science of Language, vol.

ii,

p. 357.

INTRODUCTION.

XXV11

narrow sphere, but rise in the end to the most sublime one hymn, conception of a supreme Deity, I have placed head of the at that addressed to the Unknown God, my collection. This will clear me, I hope, of the veryunfair

suspicion

that,

by beginning

my

translation

of

the Rig-veda with hymns celebrating the wild forces of nature only, I had wished to represent the Vedic religion It will give the as nature-worship and nothing else. he may expect in thoughtful reader a foretaste of what

show how vast a sphere of religious thought what we call by a very promiscuous name, by the Veda. The MS. of this volume was ready, and the printing ofthe end, andis filledit

was actually begun in 1885. A succession of new calls on my time, which admitted of no refusal, have delayed the This delay, however, has been actual publication till now. compensated by one very great advantage. Beginningwithhas, in

167 of the first Ma;^ala, Professor Oldenberg the most generous spirit, lent me his help in the final It is chiefly due to revision of my translation and notes.

hymn

him that the

attempts at the interpre tation of the Veda, which are scattered about in learned articles and monographs, have been utilised for this volume.results of the latest

His suggestions, I need hardly say, have proved most valuable; and though he should not be held responsible for any mistakes that may be discovered, whether in thetranslation or in the notes,

my

readers

may

at all events

take

it

for

granted

that,

where

my

translation

seems

unsatisfactory, Professor to suggest.in

Oldenberg also had nothing better

Considering my advancing years, I thought I should act the true interest of Vedic scholarship, if for the futureI

also

divided

my

work with him.

While

for this

volume

the chief responsibility rests with me, the second volume will contain the hymns to Agni, as translated and an

notated by him, and revised

by me.

In places where

we

For the rest, we are willing really differ, we shall say so. to share both blame and praise. Our chief object is tohelp forward a critical study of the Veda, and

we

are well

XXV111

VEDIC HYMNS.

aware that much of what has been done and can be done in the present state of Vedic scholarship, is only a kind of reconnaissance, if not a forlorn hope, to be followed hereafter

by a patient siege of the hitherto impregnable fortress of ancient Vedic literature.

R MAX MULLER.OXFORD:

6th Dec. 1891.

PREFACETO THE FIRST EDITION.WHENthefirst

some twenty years agoI little

I

decided on undertakingit

edition of the two texts and the

the Rig-veda,

expected thatthe

commentary of would fall to my lot.

What

a trans-

lation of the

to publish also tion, be called.

what may, without presump_.

first

translation

of the

,

Rig-veda ought to be.

ancient sacredis

hymns Jof

of the Brahmans.

Such

the charm

the dark and

helpless

deciphering step by step utterances of the early poets of

India, and discovering from time to time behind words that for years seemed unintelligible, the simple though strange expressions of primitive thought and primitive faith, that it required no small amount of self-denial to

decide in favour of devoting a life to the publishing of the materials rather than to the drawing of the results which

those materials supply to the student of ancient language and ancient religion. Even five and twenty years ago, and

without waiting for

the publication of Saya/za s com much mentary, might have been achieved in the interpreta tion of the hymns of the Rig-veda. With the MSS. thenaccessible in the principal libraries of Europe, a tolerably correct text of the Sawhita might have been published, and

these ancient relics of a primitive religion might have been at least partially deciphered and translated in the same wayviz.

which ancient inscriptions are deciphered and translated, by a careful collection of all grammatical forms, and a by complete intercomparison of all passages in which the same words and the same phrases occur. When I resolved to devote my leisure to a critical edition of the text andin

commentary of the Rig-veda rather than to an independent it was chiefly from a conviction that the traditional interpretation of the Rig-veda, as embodied in the commentary of Sayawa and other works of a similarstudy of that text,

XXX

VEDIC HYMNS.and that would be

character, could not be neglected with impunity, sooner or later a complete edition of these works

It was better therefore to begin recognised as a necessity. with the beginning, though it seemed hard sometimes to

spend forty years in the wilderness instead of rushing straight into the promised land. It is well known to those who have followed my literary publications that I never entertained any exaggeratedopinion as to the value of the traditional interpretation of the Veda, handed down in the theological schools of India, and preserved to us in the great commentary of Saya/za.

More than twenty years ago, whenject in

it

required

more courage

to speak out than now, I expressed

on that sub no ambiguous language, and was blamed for it by some of those who now speak of Saya^a as a mere drag in the progress of Vedic scholarship. Even a drag, however, is sometimes more conducive to the safe advancement of learning than a whip and those who recollect the history of Vedic scholarship during^ the last five and twenty years, know best that, with all its faults and weaknesses, Saya^a s commentary was a sine qua non for a scholarlike study I do not wonder that others who have of the Rig-veda. more recently entered on that study are inclined to speak

my opinion

;

disparagingly of the scholastic interpretations of Saya^a.

They hardly know how much weeffecting ourfirst

all owe to his guidance in entrance into this fortress of Vedic lan

guage and Vedic religion, and how much even they, without being aware of it, are indebted to that Indian Eustathius. I do not withdraw an opinion which I expressed many years ago, and for which I was much blamed at the time,that Saya;za in many cases teaches us how the Veda ought not to be, rather than how it ought to be understood.

But

for all that,

who does not know how muchfirst

assistanceit

may be

derived from a

translation, even

though

is

often the very mistakes of our pre imperfect, nay, decessors help us in finding the right track ? If now we can walk without Saya;za, we ought to bear in mind that five

how

and twenty years ago we could not have made even our first steps, we could never, at least, have gained a firm

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

XXXI

If therefore we can now footing without his leading strings. see further than he could, let us not forget that we are standing on his shoulders.I

do not regret

in the least the

time which

I

have devoted

to the

somewhat tedious work of editing the commentary of Saya/za, and editing it according to the strictest rules ofcritical

occupy

The Veda, I feel convinced, will scholarship. scholars for centuries to come, and will take andits

most ancient of books Such a book, and the com mentary of such a book, should be edited once for all and unless some unexpected discovery is made of more ancient MSS., I do not anticipate that any future Bekker ormaintain for everin the library of

position as the

mankind.

;

will find much to glean for a new edition of Saya;za, or that the text, as restored by me from a collation of the best MSS. accessible in Europe, will ever be materially

Dindorf

shaken

a.

