Canto 23Mandala Six
Book 2. cover for HMF=16.pdf
[32]
[RV VI.1.1–4]
Rigveda Book VI. Annotations
First Draft.
5I. Hymn to Agni
1. Thou, O Agni, art the supreme (or first) thinker (or giver of
thought); and art the priest of invocation of this thinking, O doer
of works (or, O Puissant); thou hast made an impassable strength
for thyself to every side, O bull, that thou mayst overpower every
10force.
an
v
Eh
Tmo (m
15Hy
prm
p
$
v
20tmo
vA)
mnotA (m
tA
mns
25codEytA
vA) (h
)
dm (kt
km
30f8t
vA) (v
)
ayA
EDy (2
35Et!py
mnny
m
y
vA)
40hotA4AtABv (h
)
v
qn
(vEq
45S
blvn
d
v).
v
50sF
(sv
to)
d
rFt
55 (d
B
d
l
y
60)
sho (bl
)
ak
Zo (ck
65TA)
Ev
vm
#
shs
70(sv
bl
)
shy
# (aEBBEvt
75y
n
bl
n
sv
80my lmEBBv
) |
2. Then didst thou take up thy seat in the place of revelation
as the priest of invocation mighty for the sacrifice, adorable of
men, thence impelling them to their journey (or to the work).
85aDA (aT)
IX
y
sn
(IX
90y
p
$
jnFyo
vA)
95yjFyAn
(y
smT
tro)
hotA
100sE30 (.Any)
pd
iqyn
(codyn
)
105ysFd (c
tso
'tEn
q@ZvA -
nEs) |
110The Strong Ones (of old) seeking the godhead, turning to
knowledge, followed after thee, the first and supreme, to the
great felicity.
t
vA that thee (tAd
115f
vA
)
Tm
the first or supreme
120nr
men or the Strong Ones
d
vy
t seeking the godhead (d
125vtA
s
vmAnA
d
vkAmA
130d
vvkAmA
vA)
mho
rAy
135 for the great felicity (mht
Bd
Ay)
Ecty
to waking to or in knowledge (EcE1
140.An
vt
y
to)
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
145an
mn
(avgQCn
) followed.
3. They with wakeful hearts followed thee, and thou travelledst
150as on a path with thy many colonists, and they attained to felicity
in thee; yea they followed the blazing Flame which is visioned
and vast and full of substance, and shines with all manner of
lustres.
an
155 after thee, in thy wake (vA
understood)
bh
EBv
s y
160#
with many who were to be lodged (in the divine seats
bh
EBd
v -
165EnvAsyoy
#
sh)
v
t
170v
y
t
going as by a road (
mAg
175Z
iv
gQC
t
)
180they (
t
is understood)
jAg
vA
185s wakeful (.An
jAg
t)
v
rEy
190mn
attained to felicity in thee (vEy
Bd
AJn
vn
195 ) —
aEn
after Agni
zf
t
200 blazing (svZ
otmAn
sr8tvZ
vA)
df
205t
visioned (d
Ey
8t
p
210y
t
df
nFy
vA)
215b
h
t
vast
vpAv
220t
substantial (vpA [
])
Ev
vhA
225dFEdvA
s
every way shining (sv
TA
sv
230kAl
vA
d
dFJymAn
).
2354. They came by adoration to the seat of the godhead; they
desired inspired knowledge and they attained to an inviolate
knowledge; yea, even, they held in them the sacrificial Names;
they took delight in thy blissful power of vision.
pd
240d
vy To the place of the god
nmsA by obeisance
y
t arriving (gQC
245t)
2vyv desiring inspired knowledge
(sy2
EtEmQC
t)
250am
8t
2v
aApn
they got an untouched inspi-
255ration (v
#rp
AmbAEDtA
sy2
Et
260AJn
vn
)
Ecd
even
265yE.yAEn
nAmAEn the sacrificial names (
y.PldAnsmTA
En
y.yoyAEn
270d
v -
nAmAEn)
dEDr
they held in themselves (
275aAmn
k
vA
DAryAmAs
);
280Bd
AyA
s
d
O
285t
in thy happy vision (vdFyAyA
aAn
dtvs
y
2908tAyA
prmsyd
A
d
vdf
295n
vA)
rZy
t they took delight (armyn
aAn
300d
c5
).
