Savitri
The Collected Works of Sri Aurobindo & The Mother

Canto 21Mandala Four

Book 2. cover for HMF=16.pdf

[21]
[RV IV.1.1]
vA
Vn
5sdEmsmyvo
d
vAso
d
vmrEt
Err
iEt
5vA
y
15Err
amy
yjt
my
vA
vmAd
v
jnt
c
25ts
Ev
vmAd
v
jnt
ts
IV.1 Thee it is, O Flame, whom the gods with one passion have
ever sent in as the divine worker; therefore by the will they
sent thee in; O Lord of sacrifice, (or they sacrificed), the divine
35and immortal in mortals they brought to birth as the conscious
knower divine within, they brought to birth the universal, the
conscious knower divine within.
vA
Eh thee indeed,
40an
O Agni,
smyvo
d
vAso the gods
45together-minded or like-passioned
sdEmt
ever indeed
y
Err
50sent in
d
v
the god,
arEt
55 the striver,
iEt therefore
y
Err
they
60sent him in
5vA by the will or the work.
yjt O sacrificial
one,
my
aA in mortals,
jnt they brought to birth
amy
the immortal,
v
the god,
aAd
v
75 the in-divine,
c
ts
the wise
knower,
80Ev
v
the universal,
aAd
v
85jnt
c
ts
— as before.
an
vA
Eh
sdEmt
smyvo
vAso
d
vmrEt
sv
#v
smAn}dyA
d
vA
vm
iEt
5vA
y
110Err
yjt,
my
q
amy
v
c
tsmAd
v
120jnt
Ev
v
c
ts
125aAd
v
jnt
smyv. S.
my
130 =
pDA
vying with their equals.
my
means pas-
135sion, especially wrath; in the Veda it seems to vary between the
general significance of mind, the particular significance, “emo-
tional mind” and the still more particularised sense “anger”.
Cf
mAn = mind, wrath, resentment ( aEBmAn), pride.
140mn is
the mind generally, but more the sensational, emotional and
Mandala Four
perceptive than the thought mind; the termination
y
145 giving the
idea of motion, effort, tendency, desire tends naturally to stress
the word towards the emotional significances.
d
vAso
v
. S.
otmAn
. The gods are certainly the Shining
155Ones as opposed to the dark Titans, but I see no reason in
this passage, or in any other, to give it its etymological sense of
shining to the exclusion of its natural sense. S. seems to think it
means, “they shining him shining”. Rather it is “they godheads
him a godhead”.
160arEt
. S.
fFG
g
tAr
165. There is nothing to indicate swiftness.
ar
may mean to move, travel, to fight, to strive, to labour, to plough,
to lead, to excel. I take it as connected in sense in the Veda with
the words
170ay
,
aEr,
aAy
and since the text immediately adds
175iEt
5vA =
km
ZA I understand it in the sense of “worker”, or rather
“striver”. Agni is the divine worker or warrior.
180iEt. S. says “the gods send him to war, therefore men send
him to call the gods or carry the oblation”. This seems to me
sufficiently pointless and incoherently antithetical to satisfy even
the most learnedly ingenious taste. There is nothing in the text
to indicate that gods are the subject of the first
Err
, men of the
second; on the contrary since we have
d
190vAs as subject of first
y
Err
and no other noun in the clause of repetition, we must
take it as subject also of the second. Neither is it indicated that
195there is a different object for each sending. On the contrary
iEt
indicates a common idea between the clauses; because they sent
him as
d
200vmrEt
the divine worker, therefore it was
5vA by the
work (of the Aryan?) or by the working power, strength or the
will that they sent him. In other words Agni is the divine and
205immortal force that labours in the mortal, brought in, created
either by the sacrificial work, the
tpyA of the mortal himself or
by the will-force of the gods pouring itself into the mortal.
y
210Err
. S. always takes
En =
EntrA
. It certainly means in the
215Veda “in”, “within” or “into”, cf
EnEht,
En@y,
EnED. “Send in”
is here most appropriate because of
220jnt in the next line. The
bringing to birth & the sending in are one action differently
described or rather two stages of one action.
yjt. S.
yjnFy. But
225yjt like
yj may also be active =
y6y
.
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
230Cf
Brt which has an active sense. I am not sure that
yjt here
is not a verb, like
jnt.
235my
q
aA.
aA gives here the sense of place.
aAd
. Cf
d
vAn
aA
,
aA
B
$ in the Veda.
250aA gives the idea
of the divine element entering into and occupying and being
possessed by the mortal. I do not understand S’s
aAg
tAr
Ev
v
. S’s
yAP
260 = present all over the world in various sacri-
fices is a ritualist ingenuity.
Ev
v simply means all-pervading or
universal.
ts
. Sayana thinks this means “knowing the ritual”.
c
tA is the later
270.. Agni is the Wise One, the Knower
or Perceiver of all objects of knowledge. There is nothing in
the text or in the Veda to limit its sense to that of ritualistic
expertness.
[22]
275[RV IV.1]
1. Hymn to Agni.
Subject. The final siddhi and liberation by true knowledge
into the triple fullness of Sachchidananda.
1. Thee verily, O Agni, have the gods, thee too a god, ever &
280always (sdEmt
) in their activity of mind sent down into the world
(ni) as the worker (in man), by the force of their will they have
sent thee down; immortal in mortal men & everywhere divine
they gave thee being, O sacrificer, as the god who perceives
285consciously in the mind (prachetasam), they gave being to the
universal, the utterly divine perceiver in the mind.
Text. Tw´am hyagne sadam it samanyavo, dev´aso devam aratim
nyerire, iti kratw´a nyerire;
Amartyam yajata martyeshu ´a, devam ´adevam janata pra-
290chetasam, vishvam ´adevam janata prachetasam.
Sy.
arEt
—
fFG
tAr
. Arati from ar to fight, to labour, to drive
on (Ashti) — Agni is the divine worker & fighter who pushes
Mandala Four
300man on in his journey.
iEtfNdo
h
vT
— therefore men too
305send thee by the work (hymn).
En =
EntrA
according to Sy.;
rather = in = into the strife & labour of the lower world.
310aAd
v
—
nAnAd
fvEt
y.
q
yAP
.
3202. So do thou, O Agni, by right thinking turn towards the gods
Varuna thy brother who delights in the sacrifice, thy eldest who
delights in the sacrifice, Varuna who has the Truth, the son of
the Infinite who upholds our works, the King who sustains our
works.
325Text. Sa bhr´ataram Varun.am Agna ´a vavr.itswa dev´an achchh´a
sumat´ı yajnavanasam jyesht.ham yajnavanasam;
R. it´av´anam ´Adityam charshan.´ıdhr.itam r´aj´anam charsha-
n.´ıdhr.itam.
Sayana takes dev´an =
vnfFlAtot
^
n
,
mtF with
cq
ZFD
t
r.it´av´anam =
udkv
t
and explains charshan.´ıdhr.itam as
345mn
yAZA -
m
dkdAn
n
350DArk
.
s
mtF can by its order in the sentence belong
either to vavr.itswa or to yajnavanasam, but it is against all the
355laws of style and decent literary structure to take it with so
distant a word as charshan.´ıdhr.itam.
3. O friend, turn thy friend hither for us, O creative actor, even
as two impetuous coursers speed forward a swift wheel. Agni,
thou in company with Varuna win (for us) a gracious mood in
360the Maruts, they who are the play of light in all existences; O
burning pure for the protection of that which we create, do thou
make for us peace, O maker, do thou make for us peace.
Text. Sakhe sakh´ayam abhy´a vavr.itswa ´ashum na chakram
rathyeva ranhy´a, asmabhyam dasma ranhy´a;
365Agne mr.il.´ıkam Varun.e sach´a vido Marutsu vishvabh´anu-
shu;
Tok´aya tuje shushuch´ana sham kr.idhi, asmabhyam dasma
sham kr.idhi.
Sy.
370dm —
df
nFy. This rendering has no appropriateness in the
context and brings in an otiose epithet.
dm may be either
375“bounteous” or “active, formative”, cf
d
s
in
d
380snA,
d
s etc.
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
Sy.
0Fk
—
s
Kkr
390hEv. There is no mention of any havir.
Sayana gets it from verse 5,
m
0Fk
vFEh. The prayer for a gracious
395mood in the gods,
m
0Fk
or
mAXF
and not wrath,
h
0, is a
common feature of the Veda.
405Sy.
tokAy —
t
6yt
pFX
410yt
mAtA
gB
vAs
n
415Et
tok
p
. An ab-
surd derivation.
420tok is from obsolete root
t
c
to cut, shape,
form, create, cf
425Etc
&
tc
in Greek
t
oc
tktw; it may mean
anything formed or created or formation or creation. The image
is that of the putra or apatyam, the creation of our works.
j
—
gQCyn
nAn
440@y
Ept
Et
t
k
445pO — a still more wildly
impossible derivation.
t
j
(also
j
) means to strike, hurt, push,
drive, also to screen, guard, protect. I take
tokAy
j
as the
ordinary Vedic construction of the double dative, one dependent
on the other,
460tok being in the dative because it is the beneficiary
of the action expressed in
t
j
.
4654. Thou, O Agni, know and put away from us by thy workings
the wrath of Varuna, the god; mightiest in the act of the sacrifice
and in its upholding, burning bright, do thou deliver us from all
hostile powers.
Text. Twam no Agne Varun.asya vidv´an, devasya hed.o ava
470y´asis´ısht.h´ah;
Yajisht.ho vahnitamah shoshuch´ano, vishv´a dwesh´ansi
pra mumugdhi asmat.
5. So, O Agni, do thou with protection (or with growth in us)
down in this lowest world become very close to us in the wide-
475shining of this dawn; taking thy delight in us, work away from
us Varuna, manifest his grace, increase as our good helper.
Text. Sa twam no Agne avamo bhavot´ı, nedisht.ho asy´a ushaso
vyusht.au;
Ava yakshva no Varun.am rar´an.o v´ıhi mr.il.´ıkam suhavo na
480edhi.
Say. takes avamo bhavot´ı as either come down to us with protec-
tion or become our protector by thy coming (´uty´a). He explains
ava yakshva varun.am as “get rid of the dropsy Varuna has
Mandala Four
485given me” and v´ıhi mr.il.´ıkam as “eat this pleasant oblation”.
I see no mention of dropsy anywhere. Varun.am ava yakshva
obviously means “work off from us by the sacrifice Varuna in
his anger” and v´ıhi mr.il.´ıkam, manifest his gracious form in place
of the angry Varuna. I take v´ı in its ancient sense of “coming or
490bringing into being, manifestation, widening, outspreading” as
in vayas, vayunam etc.
6. Best and most richly varied in mortals is the vision of this god
who is perfect in delight, desirable even as the pure & warm ghee
(ghritam) of the Cow indestructible, yea, as the thick fullness of
495the Cow of God.
Text. Asya shresht.h´a subhagasya sandr.ig, devasya chitratam´a
martyeshu;
Shuchi ghr.itam na taptam aghny´ay´ah, sp´arh´a devasya
manhaneva dhenoh.
500Sy. chitratam´a.
p
$
jnFyA.
m
505hnA.
dAn
m
hEtdA
nkmA
With sandr.ig
chitra must surely mean bright, rich or curious.
m
h
515 means to be
great, full or to greaten; there is no reason why we should take
it in the sense of giving; the gift of the cow would be at least a
strange expression.
7. Three are those supreme, true and desirable births of the god
520Agni; manifested pervasively within the Infinite may he come
pure and bright and noble and shining.
Trir asya t´a param´a santi saty´a, sp´arh´a devasya janim´ani
Agneh;
Anante antah pariv´ıta ´ag´ach, chhuchih shukro aryo roru-
525ch´anah.
E.
aEnvAy
s
$
530yA
mnA.
pErvFt.
vt
jsA
535pErv
Et.
I find
nothing in the text suggesting
vt
540jsA; and “surrounded within
the infinite may he come” makes no intelligible sense.
vF in the
sense of “manifestation” or
pErvFt in the sense of pervading,
545from v´ı, to go, suits best with the phrase anante antah.
ay
as
in
arEt = one fit to do the work of
550arZ
, the fight, journey or
ascension from mortality to the divine existence.
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
8. He, the messenger, controlleth all habitations, the priest of
555the offering with his chariot of gold, with his tongue of delight;
red are his steeds, full of body is he and wide-shining and ever
rapturous like an assembly-hall where the wine faileth not.
Sy. takes ransu and ran.va in the sense of beautiful, but they
are rather “delightful, rapturous, joyful”.
560Ept
may mean either
food or drink.
9. He is the builder of the sacrifice (or the friend in the sacrifice)
and awakens the minds of men; him with a great cord they lead
565forward, he dwells perfecting in the houses of this being, a god
he has become the means of perfection to the mortal.
Martasya must be taken, obviously, with sadhanitwam; asya
with dury´asu means simply this being here on earth. Sadh &
s´adh, sadhan & s´adhana are different forms of one word, cf
570bhavati & bhav´ati, charatha & char´atha, rati & r´ati.
Text. 8-9. Sa d´uto vishved abhi vasht.i sadm´a, hot´a hiran.yaratho
ransujihvah;
Rohidashwo vapushyo vibh´av´a sad´a ran.vah pitumat´ıva
sansat.
575Sa chetayan manusho yajnabandhuh, pra tam mahy´a
rashanay´a nayanti;
Sa ksheti asya dury´asu s´adhan, devo martasya sadhani-
twam ´apa.
10. So may that Agni lead us on in his knowledge to that bliss of
580his which is enjoyed by the gods, which all the Immortals made
by Thought and father Dyaus begot it increasing Truth.
Sa t´u no Agnir nayatu praj´anann, achchh´a ratnam deva-
bhaktam yad asya;
Dhiy´a yad vishve amr.it´a akr.in.van, Dyaushpit´a janit´a
585satyam ukshan.
Sy. takes
yd
=
ymEn
590. But the neuter can only refer to ratnam. Sy.
also takes satyam = true Agni and
un
= the adhwaryu sprinkled
the true Agni (with ghee & other oblations).
59511. He was born the first in the waters in the foundation of
Mandala Four
the kingdom of the vastness, in the womb of the Truth (asya);
without head or feet, concealing his ends, setting himself to his
works in the lair of the Bull of Heaven (vr.ishabhasya).
600Text. Sa j´ayata prathamah pasty´asu, maho budhne rajaso asya
yonau;
Ap´adash´ırsh´a guham´ano ant´a, ´ayoyuv´ano vr.ishabhasya
n´ıl.e.
Sy.
605pyAs
—
g
h
q
610 or
ndFq
.
rjs
either “kingdom” or from
615A.R.
rj
to shine =
rocn &
Edv
620 , in the sense of heavenly world,
Sy.
rjs =
t
js.
qBy — Sy.
vq
ZsmT
y
Gy. Rather Bull,
Male, Mighty One, Master, a common epithet, like
un
,
, of
the gods, but specially applicable to Indra or to the Purusha.
Cf
v
640@yAEn = mights, masteries, mighty actions,
v
qn
,
v
645qB =
vFr
strong, mighty, heroic; both from A.R.
v
to be strong, luxuriant,
650abundant.
nF0, nest, means probably in Veda no more than
lair, stall, home.
12. Forward he moved, a supreme force, by illumined knowl-
edge, in the womb of Truth, in the lair of the Bull, desirable and
655young and great of body and widely shining. Seven Masters of
Love gave him being for the Mighty One.
Pra shardha ´arta prathamam vipanyan, r.itasya yon´a
vr.ishabhasya n´ıl.e;
Sp´arho yuv´a vapushyo vibh´av´a, sapta priy´aso ’janayanta
660vr.ishne.
Evpy
;. P.P.
EvpyA =
EvpyyA by the illumination, by knowledge.
665Say.
t
yA — but Sy. interprets even
ajny
t =
670tomk
v
n
!
-ty
675he takes =
udky.
13. Here our human fathers attained (
aEB
) & have their seat
680enjoying the Truth. The bright kine of plenteous milk were shut
within in a strong pen; the Dawns drove them upward at the call.
vv
I take to be a verbal form from
v
685 , the passive cor-
respondent to the active
vv
. Sy. says
v
690ZoyAQCAdytFEt
vv
pv
tEvlA
tv
695Et
tm, and explains, “The Angirasas surrounded by
the mountains in the cavern darkness drove up out of the cleft
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
the cows of plenteous milk, calling the Dawns who destroy the
700darkness.” It is not clear why the Dawns should or how they
could destroy the natural darkness in the bowels of the hills.
h
vAnA means called by the fathers.
Text. Asm´akam atra pitaro manushy´a, abhi pra sedur r.itam
705´ashush´an. ´ah;
Ashmavraj´ah sudugh´a vavre antar, ud usr´a ´ajann ushaso
huv´an´ah.