It

find faulta

with

has taken a long time, I know but those who me for the delay, should remember that few;

Since the publication of the

first

volume of the Rig-veda, many new MSS.

have come before me, partly copied for me, partly lent to me for a time by scholars in India, but every one of them belonged clearly to one of the three families which I have described in my introduction to the first volume of theRig-veda. In the beginning of the first Ashfaka, and occasionally at the beginning of other Ash/akas, likewise in the commentary on hymns which were studied by native scholars with particular interest, various readings occur in

some MSS., which seem at first to betoken an independent source, but which are in reality mere marginal notes, due to more or less learned students of these MSS. Thus after verse 3 of the introduction one MS. reads sa praha:

im pati/w,

sayawaryo mamanu^-a^, sarva;// vetty esha vedana;// vyakhyatrz tvena, yu^-yatam. The same MS., after verse 4, adds ityukto madhavarra^-an,:

yea

virabukkamahipati//, anvarat sayaa/aryaw vedarthasya praka\rane. I had for a time some hope that MSS. written in Grantha or other South-

Indian alphabets might have preserved an independent text of Saya;za, but from some specimens of a Grantha MS. collated for me by Mr. Eggeling, I do not think that even this hope is meant to be realised. The MS. in question contains a few independent various readings, such as are found in all MSS., andtheir origin clearly to the jottings of individual students. When at the end of verse 6, I found the independent reading, vyutpannas tavata sarva riko vyakhyatum arhati, I expected that other various readings of the same character

owe

might follow. But after a few additions in the beginning, and those clearly taken from other parts of Sayawa s commentary, nothing of real importance could be gleaned from that MS. I may mention as more important specimens ofmarginal notes that, before the first puna// kidrzjam, on page 44, line 24 (ist ed.), this MS. reads athava ya^vzasya devam iti sambandhaA, ya^/zasya prakarakam:

ityartha/z,

purohitam

iti

prz thagvueshawam.

And

again, page 44, line 26,

XXX11

VEDIC HYMNS.

scholars, if any, have worked for others more than I have done in copying and editing Sanskrit texts, and that after

one cannot give up the whole of one s life to the colla tion of Oriental MSS. and the correction of proof-sheets. The two concluding volumes have long been ready for Press, and as soon as I can find leisure, they too shall beall

printed and published In now venturing to publish the first volume of my: trans lation of the Rig-veda, I am fully aware that the fate which.

a

be very different from that of my edition of and commentary. It is a mere contribution towards a better understanding of the Vedic hymns, and though I hope it may give in the main a right rendering of the sense of the Vedic poets, I feel convinced that on many points my translation is liable to correction, and will sooner or later be replaced by a more satisfactory one. It is difficult to explain to those who have not themselves worked at the Veda, how it is that, though we may underawaitsit

will

the text

stand almost every word, yet we find it so difficult to lay hold of a whole chain of connected thought, and to discoverexpressions that will not throw a wrong shade on the original features of the ancient words of the Veda.

We

have, on the one hand, to avoid giving to our translations too modern a character, or paraphrasing instead of translating;

while,if

on the

other,

we cannotof

retain expressions

which,

literally

rendered in English orair

any modern

quaintness or absurdity There of ancient poets. to the intention the totally foreign as verses as all whole Vedic scholars are, which, know, yet,yield no sense whatever.before puna/z kidrzVam, thisafter

tongue, would

have an

There are words the meaning of:

MS. adds

nirvahakaw hotaraw devanam ahvataramline,

athava rztvi^am rztvigvid (vad) ya^/zaIn the same tatha ratnadhatamam.;

ratnanam, we read ramamyadhananaw va, taken from page 46, line 2. Various readings like these, however, occur on the first sheets only, soon after the MS. follows the usual and recognised text. [This opinion has been considerably modified after a complete collation of this MS., made for me by Dr. Winternitz.] P or the later Ash/akas, where all the MSS. are very deficient, and where an independent authority would be of real use, no Grantha

MS. hasa

They have

as yet been discovered. since been printed, but the translation has in consequence been

delayed.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.which we can only guess.studywill

XXX111

remove some of our

Here, no doubt, a continued difficulties, and many a

passage that is now dark, will receive light hereafter from a happy combination. Much has already been achieved bythe efforts of European scholars, but much more remains to be done and our only chance of seeing any rapid progress;

I believe, in communicating freely what every one has found out by himself, and not minding if others point out to us that we have overlooked the very passage that would at once have solved our difficulties, that ourlies,

made

conjectures were unnecessary, and our emendations wrong. True and honest scholars whose conscience tells them that

they have done their best, and who care for the subject on which they are engaged far more than for the praise ofbenevolent or the blame of malignantcritics,

ought not to

There are take any notice of merely frivolous censure. of which we no be to doubt, mistakes, ashamed, and oughtwhich the only amende honorable we can make is to openly confess and retract them. But there are others, particularly in a subject like Vedic interpretation, which we should forgive, as we wish to be forgiven. This can be done without lowering the standard of true scholarship orfor

Kindness vitiating the healthy tone of scientific morality. and gentleness are not incompatible with earnestness, far

and where these elements are wanting, not only the joy embittered which is the inherent reward of all bona fide work, but selfishness, malignity, aye, even unfromit!

is

truthfulness, gain the upper hand, and the healthy growth of science is stunted. While in translation of the Veda

my

and

in

the remarks thatI

I

have to make

in the course of

my

commentary, frequently differ from other hope I shall never say an unkind word of men who have done their best, and who have done what they have done in a truly scholarlike, that is, in a humble spirit. It would be unpleasant, even were it possible within theshall

scholars, I

limits assigned, to criticise every opinion that has been put forward on the meaning of certain words or on the con struction of certain verses of the Veda. I prefer, as much

as possible, to vindicate

my ownC

translation, instead

of

O]

XXXIV

VEDIC HYMNS.

examining the translations of other scholars, whether Indian or European. Saya/za s translation, as rendered into Eng lish by Professor Wilson, is before the world. Let those who take an interest in these matters compare it with the In order to give readers who do translation here proposed. not possess that translation, an opportunity of comparing it with my own, I have for a few hymns printed that as well as the translations of Langlois and Benfey a on the same page with my own. Everybody will thus be enabled to judge ofthe peculiar character of each of these translations. That of Saya^a represents the tradition of India that of;

the ingenious, but thoroughly uncritical, guess Langlois work of a man of taste that of Benfey is the rendering of a scholar, who has carefully worked out the history of someis;

words, but who assigns to other words either the traditional meaning recorded by Saya/za, or a conjectural meaning which, however, would not always stand the test of an inter-

comparison of

all

passages in which these words occur.

I

say, in general, that Saya;/a s translation was of great use to me in the beginning, though it seldom afforded help for the really difficult passages. Langlois translation has

may

hardly ever yielded real assistance, while I sincerely regret that Benfey s rendering does not extend beyond the first

Ma^ala.

may sound self-contradictory, if, after confessing the which I derived from these translations, I venture to helpItcall

my own

the

first

translationtranslation,

of the

trlductionraisonnee.