1.
v
305Vn
Tmo
mnotA.
an
(O Agni)
310v
Eh (v
Kl
thou
verily)
315Tm
mnotA (art the first or supreme thinker).
Sayana here differs only in the sense of
mnotA which means
in his view
320d
vAnA
mno
yot
BvEt
325tAd
f he on whom the mind
of the gods is sewn.
mnotA is therefore
mn +
330Ut (v
) or else
mn
+
aot (aAv
335), a very hazardous and forced etymology; besides the
termination is not
t but
t
. I take it as a verbal agent, an archaic
340derivative from
mn
with an archaic connecting gunated
u as in
Mandala Six
345tnoEt. We find this form surviving from O.A. in Greek forms in
wthc. It will mean the thinker or else the giver of thought, the
mentaliser.
S. quotes Ai. Br. 2.10
aEn
350svA
mnotA
anO
mnotA
s
355gQC
t
and says
Eh shows that the verse is a reference to the Brahmana.
This is chronologically impossible.
360ayA
EDyo
aBvo
dm
hotA.
365dm (O active, or, O powerful)
ayA
EDy (of this thought)
hotA
aBv (thou hast become the
370priest of invocation).
dm
Sayana takes as
df
nFy beautiful.
375ds
means to cut,
divide, bite (like
d
f
380 ), injure, rob, destroy; give, (like
dA,
dAf
,
dt
385 ); to see (like
d
f
); to shine. It may therefore mean (1) rob-
ber, destroyer, destructive, cf
390dy
,
dAs, (2) giver, bountiful, (3)
seeing, visible, beautiful, (4) shining. None of these senses is
suitable in the context; the epithet is otiose therefore in Veda.
395But also
ds
or
d
s
400 must have meant to do, work, toil, cf
d
snA,
d
Es,
405p
zd
sA,
dAs a servant, slave; or, like other words having the
sense of cutting, striking etc it may develop the sense of strength,
410force, power. We have then two other possible senses, active, and
powerful or forceful, both of which come in perfectly wherever
dm or
d* occurs in the Veda.
EDy
415Sayana takes =
km
Z. I see no reason for attaching
this sense to the word in the Rig Veda. S. himself frequently
admits for
420DF the sense thought or understanding. At most times
he renders it
t
Et prayer.
DF means thought, and may mean
425especially the thought expressed in the mantra, therefore the
mantra or hymn itself; and in that sense we may justify this
interpretation. But I take it always as thought in a particular or
a general sense. See Appendix. Agni is the supreme thinker; in
that capacity he has become the priest of the present (godward)
430thought in the mind of the Rishi. S’s sense is “Thou art the
summoning priest of this rite”, mine, “Thou hast become the
priest of invocation of this thinking.”
v
sF
435v
q3k
Zod
rFt
sho
440Ev
vm
#
shs
shy
445#
v
qn
(O
bull),
450v
(thou)
d
rFt
sh (a hard-to-pierce or hard-to-cross
455force),
sF
(on every side)
ak
Zo (akro hast made)
460Ev
vm
#
shs
shy
465# (Ev
v
sh
sVAEBBEvt
to force every force).
470d
rFt
—
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
d
475s
+
trFt
(t
gunated +
480t
with connecting
I),
t
to pierce,
485wound, cross, pass beyond.
shy
#, an old Vedic infinitive form,
expressing the infinitive of purpose; modified into thai (sthai) it
remained the ordinary middle and passive infinitive termination
490in Greek.
Ev
vm
#
shs
495 (Ev
vm
# not
Ev
vAy because
500Ev
v like
sv
is a pronominal word in V.S.); the dative of the object instead of
the accusative is a common Vedic idiom.