14. Cleaving the hill asunder they put forth their strength (or
shone in brightness); to that knowledge of theirs others all
710around gave expression; with the vision for their engine (or,
driving the Cow of Light or controlling the Animal) they sang
the hymn of realisation to the master of the action, they found
the light, they fulfilled the fruit of the sacrifice by their thoughts.
Text. Te marmr.ijata dadr.iv´anso adrim, tad esh´am anye abhito
715vi vochan;
Pashwayantr´aso abhi k´aram archan, vidanta jyotish
chakr.ipanta dh´ıbhih.
mm
jt. Sy.
720aEn
py
crn
, the idea apparently being that they
shampooed Agni.
& its derivatives mean to put out force, as
in
m
to strike, kill,
d
to crush,
m
j
735 to rub,
m
Z
to kill, slay,
m
battle,
m
f
to touch, rub,
q
to bear, suffer, cf
sh
. Cf also
,
m
d
,
755my
(which does not mean mortal, but male).
mm
jt means
therefore to put forth strength in action &, in sense, prepares
760the
kAr &
ck
p
t that immediately follow. On the other hand
also means to shine intensely, glitter etc, eg
mrFEc a ray, Gr.
marmairo, to shine, marmareos, shining, Lat. marmor, marble,
& the sense may possibly extend to
j
.
ck
p
775t.
k
p
to do completely, fulfil, succeed, get or bear fruit,
cf Grk.
780karpc fruit.
p
vy
As
Sy.
785pf
Eng
mnATA
En
y
790A@y
pAyo
y
qA
t
If
y
=
engine or means of action then
v cannot mean animal =
pf
,
but must =
805EvpyA,
d
E from
pf
to see; if
810pf
means the cow, the
animal, then
y
must mean either driving or controlling as in
815gA
y
mAn
in the next rik.
Mandala Four
82015. Te gavyat´a manas´a dr.idhram ubdham, g´a yem´anam pari
shantam adrim;
Dr.id.ham naro vachas´a daivyena, vrajam gomantam
ushijo vi vavruh.
They with the light-seeking mind the firm-closed & massive hill
825surrounding and keeping in by force the cows opened, men with
the word divine opened for their joy the firm pen full of the
herds of light.
uEfj
kAmymAnA. But it is doubtful if
830uEfj
&
uf
in Veda
always mean precisely desire. The word is used =
v, & “the
desirers” has hardly sufficient force by itself to be equivalent to
the idea of godhead.
uf
840 may mean also to shine or burn like
vf
(in the consension of the grammarians
uf
is only a form of
845vash), like
uq
&
us
(eg
850u*,
uq) and that is its sense in
uEfj
fire &
uEfj
855 ghee (cf
G
t from
G
to shine); then
860uEfj
&
d
v
become equivalent in sense; or
865uf
= enjoy &
uEfj
may mean
“joyous, rapturous”. Cf
870ufnA, joyfully, willingly,
vfA a woman,
wife, daughter, sister (cf
jAyA,
jEn,
875vEntA which all originally
mean an object of enjoyment or companion in enjoyment, so
woman, the general words for woman being afterwards applied
to particular feminine relationships).
16. Te manvata prathamam n´ama dhenos, trih sapta m´atuh
880param´an.i vindan;
Taj j´anat´ır abhyan´ushata vr´a, ´avir bhuvad arun.´ır yashas´a
goh.
They conceived the first (supreme) name of the Cow, yea, they
found the thrice seven highest seats (or names) of the Mother;
885that knowing the Brides dawned towards it, the rosy Morn was
manifested by the victorious arrival of the Cow of Light.
Sy. takes
Tm
= first; but
890Tm here means rather first in the
sense of supreme, chief or original & qualifies nama.
prmAEZ he
explains as the 21 metres. I do not see in the Vedic text any
warrant for this gloss;
895prmAEZ must mean either
prmAEZ
pdAEn
(DAmAEn) or
prmAEZ
900nAmAEn, referring back to
nAm in the first pada,
but it is usually the
pd
or
905DAm to which the word
Ev
dn
is applied.
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
910uq
in
an
$
qt I take to have the same sense as in the word
915uq;
vrA,
the bride, refers often to
uq or to the sisters
uqAs or to the rays
920of light themselves otherwise imaged as the cows of Usha.
yf
means literally arrival, attaining, winning, so success, victory,
glory, splendour or the results of winning, things won, wealth,
etc. I take it here to mean by a sort of double association the
925victory & arrival of the herd driven by the Fathers to the thrice
seven seats of the Mother, the seats of Sachchidananda.
17. Neshat tamo dudhitam rochata dyaur, ud devy´a ushaso
bh´anur arta;
´A S´uryo br.ihatas tisht.had ajr´an, r.iju marteshu vr.ijin´a cha
930pashyan.
Vanished darkness oppressed, Heaven shone out, up the lustre
of the divine Dawn arose; the Sun entered the fields of vastness
beholding in mortals their straight things & their crooked.
d
935EDt
Sayana takes in the sense of “driven; propelled”. The
sense of the
d
roots is, more often, to press, hurt, crush, com-
940press, push; eg du, to hurt, torment, afflict, burn; also to grieve;
d
K pain;
d
D
945 to kill, hurt; or to push, drive;
d
v
to hurt, kill;
d
to swing;
d
q
to damage, spoil;
h
to squeeze out, milk. Darkness
disappears under the conquering pressure of Dawn, but it is not
clear that the precise sense of the pressure is that of driving.
960a{ I take to be akin in sense to
aEjr a court, open space,
field of exercise or action, and equivalent to the Greek agros,
Lat. ager, a field.
18. ´Ad it pashch´a bubudh´an´a vyakhyann, ´ad id ratnam
965dh´arayanta dyubhaktam;
Vishve vishv´asu dury´asu dev´a Mitra dhiye Varun.a satyam
astu.
Then indeed they were awakened in mind to the beyond and
saw perfectly, then indeed they held the bliss that is enjoyed in
970Heaven. May all the gods be in all the gated homes, may there
be, O Mitra, Truth, and thou, O Varuna, for the thought.
p
cA. Sy.
p
yd
f
q
.
980r&
. If ratnam does not mean delight, it is
curious that it should be so frequently associated with the word
Mandala Four
B8t
985 especially in such phrases as
B8t
; the wealth enjoyed in
heaven or enjoyed by the gods,
r&
990ydy
d
vB8t
, has no meaning;
it is a bizarre & senseless phrase; bliss enjoyed in heaven or by
995the gods is natural and makes a good and simple sense.
19. Achchh´a vocheya shushuch´anam Agnim, hot´aram vi-
shvabharasam yajisht.ham;
Shuchi ´udho atr.in.an na gav´am, andho na p´utam pari-
shiktam anshoh.
1000I would speak the mantra towards Agni as he burneth pure, the
offerer strong in sacrifice who bringeth us all boons; he presses
out as if the pure udder of the cows, as if the pure & wide-poured
liquid of the Soma-creeper.
Sy. takes na = not, & explains, “he did not milk the cows, the
1005Soma was not purified nor sprinkled; the yajaman only offered
praise.” I see no sense or appropriateness to the context in this
rendering. Na simply conveys, as in other passages, that the
cows & the Soma are symbolic figures not material cows or the
intoxicating juice of a material plant.
101020. Vishvesh´am aditir yajniy´an´am, vishvesh´am atithir m´anu-
sh´an. ´am;
Agnir dev´an´am ava ´avr.in. ´anah, sumr.il.´ıko bhavatu j´ata-
ved´ah.
The infinite being of all the sacrificial Powers, the guest of all
1015human beings, may Agni, taking to himself the being of the gods,
become gracious to us, the knower of all births.
av =
a3
says Sayana, &
vAnAm
=
tot
^
1025ZAm
.
av certainly
here does not mean protection and this passage throws doubt
upon the sense of protection ascribed to the word in other pas-
1030sages where we have the phrase
av
aAv
Z
and it is rendered
1035“I choose the protection”.
av
or
U means to bring into being,
increase, keep in being, be, have; to protect, to cover etc, eg
1040aEv, originally, a creature, beast, afterwards particularised as
bird or sheep; even, a rat, also a master (to have); avis, an
extender, enlarger; avas, wealth, provision (to have). Latin avus,
forefather. Avas may, therefore, mean the birth & presence of
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
1045the gods in man all drawn into the totality of the divine Tapas,
Agni, who is the aditir yajniy´an´am, that infinite from which they
took their birth.
[23]
[RV IV.2]
10502. Vamadeva’s second hymn to Agni.
1. Yo martyeshu amr.ito r.it´av´a, devo deveshu aratir nidh´ayi;
Hot´a yajisht.ho mahn´a shuchadhyai, havyair agnir manu-
sha ´ırayadhyai.
He who was established immortal in mortals as the possessor
1055of the Truth, a god in the gods as the worker of our perfection,
Agni, priest of the offering strong in sacrifice by his might to
purify, by the offerings of man to impel him on the path;
2. Iha twam s´uno sahaso no adya, j´ato j´at´an ubhay´an antar
Agne;
1060D´uta ´ıyase yuyuj´ana r.ishva, r.ijumushk´an vr.ishan.ah
shukr´anshcha;
Here born today, O child of Force, thou, O Agni, goest as our
messenger between the births of either world, yoking, O swift
attaining, thy strong stallions straight and full-bodied and bright
1065of hue.
-v. Sy. gives two renderings,
df
nFy and
mht
1070 , neither of
which am I able to accept.
- means to go, move,
-q
to reach,
1075attain as probably in
-Eq or simply to go, flow etc as in
-q
,
-y
1080an antelope. Its other sense is to pierce, injure, hurt, burn, shine
as in
-q
,
-E a sword or lance,
fire, brand, sunbeam.
-v
may mean therefore either speedy, swift, or warlike, powerful,
valiant or like
1090-Eq and
-q
wise. In all probability
-v as applied
to Indra & Agni means swift on their journey, or swiftly attaining
1095the Vedic goal, with a covert sense of knowledge as in
-Eq,
-t
etc, or simply “swift in their action”.
Mandala Four
m
kAn
. Sy. takes
-j
sADk &
m
k =
mA
1110sl. We must
await a better interpretation.
3.
ayA
v
1115Dˆ
$
roEhtA
G
tˆ
-ty
my
mnsA
jEvSA
trFys
azqA
y
jAno
mA
c
d
vAEvf
c
mtA
n
Red coursers of the Truth (or of the True One) dripping in-
1140crease, dripping brightness swiftest by the mind in my mind I
hold; yoking those rosy steeds thou movest between thy divine
peoples (lit. you the gods) and the race of men.
v
Dˆ
G
tˆ
$ . Sy. interprets, dripping food, dripping water.
This, I suppose, Max Muller would call part of Sayana’s clear &
1150rational method & spirit; but if horses can drip food & water I
do not see why they should not drip increase & brightness quite
as easily. But
ˆ
$ here =
$ , procuring or giving abundantly, and
I use dripping concretely as a figure of abundant giving.
-ty
is for Sy.
1160syB
$
ty
tv. It is possible.
my
tOEm says Sayana.
I demur. There is an obvious connection in sense between
my
&
1170mnsA which necessitates some such rendering as I have given.
It means really I meditate on in my thought so as to possess in
mental faculty.
4. Aryaman.am Varun.am Mitram esh´am, Indr´avishn. ´u Maru-
to Ashwinota;
1175Svashwo Agne surathah sur´adh´a, edu vaha suhavishe
jan´aya.
Aryaman, Varuna & Mitra of these, Indra & Vishnu, the Maruts
and the Aswins, do thou, O Agni, good in thy steeds, good in
thy chariot, good in thy delight, bear hither to men good in their
1180offerings.
5. Gom´an Agne avim´an ashw´ı yajno, nr.ivatsakh´a sadam id
apramr.ishyah;
Il.´av´an esho asura praj´av´an, d´ırgho rayih pr.ithubudhnah
sabh´av´an;
1185Rich in the cows of light, in the flocks of sight, in the horses
of strength the Sacrifice is like a human friend ever inviolable;
long (or long-enduring) is this felicity, O mighty one, wide of
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
foundation in the house of the sacrifice and attended with the
1190revealed knowledge & the human fruit.
Sy. takes
eq =
y. &
rEy as an adjective =
1195DnvAn
, but the
epithets are all suitable & most of them common epithets of the
noun
rEy, not of
1200y..
rEy may be masculine as well as feminine.
6. Yas te idhmam jabharat sishwid´ano, m´urdh´anam v´a ta-
tapate tw´ay´a;
Bhuvas tasya swatav´anh p´ayur, Agne vishvasmat s´ım
1205agh´ayata urushya.
He who has brought to thee thy fuel with sweat of his body, he
who has heated his head with his desire for thee, mayst thou
become to him a protector self-strong; O Agni, protect him on
all sides from every power of evil.
1210Sy. explains
vtvAn
=
DnvAn
. I take it as
1215v self &
tvAn
strong from
t
meaning strength as in tavisha, tavish´ı, tavas.
12207. Yas te bhar´ad anniyate chid annam, nishishan mandram
atithim ud´ırat;
´A devayur inadhate duron.e, tasmin rayir dhruvo astu
d´asv´an.
He who bringeth food of matter to thee although rich in matter,
1225intensifies and sends upward his rapturous guest, he who de-
siring the godhead kindles thee in the gated house, in him may
felicity be firm-enduring and creative (or bounteous).
aE3yt
. Sy. takes =
1230a3EmQCt
&
Ecd
= and, apparently with
the next clause. The interpretation I have selected avoids this
1235difficulty & gives a natural sense to the words.
EnEfqt
. Sy.
takes
EnEfqt
d
=
mdkr
som
1245EntrA
yQCEt. But it is absurd
to take
m
d
1250 by itself =
som, esp. when both
EnEfqt
&
udFrt
1255 can
apply to
m
d
mEtET
1260, supposing always that the Padapatha is right
in reading
EnEfqt
. It takes
Efq
1265 as a strengthened form of
Ef to
be sharp, sharpen, excite, intensify in force or keenness etc; this
is as good & possible a sense as
yQCEt.
1270dAvAn
like
d* may
mean either bounteous or active, creative, formative. Cf also
dAn
1275 eg
dAn
m7s
.
Sy. interprets
1280rEy here as
p
; but anything is
possible in his system.
Mandala Four
12858. Yas tw´a dosh´a ya ushasi prashans´at, priyam v´a tw´a
kr.in.avate havishm´an;
Ashwo na swe dama ´a hemy´av´an, tam anhasah p´ıparo
d´ashw´ansam.
He who expresses thee at night, who at dawn, or makes thee
1290glad with the oblation in his hands, thou like a steed impetuous
in thy own home bring that giver safe beyond all evil.
a
hs. Sy.
pAp!pAd
1295dAErAt
(!) — & he interprets
bh
Dn
yQC
!
h
MyAvAn
. Sy.
vZ
EnEm
tkLyAvAn
. In that case the
1310image must be that as a horse adorned in its own stable with
a golden ornament rewards his master’s kindness by carrying
him through some danger, so should Agni, similarly pleased by
the praises & gifts of the sacrificer, carry him beyond evil or
calamity. I suggest that
m,
h
MyA is from
Eh to rush, throw &
1320when used of a horse in Veda, akin in sense to
hy, the charger,
the swift charger.
h
MyA will then mean impetuous in speed.
dm
h
MyAvAn
refers directly to Agni, not to
v, although the idea of
the horse is preserved in the choice of the epithet.
9. Yas tubhyam Agne amr.it´aya d´ashad, duvas twe kr.in.avate
yatasruk;
1335Na sa r´ay´a shasham´ano vi yoshan, nainam anhah pari
varad agh´ayoh.
He who giveth, O Agni, to thy immortality and doeth in thee the
action of sacrifice with managed ladle, let him not in attaining
calm be divorced from joy, him let not the evil of the evil-wisher
1340ring around.
*
k
— “a pourer” (it means also a spring or cascade) —
& in its implied psychological sense the motive force or mo-
1345tor instrument of action fulfilling the internal or external act,
yt well-guided in one case, in the other well-controlled and
regulated. In the latter sense, it is equivalent in a way to
yt
Ed
10. Yasya twam Agne adhwaram jujosho, devo martasya su-
dhitam rar´an.ah;
Pr´ıt´a id asad dhotr´a s´a yavisht.ha, as´ama yasya vidhato
vr.idh´asah.
1355Commentaries and Annotated Translations
Of whomsoever thou, O Agni, cleavest to the sacrifice, a god the
sacrifice of a mortal, that well-established, thou full of delight,
glad indeed becometh that Lady of the offering, O young &
vigorous god, of whom disposing the action may we be the
1360increasers.
Sayana with startling coolness explains the feminine
sA
hoA
as
hotA!
yy surely refers to Agni, who is alone mentioned in
this line & to whom & not to a man the expression vr.idh´asah
could appropriately be used.
1370EvDt may be either in agreement
with
yy or with
vy
implied in
1375asAm.
11. Chittim achittim chinavad vi vidv´an, pr.isht.heva v´ıt´a
vr.ijin´a cha mart´an;
R´aye cha nah swapaty´aya deva, ditim cha r´aswa aditim
urushya.