Rig~ ve da.has

The wordI

however,

mean by translation, not a mere rendering of the hymns of the

many meanings.

Rig-veda into English, French, or German, but a full account of the reasons which justify the translator in assigning such a power to such a word, and such a meaning to such asentence.like thatI

mean by

translation a real deciphering, ain his first

work

which Burnouf performed

attempts at

a translation of the Avesta, a traduction raisonnee, if such an expression may be used. Without such a process,In the new edition, Langlois Ludwig and Grassmann have beenft

translation has been omitted,inserted occasionally only.

and those of

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

XXXV

without a running commentary, a mere translation of the ancient hymns of the Brahmans will never lead to any solidresults.

Even

if

the translator has discovered the right

meaning of a word or of a whole sentence, his mere transla tion does not help us much, unless he shows us the process by which he has arrived at it, unless he places before usthe pieces justificatives of his final judgment. The Veda teems with words that require a justification not so;

much many

the words which occur but once or twice, though of these are difficult enough, but rather the common

particles, which occur again and again, which we understand to a certain point, and can render in a vague way, but which must be defined before they can be trans

words and

lated,

and before they can convey to us anyIt

real

and

tangible meaning. lation of this character to attempt either an imitation of the original rhythm or metre, or to introduce the totally

was out of the question

in a trans

by and by

Such translations foreign element of rhyming. at present a metrical translation:

may

follow

would only

be an excuse for an inaccurate translation.

While engaged in collecting the evidence on which the meaning of every word and every sentence must be founded, I have derived the most important assistance from the Sanskrit Dictionary of Professors Bohtlingk and Roth, which has been in course of publication during the lastsixteen years.I believe,

The Vedic portion of that Dictionary may, be taken as the almost exclusive work of Professor

in

Roth, and as such, for the sake of brevity, I shall treat it my notes. It would be ungrateful were I not to acknow

ledge most fully the real benefit which this publication has conferred on every student of Sanskrit, and my only regret is that its publication has not proceeded more rapidly, sothat evenit

now

finished.

But

years will elapse before we can hope to see my sincere admiration for the work per

formed by the compilers of that Dictionary does not prevent me from differing, in many cases, from the explanations of Vedic words given by Professor Roth. If I do not alwayscriticise

Professor

Roth s explanations whenobvious.

I differ

fromfull

him, the reason

is

A

dictionary without a

C 2

XXXVI

VEDIC HYMNS.

translation of each passage, or without a justification of the meanings assigned to each word, is only a preliminary step It represents a first classification of the to a translation.

meanings of the same word in different passages, but it gives us no means of judging how, according to the opinion of the compiler, the meaning of each single word should be made to fit the general sense of a whole sentence. I donot say this in disparagement, for, in a dictionary, it can hardly be otherwise I only refer to it in order to explain;

the difficulty

I felt

whenever

I

differed

from Professor Roth,

and was yet unable to tell how the meaning assigned by him to certain words would be justified by the author ofthe Dictionary himself.

ground I have throughout preferred to explain every step by which I arrived at mythis

On

own

renderings, rather than to write a running criticism of Professor Roth s Dictionary. obligations to him I like to express thus once for all, by stating that whenever I

My

agreed with him, I felt greatly assured as to the soundness of my own rendering, while whenever I

found thatdiffered

I

from him,

I

never did so without careful con

sideration.

works, however, which I have hitherto mentioned, though the most important, are by no means the only ones that have been of use to me in preparing my translation ofthe Rig-veda. The numerous articles on certain hymns, words or verses, occurring in the Rig-veda, published single by Vedic scholars in Europe and India during the lastthirty years, were readtion,

The

by me

at the time of their publicadifficulties,

and have helped me to overcome existence of which is now forgotten.feel

further, I

that

in

greatest of difficulties in others are more deeply indebted thanto one

the very still back go first the and the grappling with the study of the Veda, I and manyIf Iit

is

possible to say,

whose earlyto

fortunes

been one of the greatest mis It was in Burnouf s Sanskrit scholarship.loss has

lectures thatit

we

first

learnt

what the Veda was, and howall

should form the foundation of

our studies.

Not only

did he most liberally communicate to his pupils his valuable MSS.. and teach us how to use these tools, but the results

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.of his

XXXV11

own experience were

freely placed at our service,

we

were warned against researches which he knew to be useless, we were encouraged in undertakings which he knew to be His minute analysis of long passages of full of promise.Saya;za, his independent interpretations of the text of the

hymns,

his

comparisons between the words and grammatical

forms, the thoughts and legends of the Veda and Avesta, his brilliant divination checked by an inexorable sense oftruth,

and

his

dry logical method enlivened by

sallies

of

humour and sparksforgotten,

and

of imaginative genius, though not easily always remembered with gratitude, are

now beyondcriticise

the reach of praise or blame.

Were

I

to

what he or other scholars have said and written

ago, they might justly complain of such criticism. no longer necessary to prove that Nabhanedish/^a cannot mean new relatives, or that there never was a race of Etendhras, or that the angels of the Bible are in no way connected with the Arigiras of the Vedic hymns and it would, on the other hand, be a mere waste of time, were I

many yearsItis

;

to attempt to find out

who

first

discovered that in the Veda

not always mean divine, but sometimes means In fact, it could not be done. brilliant.

deva doesIn a

new subject like that of the interpretation of the are certain things which everybody discovers there Veda,

who has

Their discovery requires so little eyes to see. research that it seems almost an insult to say that they were discovered by this or that scholar. Take, for instance,

the peculiar pronunciation of certain words, rendered neces I believe that sary by the requirements of Vedic metres. learned friend Professor Kuhn was one of the first to mycall

general attention to the fact that semivowels must fre

quently be changed into their corresponding vowels, and that long vowels must sometimes be pronounced as twosyllables.first

It is clear,i, 8),

however, from Rosen

s

notes to the

that he, too, was perfectly aware of (I, this fact, and that he recognised the prevalence of this rule,

Ash/aka

not only with regard to semivowels (see his note to RV. I, 2, 9) and long vowels which are the result of Sandhi, but likewise with regard to others that occur in the body of a

XXXV111word.vocis

VEDIC HYMNS.

Animadverte, he writes, tres syllabas postremas adhvara/zam dipodiae iambicae munus sustinentes,arsin, thesin

penultima syllaba praeter iambi priorissequentis pedis ferente.

quoque

Satis frequentia sunt, in hac prae-

sertim

dipodiae iambicae sede, exempla syllabae natura

longae in tres moras productae.

