Canto 6Mandala Six

Book 3. Part Three: Commentaries and Annotated Translations

[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.

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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).

40 ()

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)

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45 ()

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50) |

The Strong Ones (of old) seeking the godhead, turning to

knowledge, followed after thee, the first and supreme, to the

great felicity.

that thee (

55)

the first or supreme

seeking the godhead (

men or the Strong Ones

)

60 for the great felicity (

waking to or in knowledge (

)

65mn

(avgQCn

) followed.

3. They with wakeful hearts followed thee, and thou travelledst

as on a path with thy many colonists, and they attained to felicity

70in thee; yea they followed the blazing Flame which is visioned

and vast and full of substance, and shines with all manner of

lustres.

after thee, in thy wake (vA

75 understood)

EBv

s y

80with many who were to be lodged (in the divine seats

EBd

v -

EnvAsyoy

85#

sh)

90y

going as by a road (

mAg

95iv

gQC

)

they (

100t

is understood)

jAg

s wakeful (.An

105jAg

rEy

110attained to felicity in thee (vEy

AJn

) —

115aEn

after Agni

blazing (svZ

120otmAn

sr8tvZ

vA)

125 visioned (d

130t

nFy

vA)

135h

vast

vpAv

140 substantial (vpA [

])

vhA

dFEdvA

145s

every way shining (sv

kAl

150vA

dFJymAn

4. They came by adoration to the seat of the godhead; they

155desired 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.

160vy To the place of the god

nmsA by obeisance

t arriving (gQC

1652vyv desiring inspired knowledge

(sy2

EtEmQC

1708t

aApn

they got an untouched inspi-

ration (v

175#rp

AmbAEDtA

sy2

AJn

180vn

)

Ecd

even

yE.yAEn

185nAmAEn the sacrificial names (

y.PldAnsmTA

y.yoyAEn

190v -

nAmAEn)

dEDr

they held in themselves (

aAmn

195k

DAryAmAs

);

200AyA

205 in thy happy vision (vdFyAyA

aAn

dtvs

8tAyA

210prmsyd

vdf

215vA)

rZy

t they took delight (armyn

aAn

220c5

225Tmo

mnotA.

(O Agni)

230Eh (v

thou

verily)

235mnotA (art the first or supreme thinker).

Sayana here differs only in the sense of

mnotA which means

in his view

240vAnA

mno

yot

BvEt

tAd

245f he on whom the mind

of the gods is sewn.

mnotA is therefore

mn +

Ut (v

250) or else

aot (aAv

), a very hazardous and forced etymology; besides the

255termination is not

t but

. I take it as a verbal agent, an archaic

derivative from

260mn

with an archaic connecting gunated

u as in

Mandala Six

tnoEt. We find this form surviving from O.A. in Greek forms in

265wthc. It will mean the thinker or else the giver of thought, the

mentaliser.

S. quotes Ai. Br. 2.10

aEn

svA

270mnotA

anO

mnotA

gQC

275t

and says

Eh shows that the verse is a reference to the Brahmana.

This is chronologically impossible.

ayA

280EDyo

aBvo

hotA.

dm (O active, or, O powerful)

285ayA

EDy (of this thought)

hotA

aBv (thou hast become the

priest of invocation).

290dm

Sayana takes as

nFy beautiful.

295 means to cut,

divide, bite (like

), injure, rob, destroy; give, (like

300dA,

dAf

); to see (like

305d

); to shine. It may therefore mean (1) rob-

ber, destroyer, destructive, cf

310,

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.

But also

315ds

must have meant to do, work, toil, cf

320d

snA,

Es,

325zd

sA,

dAs a servant, slave; or, like other words having the

sense of cutting, striking etc it may develop the sense of strength,

force, power. We have then two other possible senses, active, and

330powerful or forceful, both of which come in perfectly wherever

dm or

d* occurs in the Veda.

EDy

Sayana takes =

335km

Z. I see no reason for attaching

this sense to the word in the Rig Veda. S. himself frequently

admits for

DF the sense thought or understanding. At most times

340he renders it

Et prayer.

DF means thought, and may mean

especially the thought expressed in the mantra, therefore the

345mantra 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)

thought in the mind of the Rishi. S’s sense is “Thou art the

350summoning priest of this rite”, mine, “Thou hast become the

priest of invocation of this thinking.”

355q3k

Zod

rFt

sho

360vm

shs

shy

365v

bull),

370 (thou)

rFt

sh (a hard-to-pierce or hard-to-cross

force),

375sF

(on every side)

Zo (akro hast made)

380vm

shs

shy

# (Ev

385v

sVAEBBEvt

to force every force).

390rFt

—

395trFt

gunated +

with connecting

400I),

to pierce,

wound, cross, pass beyond.

shy

405#, an old Vedic infinitive form,

expressing the infinitive of purpose; modified into thai (sthai) it

remained the ordinary middle and passive infinitive termination

in Greek.

410vm

shs

(Ev

415# not

vAy because

v like

420sv

is a pronominal word in V.S.); the dative of the object instead of

the accusative is a common Vedic idiom.