505v
qn
Sayana here as ordinarily,
kAmAnA
vEq
510t. The word
means Bull or Male; it is used of horses. It is the strength of
Agni that is in immediate question, not his bounty.
v
qA bull,
515male is constantly applied to Indra and Agni, as to other gods,
often with a direct reference to the rays or energies or human
beings as the herd they lead.
Ev
shs
520sh. S. to overpower every
strong enemy.
shs
may be used as an adjective as well as a noun
like
525yfs
= strength or strong, but there is no clear instance in
the R.V. and no need here for the adjectival sense. Agni’s is the
supreme strength or force, which overpowers and dominates all
forces in the world.
530S’s sense, “O rainer (of desires), thou hast made on all
sides an invulnerable strength to overcome every strong one
(ie enemy)”, mine, “Thou hast made an impassable strength for
thyself on every side, O Bull, that thou mayst overpower every
force.”
535Translation. S. Thou art the supreme (or ancient) mind-sewn
(on whom is sewn the mind of the gods); thou art the summoning
priest of this (ritual) work; O rainer (of desires), thou hast made
on all sides an invulnerable strength to overcome every strong
one.
540Thou art the supreme thinker, and thou hast become the
priest of invocation of this thinking. Thou hast made an impass-
able strength for thyself on every side, O Bull, that thou mayst
overpower every force.
Explanation. For the esoteric sense of the Veda, we start
545with the premiss that Agni is the Flame or Force, base of all
action, formation, creation, not only, as he very evidently is
in the surface exoteric sense, in the material universe, but in all
being, in spirit and mind and life as well as in matter. But how do
Mandala Six
550we arrive at or justify this premiss? At first sight it seems not at all
obvious, but rather a very considerable assumption. It appears
from the very first expression in this first hymn of Bharadwaja.
“O Flame (Agni), thou art the supreme or first thinker.” Material
fire or its god cannot be so described; the phrase at once gives
555Agni a psychological function — a flame or fire-god cannot be
called thus significantly the supreme or first thinker unless we
suppose that in the fiery principle which pervades the universe
there is a consciousness which thinks out all the works attributed
to it by the Vedic Rishis, such as the creation of the worlds, the
560guardianship of Truth and Immortality. Sayana’s interpretation,
“the first in whom the mind of the gods is inwoven”, imposes
the same idea. We see too that Agni is everywhere designated
the Seer, kavi. Not only so, but for Vamadeva (IV.3.16) he is
the seer to whom the secret words of seer-wisdom (En@yA
565vcA
Es
kA yAEn) are spoken and to whom their hidden sense expresses
its meaning,
EnvcnA. This would have no sufficient sense, if it
570were spoken only of a godhead of cosmic physical flame. It
is quite evident from the most literal sense of the Veda that
Agni is a godhead characterised by a supreme power of divine
knowledge. This can be nothing else than the conscious Force
of divine Knowledge which creates (Enm
575m
) the worlds. We shall
find from other passages that he is the divine Flame also in the
thoughts and in the heart of man,
am
580to
mt
q
, the immortal in
mortal beings.
585This godhead of divine active Force is the supreme thinker
or the first mentaliser of things. He is then an immortal flame
of Power that makes for knowledge. As this thinker, this active
Puissance,
dm, he has become the Hotri of this thought,
590ayA
EDyo
hotA. The thought may be the thought expressed in the
hymn =
ay
595s
$
8ty; even if we take
EDy =
km
600Z, still it is as
the supreme thinker that he works in the sacrifice, and the sense
therefore is that it is by his power of thought that he conducts
the sacrifice, brings into it the other gods and gives its fruit,
— unless we take the two padas as unconnected in sense. The
605Hotri is the priest of invocation and also the priest who gives
the offering. This divine Power of the sacrificial thought and
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
action brings in the powers of the other gods into the sacrifice
and conducts the sacrificial action. Is this spoken of the inner or
610only of the outer ritual sacrifice?