De qua

re nihil

quidem

memoratum

invenio apud Pingalam aliosque qui de arte metrica scripserunt sed numeros ita, ut modo dictum est,:

computandos esse, taciti agnoscere videntur, una syllaba mancus non eos offendat.

quum

versus

Nowas

this is exactly the case.

The

ancient grammarians,

shall see, teach distinctly that where two vowels coalesced into one according to the rules of Sandhi,

we

havethey

may be pronouncednot teach the same

as two syllables and though they do with regard to semivowels and long;

vowels occurringgranted.

in the

body

of the word, yet they tacitly

recognise that rule,

in,

i, is

by frequently taking its effects for Sutra 950 of the Pratuakhya, verse IX, called an Atyash/i, and the first pada is said to Thusin

consist of twelve syllables.

In order to get this number,

the author must have read,

aya ru/afirst

hari/zya"

punana/z.called a Dhrzti,syllables.

Immediately after, verse IV,fore the author takesit

i, 3, is

pdda must again have twelvefor

and the Here thereread,

granted that

we should.

sakhe sakhayam abhy a vavrztsva a

No one, in fact, with any ear for rhythm, whether 5aunaka and Pihgala, or Rosen and Kuhn, could have helped ob But it is quite serving these rules when reading the Veda. a different case when we come to the question as to which words admit of such protracted pronunciation, and which do not. Here one scholar may differ from another according to the view he takes of the character of Vedic metres, and here one has to take careful account of the minute anda

See also Sutra 937 seq.

I

cannot find any authority for the statement of

Professorit

is

(Beitrage, vol. iii, p. 1 14) that, according to the Rik-pratwakhya, the first semivowel that must be dissolved, unless he referred to the

Kuhn

remarks of the commentator to Sutra 973.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

XXXIX

ingenious observations contained in numerous articles by Professors Kuhn, Bollensen, Grassmann, and others. With regard to the interpretation of certain words andsentences too,it

may happen

taxed the ingenuity of somequoting anybodyof the endlesss

that explanations which have scholars to the utmost, seem

to others so self-evident that they

name

in

would hardly think of of them, to say nothing support

and

useless

work

it

wouldthefirst

entail,

were we

to propose this It is impossible here to lay down or that interpretation. each scholar must be guided by his own general rules:

obliged always to find out

who was

Let us take sense of justice to others and by self-respect. one instance. From the first time that I read the fourth

hymnverses:

of the

Rig-veda,

I

translated the fifth and

sixth

uta bruvantu na/#

m da/z

ni/i

anyatak

k\\.

arata,

dadhana/z mdreuta na/

it diiva/z,

su-bhagan arik vo/eyu/z dasma kr/sh/aya^,it

sya ma1.

indrasya sarmani.

Whether our enemiesoffer

who2.

say, Move to Indra only, worship

away

elsewhere,

you:

Or whether, O mighty one, all people call us blessed may we always remain in the keeping of Indra. About the general sense of this passage I imagined therecould be no doubt, although one word in it, viz. aM, re quired an explanation. Yet the variety of interpretations

we look1.

proposed by different scholars is extraordinary. to Saya;za, he translates:

First, if

our priests praise Indra! O enemies, go away from this place, and also from another place Our priests

May

!

(may

praise Indra), they who are always performing wor ship for Indra. 2. destroyer of enemies may the enemy call us pos sessed of wealth how much more, friendly people May

O

!

;

!

we be

in the

happiness of Indra

!

Professor Wilsontranslatedi.:

did not follow

Saya;za closely,

but

Let our

ministers, earnestly performing his worship,

xl

VEDIC HYMNS.:

exclaim2.

Depart, ye revilers, from hence and every otheris

place (where helet

adored).foes, let

Destroyer of:

our enemies say

perous (congratulate us). the felicity (derived from the favour) of Indra.Langlois translated:

men

May we

we are pros ever abide in

1. Que (ces amis), en fetant Indra, puissent dire: Vous, qui etes nos adversaires, retirez-vous loin d ici.

nos ennemis nous appellent des hommes fortunes, places que nous sommes sous la protection d Indra.2.

Que

Stevenson translated1.

:

Let

all

men

profane scoffers,place, while

Avaunt ye remove from hence, and from every otheragain join in praising Indra. the rites of Indra.

we perform

2. O foe-destroyer, (through thy favour) even our enemies what speak peaceably to us, the possessors of wealth wonder then if other men do so. Let us ever enjoy the;

happiness which springs from IndraProfessor Benfey translated 1. And let the scoffers say,:

s

blessing.

one2.

else,

They are rejected therefore they celebrate Indra alone.the

by everyas

And may

happy,

O

enemy and the country proclaim us a destroyer, if we are only in Indra s keeping.

Professor Roth, s.v. anyata^, took this word rightly in the sense of to a different place, and must therefore have

taken that sentencesense in whichrected himself,I

move awayit.

elsewhere

in

the

same

he cor Later, however, and proposed to translate the same wordss.v. ar,

take

by you neglect something

else.ii,

Professor Bollensen (Orient und Occident, vol.a

p. 462),

I add Grassmann s and Ludwig s renderings: Grassmann Mag spottend sagen unser Feind Kein Andrer kiimmert sich um:

:

sie

;

Drum feiern Indra sie Und gliicklich mogen,

allein.

Machtiger!uns,

Die Freundesstamme nennen

Nur wenn wir sind in Indra s Schutz. Ludwig Mogen unsere tadler sagen sogar noch (dabei), wenn ihr dienst dem Indra tut.::

anderes entgeht euch

Oder moge uns gliickselige nennen der fromme, so nennen, o wundertater, die (fiinf ) volker, in Indra s schutze mogen wir sein.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

xli

adopting to a certain extent the second rendering of Professor Roth in preference to that of Professor Benfey, endeavouredto

show that the something

else

which

is

neglected,

is

not

something indefinite, but the worship ofexcept Indra.It

all

the other gods,

might, no doubt, be said that every one of these trans lations contains something that is right, though mixed up

with a great deal that is wrong but to attempt for every verse of the Veda to quote and to criticise every previous In the translation, would be an invidious and useless task.;

case just quoted, it might seem right to state that Professor Bollensen was the first to see that ari/ should be joined with krzsh/aya/2, and that he therefore proposed to alter it

But on referring to Rosen, I find to ari/, as a nom. plur. that, to a certain extent, he had anticipated Professor Bollensen s remark, for though, in his cautious way, he abstainedPossitne arl# text, yet he remarked contracta terminatione, pro araya/2? pluralis esse,

from altering the

:

After these preliminary remarks I have to say a few words on the general plan of my translation. Plan of thej do not attempt as yet a translation of the whole of the Rig-veda, and I therefore considered myself at liberty to group the hymns according to the deities to which they are addressed. By this process, I believe, a great advan tage is gained. We see at one glance all that has been said of a certain god, and we gain a more complete insight into his nature and character. Something of the same kind had been attempted by the original collectors of the ten

work.

books, for it can hardly be by accident that each of them begins with hymns addressed to Agni, and that these arefollowed

by hymns addressedis

to Indra.