1380In his wisdom may he distinguish the Knowledge and the Ig-
norance like wide open levels and those that hamper mortals;
and, O god, for our felicity fruitful of its works enrich for us the
divided being and widen the undivided.
Sayana explains “like the beautiful backs of horses &
1385those that are unfit to carry”, takes mart´an =
p
@yk
to'p
@yk
c
mn
yAn
after
1395EvEcnvd
, — a stupendous extension, — creates a
k
z after
rAy
1400 & interprets
EdEt
&
aEdEt
as the giver & the
1405non-giver. All this incoherence is unnecessary.
vFtA is, like
-j
$
En, as wide, open & flat, opposed to
Ejn = crooked or
uneven, lit. shutting off by bends or undulations,
p
SA means
1415any level, surface, not the back of a horse.
mtA
n
is the objective
after the verbal idea in the adjective
EjnA, a frequent type of
construction in the Veda,
rAy
expresses the purpose of the action
1425rAv &
uzy,
EdEt &
aEdEt are the fixed terms expressing in
Diti the broken & divided consciousness (bheda) of the Avidya
1430(achittim) & in Aditi the infinite unbroken consciousness of the
Vidya. Sayana is driven to ignore the fixed sense of
aEdEt in the
Veda, because he cannot see any other sense in
uzy except ward
1435off, get rid of, protect from. But
uzy can mean also to desire or
give wideness, to widen. The thought & language are perfectly
Mandala Four
simple, connected & logical.
1440EcE1
,
p
S
v
1445vFtA,
aEdEtm
also refer
to the free unity consciousness proper to Vidya, achittim, vr.ijin´a,
ditim to the multiple divided consciousness proper to Avidya.
1450The verse expresses briefly what is expressed at greater length
in three slokas of the Isha Upanishad — 9–11.
12. Kavim shash´asuh kavayo adabdh´a, nidh´arayanto dury´asu
´ayoh;
Atas twam dr.ishy´an Agna et´an, pad.bhih pashyer ad-
1455bhut´an arya evaih.
The seer the Seers unconquered expressed, establishing him in
the gated houses of being, (or of the creature), — therefore do
thou behold all these wondrous ones, the objects of vision, with
rangings of thy feet.
1460Note that the kavi is here the drasht.´a.
13. Twam Agne v´aghate supran.´ıtih, sutasom´aya vidhate
yavisht.ha;
Ratnam bhara shasham´an´aya ghr.ishve, pr.ithushchan-
dram avase charshan.ipr´ah.
1465Thou, O vigorous Agni, art a perfect guide to the sacrificer who
has pressed out the soma & disposes the rites, O vigorous god; O
bright god, bring to his self-expression a delight wide-extended
in its pleasurableness, filling his action with thyself.
s
1470ZFEt. Sy.
s
S
$
1rv
ZynFyv
. But it means more nat-
urally leading the sacrifice or the sacrificer to his goal.
p
c
d
.
The Padapatha reads
T
c
d
— the sense will be almost the same,
1490wide & pleasurable; but I take
p
T
c
d
1495 as a compound as in other
passages.
14. Adh´a ha yad vayam Agne tw´ay´a, pad.bhir hastebhish
chakr.im´a tan´ubhih;
Ratham na kranto apas´a bhurijor, r.itam yemuh sudhya
1500´ashush´an. ´ah.
And now in truth by what we, O Agni, in our desire of thee have
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
done with our feet and hands and bodies, making as it were a
chariot by the work of the two worlds (or of the arms), they
1505of wise-understanding have laboured & mastered enjoying the
Truth.
ck
m. Sy. interprets
vAm
1510ppAdyAm. This is possible, but there
is no
vAm
.
B
1515Erjo.
EbB
t
km
krZsAmLy
1520pdATA
v
Et
B
ErjO
1525bAh
$ .
I take
B
r
1530 here in the ordinary sense we have in
B
r@y
etc &
suppose it to be equivalent to
$
Em,
avEn, but especially applied
to the
1540rodsF, heaven & earth, mind & body.
-t
Sy. takes
=
syB
t
vAm
. This is possible in grammar but not in sense.
-tmAf
1550qAZA must have the same significance as in v. 16 where
it is certainly “the Truth” gained by breaking the hill & freeing
the cows of knowledge.
15. Now may we supreme & with the seven illuminations of
Dawn the Mother give being to the strong Ones who dispose,
1555may we become Angirasas, sons of heaven, being purely bright
may we break the hill full of substance.
Adh´a m´atur ushasah saptavipr´a, j´ayemahi pratham´a ve-
dhaso nr.´ın;
Divas putr´a angiraso bhavema, adrim rujema dhaninam
1560shuchantah.
sPEvA I take as a single word &
Ev in the sense of knowledge,
not of knower or else if knower, then in the sense, “knowers of
the seven”. Otherwise the prayer must mean, “Let us become
1565the seven Rishis & give being to the gods”. This is possible, if the
rik be taken by itself without any connection with its context.
a
Egrso. The sense seems to be, “Let us, Angirasas in bodily
birth, be truly Angirasas in our spiritual being.” Sy. says
$
Etm
t
yAm for which I see no justification, nor for his rendering of the
1575plain & straightforward
Edvp
A as meaning physical children
of the Sun. The Sruti when it says
Edvp
am
ty
p
A is using
1585a plain & simple expression which we have every right to take
in its natural significance, — emphasised as it is & brought out
by the
d
vy
d
vA of the 17th Rik.
Mandala Four
16. Adh´a yath´a nah pitarah par´asah, pratn´aso agna r.itam
1595´ashush´an. ´ah;
Shuch´ıd ayan d´ıdhitim ukthash´asah, ksh´am´a bhindanto
arun.´ır apa vran.
Now as when the ancient supreme fathers, O Agni, enjoying
Truth by the expression of the word reached the purity, the
1600light, breaking their two worlds (or their earth) they uncovered
the red (herds of the Dawn).
AmA. The Padapatha reads
Am. It is more natural to take it
as it stands, the dual
1605AmA =
AvAAmA or
rodsF. Sy. takes us ten
miles out of the way to interpret
ykArZ
pAp
vA.
17. Sukarm´an.ah surucho devayanto, ayo na dev´a janim´a
dhamantah;
1615Shuchanto Agnim vavr.idhanta Indram, ´urvam gavyam
parishadanto agman.
Perfect in action, perfect in light, desiring the godhead, they,
grown gods, working out the births as one works the iron ore,
making Agni pure-bright, increasing Indra, they went on their
1620way & made their [home] in all the wideness that is the world
of the Light (of the Herds).
f
c
to, not merely
1625dFpy
t ; the repeated
f
c
t (15),
Ec (16),
f
c
t (17) shows that it is the idea of the pure light of knowledge,
1635the pure mental & moral state, which is intended.
18. ´A y´utheva kshumati pashvo, akhyad dev´an´am yaj jani-
m´anti ugra;
Mart´an´am chid urvash´ır akr.ipran, vr.idhe chid arya upa-
rasya ´ayoh.
1640Like herds in the dwelling (or field) of the Cow, thou didst
behold, O forceful god, the births of the gods in front of thee;
they both fulfilled the wide enjoyments of mortals and were
strong in high activity for the increase of the higher life.
aHyd
1645 . Sy. takes
id
o'Hyt
, reading in Indra from the last
line. It is just possible, but very forced. Agni is the jatavedas, it
1650Commentaries and Annotated Translations
is Agni who is addressed in
ug
.
aHyd
1655 is really a form of the Rt
Hy lost, like all the short
a roots in later Sanscrit; cf
aEt
Hy etc;
1660it is an old survival & therefore keeps more easily than other
verbs the old tendency to have the same characteristic consonant
for the second & third persons.
uv
fF. Yaska
y`
t
Uz yAm`
t
1670 & this we are to take as
equivalent to
jA! There is no need to drag in the human thighs
& to argue lightly that “those who enjoy with the thighs” must
naturally mean children!
fF may mean either wide being,
wide possession, wide enjoyment or wide desire or even desire
of wideness; but the
Ecd
1680 ..
Ecd
shows that a contrast is intended
between the ordinary mortal life & the higher existence; human
enjoyment in its widest largeness & an increased divine nature
1685& bliss are possessed in harmony by the siddha.
ay
,
aEr
always suggests the high tapasya of the seeker after godhead or
1690the exalted nature which is the result of
tpyA. No single English
word can express the Vedic sense. Sy. takes
ay
=
1695vAmF, but
ay
is also the plural of
aEr & the balanced rhythm & structure
Ecdk
..
Ecdy
demand the same subject for both clauses.
aAyo may mean either existence or the being who exists,
1705either life or man. We may take “the higher man” as opposed
to
mtA
nAm
, but the expression would be a little forced & “ex-
1710istence” is more natural & gives the same sense more easily &
straightforwardly.
19. Akarma te svapaso abh´uma, r.itam avasrann ushaso
vibh´at´ıh;
An´unam agnim purudh´a sushchandram, devasya mar-
1715mr.ijatashch´aru chakshuh.
We do actions for thee & become perfected in works & the
outshining dawns make their dwelling in the Truth (or clothe
themselves with the Truth); we give strength to (or put to strong
action, or brighten) Agni in his unstinted being & full delight,
1720the bright vision of the God.
-tmv*n
.
t
jo ..
1725aAQCAdy
Et. Sy.
c
. Sy.
t
1730j. This is just
possible; but
c
also & more commonly means sight or eye; it
Mandala Four
1735may also mean that which is seen. Agni is the sight or the eye
of the divine life & existence, through him it sees the births or
worlds hidden from the mortal vision.
20. Et´a te agna uchath´ani vedho, avoch´ama kavaye t´a
jushasva;
1740Uchchhochasva kr.in.uhi vasyaso no, maho r´ayah pu-
ruv´ara pra yandhi.
We have uttered these words to thee, O Agni, Disposer, who art
the seer, to them do thou cleave; shine bright & pure, make us
richer in being; the great felicities do thou effect for us, O lord
1745of many boons.
[24]
[RV IV.3]
3. Vamadeva’s third hymn to Agni.
1.
vo
rAjAnmvry
zd
hotAr
1755syyj
rodyo
aEn
p
rA
1760tnEy&orEc1A-
E=r@y!pmvs
k
Z
v
1765The fierce king of the sacrifice, the offerer, who effects by sacri-
fice truth in the two firmaments, Agni for yourselves before the
extending ignorance set in his brilliant form for your growth (or
for your protection).
tnEy&o. Say. renders “before that thunder death”,
1770aEc1
being death because in death there is no sense-consciousness.
This far-fetched learned scholastic ingenuity is typical.
tn
means
1775to 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
tnEy&
1780 is here obviously an adjective
& not the noun thunder.
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
2.
ay
1785yoEn
ck
mA
y
vy
jAy
v
py
uftF
vAsA
avA
cFn
pErvFto
qFd
imA
u
t
1805vpAk
tFcF
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
1810worker, move to thy encounter.
yoEn. There is here the double sense, the woman’s yoni &
the receptacle, symbolically the altar, psychologically the human
heart.
pErvFto. Not “surrounded by the gods” as Sayana would
1815have it, but either “widely manifested” or “encompassing, going
all round, pervading” =
pErZFt.
imA either “these energies”
of action in the human being or these mantras expressing the
1820sense of that action; in either case Agni is to take & fulfil them
in energies of divine activity.
3.
aAf
@vt
EptAy
mm
n
cs
m
0FkAy
v
D
vAy
fEtmm
tAy
f
g
Av
v
sotA
q
mF0
O disposer of the sacrifice, express thy thought to the kindly one,
the puissant of vision, who responds to the mantra & is beyond
1850all harms (or is not violent), a means of expression for the god
in his immortality; like the stone of the distilling he bringeth out
the wine of sweetness whom I adore.
ad
EptAy — “who hears & is not arrogant” is Sayana’s ren-
1855dering.
d
p
is of the
d
1860 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
d
AEp etc.
Ept
may be either passive or active, either “unhurt” or “violent, hurt-
ful” as opposed to
s
0FkAy.
g
Av
v. Sy. interprets “Agni whom
1875the 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
Mandala Four
1880produces 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.
v
1885Ec3
fMyA
an
ayA
-ty
1890boED
-tEct
vADF
kdA
t
1895u8TA
sDmAAEn
kdA
Bv
Et
1900sHyA
g
h
t
Do thou verily, O Agni, waken in us to this peace, waken to the
1905Truth 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?
fMyA. Sy.
km
1910nAm. But it may mean, like
fm, the peace or in-
ner quiet of the mind in which the vijnˆana manifests.
sDmAAEn.
sD
sAD
have one sense in Vedic Sanscrit, eg
sDEnv
,
1920sDn for
sADn etc.
5.
kTA
h
1925t7zZAy
vmn
kTA
Edv
gh
k3
aAg
kTA
EmAy
1935mF[h
q
p
ET y
#
v
kdy
MZ
kYgAy
1945How 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.
ED@yAs
v
DsAno
an
1955k7AtAy
tvs
f
B
y
1960pEr6mn
nAsyAy
b
v
kdn
Ay
n
†
What hast thou said in the seats of being, O increasing Agni?
1970what 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?
pEr6mn
. Sy.
1975pErto
g
. I take it = capacious, Rt
jm
.
1980Commentaries and Annotated Translations
7.
kTA
mh
p
BrAy
p
$
Z
d
Ay
s
mKAy
1995hEvd
kE7Zv
uzgAyAy
r
to
v
kdn
frv
b
#
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
2010who is mighty)?
s
mKAy. I accept provisionally “sacrifice” for
mK, sin for
r
(from
rF to injure, offend).
uzgAy I take to be wide-moving —
EEv5mAy — from O.A.
2020gA to move, &
fz =
2F, lit. Movement
or Force, the Energy of Vishnu.
8.
2025kTA
fDA
y
mztAm
tAy
2030kTA
s
$
r
b
p
QC
ymAn
Et
vo
aEdty
t
rAy
2045sADA
Edvo
jAtv
dE
cEkvAn
2050How 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.
n
-t
EnytmF0
aA
2060gor
aAmA
scA
mD
mp8vmn
ZA
stF
zftA
DAEsn
2070#qA
jAmy
Z
pysA
pFpAy
2075By the truth I seek continually the truth of the Cow of Light,
together the unripe fruits and that which is ripe & full of sweet-
ness, O Agni; she being black nourishes with milk that is bright
and firm and full of substance.
I0
2080. We get here the true meaning of
I0
— to seek (i to
go), desire, & so love, adore & to pray rather than to praise.
DAEsnA.
2085DAEs is firm settlement, firm place etc,
DAEsn
should be
that which is firm or that which makes firm. Sy.
AEZnA
2090DArk
Z.
jAmy
Z. Sy. makes a wild guess at the sense; I take it from the
sense of body, substance in the
2095j roots which we find in
jMv
Mandala Four
mud, mire, in the Persian, & the vernaculars, in
pEr6mA (as I
2100interpret it = capacious). We must be content with uncertainty.
10.
-t
n
Eh
v
qBE
cd8t
p
;
aEn
pysA
p
y
n
apdmAno
acr7yoDA
qA
f
d
d
p
E`!D
For by truth as his mover he too, Agni, the Bull, the Male, by
the water from the levels, unmoving ranged establishing wide
2130being; the dappled Bull milked a pure-bright udder.
Sy. takes
v
qB as
Plvq
2135k, but
v
qA as
apA
vq
s
$
y
. Ob-
2145viously 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.
n
aEd
ysEBd
t
Egrso
nv
t
goEB
n
nr
pEr
qd3
2165qAsm
aAEv
vrBv6jAt
anO
By truth the Angirasas broke the hill and parted it asunder and
2170they 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.
f
n
2175. Sy.
s
K
n. It means properly
s
& may be either a noun
or an epithet qualifying
uqAs
or as Sayana takes it an adverb.
. Sy.
s
$
y
2190. It suits Sayana’s naturalistic & ritualistic theory
to take
vr
, wherever possible, as the Sun; I take
vr
2195 always =
Heaven, the third vyahriti, &
s
$
r
2200 or
s
$
y
only as the sun.
220512.
-t
n
d
vFrm
am
8tA
aZo
EBrApo
mEYrn
vAjF
n
sg
t
BAn
sdEmt
*Evtv
2225dDy
By truth the divine, immortal and undammed rivers with their
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
streams of honey, O Agni, as a horse that sets its breast against
the wind when loosed to its gallopings, so have ever & always
2230grown in mass for the flowing.
aAp. It is difficult to say why Sy. renders
aAP yA
sy —
d
2235vFrAp is a common enough expression in the Veda.
am
8tA
— rendered usually unhurt. Sy.
abAEDtA. It is, I think, un-
2240opposed, unobstructed. Cf
mc
yEt
7y
n, limits by division or
2245duality.
dDy
. Sy.
gQC
Et. But “ran to flow” would be a cu-
2250rious tautology; moreover
Dn
means either sound or mass &
substance,
Dn,
a sandy shore,
Dvn
desert, shore, dry land,
sky, or sometimes perhaps hurt, injury. In the whole
clan, it
is only the
D
$ roots, a few derivatives like
j
, etc, &
D
n,
nA
ocean, river, which retain the sense of motion. Probably, then,
dDy
means either sounded, neighed like a horse for its gallop
2275or to get mass, volume. The latter agrees best both with the
image in
t
BAn & the stress on
-t
13.
mA
ky
y
2285sdEmd
D
ro
gA
mA
fy
Emnto
mA
aAp
B
At
rn
an
2300jo-
Z
v
-
mA
2305sHy
d
ErpoB
j
m
2310Go 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.
ro. Sy.