And the Flame is a flame not of effective thought, but of
invincible and inviolable Power. It is the Vrishan, the Bull, the
Leader of the Herds, the Strong and Mighty One. In the abun-
dance of its strength [it] makes all around it and us and the
615sacrifice a force which is hard to pierce or whose defences none
can pass, and this invulnerable force is not only defensive but
aggressive; it overpowers every force. This may mean that the
force of this flame of the divine Will in the sacrificial thought
and action overcomes every other hostile force or, more simply
620and generally, it dominates all surrounding powers and makes
the sacrifice master of a movement which nothing can resist,
degrade or violate.
2.
aDA
625hotA
ysFdo
yjFyAn
.
aDA (Then, or now)
630ysFdo (thou
tookest thy seat)
yjFyAn
hotA as the priest of invocation and
offering very capable for the sacrifice.
635aDA. Sayana takes “now”,
aD
nA. But
aDA may mean like
at, then, next, after this; after making the invulnerable strength
640all round.
yjFyAn
,
yEjS he takes sometimes in a passive sense,
yjnFy; but not here, and it would not be appropriate here,
645for Agni is here the sacrificing priest, not the god to whom
sacrifice is given. I find no passage in which
yjFyAn
or
yEjS
650must mean
yjnFy, —
y
tm makes always a good and often the
only possible sense. I take it for that reason always in this active
655significance.
i0pd
iqy3FX
y
sn
660 .
i0pd
(in the place of knowledge)
iqyn
(impelling),
665IX
y
sn
(being adorable or desirable).
i0pd
670. Sayana takes in the place of earth, that is in the
place of the altar-earth, meaning simply, on the altar. This is a
very forced and artificial rendering.
pd cannot be so neutral and
otiose a word. It means always the footprint or footstep, the
675place attained to or the proper seat, as in
d
vy
pd
(below), or
680EvZo
prm
pd
.
iX
685 or
i0
means originally to go to, approach,
(i family), so to ask, pray, adore;
i0pd
690 may mean exoterically,
Mandala Six
place of prayer or adoration. But also verbs with this sense give
constantly the sense of knowing, eg
-Eq etc. Ila is a goddess
695who teaches or gives knowledge,
mn
q
fAsnF. I suggest that
i0
700means knowledge, especially, revelation,
-k
,
aEc
, the illumin-
705ing knowledge imparted by
i0A, who is the goddess or female
energy of
i0
.
710i0pd
must be a very archaic phrase. The word
itself only occurs in this form
i0.
iqyn
715 . S. takes as if a nominal from
iq
food as if it were
“fooding” or “foodifying” like
d
720vy
t; here in the sense, desiring
food, elsewhere, making food. I doubt whether
iq
in the Veda
725really means food, and in any case there is no compelling reason
for taking this verb as a nominal form. It is like
c
tyn
etc,
730from
iq
which means to throw, drive, impel, send. We shall see
immediately that the hymn speaks of the journey to Swar, to the
d
735vy
pd
. Agni thinker, priest, active power sitting as Hotri in
the seat of knowledge impels or sends the sacrifice and by its
power the sacrificer on the way,
740v
t
v
y
t
745, by which as Envoy of
the Gods, mover between earth and heaven, he takes them to
the home and seat of the Gods, his own home
d
vy
750pd
.
t
vA
nr
755Tm
d
vy
to
mho
760rAy
Ecty
to
an
mn
765t
Tm
vA
(tm
v
770prm
m
tAr
vA
) thee that supreme
775nr men (of old) or, the
strong ones,
d
vy
t (d
780vAn
kAmy
to
d
vv
785vA) seeking the godheads
Ecty
t seeking knowledge
mho
rAy
790 (mhy
#
B
$
y
795#
aAndAy) to or for
great felicity
an
mn
800 followed.
t
vA.
t
has the force of
805tAd
f
— thee who hast these qualities
and doest these actions,
Tm
810 recalling the
Tmo
mnotA of the
opening pada.
nr. Sayana takes this word sometimes as simply meaning
815“men” (mn
yA), but here as most often he explains
n
tAro
mn
820yA,
men who lead, Ritwiks and Yajamanas, priests and sacrificers.