425Sayana here as ordinarily,

kAmAnA

vEq

t. The word

means Bull or Male; it is used of horses. It is the strength of

430Agni that is in immediate question, not his bounty.

qA bull,

male is constantly applied to Indra and Agni, as to other gods,

often with a direct reference to the rays or energies or human

435beings as the herd they lead.

shs

sh. S. to overpower every

strong enemy.

440shs

may be used as an adjective as well as a noun

yfs

= strength or strong, but there is no clear instance in

445the 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.

S’s sense, “O rainer (of desires), thou hast made on all

sides an invulnerable strength to overcome every strong one

450(ie enemy)”, mine, “Thou hast made an impassable strength for

thyself on every side, O Bull, that thou mayst overpower every

force.”

Translation. S. Thou art the supreme (or ancient) mind-sewn

(on whom is sewn the mind of the gods); thou art the summoning

455priest of this (ritual) work; O rainer (of desires), thou hast made

on all sides an invulnerable strength to overcome every strong

one.

Thou art the supreme thinker, and thou hast become the

priest of invocation of this thinking. Thou hast made an impass-

460able strength for thyself on every side, O Bull, that thou mayst

overpower every force.

Explanation. For the esoteric sense of the Veda, we start

with the premiss that Agni is the Flame or Force, base of all

action, formation, creation, not only, as he very evidently is

465in 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

we arrive at or justify this premiss? At first sight it seems not at all

obvious, but rather a very considerable assumption. It appears

470from 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

Agni a psychological function — a flame or fire-god cannot be

called thus significantly the supreme or first thinker unless we

475suppose 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

guardianship of Truth and Immortality. Sayana’s interpretation,

“the first in whom the mind of the gods is inwoven”, imposes

480the 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

vcA

485kA yAEn) are spoken and to whom their hidden sense expresses

its meaning,

EnvcnA. This would have no sufficient sense, if it

were spoken only of a godhead of cosmic physical flame. It

is quite evident from the most literal sense of the Veda that

490Agni 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

) the worlds. We shall

495find from other passages that he is the divine Flame also in the

thoughts and in the heart of man,

500q

, the immortal in

mortal beings.

This godhead of divine active Force is the supreme thinker

or the first mentaliser of things. He is then an immortal flame

505of Power that makes for knowledge. As this thinker, this active

Puissance,

dm, he has become the Hotri of this thought,

ayA

EDyo

510hotA. The thought may be the thought expressed in the

hymn =

5158ty; even if we take

EDy =

Z, still it is as

the supreme thinker that he works in the sacrifice, and the sense

520therefore 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

Hotri is the priest of invocation and also the priest who gives

the offering. This divine Power of the sacrificial thought and

525action brings in the powers of the other gods into the sacrifice

and conducts the sacrificial action. Is this spoken of the inner or

only 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

530Leader of the Herds, the Strong and Mighty One. In the abun-

dance of its strength [it] makes all around it and us and the

sacrifice 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

535force of this flame of the divine Will in the sacrificial thought

and action overcomes every other hostile force or, more simply

and generally, it dominates all surrounding powers and makes

the sacrifice master of a movement which nothing can resist,

degrade or violate.

5402.

aDA

hotA

ysFdo

yjFyAn

545 .

aDA (Then, or now)

ysFdo (thou

tookest thy seat)

yjFyAn

550hotA as the priest of invocation and

offering very capable for the sacrifice.

aDA. Sayana takes “now”,

nA. But

555aDA may mean like

at, then, next, after this; after making the invulnerable strength

all round.

yjFyAn

560yEjS he takes sometimes in a passive sense,

yjnFy; but not here, and it would not be appropriate here,

for Agni is here the sacrificing priest, not the god to whom

sacrifice is given. I find no passage in which

yjFyAn

565 or

yEjS

must mean

yjnFy, —

570tm makes always a good and often the

only possible sense. I take it for that reason always in this active

significance.

i0pd

iqy3FX

575y

i0pd

(in the place of knowledge)

580iqyn

(impelling),

585 (being adorable or desirable).

i0pd

. 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.

590pd cannot be so neutral and

otiose a word. It means always the footprint or footstep, the

place attained to or the proper seat, as in

595pd

(below), or

EvZo

prm

600.

means originally to go to, approach,

605(i family), so to ask, pray, adore;

i0pd

may mean exoterically,

Mandala Six

place of prayer or adoration. But also verbs with this sense give

610constantly the sense of knowing, eg

-Eq etc. Ila is a goddess

who teaches or gives knowledge,

615fAsnF. I suggest that

means knowledge, especially, revelation,

-k

620aEc

, the illumin-

ing knowledge imparted by

i0A, who is the goddess or female

energy of

625i0

i0pd

must be a very archaic phrase. The word

itself only occurs in this form

630i0.

iqyn

. S. takes as if a nominal from

food as if it were

635“fooding” or “foodifying” like

t; here in the sense, desiring

food, elsewhere, making food. I doubt whether

640iq

in the Veda

really means food, and in any case there is no compelling reason

for taking this verb as a nominal form. It is like

645tyn

etc,

from

which means to throw, drive, impel, send. We shall see

650immediately that the hymn speaks of the journey to Swar, to the

. Agni thinker, priest, active power sitting as Hotri in

655the seat of knowledge impels or sends the sacrifice and by its

power the sacrificer on the way,

660y

, 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

665d

670vA

675to

mho

rAy

Ecty

680an

685(tm

prm

tAr

690vA

) thee that supreme

nr men (of old) or, the

strong ones,

695vy

t (d

vAn

kAmy

700d

vA) seeking the godheads

Ecty

t seeking knowledge

705mho

rAy

(mhy

710$

aAndAy) to or for

great felicity

715an

followed.

vA.