Eh
sky. But cf
j
rAZm
n. 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.
. Sy.
-Zvd
d
y
2330hEv. This is absurd.
-Z
= motion, the root
- implies straight or forward motion and often attains to the
sense of knowledge, rule or right — eg
,
-Eq,
-B
,
. It
may mean here either the knowledge attained or the progress on
the Vedic journey.
v
2345 may mean either “enter into”, “resort
to” or “manifest in us”. The last is most probable.
d
, either
“share”, cf
to distribute, or discernment, cf Gr. doxa, dokeo
— idea.
Mandala Four
14.
Zo
an
tv
rZ
rArAZ
s
mK
FZAn
P
r
Ev
zj
2370vFX
a
ho
jEh
ro
2375mEh
Ec7Av
DAn
Guard us, O Agni, with thy protections, putting forth thy vehe-
mence, O full of substance, in thy gladness (or revelling in thy
2380delight); break forth, shatter strong-piled evil, slay the Rakshasa,
huge though he be, in his increase.
rArAZ. It is hardly likely that the idea of protection should
be thrice repeated.
rh
2385 means to separate, screen, cover, conceal,
hence the sense of protection or keeping in
r
; but, also, like
rB
it means swiftness, violence, vehemence & may mean passionate
delight like
rBs. The three closing words will then be connected
& complementary in sense in the true Vedic style.
239515.
eEBB
v
s
mnA
ak
#
-
ErmAp
mmEB
f
$
r
2410vAjAn
ut
b
AEZ
a
2415Egro
j
qv
s
t
2420fEtd
vvAtA
jr
t
By these hymns of realisation become gracious to us, O Agni,
2425& touch by their thoughts, O Agni, these riches; cleave too to
the soul-mantras, O Angiras, & let that expression of thee man-
ifesting thy godhead (manifested by the gods) woo thee for us.
a
Egr. Sy.
a
gArA
aAs
t
Egrso'BvE3Et
b
AZ
y
Egrs
s
$
nvt
pEr
jE.r
-.
/...
2450aEn,
a
gEt,
a
gAr,
Egr
,
a
Egrs
2460 all come from
ag
& its nasal form
a
g
2465 , 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
a
2470Egr full of strength & force,
heat & brilliance.
s
jr
t. Sy.
vD
yt
. But the sense of
j
2480 in
the Veda is fixed & there is no ground here for departure from
its ordinary significance.
16.
etA
vA
Evd
q
t
v
Do
nFTAyn
En@yA
2495vcA
Es
EnvcnA
kvy
kA yAEn
Esq
mEtEBEv
u8T
#
2505Commentaries and Annotated Translations
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
2510seer.
[25]
[RV IV.4]
4. Vamadeva’s fourth hymn to Agni.
1.
Z
v
pAj
EsEt
p
LvF
yAEh
rAj
amvAEnB
n
t
vFmn
2530EsEt
d
$
ZAno
atAEs
2535Evy
rstEpS
#
Make the mass of thy strength like a wide marching, go like
a king strong with his army; charging in the line of thy swift
2540march, — an Archer art thou, — pierce the Rakshasas with thy
most burning strengths.
pAj — strength, but with the idea of mass, bulk, cf Gr.
pagos, a hill, pegnumi etc,
p
2545Ej a ball (mass) of cotton,
pAjy
footing (firm ground for the feet) etc.
EsEt
may mean a path,
2550but literally it seems to mean an assault or a march & that sense is
most appropriate here. In any case the sense of the rik is perfectly
lucid & simple & it is painful to see Sayana stumbling about it
under a clumsy load of laborious & inapplicable learning.
2.
B
mAs
aAf
yA
Et
an
p
f
qtA
fof
cAn
tp
Eq
an
j
4A
gA-
ns
Edto
Ev
j
Evvg
SkA
Swiftly gallop thy ranging steeds, follow & attain by violence
2585burning bright & pure; unfettered pour forth by thy force on
every side, O Agni, thy heats and thy flying sparks and thy
streaming flames.
Mandala Four
j
$ . Sy.
h
$
y
'yAmAh
ty
iEt
j
$
6vA
lA. This learnedly fanci-
ful derivation cannot be accepted.
is to cast, pour forth; it
expresses any violent motion or action;
j
h
2610$ must be either the
act or the force of the casting or the thing cast, not the thing
into which the object is cast.
3.
Et
2615pfo
Ev
s
j
t
EZ
tmo
BvA
pAy
fo
ayA
adND
yo
d
$
r
aGf
yo
a
Et
an
2640mAEk
yETrA
dDqF
t
Send forth thy ´eclaireurs in thy great swiftness, become the pro-
2645tector indomitable of this people; he who would express evil in
us from afar, he who from near, let no troubler do violence to
thee, O Agni.
pf
is exactly expressed by the French ´eclaireur, — they are
2650the flaming illuminations of Agni Jatavedas which help us to
distinguish friend & enemy, Arya & unArya, truth & falsehood.
4.
udn
EtS
tn
v
yEmA
;
2660aoqtAE1mh
t
yo
no
arAEt
2665sEmDAn
c5
nFcA
t
DE
2670ats
n
f
k
Rise up high, O Agni, spread thyself against them, scorch our
2675unlovers, thou with the sharp missiles; he who hath done to us
undelight, burn him to the roots like a dry trunk.
arAEt
. Sy.
fAv
2680. There is always the ambiguity in
arAEt,
which may mean either enemy or undelight,
rAEt being the long
form permissible in the early Aryan tongue of
2685rEt. The enemies
denounced are the
yAt
j
$ ,
2690yAt
DAn,
yAt
mAvt
, the impellers of pain
2695& trouble, vessels of torture, holders in the body & mind of
the activity of pain. Therefore “undelight” is the most probable
sense of
arAEt in this passage.
5.
2700Uvo
Bv
Et
EvyAED
am-
2705dAEvk
Z
v
d
# yAEn
av
ETrA
tn
Eh
2715yAt
j
$
nA
jAEmmjAEm
ZFEh
f
$
n
2725Commentaries and Annotated Translations
Be high-exalted, smite them in our march from above us, reveal
the things divine, O Agni; lay low the established things of the
impellers to anguish; whether sole or companioned he be, crush
before us our enemies.
2730Sy’s gloss
amdED —
am1o'EDkAn
— is both improbable &
unnecessary.
2735Et &
aED-amd
express the two ideas of piercing
the foe in front & smiting them from above, — therefore
Uvo
2740Bv.
yAt
j
$
nA
2745. Sy.
AEZn
Ÿ
fEyt
y
k
v
Et
t
2755qAm
.
6.
s
t
2760jAnAEt
s
mEt
yEvS
y
2765Ivt
b
Z
gAt
m
2770#rt
Ev
vAEn
am
#
EdnAEn
rAyo
<AEn
ayo
d
ro
aEB
Ot
2785He knoweth the perfected mind in thee, O young & strong
Agni, who has sent forth the chant of fulfilment (or has sent
thee forth on the road) for the soul in its march; the worker &
uplifter illumines for him about all the doors of his being all
brightnesses of his days & felicities and shining energies.
2790gAt
m
often means a road or to go and
Ivt
seems to demand
2795the latter sense; on the other hand the idea of the
gAy or
gAT
is usually closely connected with the idea of
b
2800 in the Veda &
we have the mention of
u8T in a similar context. Possibly the
ambiguity is intentional in order to maintain the secrecy of the
En@y
2805vc about the soul. I cannot accept Sayana’s interpretation
of
b
Z
=
2810pErv
YAy
t
y
.
Z
in Veda means either to the mantra,
or to the soul, or to Brahma; we need not embarrass ourselves
with a fourth & unnecessary choice.
s
dn
at
s
s
dAn
-
y
Eny
n
hEvqA
y
2835u8T
#
EpFqEt
v
aAy
d
roZ
Ev
v
#
s
EdnA
sAsEdE
2850May he, O Agni, be perfect in enjoyment and activity who thee
with constant oblation, who with expressive mantras seeketh to
satisfy in his own being, in its gated house, may that sacrifice of
his be in all its scope attended with brightness of its days.
Mandala Four
roZ
. Sy.
d
rvn
QC
l y
ftvqA
Hy
2865jFvn
. I take
d
roZ
as usual
d
yA
.
Sy. takes
EdnA =
s
EdnAEn, &
sAsEdE a separate sen-
2880tence,
at
=
PlsADnsmTo
Bvt
2885 , — a tall order. I take
s
EdnA
simply as an adjective to
iE, cf
Ednvm>Am
.
8.
acA
t
s
mEt
GoEq
2900avA
k
s
t
vAvAtA
2905jrtAEmy
gF
v
vAvA
s
2910rTA
mj
y
m
am
2915AEZ
DAry
rn
$
n
2920I effect by the rik the perfect mind in thee; with sound descend;
may this word woo thee entirely to me by its wide force of
manifestation (or this word that I have uttered); may we with
perfect steeds, in a perfect chariot put forth strength towards
thee. Mayst thou uphold all mights in us from day to day.
2925Sy.
vAvAtA — going to thee.
GoEq — Sy.
Goqy
8t
2930yTA
BvEt
&
avA
k
vdEBm
K
.
AEZ — Sy.
2940DnAEn.
9.
ih
vA
B
yA
cr
d
p
doqAvtdF
EdvA
smn
$
5F0
tvA
s
mns
m
aEB
<A
tETvA
jnAnAm
In this world one can direct one’s works by the self & with large-
ness towards thee shining in darkness & by light all man’s days;
perfected in mind and at play may we possess thee prevailing in
2970our force over the energies of creatures.
Sy.
doqAvtr
day & night or O coverer of night, rather
shiner in the darkness.
m. Sy.
pErcr
m.
sp
2980 means to be wise
—
sP, sapio, sapiens — or to possess, enjoy, taste — sapor etc.
spyA
means seeking to possess, keep up or enjoy, so courting,
2985wooing, tending.
Sy.
<A =
DnAEn.
10.
2990yvA
v
v
s
Ehr@y
upyAEt
vs
mtA
rT
ty
AtA
BvEs
ty
3005sKA
yt
aAEtLymAn
qg
j
3010joqt
He who cometh to thee with perfect steeds, with wealth of gold,
O Agni, and his car full of substance, to him deliverer thou
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
becomest and to him friend, who accepts thy uninterrupted
3015hospitality (or thee with un- etc).
j
joqt
. Sy.
ApyEt — appd.. =
3020joqy
t
. This is wholly improb-
able; it would ignore the
t
3025 & give an unusual force to the simple
j
q
.
11.
3030mho
zjAEm
b
D
tA
3035vcoEB-
tmA
Ept
go
tmAdEvyAy
no
ay
vcsE
cEkE=
3045hoty
EvS
s
5to
dm
nA
With my narrow strength I break down great opposers by the
words of the mantra; for that power has come to me from Go-
tama my father. Housed in my being do thou take knowledge of
3055this word of ours, O young & vigorous, O perfect in force, O
offerer.
b
D
tA. Sy.
D
tyA — by friendship with thee won by my
praises. I take
b
tA from
b
D
to confine, limit — or as in
D
r
= crookedness, in either case referring to the limitations of the
mental being.
307512.
avJnjtrZy
s
f
vA
d
Aso
av
kA
3085a2EmSA
t
pAyv
sŽy
co
3090Enq
an
tv
n
pA
am
$
r
Unsleeping that carry us over & are full of felicity, undrowsing,
3100unrent, ever most unwearied, may those protecting powers of
thine continuously seated in us, O Agni, shield us, O illimitable
Agni.
av
kA. Sy. not tearing.
$
r —
am
$
sv
.
y7A
am
r
aEt -
htgt
13.
pAyvo
mAmt
y
t
p
y
to
a
d
ErtAdrn
rr
tAs
to
Ev
vv
dA
3140EdJs
t
iEd
pvo
nAh
B
Thy protecting powers, O Agni, which guarded the son of Ma-
mat´a from stumbling; the Omniscient guardeth them in their
Mandala Four
3150right doing and the foe that strive to do us hurt cannot overcome
them.
mAmt
y
. A long story is told to explain this allusion —
3155ucLyy
gEB
ZF
mmtAnAmD
yA
3160BAyA
tdn
jo
b
hpEtrckmt
3165tyA
r
t
aAEDs
t
hpEt
gB
T
r
3175to'b
vFt
r
to'
mA
#Frhm
vsAmFEt
evm
8to
hpEtEn
z=r
tk
sn
to!p
gB
ffAp
jAy
3195Dv!p
dFG
tm
AJn
hFEt
3200tttyA
dFG
tmA
ajEn
s
ypErhArAyAEn
t
vA
c
3210rlBt
Et This story like other myths
of the Brahmanas seems to be a Vedantic parable. In any case
the blindness of the text is obviously a spiritual blindness.
d
3215Ert
,
false going, stumbling = sin or misfortune, here sin, as we have
s
k
14.
vyA
vy
sDyvotA-
ZFtF
a
yAm
vAjAn
3230uBA
f
sA
s
$
sytAt
an
S
yA
Z
VxyAZ
By thee may we effecting our perfection, by thee increased in
being (or protected), by thy leading taste all substantial pos-
3245sessions; impel both the divine and human self-expressions, O
builder of Truth; O thou undeviating, accomplish each step
successively.
sDy. Sy.
sDnA. It may, however, be
3250sDEn from
sD
to
effect, accomplish.
s
dy. Sy. (aAs3Evk
O)
pApAnA
f
3260EstArO
jEh.
This is forced & unnatural & has no connection with
sytAt
.
3265axyAZ. Sy.
alE6jtgmn. Again far-fetched & improbable. It
may be from
} to attract out of the way, cf
j
rAZ &
h
r IV.3.13,
or to be troubled in heart, disturbed by passion, cf
,
}ZAn
etc.
15.
3280ayA
t
an
sEmDA
EvD
Et
tom
fymAn
g
3290BAy
dhAfso
rs
pAEh
amAn
ho
Endo
Emmho
avAt
3300With this fuel, O Agni, we would dispose the sacrifice for thee,
do thou take to thyself the hymn of thy confirming as it is
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
expressed, burn the Rakshasas who would take its enjoyment
(or who would devour us), protect us, O thou might of Love,
3305from harm and limitation and fault.
sEmDA. Sy.
dF˜yA
t
yA!
3310Emmh. Sy.
Em
#
p
$
3315jnFy. A suf-
ficiently absurd explanation.
avAt
. Sy.
pErvAdAt
av is
either non-expression or insufficient expression, fault of
f
s or
3325positively fault or defect, that which should not be spoken or
expressed.
[26]
[RV IV.5]
5. Vamadeva’s fifth hymn to Agni.
v
#
vAnrAy
mF[h
sjoqA
kTA
dAf
m
3340any
b
hYA
an
$
n
b
htA
vT
up
tBAyd
pEm3
roD
3355Together how shall we give to Agni Vaishvanara in his bounty,
who have gained the wide light (of the Truth); with a vast &
illimitable upbearing he supporteth verily the firmament from
below like a pillar.
b
3360hYA. Sy.
mht
BAsmAnAyAny
!
vT
3365n. Sy.
voY y
n
vfrFr
Z.
mA
En
dt
y
3375imA
mV
rAEt
d
vo
3380ddO
myA
y
vDAvAn
pAkAy
so
am
to
Evc
v
#
vAnro
n
3395tmo
y4o
aEn
Confine not (or blame not) the god who in his self-fixity has
given to me, to a mortal this felicity, seizer of things immortal
3400& wise in knowledge he has given it to my ripeness — the lord
of universal strength, the mighty & mastering Agni.
Sy.
mA
En
t
t
yT
!
3410pAkAy —
pErp8v.AnAy.
g
so. Sy.
m
3415DAEvnAm
#tt
.
Mandala Four
3.
3420sAm
E7bhA
mEh
EtmB
E
3425sh*r
tA
v
qBt
EvmAn
n
gorpg
$
[h
3435EvEv7A-
nEnm
V
d
vocmnFqAm
3440May the Bull of Force with his thousandfold seed of delight,
fiery in his burning strength, express in me, he who has fullness
of the two worlds, mighty Sama; may Agni express in me in
speech the Intelligence as it were finding perfectly in knowledge
the hidden place of the Cow of Light.
3445E7bhA
. Sy.