This is a sense which is quite inappropriate in many passages and
n
could not have come to mean men, if it had meant leaders.
825n
meant originally to move (cf
n
t
to dance,
830nAr water etc.),
n
must
have meant mobile, active and so strong. This sense is proved
by the word
835n
MZ which is certainly used in the Veda in the sense
of strength.
n
is a word applied to the gods, the Males, Strong
840Ones, Purushas as opposed to the
nA, the females, goddesses
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
(Gr. gunˆe, woman); it is applied to the fathers, the Angirases
or others; it is used as an equivalent to
845vFr, as in
n
vd
vs
for
850vFrvd
vs
. These are, it seems to me, conclusive indications of
the Vedic sense of
n
855 . Here it is used for the Fathers or ancient
Seers as can be seen from many parallel passages.
Tm
. S. takes
“before the other gods”, but that has no force in this passage,
860— what would be the sense of desiring Agni and following him
to Heaven first, the other gods afterwards, as if the journey had
to be undertaken many times, — and it ignores the
Tm of the
first line of which this is an evident resumptive repetition.
865d
vy
t. Nominal vb. from
d
v a god. Sayana takes “desiring
870thee the god”, but I do not know where he gets his “thee” in the
word, and if he takes it from
vA, then there is no instance of an
accusative of this kind after
d
875vyEt. The word is quite general;
it must mean divinising, god-seeking or else making themselves
divine.
Ecty
t. S. knowing Agni or else making known by the
880hymn of praise; a very feeble sense in itself and not warranted
by other passages.
Ect
is to become conscious of a thing, get
to know or know,
885Ecty
t expresses either an awakening to
knowledge or a continuous activity of getting knowledge. The
Fathers or ancient Rishis desired godhead or immortality or
companionship with the gods,
890am
tv
, a growing in knowledge
was the means by which they pursued it, and Agni, the first
thinker, was the leader of the way to the home of immortal-
895ity, the seat of the godhead,
pd
d
vy, where men too became
divine and immortal. Cf [
900] This is the very obvious, the
straightforward, the most literal sense of the passage.
mho
rAy
.
905Dative of purpose or objective.
mh (for
mht
) is one of the few
curious indeclinable adjectives.
910rA like
rEy is taken by Sayana
as meaning wealth; so taking it he misses the whole sense of
the passage and its connection with the two Riks that follow.
It means obviously a divine riches or spiritual felicity, as we see
915in the next line, where the Rishis follow Agni as on a path to a
great riches
rEy
which they find in him, and again in 4, where
the thought is expanded and made quite clear, for there it is said
920the Rishis travel to ( y
t) the seat of the god and the wealth they
find is
2v (2v
aAp3m
9258t
), the fullness of the outflowing of the
Mandala Six
Truth which Agni leads us to and which is found in the very self
of Agni,
930v
rEy
.
Translation. Then didst thou take thy seat, a priest of the
invocation very mighty for sacrifice, in the seat of knowledge
935(or, of adoration), impelling, one desirable (or, adorable). The
strong ones (of old) seeking godhead, growing in knowledge,
followed after thee, even that supreme (thinker) to great riches.
S. Now thou hast taken thy seat, a priest of the offering and
great sacrificer, in the place of earth (ie on the altar), desiring
940food, being worthy of praise. The leaders desiring thee, such a
godhead, for themselves, knowing thee (or making thee known),
followed thee first (of the gods) for a great wealth.
Explanation.