The only excep

tion to this rule

the eighth Ma7/^ala, for the ninth being

devoted to one deity, to Soma, can hardly be accounted an But if we take the Rig-veda as a whole, we exception.find

hymns, addressed to the same

deities,

not

only

scattered about in different books, but not even

grouped

togetheras

we

lose nothing

when they occur in one and the same book. Here, by giving up the old arrangement, we

xlil

VEDIC HYMNS.

are surely at liberty, for our own purposes, to put together such hymns as have a common object, and to place before the reader as much material as possible for an exhaustive

study of each individual deity. I give for each hymn the Sanskrit original a in what is known as the Pada text, i. e. the text in which all words (pada) stand by themselves, as they do in Greek or Latin,without being joined together according to the rules of Sandhi. The text in which the words are thus joined, as

they aretext.

in all

ancient,

Whether may seem difficult to settle. As far as I can judge, seem to me, in their present form, the product of the they same period of Vedic scholarship. The Pratuakhyas, it is true, start from the Pada text, take it, as it were, forgranted, and devote their rules to the explanation of those changes which that text undergoes in being changed into the Sa^hita text. But, on the other hand, the Pada text

other Sanskrit texts, is called the Sawhita the Pada or the Sa;//hita text be the more

some cases clearly presupposes the Sawhita text. It leaves out passages which are repeated more than once, while the Sawhita text always repeats these passages itin;

abstains from dividing the termination of the locative plural su, whenever in the Sa;^hita text, i. e. according to the rulesof Sandhi,it

becomes shu; hence nadishu, a^ishu, but ap-su;

and

gives short vowels instead of the long ones of the Sa;^hita, even in cases where the long vowels are justifiedit

It is certain, in fact, the rules of the Vedic language. that neither the Pada nor the Sa^hita text, as we now possess them, represents the original text of the Veda.

by

Both show

clear traces of scholastic influences.

But

if

we

try to restore the original form of the Vedic hymns, we shall certainly arrive at some kind of Pada text rather thanat a

Sawhita text nay, even in their present form, the original metre and rhythm of the ancient hymns of the^z shis are far more perceptible when the words are divided, than;

when we

join

them together throughout according

to the

rules of Sandhi. Lastly, for practical purposes, the Pada text is far superior to the Sawhita text in which the finalft

This

is left

out in the second edition.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

xliil

and initial letters, that is, the most important letters of words, are constantly disguised, and liable therefore todifferent interpretations.differ

Although

in

some passages we

from the interpretation adopted by the Pada may and text, although certain Vedic words have, no doubt, been wrongly analysed and divided by .Sakalya, yet such cases are comparatively few, and where they occur, theyare interesting as carrying us back to the earliest attempts In the vast majority of cases the of Vedic scholarship.

divided text, with a few such rules asin

we have

to observe

reading Latin, nay, even in reading Pali verses, brings us certainly much nearer to the original utterance of the ancient Rishis than the amalgamated text.

The

critical principlesfirst

editing for thePrinciples ofcriticism.

by which I have been guided in time the text of the Rig-veda, require

a ^ew words of explanation, as they have lately b een challenged on grounds which, I think,

rest

on a complete misapprehension of ments on this subject.

my

previous state

As

far as

we

are able to judge at present,

we can hardly

speak of various readings in the Vedic hymns, in the usual sense of that word. Various readings to be gathered froma collation of different MSS., now accessible to us, there are none. After collating a considerable number of MSS.,I believe, in fixing on three representative as described in the preface to the first volume of MSS., edition of the Rig-veda. Even these MSS. are not freeI

have succeeded,

my

from blunders, no claim to thenot

fortitle

what MS.and,.

is ?

but these blunders have

of various readings.;

They

are

lapsus

calami, and no more

what

is

important, they have

become

traditional

a

a Thus X, 101, 2, one of the Pada MSS. (P 2) reads distinctly ya^v/am pra krmuta sakhaya/fc, but all the other MSS. have nayata, and there can be little doubt that it was the frequent repetition of the verb krz in this verse which led the writer to substitute krmuta for No other MS., as far as I am nayata. In IX, 86, 34, the writer of the same MS. puts aware, repeats this blunder.

ra^-asi insteadline.is

X,

1

6, 5,

of dhavasi, because his eye was caught by ra^i, in the preceding the same MS. reads saw ga/zasva instead of which

ga/^atam,

supported by S

i,

reading, ga/^atat.vi Jakarta.

while S 3 has a peculiar and more important X, 67, 6, the same MS. P 2 has vi /fokartha instead of2, i,

S

P

A number

of various readings which have been gleaned from Pandit Tara-

xllV

VEDIC HYMNS.text, as

Thefirstis,

text, can

deduced from the best MSS. of the Sa^hita be controlled by four independent checks. The

of course, a collation of the besttext.

MSS.

of the

Sawhita

to be applied to the Sa;^hita text is a comparison with the Pada text, of which, again, I possessed at least one excellent MS., and several more moderncopies.

The second check

was a comparison of this text with Saya;za s commentary, or rather with the text which is presupposed by that commentary. In the few cases where the Pada text seemed to differ from the Sa;hita text, a note was added to that effect, in the various readings of my edition and the same was done, at least in all important cases, where Saya;za clearly followed a text at variancethird check;

The

with our own.

was a comparison of any doubtful passage with the numerous passages quoted in the Pratifourth checkj-akhya.

The

These were the

principles

by which

I

was guided

in the

the text of the Rig-veda, and I believe I may say that the text as printed by me is more correct than any MS. now accessible, more trustworthy than thecritical restoration of

text followed

by Saya/za, and in all important points identi the same with that text which the authors of the cally

natha

s Tuladanadipaddhati (see Triibner s American and Oriental Literary Record, July 31, 1868) belong to the same class. They may be due either to the copyists of the MSS. which Pandit Taranatha used while compiling his

work, or theyof themis

may by

accident have crept into his

own MS.