7yo
TAnyo
pErv
t
EvmAn
. Sy.
bh
3455Dn —
t
Ev,
tvs
,
3460tEvqF etc have all one meaning, strength, force.
4.
tAnEnb
BsE1mj
B-
3465tEpS
n
foEcqA
y
s
3470rADA
y
Emn
Et
vzZy
3475DAm
EyA
Emy
c
tto
vAEZ
Them may he sharp-tusked (or fiery-weaponed) burn with his
most afflicting lustre (or most energetic), he who is perfect in
delight, who awaken in consciousness to the glad & enduring
3485seats of Varuna, of Mitra, & then seek to limit them.
Emn
Et. Sy.
kq
Z
s
Et.
Em like
mA (cf
& also
m
in
murus, muh etc) means literally to confine, comprehend, limit,
3500diminish, measure, embrace, contain, hold. It may also mean to
injure.
5.
aB
Atro
yoqZo
y
t
pEtErpo
jnyo
d
r
vA
3515pApAs
s
to
an
tA
3520asyA
id
pdmjntA
gBFr
Moving about like women who have no protector, like women of
3525evil impulses who do hurt to their husbands, they, though them-
selves evil & wandering from the truth & the right have brought
to birth (in our consciousness) this deep world of knowledge.
pd
. Sy.
3530nrkTAn
but see 6.
Erpo. Sy.
Eq@y.
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
id
m
an
Ekyt
3540pAvk
aEmnt
g
z
BAr
mm
b
hd
dDAT
qtA
gBFr
y4
p
ysA
sPDAt
When, O Agni, I who am so little, O purifier, could not contain
my thought as one who cannot hold a heavy load, this vast &
3560deep & controlling level thou didst establish for me violently by
thy endeavour in all its seven principles.
Sy.
aEmnt
—
3565aEh
st
'yjt
. This is merely a scholastic inge-
nuity.
3570mm —
mnnFy
Dn
! Another.
7.
3575tEmv
v
smnA
smAn-
mEB
35805vA
p
ntF
DFEtr
yA
3585ssy
cm
3ED
cAz
p
-
rg
zp
aAzEpt
3595jbAz
Him indeed in his pervading equality may my thought too puri-
fying and pervadingly equal even now by its power (or the will)
attain; in the action of the bliss is reflected on high, bright and
firm(?), the form of the dappled Cow of Light.
3600zp. Sy. takes as 6th case of
zp
= earth.
aAropyEt
vAmEn
3605syAdFEn
zEbEt
B
$
EmzQyt
p
E` =
lok,
aAzEpt
aAroEpt
,
jbAz
=
3620jvmAnroEh (Yaska). All these are forced derivations & forced
senses.
cm
n
— Sy.
Z
crZAy &
ssy =
En
3630cly.
8.
vAQy
vcs
Ek
ay
g
hA
Ehtm
EnEZvd
Et
yd
E*yAZAmp
3645vAErv
v
n
pAEt
Ey
3650zpo
ag
pd
v
What of this word must I declare in speech? That which is
3655established in the hidden places they speak of secretly (or as a
secret) and that which they unveil as the sea of the bright ones,
yet one guardeth its form of bliss & the supreme place of the
manifest being.
EnEZk
EntrA
n
n
E8t
3665foDytFEt
EnEZk
Frm
Qyt
. Sy. ignores
3670the murdhanya nasal. It is from
EnZ
— cf
En@y
.
zp.
B
$
MyA
TAn
.
Mandala Four
9.
3685idm
ymEh
mhAmnFk
yd
E*yA
3690sct
p
$
y
gO
3695-ty
pd
aED
dFAn
g
rG
yd
G
yE7v
This verily is that mighty & pristine force of the great ones to
which cleaveth the Cow of brightness; shining in the seat of
Truth I knew it whether turning to swift motion towards the
hidden places or thither swiftly moving.
yd
is clearly a desiderative form of the nominal
rG
yd
10.
aD
tAn
Epo
3720scAsA
amn
t
g
V
3725cAz
p
`
mAt
pd
3730prm
a
Et
q—o-
v
foEcq
yty
Ej4A
Now he shines with the Father & Mother & near to them
3740and has knowledge in mind of the bright & secret thing of the
dappled Cow; opposite us (or near) in the highest place of the
Mother, of the Cow of Being, is the tongue of the flaming-bright
Lord in His activity.
aAsAmn
3745t. Sy.
aAy
n
pAnAyAb
yt!
375011.
-t
voc
nmsA
p
ymAn-
tvAfsA
jAtv
do
3760ydFd
vmy
yEs
y=
Ev
EdEv
yd
d
EvZ
ET yAm
With obeisance of submission & by thy command, O Knower
of the worlds, I declare to the questioner this truth that I have;
thou art its inhabitant, yea, of all this that is substance in heaven
3775and all that is substance on the earth.
nmsA. Sy. takes with
p
QC, I take with
voc
aAfsA. Sy.
t
yA.
yEs.
vro
BvEs.
12.
Ek
ay
d
EvZ
k=
Ev
no
voco
jAtv
cEkvAn
g
hAvn
prm
3805y3o
ay
r
k
pd
EndAnA
agm
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
What is the substance of this Truth, what its delight, perceive &
3815declare to us, O Knower of all births; that which is its last secret
seat at the farthest end of the path, over & above all other, may
we reach & avoid (or refuse) all bondage & limitation.
r
k
Er8t
ie
aEtEr8t
beyond the four other padas.
382513.
kA
myA
dA
vy
k=
vAm-
mQCA
gm
rGvo
n
vAj
kdA
d
vFrm
ty
p&F
$
ro
vZ
n
3850ttn3
qAs
What are its confines, what its wideness, what its delightfulness
towards which we must go like swift steeds to their goal? What
for us have the divine wives of the Immortal One, the Dawns,
3855extended by the light of the Sun?
kdA I take =
kd
aA contrary to Padapatha.
vAj
3860 from
vAj
to go,
vAjF a horse, goer (goal or perhaps stable).
vZ
3865n. Sy.
kAf
n.
14.
aEnr
vcsA
PSv
n
tFy
k
D
nAt
pAs
3880aDA
t
an
EkEmhA
vd
anAy
DAs
aAstA
sc
3890tAm
Unsatisfied any longer with a Word that is unadvancing & slight
and easily assailed and petty what now may men express of thee
here, O Agni; unweaponed let them cleave to thy seated being.
aEnr
irA3
td
Eht
n! I take “without impetus or force” =
3900unable to carry man forward.
PSv
n. Sy.
u8T
n. Simply
3905PSg
.
k
D
nA.
EvEt
xvnAm
k
D
vm
k
iEt
t3Ams
8tvAt
.
aAstA.
P.P.
3925astA. Sy.
d
K
n. It may mean, if from
aAs
3930 either “seated”
or “near”, if from
a =
aA +
stA, then “near” or in sense of
3935aAB
$ .
15.
ay
E2y
3940sEmDAny
v
Zo
vsornFk
dm
zroc
zf7sAn
s
d
3950fFk!p
EEtn
rAyA
p
zvAro
3955aOt
For opulence of our being shineth out in its home (or in this our
house) the force of this Lord & king of substance blazing high;
Mandala Four
he wears his robe of redness and with a form gloriously visible
3960(or of perfect vision) as one who has made his home with the
felicity he shines out rich in blessings.
E2y
.
ys
p
zvAr.
bh
EB-
3970EvEBv
rZFy.
EEt.
rAjAEd
EEtErEt
ynAm.
[27]
[RV IV.6.1–3]
6. Vamadeva’s sixth hymn to Agni.
Uv
U
q
Zo
3985avry
hot-
rn
EtS
d
3990vtAtA
yjFyAn
v
Eh
Ev
3995vm yEs
mm
v
DsE
cE1rEs
4000mnFqAm
Perfectly high do thou stand for us, O offerer of our sacrifice,
more mighty for its workings in the extending of the gods; for
thou art about every thought and thou carriest forward on its
way (or givest) the intellect of the disposer.
vtAtA.
d
vAtAy
t
4010EvtFy
t
'
Et
d
4015vtAEty
..
EtrEs.
vD
-
4020yEs Sy.
mnFqA
.
mEt
t
.
2.
am
$
hotA
ysAEd
Ev
aEnm
o
EvdT
q
c
Uv
BAn
sEvt
v
n
m
t
v
$
m
tBAyd
p
The priest illimitable of the oblation has taken his seat in the peo-
ples (creatures), Agni rapturous in the movements of knowledge,
he who in the mind perceiveth; like the sun may he move to his
high lustre, like a pillar may he set his smoke (of temperamental
4060force) to support heaven (within us).
3.
ytA
s
j
ZF
rAEtnF
G
tAcF
4070dEEZd
d
vtAEtm
rAZ
ud
4075vzn
vjA
n
a5
p
anE8t
s
EDt
s
k
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
Rich & bright, full of impetus, full of delight it is governed &
directed (or, it is in action); moving to the right, increasing the
4090divine extension he drives upward the herds of vision, on the
heights like an active driver (or a high pole) manifested in the
nine, well-established, perfect in capacity.
G
tAcF ie
4095mnFqA.
urAZ. Sy.
uz
k
vA
vz.
y
$
pfklvAcF
4105vzr
y
$
p
lyEt
4110cqAlv
t
vrv
p
ET yAm
4115 . R.V. 3.8.10.
vzZA
pf
mn8tFEt
t
4120. Therefore it can hardly be
y
$
p. Perhaps
s
az.
s
m
k.
k must be from either
Em,
Emk
[or]
4135Emc
. Lat.
mico, Grk.
mikrc, S.
m
4140k do not help us.
[28]
[RV IV.6]
1.
Uv
q
Zo
avry
hotrn
4150EtS
d
vtAtA
yjFyAn
v
Ev
vm yEs
mm
v
4160DsE
cE1rEs
mnFqA
S. [Sayana:]
d
4165vtAtA
d
vAtAy
t
EvtFy
'
Et
d
vtAEty
mm
mnnFy
f
$
Dn
Ect
p
$
4185jAyA
a yEs
aEBBvEs
EtrEs
vD
4190yEs
(d
vtAtA Agni on high as Hotri of the Adhwara in the
Devatati. Agni overpowers every
mm and carries forward the
4195intelligence of the Vedhˆa.)
S. High, very high for us stand, O summoner (or, performer
of offering), O Agni, a great sacrificer in the sacrifice (in which
the gods are extended).
Tr. [Translation:] High, yea, very high, stand, O Flame, O
4200offering priest of the journeying sacrifice, be very mighty for
sacrifice in the forming of the gods. For thou comest over every
thought and thou carriest on its way the thinking mind of the
orderer of the work.
2.
$
ro
hotA
ysAEd
4210EvLvEnm
d
o
EvdT
q
tA
Uv
BAn
sEvt
4220vA2
m
t
v
D
m
tBAyd
p
A
$
r
am
$
gSB
iyT
m
d
4240mdnFyo
mAdEytA
vA
m
tA
$
ZA
Mandala Four
up
lokyopEr
S. The intelligent offering priest, the enrapturing Agni of
great knowledge is settled among the peoples (the priests) in
(for) the sacrifices; he resorts upward to his lustre like the sun;
4255like a pillar he supports his smoke above the heaven.
Tr. The offering priest inspired of mind has taken his seat in
the peoples, Agni, the rapturous, the wise thinker in the gettings
of knowledge; he has risen high into light like the all-creating
Sun; like a pillar he holds up his smoke against the heavens.
ytA
s
j
$
rAEtnF
G
tAcF
dEEZ:
4270vtAEtm
rAZ
ud
vzn
vjA
4275nA5
p
vo
anE8t
s
4280EDt
s
m
k
ytA
ytA
s
j
$
foBnjvA
s
S
jFZA
rAZF
vA
G
tAcF
tm
ctFEt
j
h
rAEtnF
rAEtD
n
hEvl
4310ZDnvtF
aA6yp
$
ZA
BvtFEt
4315urAZ
uz
k
vA
Z
4320dEEZd
dEZgmn
(
dEZm
Et )
4325akArlop
CA
ds
vz
y
pfkl =
y
$
p (cf
4335cqAlv
t
vrv
p
ET yA
4340 Rv. III.8.10 etc)
n
sm
Qcy
=
4345aEp
ud
u3to
BvEt or
uk
aA5EmtA
s
m
k
dFP
s
EDt
vEDEtEryT
4360anE8t
gQCEt.
vzZA
pf
-
4365mn8tFEt
t
S. The (ghee-giving) flame (or ladle?) controlled and very
swift (or very old) is wealthy (ie full of ghee); he (Agni or the
Adhwaryu) becomes or goes (round from left) to right, widening
4370the sacrifice; and also the new-born post becomes high; ap-
proaching, very bright, the axe(?) goes to the animals (or the
post excellent etc and well placed goes to the animals).
a5. Gr.
kroc high, or
moving.
s
m
k cf Gr.
4380m!k
oc
= long, or bright, L. micare.
Tr. The clear-shining flame of him is reined and swift and
opulent (or, delightful), he on his right hand circling widens the
4385extension of the gods; high like a post of sacrifice, new-born,
moving, firm on his base and bright he brings the (seeing) herds.
4.
tFZ
bEh
sEmDAn
anA
Uvo
avy
j
qAZo
aTAt
py
pf
pA
n
hotA
4405EEvƒ
Et
Edv
urAZ
j
qAZ
d
vAFZyn
Edv
rAtn
urAZ increases (that
is, though little, makes them fit for the gods)
y7
d
v
#jo
yt
4425hEvtE—ErmA
vD
t
iEt
t
4430EEvE
py
Et
pf
$
ErAv
y
py
Et
4440Commentaries and Annotated Translations
EEh
py
En
E5yt
4445S. The altar spread, the fire kindled, the leader of sacri-
fice pleasing the gods stands high; the offering priest ancient,
greatening (the offering), goes like a herdsman thrice round (the
cattle).
5.
4450pEr
mnA
Emtd
r
Et
4455hotAEnm
d
o
mD
vcA
4460-tAvA
d
v
yy
vAEjno
fokA
By
t
Ev
B
vnA
ydB
AV
4475Emtd
pErEmtgEt
-tAvA
y.vAn
vAEjn
4480hEvmt
n
aEp or
vAEjno
n =
vA
iv
S. Limited in motion he goes round himself (in his own
form), the offerer Agni enrapturing, sweet-voiced, having sacri-
4490fice; his lustres run fooded (or like horses); all beings fear when
he blazes.
Tr. He encompasses with himself in his measured motion,
the Flame, the offering priest, rapturous, honey-worded, master
of truth; his lustres run like horses; all the worlds are in awe
4495when he blazes forth.
6.
Bd
A
t
vnFk
s
d
g
4505Gory
sto
Evq
Zy
cAz
y1
foEctmsA
vr
t
vmAntvF
r
p
aA
Evq
Zy
sv
to
4525 yAPy
Bd
A
t
yA
4530kSyAZF
vA
m
$
Et
d
k
s
d
sMyd
yA
BvtFyT
S. O fair-flaming Agni, the delightful, praisable (or auspi-
4545cious image) of thee terrible, pervading on every side, is full-seen,
because they (the nights) do not stop thee with darkness nor the
destroyers put (create) sin in thy body.
Tr. O thou Flame of great force (or, fair of face), though
thou art terrible as thou goest abroad over the regions, happy
4550and beautiful is the vision of thee; for the nights envelop thee
not with darkness nor have the destroyers cast sin into thy body.
7.
n
yy
4555sAt
j
EntorvAEr
n
mAtrA
4560EptrA
n
$
EcEdO
aDA
4565Emo
n
s
EDt
pAvko'EndF
4570dAy
mAn
qFq
Ev
jEnt
4575 creator of rain
sAt
sEn
p
vAEdlZ
4580dAn
dFEPvA
iO
qZ
n
Ect
Em
v
n
4590Bvt
aDA
aEp
c
s
4595EDt
s
t
P
S. Of whom, father (of rain), his giving (or, lustre) is not
4600Mandala Four
stopped (by anybody); and in whose sending the father and
mother (heaven & earth) do not quickly prevail, the purifier like
a well-pleased friend shines among the peoples of Manu.
Tr. The gettings of this begetter of things (or the light of this
4605begetter and getter of things) cannot be shut in; nor our Father
and Mother when he urges. Then shines the purifying Flame as
the Friend, well-based, in the human peoples.
8.
E7y
c
jFjns
vsAnA
vsAro
4615aEn
mAn
qFq
Ev
uqb
4620DmTyo
n
dt
f
vAs
4625prf
n
Etmm
S. Whom the ten sisters coming together (the fingers) bore,
Agni, among the peoples of Manu, like women (aTy
Ey
iv),
the waker at dawn, the eater (of offerings), bright, fair-faced, like
a sharp axe (killing the Rakshasas).
4635Tr. Twice five sisters who dwell together gave birth to this
Flame in the human peoples; they like women(?) gave birth to the
brighter eater who awakes with dawn, whose face is beautiful;
and he is like a keen axe.