The Rishi then takes up again and expands the expression of
945the second pada of the first verse in order to restore the sequence
of the idea. It is when he has made around him an invulnera-
ble force to secure the sacrifice and its progress that the divine
Flame takes up, as now, his seat as the priest of the invocation
and offering and in that fulfilled strength he is very mighty for
950the works of sacrifice. He sits in the seat of knowledge as the
supreme thinker — the Seer Will, may we not say, in the plane
of revelatory thought and seeing,
i0pd
, from there he gives the
955impulsion to the works and the journey of the sacrifice. This
is the desirable Godhead, the Flame that men pray for which
by its power of knowledge lifts them to immortality. And the
Rishi takes up the suggestion of the word “impelling”,
iqyn
960 ,
and indicates the nature of the great journey on whose paths
the Flame of the divine Force marches himself and impels the
human being. It is the great march which was undertaken by
the strong semi-divine men of old. They found this supreme
965Thinker within, awakened by him to knowledge and growing
constantly in knowledge they followed after him to divinise
themselves in the planes of immortal being, their objective a
felicity of vast riches, an immense wealth of spiritual being. This
sense is inevitable, if we accept the psychological indications
970in
mnotA,
d
vy
t,
975Ecty
t and all that immediately follows this
Commentaries and Annotated Translations
verse. How, in any case, can this insistence on the god-seeking,
on knowledge, [on the] thought-aspect of the Flame God, on
980the wakeful following of the seer Agni on his march and on the
reaching of the
d
vy
pd
985 mean only a following after Agni for
food and material wealth? This is not only wilfully to degrade
and materialize the lofty language of the poetry, but to make the
whole sense and expression clumsy, blundering and incoherent,
where in the original it is admirably developed, straightforward
990and as natural and flowing as a limpid stream.
3.
v
t
v
995y
t
bh
EBv
s y
1000#
v
rEy
jAg
vA
1005so
an
mn
zf
tmEn
1010df
t
b
h
t
1015vpAv
t
Ev
vhA
dFEdvA
1020s
zf
t
(BAv
t
1025)
df
t
b
h
1030t
vpAv
t
Ev
vhA
1035dFEdvA
s
(Eny
sv
TA
1040vA
d
dFJymAn
)
an
1045Agni blazing with light, visible (or visioned), vast,
having substance, always (or altogether, in all ways) shining,
bh
EB
vs y
1050#
v
tA
iv (mAg
Z
1055v)
y
t
in the wake of (thee) going as
on a path with many colonists or accompanied by many wealthy
1060Powers,
jAg
vA
s (t
jAg
1065t
s
t)
v
rEy
1070mn
(vEy
B
$
EtmygQCn
1075 )
in thee they went to (attained) the wealth.
iv. Sayana takes
iv = now,
s
1080Et. He interprets it thus, that
the last verse referred to former priests and sacrificers,
an
mn
having there a past sense
1085p
$
v
, but this verse to present priests
and sacrificers,
1090an
mn
having here a present sense. This is
an unusual and here quite unwarranted sense of
iv. There is
1095nothing to indicate a new subject for the verb or a change in its
tense significance. The repetition of the verb is a quite common
feature of the Vedic style and it sustains a continuity in the sense
and subject; it does not indicate a break in it or turning to a
new subject.
1100iv simply indicates that the path,
v
t
,
p
1105TA so often
referred to in the Veda, is a symbol; this use of
iv is common
enough in the hymns.
v
1110tA. S, the path between earth and
heaven: no doubt, but it is not a physical path, but the path of
Truth by which Agni goes,
-ty
p
1115TA, (cf [
]).
vs y
#.
S. says this may mean the Vasus, or “those who are fit to dwell
1120among the Yajamanas”! He takes
an
mn
here, as following
after in the sense of being devoted to or serving,
1125s
Bj
t
. But
v
1130tA
y
t
surely demands the plain natural sense for the verb.
vs y
1135#
Mandala Six
may mean “wealthy” from
vs
or “those who are for the
1140vAs”
cf
vy
. Agni is accompanied by many powers that hold or amass
the wealth,
1145rEy,
vs
or he marches to the
d
vy
1150pd
with many
who, like the Rishis following him, have to be lodged there.
v
rEy
1155jAg
vA
s. S. interprets, giving wealth to Agni! This is
a portentous feat of learning! I fail to understand how “being
wakeful” can mean giving, or how it can govern the accusative
1160rEy
. Evidently
rEy
is governed by the sense of “going to” in
an
1165mn
, an accusative of the destination reached, — in literal
English, they followed Agni to the wealth, or in the wake of
Agni reached the wealth.
zf
1170t
. S. “of a shining colour”.
zft
is opposed to
k
1175Z in
IV.3.9 and means bright of hue as opposed to black or simply
bright as opposed to dark.
df
t. S. says “beautiful”, his usual
1180interpretation.
df
t from
d
f
1185 to see may be passive, visible, or fit
to be seen, beautiful (but this second sense has here no force or
bearing on the context), or, active = seeing. See App.
vpAv
t
1190. S.
does not here explain the word, but elsewhere he says
v
=
. See
1195Appendix.