Anyhow, not oneby any

supported either by the best

MSS.

accessible in Europe, or

passage in the Pratuakhya. RV. IX, IT, 2, read devayu

instead of devayu^ b

.

b

As

printed by Pandit Taranatha.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.Prati^akhya followed in theircriticalI

xlvfifth

researches in the

or sixth century before our era. from that date our text of the Veda

believe that starting is better authenticated,

and supported by a more perfect apparatus criticus, than the text of any Greek or Latin author, and I do not think that diplomatic criticism can ever go beyond what has been achieved in the constitution of the text of the Vedic hymns. Far be it from me to say that the editio princeps of the text thus constituted was printed without mistakes. But most of these mistakes are mistakes Aufrecht s *.. no attentive reader could fail to detect. which Romanised Reishat instead Cases like n 35 * where of ^-oshishat was printed three times, so as to perplex even Professor Roth, or II, 12, 14, where ^asa..>

"

This nom.tives

sing. neut. in us, explains also the

common:

geni

and

ablatives, pitu^, matu/2, &c.,

matur-s.I>

58, 5.

This phrase sthatu/2 sthatu/z /aratham bhayate patatri;za/.

which stand /aratham occurs

for pitur-s,

What

is afraid of Agni. /aratham aktun vi ur;zot. sthatu/z I, 68, He lighted up what stands and what moves during everyi.

stands and what moves

night.I,

72, 6.

pa^un /a sthatrm /aratham k& pahi.!

Protect the cattle, and what stands and moves Here it has been proposed to read sthatu/z instead ofsthatrzh,ible.

and

I

confess that this emendationsee

is

very plaus

One does notbetween

im moband

pasu, cattle, could be called ilia or fixtures, unless the poet wished to make acattle that are

how

distinction

kept fastened in stables,freely in theto, for instance, in

cattle that are allowed to

roam aboutalluded

homestead.

This distinction

is

the 6atapatha-brahma;za, XI,

8, 3, 2.

saurya evaisha pa^u/z;

tasmad etasminn astamite pa.yavo badhyante badhnanty ekan yathagosh^am, eka upasamayanti. a sthatam garbha/^ ^aratham, (read I, 70, 2. garbha/2 sthatram, and see Bollensen, Orient und Occident, vol. ii,syaditi,

p. 462.)

He who is The word

within

all

that stands andifit

all

that moves.

^aratha,:

occurs

by

itself,

means

flock,

movable propertyIII, 31, 15. at it

sakhi-bhya/^ /aratham sam airat. brought together, for his friends, the flocks. VIII, 33, 8. puru-tra /aratham dadhe.

He

He

bestowed flocks on

many

people.avatu.

X, 92, 13. pra na/z pusha aratham May Pushan protect our flock!

1XX1V

VEDIC HYMNS.is

sthatu/2

Another idiomatic phrase in which sthatM occurs -agata/2, and here sthatu/^ is really a genitive:

IV, 53,

6. ^-agata/zis

sthatu^ ubhayasya yakis

va-ri.is

He whoVI, 50,VII, 60,

lord of both, of what

movable and what

immovable.7.

They who2.

vfovasya sthatu// ^agata^ gamtrih. created all that stands and moves.

vkvasya sthatuA ^igata/z a gopa/z. of all that stands and moves, Cf. X, 63, 8. a satyam ^agata^ a dharmam puI, 159, 3. sthatu/z trasya patha^ padam advayavina^. Truly while you uphold all that stands and moves, you

The guardians

protect the

homeI

But although

of the guileless son. Cf. II, 31, 5. have no doubt that in I, 70, 4, the originalI

poet said sthatu^ /aratham, the evidence of the mistake

and

should be loath to suppress alter the Pada text from

/a ratham to ^aratham. The very mistake is instructive, as showing us the kind of misapprehension to which the collectors of the Vedic text were liable, and enabling us tojudge how far the limits of conjectural criticism be extended.

may

safely

A

still

more extraordinary case of misunderstanding

on the part of the original compilers of the Vedic texts, and likewise of the authors of the Pra.ti.yakhyas, the Niruktas, and other Vedic treatises, has been pointed out by Professor Kuhn. In an article of his, Zur altesten Geschichte der Indogermanischen Volker (Indische Studien, vol. i, p. 351), he made the followingobservation:

The Lithuanian laukas,field,

Lett, lauks, Pruss.

laukas,

all

meaning

agree exactly with the Sk. lokas,

world, Lat. locus,

Low Germ, (in East-Frisia and Olden All these words are to be louch, loch, burg) village. traced back to the Sk. uru, Gr. evpvs, broad, wide. The initial u is lost, as in Goth, rums, O. H. G. rumi, rumin (Low Germ, rume, an open uncultivated field in a forest), and the r changed into 1. In support of this derivation it should be observed that in the Veda loka is frequently preceded by the particle u, which probably was only sepa rated from it by the Diaskeuastse, and that the meaning is

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

IxXV

little favour, I

that of open space. Although this derivation has met with confess that I look upon this remark, except,

a ing only the Latin 1 o c u s i. e. s 1 1 o c u s, as one of the most The fact is that this ingenious of this eminent scholar.

particle u before loka is one of the most puzzling Professor Bollensen says that loka in the Veda.

occurrences

never

occurs without a preceding u in the first eight Ma;^alas, and this is perfectly true with the exception of one passage which he has overlooked, VIII, 100, 12, dyau/z dehi lokam

va^raya vi-skabhe,!

Dyu

!

give

room

for the lightning to

Professor Bollensen (1. c. p. 603) reads vrz traya step forth instead of va^raya, without authority. He objects to dyau^ but dyau^ may be as a vocative, which should be dyau/i;

dyo^, a genitive belonging to va^raya, in which case we should translate, Make room for the lightning of Dyu tostep forth!

But what is even more important is the fact that the occurrence of this unaccented u at the beginning of a pada is against the very rules, or, at least, runs counter to thevery observations which the authors of the Pratij-akhya have made on the inadmissibility of an unaccented wordin

such a place, so that they had to insert a special provi sion, Prat 978, exempting the unaccented u from this obser

vation5

anudattam tu padadau novar^am vidyate padam, no unaccented word is found at the beginning of a pada except u Although I have frequently insisted on the fact that such statements of the PratLyakhya are not to be considered as rules, but simply as more or less general: !

statisticalI

Veda, on these collected facts inductive observations which may assume the character of real rules. Thus, in our case, we can well understand why there should be none, or, at least,very few instances, where an unaccented word begins a pada. We should not begin a verse with an enclitic particle in any other language either; and as in Sanskrit a verb at theOn locus, see Corssen, Krit. Beitr. p. 463, and Aussprache, 2nd ed., p. 810. Corssen does not derive it from a root sta or stha, but identifies it with Goth,strik-s, Engl. stroke, strecke.a

accumulations of facts actually occurring in the have also pointed out that we are at liberty to found

1XXV1

VEDIC HYMNS.

beginning of a pada receives ipso facto the accent, and as the same applies to vocatives, no chance is left for an un accented word in that place, except it be a particle. Butthe one particle that offends against this general observation is u, and the very word before which this u causes thismetricaloffence,is

loka.