9.
y
an
hErto
G
4645tˆA
roEhtAs
-6v
c
v
azqAso
v
qZ
-j
kA
aA
d
vtAEtm4
dmA
a4
t
aAh
y
t
G
tˆA
4670nAsAp
VAEdTAn
y
udk
r
v
qZ
y
vAno
4680vEq
tAro
vA
-j
m
sADnm
kA
dmA
df
4690nFyA
S. Those horses of thine, Agni, streaming water, red,
straight-moving, well-going, shining, young (or rainers), well-
formed and beautiful, are called to the sacrifice.
Tr. Those bright steeds of thine, O Flame, who stream clear
4695brightness (ghrita), and are red and straight and fair of mo-
tion, shining potent stallions, are called in their power to the
extending of the godheads.
10.
y
y
t
shmAnA
ayAsv
4705qAso
an
ac
y
cr
y
nAso
n
d
4715vsnAso
aT
t
EvvZso
mAzt
fD
d
vsnAs
pErcrZFyA
nAs
a
vA
S. Those rays of thine, O Agni, overcoming, moving, bright,
4730to be served, go like horses to their goal; they are great-sounding
like the Marut host.
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
Tr. Those illuminings of thee, O Flame, they overpower, they
travel, they are keen in brightness, they are active, they move
4735like eagles to the goal, they are many-voiced like the host of the
Life-gods.
11.
akAEr
b
4740sEmDAn
t
y
f
sAy
yjt
y
$
DA
4750hotArmEn
mn
qo
En
q
n
my
t
uEfj
smAyo
f
s
f
4765snFy
S. O thou who art being kindled, for thee the praise is made;
one (the Hota) speaks the praise, one (the Yajamana) sacrifices;
give (wealth). Men desiring (wealth) serve worshipping Agni the
caller of the gods speakable (praisable) of man.
4770Tr. The soul-thought is formed, O kindling Flame, for thee;
for thee one speaks the word and sacrifices; ordain. Men, the
desirers, take refuge in the flame, the priest of sacrifice, with
obeisance to the expresser of the human being.
[29]
4775[RV IV.7.1–3]
The Vamadeva Hymns to Agni
Introduction
The interpretation of the Rigveda is perhaps the most difficult
and disputed question with which the scholarship of today has to
4780deal. This difficulty and dispute are not the creation of present-
day criticism; it has existed in different forms since very early
times. To what is this incertitude due? Partly, no doubt, it arises
from the archaic character of a language in which many of the
words were obsolete when ancient Indian scholars tried to sys-
4785tematise the traditional learning about the Veda, and especially
the great number of different meanings of which the old Sanskrit
words are capable. But there is another and more vital difficulty
and problem. The Vedic hymns are full of figures and symbols,
— of that there can be no least doubt, — and the question is
4790Mandala Four
what do these symbols represent, what is their religious or other
significance? Are they simply mythological figures with no depth
of meaning behind them? Are they the poetic images of an
old Nature-worship, mythological, astronomical, naturalistic,
4795symbols of the action of physical phenomena represented as
the action of the gods? Or have they another and more mystic
significance? If this question could be solved with an indubitable
certitude, the difficulty of language would be no great obstacle;
certain hymns and verses might remain obscure, but the general
4800sense, drift, purport of the ancient hymns could be made clear.
But the singular feature of the Veda is that none of these solu-
tions, at least as they have been hitherto applied, gives a firm
and satisfactory outcome. The hymns remain confused, bizarre,
incoherent, and the scholars are obliged to take refuge in the
4805gratuitous assumption that this incoherence is a native character
of the text and does not arise from their own ignorance of its
central meaning. But so long as we can get no farther than this
point, the doubt, the debate must continue.
A few years ago I wrote a series of articles in which I sug-
4810gested an explanation of the ambiguous character of the Veda.
My suggestion hinged on this central idea that these hymns
were written in a stage of religious culture which answered to
a similar period in Greece and other ancient countries, — I do
not suggest that they were contemporary or identical in cult
4815and idea, — a stage in which there was a double face to the
current religion, an outer for the people, profanum vulgus, an
inner for the initiates, the early period of the Mysteries. The
Vedic Rishis were mystics who reserved their inner knowledge
for the initiates; they shielded it from the vulgar by the use of
4820an alphabet of symbols which could not readily be understood
without the initiation, but were perfectly clear and systematic
when the signs were once known. These symbols centred around
the idea and forms of the sacrifice; for the sacrifice was the uni-
versal and central institution of the prevailing cult. The hymns
4825were written round this institution and were understood by the
vulgar as ritual chants in praise of the Nature-gods, Indra, Agni,
Surya Savitri, Varuna, Mitra and Bhaga, the Aswins, Ribhus,
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
Maruts, Rudra, Vishnu, Saraswati, with the object of provoking
4830by the sacrifice the gifts of the gods, — cows, horses, gold and
other forms of wealth of a pastoral people, victory over enemies,
safety in travel, sons, servants, prosperity, every kind of material
good fortune. But behind this mask of primitive and materialistic
naturalism, lay another and esoteric cult which would reveal
4835itself if we once penetrated the meaning of the Vedic symbols.
That once caught and rightly read, the whole Rigveda would
become clear, consequent, a finely woven, yet straightforward
tissue.
According to my theory the outer sacrifice represented in
4840these esoteric terms an inner sacrifice of self-giving and com-
munion with the gods. These gods are powers outwardly of
physical, inwardly of psychical nature. Thus Agni outwardly is
the physical principle of fire, but inwardly the god of the psychic
godward flame, force, will, Tapas; Surya outwardly the solar
4845light, inwardly the god of the illuminating revelatory knowledge;
Soma outwardly the moon and the Soma-wine or nectarous
moon plant, inwardly the god of the spiritual ecstasy, Ananda.
The principal psychical conception of this inner Vedic cult was
the idea of the Satyam Ritam Brihat, the Truth, the Law, the Vast.
4850Earth, Air and Heaven symbolised the physical, vital and mental
being, but this Truth was situated in the greater heaven, base of
a triple Infinity actually and explicitly mentioned in the Vedic
riks, and it meant therefore a state of spiritual and supramental
illumination. To get beyond earth and sky to Swar, the Sun-
4855world, seat of this illumination, home of the gods, foundation
and seat of the Truth, was the achievement of the early Fathers,
pˆurve pitarah, and of the seven Angiras Rishis who founded
the Vedic religion. The solar gods, children of Infinity, Adityah,
were born in the Truth and the Truth was their home, but they
4860descended into the lower planes and had in each plane their
appropriate functions, their mental, vital and physical cosmic
motions. They were the guardians and increasers of the Truth
in man and by the Truth, ritasya pathˆa, led him to felicity and
immortality. They had to be called into the human being and
4865increased in their functioning, formed in him, brought in or
Mandala Four
born, devavˆıti, extended, devatˆati, united in their universality,
vaisvadevya.
The sacrifice was represented at once as a giving and wor-
4870ship, a battle and a journey. It was the centre of a battle between
the Gods aided by Aryan men on one side and the Titans or
destroyers on the opposite faction, Dasyus, Vritras, Panis, Rak-
shasas, later called Daityas and Asuras, between the powers
of the Truth or Light and the powers of falsehood, division,
4875darkness. It was a journey, because the sacrifice travelled from
earth to the gods in their heaven, but also because it made ready
the path by which man himself travelled to the home of the
Truth. This journey opposed by the Dasyus, thieves, robbers,
tearers, besiegers (vritras), was itself a battle. The giving was an
4880inner giving. All the offerings of the outer sacrifice, the cow and
its yield, the horse, the Soma were symbols of the dedication of
inner powers and experiences to the Lords of Truth. The divine
gifts, result of the outer sacrifice, were also symbols of inner
divine gifts, the cows of the divine light symbolised by the herds
4885of the Sun, the horse of strength and power, the son of the inner
godhead or divine man created by the sacrifice, and so through
the whole list. This symbolic duplication was facilitated by the
double meaning of the Vedic words. Go, for instance, means
both cow and ray; the cows of the dawn and the sun, Homer’s
4890boes Eelioio, are the rays of the Sungod, Lord of Revelation, even
as in Greek mythology Apollo the Sungod is also the Master of
poetry and of prophecy. Ghrita means clarified butter, but also
the bright thing; soma means the wine of the moon plant, but
also delight, honey, sweetness, madhu. This is the conception, all
4895other features are subsidiary to this central idea. The suggestion
seems to me a perfectly simple one, neither out of the way and
recondite, nor unnatural to the mentality of the early human
peoples.
There are certain a priori objections which can be brought
4900against this theory. One may be urged against it from the side
of Western scholarship. It may be objected that there is no need
for all this mystification, that there is no sign of it in the Veda
unless we choose to read it into the primitive mythology, that it
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
4905is not justified by the history of religion or of the Vedic religion,
that it was a refinement impossible to an ancient and barbaric
mind. None of these objections can really stand. The Myster-
ies in Egypt and Greece and elsewhere were of a very ancient
standing and they proceeded precisely on this symbolic principle,
4910by which outward myth and ceremony and cult objects stood
for secrets of an inward life or knowledge. It cannot therefore
be argued that this mentality was non-existent, impossible in
antique times or any more impossible or improbable in India,
the country of the Upanishads, than in Egypt and Greece. The
4915history of ancient religion does show a transmutation of physical
Nature-gods into representatives of psychical powers or rather
an addition of psychical to physical functions; but the latter
in some instances gave place to the less external significance.
I have given the example of Helios replaced in later times by
4920Apollo. Just so in the Vedic religion Surya undoubtedly becomes
a god of inner light, the famous Gayatri verse and its esoteric
interpretation are there to prove it as well as the constant appeal
of the Upanishads to Vedic riks or Vedic symbols taken in a psy-
chological and spiritual sense, eg, the four closing verses of the
4925Isha Upanishad. Hermes, Athena represent in classical mythol-
ogy psychical functions, but were originally Nature gods, Athena
probably a dawn goddess. I contend that Usha in the Veda shows
us this transmutation in its commencement. Dionysus the wine-
god was intimately connected with the Mysteries; I assign a
4930similar role to Soma, the wine-god of the Vedas.
But the question is whether there is anything to show that
there was actually such a doubling of functions in the Veda.
Now in the first place, how was the transition effected from
the alleged purely materialistic Nature-worship of the Vedas
4935to the extraordinary psychological and spiritual knowledge of
the Upanishads unsurpassed in their subtlety and sublimity in
ancient times? There are three possible explanations. First, this
sudden spirituality may have been brought in from outside; it
is hardily suggested by some scholars that it was taken from an
4940alleged highly spiritual non-Aryan southern culture; but this is
an assumption, a baseless hypothesis for which no proof has
Mandala Four
been advanced; it rests as a surmise in the air without foun-
dation. Secondly, it may have developed from within by some
4945such transmutation as I have suggested, but subsequent to the
composition of all but the latest Vedic hymns. Still even then it
was effected on the basis of the Vedic hymns; the Upanishads
claim to be a development from the Vedic knowledge, Vedanta
repeatedly appeals to Vedic texts, regards Veda as a book of
4950knowledge. The men who gave the Vedantic knowledge are ev-
erywhere represented as teachers of the Veda. Why then should
we rigidly assume that this development took place subsequent
to the composition of the bulk of the Vedic mantras? For the
third possibility is that the whole ground had already been
4955prepared consciently by the Vedic mystics. I do not say that
the inner Vedic knowledge was identical with the Brahmavada.
Its terms were different, its substance was greatly developed,
much lost or rejected, much added, old ideas shed, new inter-
pretations made, the symbolic element reduced to a minimum
4960and replaced by clear and open philosophic phrases and concep-
tions. Certainly, the Vedic mantras had already become obscure
and ill-understood at the time of the Brahmanas. And still the
groundwork may have been there from the beginning. It is, of
course, in the end a question of fact; but my present contention
4965is only that there is no a priori impossibility, but rather a consid-
erable probability or at least strong possibility in favour of my
suggestion. I will put my argument in this way. The later hymns
undoubtedly contain a beginning of the Brahmavada; how did it
begin, had it no root origins in the earlier mantras? It is certain
4970that some of the gods, Varuna, Saraswati, had a psychological as
well as a physical function. I go farther and say that this double
function can everywhere be traced in the Veda with regard to
other gods, as for instance, Agni and even the Maruts. Why not
then pursue the inquiry on these lines and see how far it will
4975go? There is at least a prima facie ground for consideration, and
to begin with, I demand no more. An examination of the actual
text of the hymns can alone show how far the inquiry will be
justified or produce results of a high importance.
Another a priori objection comes from the side of orthodox
4980Commentaries and Annotated Translations
tradition. What it amounts to is an objection to go behind the
authority of Sayana, who belongs to an age at least two or
three thousand years later than the Veda, and of Yaska, the
ancient lexicographer. Besides, the Veda is currently regarded
4985as karmakˆanda, a book of ritual works, the Vedanta only as
jnˆanakˆanda, a book of knowledge. In an extreme orthodox
standpoint it is objected that reason, the critical faculty, the
historical argument have nothing to do with the question; the
Vedas are beyond such tests, in form and substance eternal, in
4990interpretation only to be explained by traditional authority. That
attitude is one with which I am not concerned; I am seeking for
the truth of this matter and I cannot be stopped by a denial of
my right to seek for any truth contrary to tradition. But if in
a more moderate form the argument be that when there is an
4995unbroken and consistent ancient tradition, there is no justifica-
tion in going behind it, then the obvious reply is that there is no
such thing. Sayana moves amidst a constant uncertainty, gives
various possibilities, fluctuates in his interpretations. Not only
so, but though usually faithful to the ritualistic and external
5000sense he distinguishes and quotes occasionally various ancient
schools of interpretation, one of which is spiritual and philo-
sophic and finds the sense of the Upanishads in the Veda. Even
he feels himself obliged sometimes, though very rarely, to follow
its suggestions. And if we go back to the earliest times we see that
5005the Brahmanas give a mystically ritualistic interpretation of the
Veda, the Upanishads treat the Riks as a book not of ritual, but
of spiritual knowledge. There is therefore nothing fantastically
new or revolutionary in an attempt to fix the psychological and
spiritual purport of the Rig Veda.
5010A last objection remains that the interpretation of the Veda
has been a field for the exercise of the most extraordinary in-
genuity, each attempt arriving at widely different results, and
mine is only one ingenuity the more. If it were so, then I stand in
good company. The interpretations of Sayana are packed with
5015the most strained and far-fetched ingenuities, which not unoften
light-heartedly do violence to grammar, syntax, order, connec-
tion, on the idea that the Rishis were in no way restrained by
Mandala Four
these things. Yaska is full of etymological and other ingenuities,
5020some of them of a most astonishing kind. The scholarship of
Europe has built up by a system of ingenious guesses and deduc-
tions a new version and evolved the history, true or imaginative,
of an Aryan invasion and a struggle between Aryan and Dra-
vidian which was never before suspected in the long history of
5025Vedic interpretation. The same charge has been brought against
Swami Dayananda’s commentary. Nevertheless, the universality
of the method does not make it valid, nor have I any need to
take refuge in this excuse, which is not a justification. If my or
any interpretation is got by a straining of the text, a licentious or
5030fantastic rendering or a foreign importation, then it can have no
real value. The present volume, which I hope to make the first
of a series, is intended to show my method actually at work and
dispel this objection by showing the grounds and justification.
I hold that three processes are necessary for a valid inter-
5035pretation of the Veda. First, there must be a straightforward
rendering word by word of the text which shall stick to a plain
and simple sense at once suggested by the actual words no matter
what the result may be. Then, this result has to be taken and
it has to be seen what is its actual purport and significance.
5040That meaning must be consistent, coherent with itself; it must
show each hymn as a whole in itself proceeding from idea to
idea, linked together in sequence, as any literary creation of
the human mind must be linked, which has not been written
by lunatics or is not merely a string of disconnected cries. It
5045is impossible to suppose that these Rishis, competent metrists,
possessed of a style of great power and nobility, composed with-
out the sequence of ideas which is the mark of all adequate
literary creation. And if we suppose them to be divinely inspired,
mouthpieces of Brahman or the Eternal, there is no ground for
5050supposing that the divine wisdom is more incoherent in its Word
than the human mind; it should rather be more luminous and
satisfying in its totality. Finally, if a symbolic interpretation is
put on any part of the text, it must arise directly and clearly
from suggestions and language of the Veda itself and must not
5055be brought in from outside.
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
A few words may be useful on each of these points. The first
rule I follow is to try to get at the simplest and straightforward
sense to which the Rik is open, not to strain, twist and involve.
5060The Vedic style is terse, but natural, it has its strong brevities and
some ellipses, but all the same it is essentially simple and goes
straight to its object. Where it seems obscure, it is because we do
not know the meaning of the words or miss the clue to the idea.
Even if at one or two places, it seems to be tortured, that is no
5065reason why we should put the whole Veda on the rack or even
in these places torture it still worse in the effort to get at a sense.