Ev
vhA. S. “always”. It may however mean “in all
ways of light”,
hA =
1200dA or
hA =
DA or
TA.
Translation. In thy wake as thou travelledst as on a path with
1205thy many colonists (or lords of riches) they followed wakeful
after thee and came in thee to (those) riches, — (in the wake of)
Agni blazing, visible (or, full of sight), vast, full of substance,
ever luminous (or, shining in all ways of light).
Explanation. The ancient Rishis pursued the leading divine
1210Power on its ways, with a full wakefulness of the mind of
knowledge,
Ecty
t, not falling into error or deviating from the
path (this psychological sense is extremely frequent in all Vedic
1215literature, it does not mean keeping lively and awake during the
sacrifice) and attained in that Power those great riches, — that is
to say, in the full flame of the divine Force and Knowledge on its
own divine plane,
d
1220vy
pd
. This plane, we find elsewhere, is the
home of the Truth,
sy
1225-t
b
ht
. I take it to be a symbol of the
supramental plane of existence,
1230b
hd
O which is beyond the two
firmaments of heaven and earth. The divine Flame marches as if
on a path; the oft-mentioned path of Truth by which the Rishis,
1235Commentaries and Annotated Translations
we are told, attained to immortality. He goes surrounded by the
souls that aspire to transcend the two firmaments and have to
be lodged in that supreme dwelling place,
y,
1240 etc. He is
bright and vast, a visible or a seeing might of the divine force
and consciousness, full of the body and substance (
vpAv
t
1245,
vp
q
,
vp
1250y
) of its light and flame, always lifting up its lustres or else
shining with a manifold and universal light of knowledge. The
epithets in the second line are all applicable to the physical Fire
and but for the context they might be taken of the flame on the
1255physical altar; but how does the physical Fire march as if on a
path, — for it is not a forest fire that is being here described, or,
if it is, how do the sacrificers or the priests follow wakefully the
forest fire and get in it a great riches? If it be said that all this
is a figure for getting wealth by constant sacrifice, I can only
1260say that it is a most amazing figure and a most excited, violent,
tortured, indirect and unprimitive style of writing. Certainly the
epic exaltation of the style would lead us to think that it meant
something much more exalted and inspiring. Pass, but what of
the
1265pd
d
vy
y
t in the next verse? And if that means the altar,
1270what are we to make of the 7th rik,
v
Evfo
anyo
dFAno
1275Edvo
an
b
htA
rocn
1280n, where Sayana himself is obliged to translate,
thou shining leadst men to heaven? Is not this exactly the same
idea and an echo of the same language as in this verse, “men
followed thee shining as on a path, and came to the seat of the
godhead”? How can the idea of men following the shining god
1285to the
d
vy
pd
and the idea of the shining god leading men to the
1290heavens, mean two quite different things? Absolutely, the only
difficulty in the way of the plain sense is the refusal to take
rAy
and
rEy
1295 in a figurative significance. This plain and natural figure
is denied to the Rishis, but a much more violent figure forced on
them in order to arrive at a materialistic meaning.
4.
pd
1300d
vy
nmsA
y
t
13052vyv
2v
aAp3m
8t
pd
1310d
vy the seat (world) of the god
nmsA
y
t going to
1315by adoration,
2vyv (sy2
EtkAmA) (they) desiring inspired
knowledge
2v
1320am
8t
aApn
(aDEq
tA
1325sy2
Et
AJn
vn
) attained
1330an inviolate knowledge.