Can any argument be more; ;

temptingof u loka

in favour of?

Lokam

admitting an old form uloka instead is preceded by u in I, II, 30, 6 93, 6for us,us,;

(asmm bhaya-sthe krzVmtam u lokam, make roomgrant an escape to23>

3

;

7 (with

urum);;

in this danger!) IV, 17, 17; VI, 47, 8 (urum na/i lokam, or ulokam ?); ;

73, 2 84,1 6,

urum) 60, 9 (with urum) 2 (with urum) IX, 92, 5 X, 13, 2 99, 4 (with urum) 4 (sukr/tam u lokam); 30, 7; 104, 10 180, 3 (with; ; ;

VII, 20, 2

33, 5 (with

;

;

;

urum). Loke^ is preceded by u in III, 29, 8 V, i, 6 lokakr/t, IX, 86, 21 X, 133, i. In all remaining passages u loka is found at the beginning of a pada loka/z, III, 37, ; lokam, III, 2, 9 (u lokam u dve (iti) upa^amim iyatu^) V,;;

;

:

n

;

loka-kr/tnum, VIII, 15, 4; IX, 2, 8. The only passages in which loka occurs without being preceded by u, are lokam, VI, 47, 8 (see above) X, 14, 9 VIII, ]OO, 12 85, 20 (amr/tasya) loka/z, IX, 113, 9; lokan, X, 90, 14;4,

ii

;

;

;

;

;

X, 85,24. ii3,7 It should be remembered that in the Gathas the u of words beginning with urv does not count metrically (Hiibschmann, Ein Zoroastrisches Lied, p. 37), and that in Pali also uru must be treated as monosyllabic, in such pas;

loke, IX,

2

sages as Mahav., p. 2, line in the Rig-veda, such as

5.I,

The same138, 3;

applies to passages VII, 39, 3, where the

metre requires uru to be treated as one syllable. IX, 96, 15, the original reading may have been ururinstead of uru-iva.

Iniva,

Considering all this, I feel as convinced as it is possible to be in such matters, that in all the passages where u lokaoccurs and where

dom, we ought

it means space, car ri ere ouverte, free to read uloka but in spite of this I could;

never bring myself to insert this word, of which neither the authors of the Brahma^as nor the writers of the Pratuakhyasor even later

grammarians had any

idea, into the text.

On

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

Ixxvii

the contrary, I should here, too, consider it most useful to leave the traditional reading, and to add the corrections in

the margin, in order that, if these conjectural emendations are in time considered as beyond the reach of doubt, they may be used as evidence in support of conjectures which,

without such evidence, might seem intolerable in the eyes of timid critics.

There remains one difficulty about this hypothetical word If it is derived from uloka, which it is but fair to mention. uru, or, as Professor Bollensen suggests, from urva or urvak, the change of va into o would require further support. Neither maghon for maghavan, nor duro^a for dura-va;/a are strictly analogous cases, because in each we have an a preceding the va or u. Strictly speaking, uroka presupposes uravaka, as .doka presupposes .sravaka, or oka, house, avaka (from av, not from u/). It should also be mentioned that a compound such as RV. X, 128, 2, urulokam (scil. antariksham) is strange, and shows how completely the origin of loka was forgotten at the time when the hymns of the tenth Mandala. were composed. But all this does not persuade usto accept Ascoli s conjecture (Lezioni di Fonologia Comparata, p. 235), that as uloga (but not uloka) is a regular Tamil form of loka, uloka in the Veda might be due to a reaction of the aboriginal dialects on the Vedic Sanskrit. want far more evidence before admitting such a reaction

We

during the Vedic period. The most powerful instrument that has hitherto beenapplied to the emendation of Vedic texts,Metricalis

the metre.

Metre means measure, and uniform measure, and hence its importance for critical pur

poses, as second only to that of grammar. If our know ledge of the metrical system of the Vedic poets rests on

a sound basis,rightly

any deviations from the general rule are and if by a slight alteration they objected to;

can be removed, and the metre be restored, we naturally feel inclined to adopt such emendations. Two safeguards,

however, are needed in this kind of conjectural criticism. We ought to be quite certain that the anomaly is impossible,

and we ought to be able to explain to a certain extent

Ixxviii

VEDIC HYMNS.

how

occurred.

the deviation from the original correct text could have As this subject has of late years received con

siderable attention,

and as emendations of the Vedic

texts,

metrical arguments, have been carried on on a very large scale, it becomes absolutely necessary to reexamine the grounds on which these emendations are

supported by

supposed to rest. There are, in fact, but few hymns in which some verses or some words have not been challengedfor metrical

reasons,

and

I feel

bound, therefore, at theof the Rig-veda,to

very beginningexpress reasons

of

mymany

translation

mywhy

own opinion onin so

this subject, and to give my cases I allow metrical anomalies

to remain

which by some of the most learned and ingenious scholars would be pronounced intolerable. Vedic among Even if the theory of the ancient metres had not been so

worked out by the authors of the PratLrakhyas and the Anukrama;zis, an independent study of the Veda would have enabled us to discover the general rules by which the Vedic poets were guided in the composition of Nor would it have been difficult to show how their works.carefully

constantly these general principles are violated by the introduction of phonetic changes which in the later Sanskritare called the euphonic changes of Sandhi, and according to which final vowels must be joined with initial vowels,

andlast

final consonants adapted to initial consonants, until at each sentence becomes a continuous chain of closely

linked syllables.easier, as I remarked before, to discover the and natural rhythm of the Vedic hymns by reading original them in the Pada than in the Sa;//hita text, and after some practice our ear becomes sufficiently schooled to tell us at once how each line ought to be pronounced. We find, on the one hand, that the rules of Sandhi, instead of being generally binding, were treated by the Vedic poets as poetical licences only and, on the other, that a greater freedom of pronunciation was allowed even in the body of words than would be tolerated in the later Sanskrit. If a syllable was wanted to complete the metre, a semivowel might be pronounced as a vowel, many a long vowel mightIt is far;