Where the meaning of a word has to be fixed, this difficulty
comes either because we have no clue to the true meaning or
because it is capable in the language of several meanings. In the
5070latter case I follow certain fixed canons. First, if the word is one
of the standing terms of the Veda intimately bound up with its
religious system, then I must first find one single meaning which
attaches to it wherever it occurs; I am not at liberty to vary
its sense from the beginning according to my pleasure or fancy
5075or sense of immediate fitness. If I interpret a book of obscure
Christian theology, I am not at liberty to interpret freely the
constantly recurring word grace sometimes as the influx of the
divine favour, sometimes as one of the three Graces, sometimes
as charm of beauty, sometimes as grace marks in an examination,
5080sometimes as the name of a girl. If in one it evidently bears this
or that sense and can have no other, if it has no reference to the
ordinary meaning, then indeed it is different; but I must not put
in one of these other meanings where the normal sense fits the
context. In other cases I may have greater freedom, but this free-
5085dom must not degenerate into licence. Thus the word ritam may
signify, we are told, truth, sacrifice, water, motion and a number
of other things. Sayana interprets freely and without obvious
rule or reason according to any of them and sometimes gives
us two alternatives; not only does he interpret it variously in
5090different hymns, but in three different senses [in] the same hymn
or even in the same line. I hold this to be quite illegitimate. Ritam
is a standing term of the Veda and I must take it consistently. If
I find truth to be its sense in that standing significance, I must
Mandala Four
5095so interpret it always, unless in any given passage it evidently
means water or sacrifice or the man who has gone and cannot
mean truth. To translate so striking a phrase as ritasya panthˆah
in one passage as “the path of truth”, in another “the path of
sacrifice”, in another “the path of water”, in another “the path
5100of the one who has gone” is a sheer licence, and if we follow
such a method, there can be no sense for the Veda except the
sense of our own individual caprice. Then again we have the
word Deva, which undoubtedly means in ninety-nine places out
of a hundred, one of the shining ones, a god. Even though this
5105is not so vital a term as ritam, still I must not take it in the sense
of a priest or intelligent man or any other significance, where
the word god gives a good and sufficient meaning unless it can
be shown that it is undoubtedly capable of another sense in the
mouth of the Rishis. On the other hand a word like ari means
5110sometimes a fighter, one’s own champion, sometimes a hostile
fighter, assailant, enemy, sometimes it is an adjective and seems
almost equivalent to arya or even ˆarya. But mark that these
are all well-connected senses. Dayananda insists on a greater
freedom of interpretation to suit the context. Saindhava he says
5115means a horse or rocksalt; where it is a question of eating we
must interpret as salt, where it is a question of riding, as horse.
That is quite obvious; but the whole question in the Veda is
what is the bearing of the context, what are its connections?
If we interpret according to our individual sense of what the
5120context ought to mean, we are building on the quicksands. The
only safe rule is to fix the sense usually current in the Veda and
admit variations only where they are evident from the context.
Where the ordinary sense makes a good meaning, I ought to
accept it; it does not at all matter that that is not the meaning
5125I should like it to have or the one suitable to my theory of the
Veda. But how to fix the meaning? We can evidently do it only
on the totality or balance of the evidence of all the passages in
which the word occurs and, after that, on its suitability to the
general sense of the Veda. If I show that ritam in all passages can
5130mean truth, in a great number of passages but not by any means
all sacrifice, in only a few water, and in hardly any, motion, and
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
this sense, truth, fits in with the general sense of the Veda, then
I consider I have made out an unanswerable case for taking it in
5135that significance. In the cases of many words this can be done;
in others we have to strike a balance. There remain the words of
which frankly we do not know the meaning. Here we have to use
the clue of etymology and then to test the meaning or possible
meanings we arrive at by application to the passages in which the
5140word occurs, taking into consideration where necessary not only
the isolated riks, but the context around, and even the general
sense of Veda. In a few cases the word is so rare and obscure
that only a quite conjectural meaning can be attached to it.
When we have got the rendering of the text, we have to
5145[see] to what it amounts. Here what we have to do is to see the
connection of the ideas in the verse itself, next its connection
with the ideas in the verses that precede and follow and with the
general sense of the hymn; next parallel passages and ideas and
hymns and finally the place of the whole in the scheme of ideas
5150of the Veda. Thus in IV.7 we have the line
an
kdA
t
aAn
B
vd
d
vy
tn
, and I render it, “O Flame, when may there
be in uninterrupted sequence the awakening (to knowledge or
consciousness) of thee the god (the shining or luminous One)?”
5165But the question I have to put is this, “Does this mean the
constant burning of the physical fire on the altar and the ordered
sequence of the physical sacrifice, or does it mean the awakening
to constant developing knowledge or ordered conscious action
of knowledge of the divine Flame in man?” I note that in the
5170next rik (3) Agni is described as the possessor of truth (or of
sacrifice?), the entirely wise,
-tAvAn
Evc
ts
5175, in 4 as the vision or
knowledge perception shining for each creature,
k
t
B
5180gvAZ
Evf
Evf
, in 5 as the Priest who knows,
hotAr
5185EcEkvA
s
, in 6 as the
bright one in the secrecy who has perfect knowledge,
Ec
hA
Eht
s
v
, in 7 as coming possessed of the truth for the sacrifice
when the gods rejoice in the seat of the Truth, [in 8] as the
messenger
Ev7An
EcEkvAn
Evd
r. All this is ample warrant for
taking Agni not merely as a physical flame on the altar, [but] as
5205a flame of divine knowledge guiding the sacrifice and mediating
between man and the gods. The balance is also, though not
Mandala Four
indisputably, in favour of taking it as a reference to the inner
sacrifice under the cover of the outer symbols; for why should
5210there be so much stress on divine knowledge if the question
were only of a physical sacrifice for physical fruits? I note that
he is the priest, sage, messenger, eater, swift traveller and warrior.
How are these ideas, both successive and interwoven in the Veda,
connected together? Is it the physical sacred flame that is all these
5215things or the inner sacred flame? There is sufficient to warrant
me in provisionally taking it for the inner flame; but to be sure
I cannot rely on this one rik. I have to note the evolution of
the same ideas in other hymns, to study all the hymns dedicated
to Agni or in which he is mentioned, to see whether there are
5220passages in which he is indubitably the inner flame and what
light they shed on his whole physiognomy. Only then shall I be
in a position to judge certainly the significance of the Vedic Fire.
This example will show the method I follow in regard to
the third question, the interpretation of the Vedic symbols. That
5225there are a mass of figures and symbols in the hymns, there
can be no doubt. The instances in this 7th hymn of the Fourth
Mandala are sufficient by themselves to show how large a part
they play. In the absence of any contemporary evidence of the
sense which the Rishis attached to them, we have to seek for
5230their meaning in the Veda itself. Obviously, where we do not
know we cannot do without a hypothesis, and my hypothesis is
that of the outer ritual form as a significant symbol of an inner
spiritual meaning. But this or any hypothesis can have no real
value if it is brought in from outside, if it is not suggested by
5235the words and indications of the Veda itself. The Brahmanas
are too full of ingenuities; they read too much and too much at
random into the text. The Upanishads give a better light and we
may get hints from later work and even from Sayana and Yaska,
but it would be dangerous at once to read back literally the
5240ideas of a later mentality into this exceedingly ancient Scripture.
We must start from and rely on the Veda to interpret the Veda.
We have to see, first, whether there are any plain and evident
psychological and spiritual conceptions, what they are, what
clue they give us, secondly, whether there are any indications
5245Commentaries and Annotated Translations
of psychological meanings for physical symbols and how the
outer physical is related to the inner psychological side. Why
for instance is the Flame Agni called the seer and knower? why
are the rivers called the waters that have knowledge? why are
5250they said to ascend or get into the mind? and a host of other
similar questions. The answer again must be found by a minute
comparative study of the Vedic hymns themselves. In this vol-
ume I proceed by development. I take each hymn, get at its first
meaning; I see whether there are any psychological indications
5255and what is their force and what their interweaving and relation
to the other surrounding ideas. I proceed thus from hymn to
hymn linking them together by their identical or similar ideas,
figures, expressions. In this way it may be possible to arrive at a
clear and connected interpretation of the Veda.
5260This method supposes that the hymns of the Rigveda are
one whole composed by different Rishis, but on the basis of
a substantially identical and always similar knowledge and one
system of figures and symbols. This, I think, is evident on the very
surface of the Veda. The only apparent exceptions are certain
5265hymns, mostly in the tenth Mandala, which seem to belong to
a later development, some almost purely ritualistic, others more
complex and developed in symbol than the body of the Riks,
others clearly enouncing philosophical ideas with a modicum of
symbol, the first voices which announce the coming of the Upa-
5270nishads. Some hymns are highly archaic, others of a more clear
and relatively modern type. But for the most part throughout we
find the same substance, the same images, ideas, standing terms,
the same phrases and expressions. Otherwise the problem would
be insoluble; as it is, the Veda itself gives a key to the Veda.
5275The hymns I have chosen for a beginning are the fifteen
hymns of Vamadeva to Agni. I take them in the order that suits
me, for the first few are highly charged with symbol and there-
fore to us obscure and recondite. It is better to proceed from the
simple to the difficult; for so we shall get better a preliminary
5280clue which may help us through the obscurity of the earlier
hymns.
Mandala Four
Agni, the Lord of Fire, is physically the god of the sacrificial
flame, the fire found in the tinders, in the plants, in the waters,
5285the lightning, the fire of the sun, the fiery principle of heat and
light, tapas, tejas, wherever it is found. The question is whether
he is also the same principle in the psychical world. If he is, then
he must be that psychological principle called Tapas in the later
terminology. The Vedic Agni has two characteristics, knowledge
5290and a blazing power, light and fiery force. This suggests that
he is the force of the universal Godhead, a conscious force or
Will instinct with knowledge, — that is the nature of Tapas, —
which pervades the world and is behind all its workings. Agni
then in the psychical and spiritual sense of his functions would
5295be the fire of a Will doing the works of its own inherent and
innate knowledge. He is the seer,
kEv, the supreme mover of
thought,
Tmo
5300mnotA, the mover too of speech and the Word,
upv8tA
jnAnA
, the power in the heart that works,
}Edp
5t
,
the impeller of action and movement, the divine guide of man
in the act of sacrifice. He is the priest of the sacrifice, Hotri, he
5310who calls and brings the gods and gives to them the offering,
the Ritwik, who sacrifices in right order and right season, the
purifying priest, Potri, the Purohita, he who stands in front as
the representative of the sacrificer, the conductor of the sacrifice,
Adhwaryu; he combines all the sacred offices. It is evident that
5315these functions all belong to the divine will or conscient power
in man which awakes in the inner sacrifice. This Fire has built
all the worlds; this creative Power, Agni Jatavedas, knows all the
births, all that is in the worlds; he is the messenger who knows
earth, knows how to ascend the difficult slope of heaven,
5320aAroDn
Edv, knows the way to the home of the Truth, — he mediates
between God and man. These things apply only with difficulty
to the god of physical fire; they are of a striking appropriateness
if we take a larger view of the divine nature and functions of
5325the god Agni. He is a god of the earth, a force of material being,
avm; but he seems too [to] be a vital (Pranic) force of will in
desire, devouring, burning through his own smoke; and again
he is a mental power. Men see him
AEmv
EB, heaven and
the midworld and earth are his portion. But again he is a god
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
of Swar, one of the solar deities; he manifests himself as Surya;
5335he is born in the Truth, a master of Truth, a guardian of Truth
and Immortality, a getter and keeper of the shining herds, the
eternal Youth, and he renews the youth of these mystic cattle.
He is triply extended in the Infinite. All these functions cannot
be predicated of the god of physical fire; but they are all just
5340attributes of the conscient divine Will in man and the universe.
He is the horse of battle and the horse of swiftness and again he
gives the white horse; he is the Son and he creates for man the
Son. He is the Warrior and he brings to man the heroes of his
battle. He destroys by his flame the Dasyu and the Rakshasa; he
5345is a Vritra-slayer. Are we to see here the slayer only of mortal
Dravidians or of the demons who oppose the sacrifice? He is
born in a hundred ways: from the plants, from the tinder, from
the waters. His parents are the two Aranis, but again his parents
are Earth and Heaven, and there is a word which seems to
5350combine both meanings. Are not the two Aranis then a symbol
of earth and heaven, Agni born for mortals from the action of
the diviner mental on the material being? The ten sisters are his
mothers, — the ten fingers, says the scholiast; yes, but the Veda
describes them as the ten thoughts or thought-powers,
EDy.
The seven rivers, the mighty ones of heaven, the waters that have
knowledge, the waters of Swar are also his mothers. What is the
significance of this symbolism, and can we really interpret it as
5360only and solely a figurative account of natural phenomena, of
the physical principle or works of Fire? There is at least here, to
put the thing in its lowest terms, a strong possibility of a deeper
psychological functioning of Agni. These are the main points for
solution. Let us see then how the physiognomy of Agni evolves
5365in the Riks; keeping our minds open, let us examine whether the
hypothesis of Agni as one of the Gods of the Vedic Mysteries
is tenable or untenable. And that means, whether the Veda is
a semi-barbaric book of ritual hymns, the book of a primitive
Nature-worship or a scripture of the seers and mystics.
5370Mandala Four
I
Sukta VII. Metre 1 Jagati. 2–6 Anushtup. 7–11 Trishtup.
Rik 1.
ayEmh
5375Tmo
DAEy
DAt
EBho
tA
5380yEjSo
avr
vFX
y
ymJnvAno
gvo
Evzzc
v
n
Ec
Ev v
Evf
Evf
this (before you)
hotA Hotri,
Tm first or supreme,
yEjS
tm) most strong for sacrifice,
avr
q
IX
5405y adorable in the
(pilgrim) sacrifices
ih
DAEy has here been set
DAt
5410EB by the Or-
dainers (of things),
y
he whom
aJnvAno
gv Apnavana and
the Bhrigus
Evzzc
made to shine,
q
Ec
luminous (or var-
iegated) in the woods (or in the logs),
5425Ev v
pervading,
Evf
Evf
for creature and creature ie for each (human) being.
5430Critical Notes
DAt
EB. S. explains
DAt
as one who does action for the sacrifice,
5435therefore a priest. But
DAtAr here would more naturally signify
the gods, creators and ordainers of things, — though it is possi-
ble to take it as the arrangers of the sacrificial action. The close
collocation
5440DAEy
DAt
EB can hardly be void of all significance.
The gods are those who place or arrange the order of creation,
set each thing in its place, to its law and its function; they have
5445set Agni here,
ih. “Here” may mean in the sacrifice, but more
generally it would mean here on earth.
hotA. Sayana takes sometimes as “the summoner of the
gods”, sometimes the performer of the Homa, the burned of-
5450fering. In fact it contains both significances. Agni as Hotri calls
the gods to the sacrifice by the mantra and, on their coming,
gives to them the offering.
avr
q
5455 . The word
avr is explained by the Nirukta as mean-
ing literally
aEh
* “unhurting”,
5460a +
vr from
v
, and so, the
unhurt sacrifice, and so simply sacrifice. Certainly, it is used as
5465an adjective qualifying
y.,
avro
y.. It must therefore express
some characteristic so inherent in the sacrifice as to be able to
5470convey by itself that significance. But how can “the unhurting”
come to mean by itself the sacrifice? I suggest that as in
as
r it is a
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
5475mistake to take
a as privative.
as
r comes from
as
5480 (rt
as
) and
means strong, forceful, mighty.
avr is similarly formed from
5485av path, journey. It means the pilgrim sacrifice, the sacrifice
which travels from earth to heaven, led by Agni along the path
of the gods. If we must take the word from
v
, it is better to
5490take the ordinary sense of
v
, not crooked, straight, and then
it would still mean the sacrifice which goes straight undeviating
by the straight path to the gods,
p
TA
an
r.
y. S. “who is praised or hymned” by the Ritwiks. But
it must then mean “worthy to be hymned”.
i0
,
must have
meant originally to go, approach; it came to mean to pray to,
ask for, desire,
mAtrm
5510#‘. I take it in the sense of “desirable” or
“adorable”.
vn
q
.
5515vn means in the Veda tree, wood, but also log, timber.
Ec
. S. takes
Ec sometimes =
cAynFy =
$
6y, sometimes
EvEc, varied or wonderful, sometimes [
]. Here “variedly
5525beautiful”. It is in this last sense of varied light or beauty that I
take it in all passages in the Veda as in
i
d
EcBAno. I can see no
5530reason for taking it anywhere as
p
$
jnFy.
Ev v
5535. S. “lord”. But
EvB
in R.V. means certainly “widely be-
coming” or “wide in being” or “pervading, abundant, opulent”.
I find no passage in which it must mean lord, the later classical
5540sense.
Ev v must bear the same sense as
EvB
.