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

IxXlX

be protracted so as to count for two syllables, and short vowels might be inserted between certain consonants, of which no trace exists in the ordinary Sanskrit. If, on the

two short syllables contracted by one into rapid pronunciation nay, in a few cases, a final m or s, it seems, was omitted. It would be a mistake to suppose that the authors of the Pratuakhyas were not aware of this freedom allowed or required in the pronunciation of the Vedic hymns. Though they abstained from intro ducing into the text changes of pronunciation which even we ourselves would never tolerate, if inserted in the texts of Homer and Plautus, in the Pali verses of Buddha, or even;

contrary, there were too Sandhi were observed, or

many

syllables, then the rules of

in

modern English

poetry, the authors of the PratLs-akhya

were clearly aware that in many places one syllable had to be pronounced as two, or two as one. They were clearly aware that certain vowels, generally considered as long, had to be pronounced as short, and that in order to satisfy the

demands of the metre, certain changes of pronunciation were indispensable. They knew all this, but they did not change the text. And this shows that the text, as they describe it, enjoyed even in their time a high authority, that they did not make it, but that, such as it is, with all its incongruities, it had been made before their time. In no certain in the cases, of the doubt, many syllables hymns

Veda had beenSawhita textin

actually lengthened or shortened in the accordance with the metre in which they

are composed. But this was done by the poets themselves, or, at all events, it was not done by the authors of the

Pratuakhya. They simply register such changes, but they do not enjoin them, and in this we, too, should follow theirexample.It is, therefore, a point of some importance in the critical restoration and proper pronunciation of Vedic texts, that in the rules which we have to follow in order

to satisfy the

distinguish betweenrity,

demands of the metre, we should carefully what is sanctioned by ancient autho and what is the result of our own observations. This

I shall

now proceed

to do.

First, then, the authors of the PratLrakhya distinctly

admit

IxXXthat, in order to

VEDIC HYMNS.

uphold the rules they have themselves laid down, certain syllables are to be pronounced as two syllables. We read in Sutra 527 In a deficient pada the right number is to be provided for by protrac tion of semivowels (which were originally vowels), and of contracted vowels (which were originally two independentc:

vowels).

It is

only

by

this process that the short syllablein

which has been lengthened

the Sa;;zhita,

viz.

the sixth,

or the eighth, or the tenth, can be shown to have occupied and to occupy that place where alone, according to a former Thus we rule, a short syllable is liable to be lengthened.

read

:

I,

161, ii.

udvatsvasma akrzVzotana trm&m.

This would seem to be a verse of eleven syllables, in which the ninth syllable na has been lengthened. This, however, is against the system of the Pratuakhya. But if we pro tract the semivowel v in udvatsv, and change it back into u, which it was originally, then we gain one syllable, the wholeverse has twelve syllables, na occupies the tenth place, and it now belongs to that class of cases which is included in a

former Sutra, 523.

The same

applies to X, 103, 13, where

we read

:

preta ^ayata nara^.

This

a verse of seven syllables, in which the fifth syllable is lengthened, without any authority. Let us protract preta by bringing it back to its original component elements prais

ita,

now

and we get a verse of eight syllables, the sixth syllable falls under the general observation, and is lengthened

in the Sarahita accordingly.

rules are repeated in a later portion of the Pr^tuakhya. Here rules had been given as to the number of syllables of which certain metres consist, and it is added

The same

(Sutras 972, 973) that where that

number

is

deficient,

it

should be completed by protracting contracted vowels, and by separating consonantal groups in which semivowels(originally vowels) occur,

by means

of their correspondingin

vowel.

The

rules in

both places are given

almost identically

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.the

Ixxxi

same words, and the onlyis

difference

between the two

according to the former, semivowels passages are simply changed back into their vowels, while, according to the latter, the semivowel remains, but is separated fromthis, that,

the preceding consonant These rules therefore

by its corresponding vowel. show clearly that the authors

of

the PratLrakhya, though they would have shrunk from altering one single letter of the authorised Sawhita, recog nised the fact that where two vowels had been contracted

they might yet be pronounced as two and where a vowel before another vowel had been changed into ainto one,;

semivowel, it might either be pronounced as a vowel, or as a semivowel preceded by its corresponding vowel. More than these two modifications, however, the PratLrakhya

does not allow,

or, at least,

The commentator indeedtioned, viz.

tries to

does not distinctly sanction. show that by the wordingis

of the Sutras in both places, a third modification

sanc

the vocalisation, in the body of a word, of semi vowels which do not owe their origin to an original vowel.

But

in

Somegiven

both places this interpretation is purely artificial. such rule ought to have been given, but it was not

by the authors of the Prati^akhya. It ought to have been given, for it is only by observing such a rule that in I, 61, 12, gor na parva vi rada tiraj^a, we get a verse of eleven syllables, and thus secure for da in rada the eighth place, where alone the short a could be lengthened. Yet welook in vain for a rule sanctioning the change of semivowelsinto vowels, except where the

semivowels can rightly be called semivowels that were origin kshaipra-var^a (Sutra 974), vowels. The ally independent (svabhavika) semivowels, as e. g. the v in and to suppose that parva, are not included in Sutra 5^7 these semivowels. were indicated by var;za isi.e.;

impossible, particularly of Sutra 974 a.

if

we compare

the similar wording

a

It will

extracts

be seen from my edition of the Pratij-akhya, particularly from the from Uva/a, given after Sutra 974, that the idea of making twoof go/, never entered Uva/a(Beitrage, vol. iv, p. 187)s

syllables out

mind.

M. Regnier was

right,

Professorto

Kuhn

was wrong.

Uva^a, no doubt, wishes

show

that original (svabhavika) semivowels are liable to vyuha, or at least

[3*]

f

Ixxxii

VEDIC HYMNS.

look in vain, too, in the Pratuakhya for another rule according to which long vowels, even if they do not owetheir origin to the coalescence of

We

two vowels, are

liable to

be protracted.its

However,is

this rule, too,

though never dis

tinctly sanctioned,

author observed

observed in the Pratuakhya, for unless it, he could not have obtained in the

verses quoted by the PratLyakhya the number of syllables which he ascribes to them. According to Sutra 937, the verse, RV. X, 134, i, is a Mahapankti, and consists of six

padas, of eight syllables each. number, we must read:

In order to obtain that

samra^am

/arsha;2inam.

We maychange

in the

therefore say that, without allowing any actual received text of the Sa^hita, the PratLyain the

khya

distinctly allows a lengthened pronunciation of certain

Pada text form two syllables and by implication, it allows the same even in cases where the Pada text also gives but one instead of two syllables. Having this authority in our favour, I do not think that we use too much liberty if we extend thissyllables,

which

;

we may add

that,

modified pronunciation, recognised in so many cases by the ancient scholars of India themselves, to other cases