Tr. Lo, here has been set by the Ordainers the priest of the offer-
5545ing, the supreme, the most mighty in sacrifice, one to be adored
in the pilgrim sacrifices, whom Apnavana and the Bhrigus made
to shine out all-pervading, rich in hues, in the woods, for each
human creature.
This is the first rik; it contains nothing of an undoubtedly
5550psychological significance. In the external sense it is a statement
of the qualities of Agni as priest of the sacrifice. He is pointed to
in his body of the sacrificial fire kindled, put there in his place or
sent by the priests. It amounts to an obvious statement that this
sacred flame is a great power for the sacrifice; that he is the chief
5555of the gods who has to be hymned or adored, that Apnavana
and other Bhrigus first discovered the (sacrificial?) use of fire
Mandala Four
and caused it to be used by all men. The description here of
the forest fire seems inappropriate unless it is meant that they
5560got the idea by seeing Agni burning widely and beautifully as a
forest fire or that they discovered it by seeing the fire produced
by the clashing of boughs or that they first lit it in the shape of a
forest fire. Otherwise it is an ornamental and otiose description.
But if we assume for the moment that behind this image Agni
5565is hinted at as the Hotri of the inner sacrifice, then it is worth
seeing what these images mean. The first words tell us that this
flame of conscient Will, this great thing within us,
ayEmh, has
been set here in man by the Gods, the creators of the order of the
5570world, to be the power by which he aspires and calls the other
divine Forces into his being and consecrates his knowledge, will,
joy and all the wealth of his inner life as a sacrificial action to the
Lords of the Truth. These first words then amount for the initiate
to a statement of the fundamental idea of the Vedic mysteries,
5575the meaning of the sacrifice, the idea of a God-will in man, the
Immortal in mortals,
amy
my
q
5580 . This flame is spoken of as
the supreme or first power. The godward will leads all the other
godward powers; its presence is the beginning of the movement
to the Truth and Immortality and the head too of the march. It is
the greatest power in the conduct of the mystic discipline,
5585yEjS,
the most mighty for sacrifice. Man’s sacrifice is a pilgrimage and
the divine Will its leader; therefore it is that which we must
adore or pray to or ask for its presence in each sacrificial action.
The second line of the Rik gives us a statement of the first
5590discovery or birth of this Flame among men. For the spirit is there
concealed in man, guhˆa hita as it is said in Veda and Upanishad,
in the inner cave of our being; and his will is a spiritual will,
hidden there in the spirit, present indeed in all our outward
[being] and action, — for all being and action are of the spirit,
5595but still its real nature, its native action is concealed, altered, not
manifest in the material life in its true nature of a spiritual force.
This is a fundamental idea of Vedic thinking; and if we keep it
well in mind, we shall be able to understand the peculiar imagery
of the Veda. Earth is the image of the material being; material
5600being, delight, action etc are the growths of earth; therefore their
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
image is the forests, the trees, plants, all vegetation,
vn,
vnpEt,
5605aoqED. Agni is hidden in the trees and plants, he is the secret heat
and fire in everything that grows on earth,
vn
q
. All that we take
5610pleasure in in the material life, could not be or grow without
the presence of the secret flame of the spirit. The awakening
of the fire by the friction of the Aranis, the rubbing together
of the two pieces of tinder-wood is one way of making Agni
to shine out in his own form,
, but this is said elsewhere to
have been the work of the Angiras Rishis. Here the making of
Agni so to shine is attributed to Apnavana and the Bhrigus and
there is no indication of the method. It is simply indicated that
5620they made him to shine out so that he burned with a beauty of
varied light in the woodlands, a pervading presence,
vn
q
Ec
5625Ev v
. This must mean in the esoteric symbolism a rich and varied
manifestation of the flame of divine will and knowledge in the
physical life of man, seizing on its growths, all its being, action,
pleasure, making it its food,
, and devouring and turning it
into material for the spiritual existence. But this manifestation
of the spirit in the physical life of man was made available by the
Bhrigus to each human creature,
5635Evf
Evf
, — we must presume,
by the order of the sacrifice. This Agni, this general flame of
the divine Will-force, was turned by them into the Hotri of the
5640sacrifice.
The question remains, who are the Bhrigus of whom we
may suppose that Apnavana is in this action at least the head
or chief? Is it simply meant to preserve a historical tradition
[that] the Bhrigus like the Angiras Rishis were founders of the
5645esoteric Vedic knowledge and discipline? But this supposition,
possible in itself, is contradicted by the epithet
B
gvAZ
in verse
56504 which evidently refers back to this first Rik. Sayana interprets
there, “acting like Bhrigu” and to act like Bhrigu is to shine. We
find this significant fact emerge, admitted even by the ritualistic
commentator in spite of his attachment to rational matter of
fact, that some at least of the traditional Rishis and their fam-
5655ilies are symbolic in their character. The Bhrigus in the Veda
(B
j
to burn) are evidently burning powers of the Sun, the Lord
of Knowledge, just as the Angiras Rishis are very evidently the
5660Mandala Four
seven lustres of Agni,
sP
DAmAEn — S. says the live coals of the
fire, but that is a mere etymological ingenuity — the hints are
5665everywhere in the Veda, but it is made quite clear in the tenth
Mandala. The whole idea, then, comes out with a convincing
luminosity. It is the powers of the revelatory knowledge, the
powers of the seer-wisdom, represented by the Bhrigus, who
make this great discovery of the spiritual will-force and make
5670it available to every human creature. Apnavana means he who
acts or he who attains and acquires. It is the seer-wisdom that
scales and attains in the light of the revelation which leads the
Bhrigus to the discovery. This completes the sense of the Rik.
It will at once be said that this is an immense deal to read
5675into this single Rik, and that there is here no actual clue to any
such meaning. No actual clue, indeed, only covert hints, which
it is easy to pass over and ignore, — that was what the Mystics
intended the profanum vulgus, not excluding the uninitiated
Pundit, should do. I bring in these meanings from the indications
5680of the rest of the Veda. But in the hymn itself so far as this first
Rik goes, it might well be a purely ritualistic verse. But only if
it is taken by itself. The moment we pass on, we land full into
a mass of clear psychological suggestions. This will begin to be
apparent even as early as the second verse.
5685Rik 2.
an
kdA
t
aAn
B
v:
vy
c
aDA
Eh
vA
jg
r
mtA
so
EvLvFX
an
O Agni
kdA when
t
vy
c
tn
the awakening to knowl-
5715edge (consciousness) of thee the god
aAn
qk
B
vt
5720may it be
continuously (in uninterrupted sequence).
aDA
Eh for then (or,
now indeed)
5725mtA
s mortals
vA
jg
EB
have seized (taken and
held) thee
Ev
IX
adorable in (human) beings (or among the
peoples).
Critical Notes
d
5740vy. Sayana takes
d
v sometimes in the sense of god, sometimes
as equivalent simply to an epithet “shining”. The Gods are called
d
5745vA because they are the Shining Ones, the Children of Light;
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
and the word may well have recalled always that idea to the
Rishis; but I do not think
d
5750v is ever in the Veda merely a colour-
less epithet; in all passages the sense “god” or “divine” gives
excellent sense and I see no good reason for taking it otherwise.
c
tn
5755. S. takes =
t
j, but
Ect
does not mean to shine, it
5760means always “to be conscious, aware, know”,
c
tEt,
c
tyEt =
5765knows, causes to know,
c
ts
= heart, mind, knowledge,
c
5770#ty
,
c
tnA consciousness,
Ec1
5775 heart, consciousness, mind. To take it
here = light, except by figure, is deliberately to dodge without
any justification the plain psychological suggestion.
aDA.
a-DA = in this or that way, thus, but also then or now.
5780S. takes it = therefore with
B
vt
, preparing for
Eh = because (“For
5785this reason when should thy light be continuous? because... ”), a
very forced structure absolutely unnatural and contrary to order,
movement and the plain sequence of sense.
jg
EB
. A Vedic form, taken by the grammarians as derived
from
g
h
5795 to seize, by change of
h
to
B
, more probably an old
5800root
g
B
and a peculiar archaic formation. Cf [
] The
5805force is “For him they seize”, the perfect giving the sense of
an already completed action; in English one would [say] “will
have seized”, ie “when thou knowest continuously”. Or take
aDA = now, “Now indeed they have seized” but have not yet the
aAn
c
tn
. But this does not make so good a sense and brings
in besides an awkward inversion and ellipse.
5815Tr. O Flame, when shall thy awakening to knowledge be a con-
tinuous sequence? For then shall men have seized on thee as one
to be adored in creatures.
Here we get the first plain psychological suggestion in the
word
tn
. But what is the sense of this continuous knowing or
awaking to knowledge of Agni? First, we may try to get rid of
the psychological suggestion, take
tn
= consciousness, and the
consciousness of the fire as simply a poetic figure for its burning.
But against this we have the repetition of the phrase
5830aAn
qk
c
tn
in the
5835aAn
qk
EcEkvA
s
of v. [5] which certainly means contin-
5840uous knowledge and not merely burning, next verse 3 in which
the idea of
an
d
vy
tn
is taken up and the word itself echoed
Mandala Four
in the two opening words
5850-tAvAn
Evc
ts
, possessed of truth,
complete in knowledge (wisdom) applied to the god. To shut
5855one’s eyes to this emphatic indication and take
c
tn
= merely
6vln
5860 would be a mere dodge. Does it then mean the continuous
burning of the flame of the physical sacrifice, but with this idea
that the flame is the body of the god and indicates the presence
of the conscious deity? But in what then does the knowledge or
wisdom of Agni consist? It may be said that he is wise only as the
5865hotA, a seer,
kEv who knows exactly how to take the offerings
and get the sacrifice rightly done or one who knows the way
to heaven (verse 8). But what then of the
-tAvAn
5870Evc
ts
? That
must surely refer to some greater knowledge, some great Truth
which Agni possesses. Does it at all refer to a god of physical
5875Fire alone or to the knowledge and wisdom of an inner Fire, the
flame of the God-Force or God-Will in man and the world,
d
vy
the Shining One, the Guest, the Seer,
5880aEtET
kEv?
I take it in this sense. The Rishi cries to this inner Flame,
“when wilt thou shine in me continuously, on the altar of my
sacrifice, when wilt thou be a constant force of knowledge to
5885give all the uninterrupted sequence, relation, order, completeness
of the revelations of wisdom, speaking always and wholly its
words,
kA yAEn?” If it refers at all to the inner flame, this must
be the sense. We must remember that in the Vedic symbolism
5890it was by the continuous sacrifice all round the symbolic year,
the nine or the ten months of the sacrifice of the Angirases,
that the Sun, Master of the Truth, the Wisdom, was recovered
from the cave of darkness. The repeated single sacrifice is only
a preparation for this continuity of the revealing Flame. It is
5895only then that men not only awake Agni from time to time,
by repeated pressure, but have and hold continuously the inner
flame of will and knowledge, a present godhead, the one whom
we then see and adore in all conscious thinking beings. Or we
may take the last two padas in the sense “now indeed they seize”
5900etc and we will have to take it in the opposite sense, ie, that for
the present men do not have this continuous flame, but only lay
hold of him for the actual duration [of] the effort of sacrifice.
This is possible, but does not make so natural a sense; it arises
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
5905less simply and directly from the actual words. It is in the next
two riks (3, 4) that the present action of Agni before his
aAn
qk
c
is described, while in Rik 5 the Rishi returns to the idea of
the greater continuous flame of knowledge, repeating the
aAn
qk
tn
still more significantly in the
aAn
qk
5920EcEkvA
s
of that verse.
This seems to me the evident natural order of the thought in the
Sukta.
5925Rik 3.
-tAvAn
Evc
ts
p
Et
AEmv
t
EB
v
qAmvrAZA
hktA
r
dm
p
y
Et They see him
5945-tAvAn
(-tv
t
) having the truth,
Evc
completely wise
AEmv
t
EB like heaven with stars,
5955hktA
r
the maker to shine
Ev
v
5960qAmvrAZA
of all (pilgrim) sacrifices
dm
dm
(g
g
h
) in house and house.
Critical Notes
5970-tAvAn
.
-t +
vn
=
5975-tAvn
. The Vedic suffix
vn
has the same
force as the classical
.
-tAvA =
-tvAn
.
5985-t from root
- to
go. Hence the sense “water”. The sense “truth” may = what is
learned, literally what we go in search of and attain or what we
go over and so learn (cf
5990-Eq); but it may also come from the idea
of straightness, Lat. rectum,
-j
. How it comes to mean sacrifice
is not so clear, perhaps from the idea of rite, observance, rule,
5995EvED, or a line followed, cf Latin regula, rule; or again action,
km
and so the sacrificial action; verbs of motion often bear also
the sense of action, cf
cErt
v
.
-tAvA says S. often may mean
possessed of truth or possessed of sacrifice. But here he takes
6005it = truthful, free from deceit,
amAEyn
. Elsewhere he takes
sy
used as an epithet of Agni =
6010syPl, giving a true fruit of the
sacrifice. Oftenest he takes
-t =
y.. But it is perfectly evident
here that
6015-tAvAn
must mean truth-having, in whatever sense we
may take the truth of Agni.
Evc
ts
6020. S.
EvEf.An
having a special, a great knowledge.
In Veda
c
6025tA and
Evc
tA are distinguished very much as
.An
and
6030Ev.An in the Upanishads and later Sanscrit;
c
t or
EcE1
stands for
6035.An, the latter word being classical and not Vedic.
Mandala Four
gives the idea of knowledge directed towards an object,
c
tA
6040= intelligent, wise in a general sense (thus S. takes
k
.An
and makes no distinction between the words).
Ev means widely,
6045pervadingly or else in high degree;
Evc
tA means then having a
complete or great or perfect knowledge, knowledge of the whole
and the parts.
6050hktA
r
.
hs
to shine, shining (from which comes the sense,
6055to smile) and
k
to make. S. says
BAsk
illuminer of the sacrifices.
. The Vedic word (G. domos, Lat. domus) means always
“house”; it is not used in the later classical sense of “subduing,
control”, etc.
Tr. They see the master of truth, the complete in wisdom like a
6065heaven with stars, the illuminer of all pilgrim sacrifices in house
and house.
In this rik the word
Evc
ts
6070 evidently takes up the
c
tn
of the
last verse; it means complete in knowledge and is coupled with
6075-tAvAn
truth-having, possessed of truth. It is the god Agni, not
the physical fire who is described by these epithets. Therefore
t
c
in the last verse must mean Agni “awakening to knowl-
edge” or Agni’s awakening of man to knowledge, — for
c
tyEt
6085means either to know or to cause to know, and cannot mean
the burning of the physical flame. But what is this truth and
knowledge of Agni? It is associated again in the next verse with
his function of illumining the sacrifice,
avrAZA
6090hktA
r
. What
is the illumination he gives to the sacrifice? And what is meant
by saying that he is seen “like a heaven with stars”? Sayana
6095with much scholastic ingenuity, but a characteristic disregard
of all good taste and literary judgment, says that the scattering
sparks of the fire are like stars and therefore Agni is like heaven
— though there is no reason to suppose that the
t
6100EB here are
shooting stars; I cannot imagine any poet with eyes in his head
and a judgment and sense of proportion in his brain so describing
a fire burning on an altar. But if it does mean that, then we have
here a purely ornamental description and very bad, exaggerated
6105and vicious ornament at that. All that the verse will then mean
is that men see this wise and truthful Agni in the physical form
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
of the sacrificial fire shedding light by its flames on the whole
business of the sacrifice. The two epithets are also then otiose
6110ornament; there is then absolutely no connection between the
idea of Agni’s wisdom and the image of the heaven with stars
or the illumination of the sacrifice which is the main idea of the
verse.
I go on the hypothesis, not, I think, an unfair one, that the
6115Vedic Rishi Vamadeva like other poets wrote with some closer
connection than that between their ideas. We must remember
that in the last verse he has desired, what he has not yet, the con-
tinuous knowledge of Agni and said that then indeed men hold
and possess him. But how do they see him before that continuity,
6120though after the Bhrigus have found him for the utility of each
human being? They see him as the master of truth, the complete
in knowledge, but — we must suppose — they do not yet possess
him in all his truth or his complete knowledge; for he is seen only
as a heaven with stars and as an illuminer of their sacrifices. A
6125heaven with stars is heaven at night without the light of the
sun. Agni in the Veda is described as shining even in the night,
giving light in the night, burning through the nights till there
comes the dawn, — which too is brought by him aiding Indra
and the Angirases. If the meaning of Agni is the inner flame, this
6130gets a striking, appropriate and profound meaning. In the Veda
darkness or night is the symbol of the ignorant mentality, as is
the day and its sunlight of the illumined mentality. But before
there is the day or the continuous knowledge, the illuminations
of Agni are like stars in the nocturnal heavens. Heaven is the
6135mental as earth is the physical being; all the truth and knowledge
of Agni is there, but hidden now by the darkness of night. Men
know that the Light is there pervading the skies but see only by
the stars which Agni has kindled as his fires of illumination in
those heavens.