720t

has the force of

tAd

— thee who hast these qualities

725and doest these actions,

recalling the

Tmo

mnotA of the

730opening pada.

nr. Sayana takes this word sometimes as simply meaning

“men” (mn

yA), but here as most often he explains

735tAro

yA,

men who lead, Ritwiks and Yajamanas, priests and sacrificers.

This is a sense which is quite inappropriate in many passages and

740n

could not have come to mean men, if it had meant leaders.

meant originally to move (cf

745t

to dance,

nAr water etc.),

must

750have meant mobile, active and so strong. This sense is proved

by the word

MZ which is certainly used in the Veda in the sense

of strength.

755n

is a word applied to the gods, the Males, Strong

Ones, Purushas as opposed to the

nA, the females, goddesses

(Gr. gunˆe, woman); it is applied to the fathers, the Angirases

760or others; it is used as an equivalent to

vFr, as in

765 for

vFrvd

. These are, it seems to me, conclusive indications of

the Vedic sense of

770n

. Here it is used for the Fathers or ancient

Seers as can be seen from many parallel passages.

. S. takes

775“before the other gods”, but that has no force in this passage,

— 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

780first line of which this is an evident resumptive repetition.

t. Nominal vb. from

785v a god. Sayana takes “desiring

thee 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

790d

vyEt. The word is quite general;

it must mean divinising, god-seeking or else making themselves

divine.

Ecty

795t. S. knowing Agni or else making known by the

hymn of praise; a very feeble sense in itself and not warranted

by other passages.

Ect

is to become conscious of a thing, get

800to know or know,

Ecty

t expresses either an awakening to

knowledge or a continuous activity of getting knowledge. The

Fathers or ancient Rishis desired godhead or immortality or

805companionship with the gods,

, a growing in knowledge

was the means by which they pursued it, and Agni, the first

810thinker, was the leader of the way to the home of immortal-

ity, the seat of the godhead,

vy, where men too became

815divine and immortal. Cf [

] This is the very obvious, the

straightforward, the most literal sense of the passage.

mho

rAy

820.

Dative of purpose or objective.

mh (for

mht

) is one of the few

825curious indeclinable adjectives.

rA 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.

830It means obviously a divine riches or spiritual felicity, as we see

in 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

835the thought is expanded and made quite clear, for there it is said

the Rishis travel to ( y

t) the seat of the god and the wealth they

find is

2v (2v

840aAp3m

), the fullness of the outflowing of the

Mandala Six

Truth which Agni leads us to and which is found in the very self

845of Agni,

rEy

Translation. Then didst thou take thy seat, a priest of the

850invocation very mighty for sacrifice, in the seat of knowledge

(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

855great sacrificer, in the place of earth (ie on the altar), desiring

food, 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.

860The Rishi then takes up again and expands the expression of

the 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

865and offering and in that fulfilled strength he is very mighty for

the 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

870, from there he gives the

impulsion 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”,

875iqyn

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

880the strong semi-divine men of old. They found this supreme

Thinker 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

885sense is inevitable, if we accept the psychological indications

mnotA,

890t,

Ecty

t and all that immediately follows this

verse. How, in any case, can this insistence on the god-seeking,

on knowledge, [on the] thought-aspect of the Flame God, on

895the wakeful following of the seer Agni on his march and on the

reaching of the

900 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

905and as natural and flowing as a limpid stream.

910y

EBv

s y

915#

rEy

jAg

920so

tmEn

925df

930vpAv

vhA

dFEdvA

935s

(BAv

940)

945t

vpAv

vhA

950dFEdvA

(Eny

955vA

dFJymAn

)

960Agni blazing with light, visible (or visioned), vast,

having substance, always (or altogether, in all ways) shining,

vs y

965#

iv (mAg

970v)

in the wake of (thee) going as

on a path with many colonists or accompanied by many wealthy

975Powers,

jAg

s (t

jAg

980t

rEy

985mn

(vEy

EtmygQCn

990 )

in thee they went to (attained) the wealth.

iv. Sayana takes

iv = now,

995Et. He interprets it thus, that

the last verse referred to former priests and sacrificers,

having there a past sense

1000p

, but this verse to present priests

and sacrificers,

1005an

having here a present sense. This is

an unusual and here quite unwarranted sense of

iv. There is

1010nothing 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.

1015iv simply indicates that the path,

1020TA so often

referred to in the Veda, is a symbol; this use of

iv is common

enough in the hymns.

1025tA. 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

1030TA, (cf [

]).

vs y

S. says this may mean the Vasus, or “those who are fit to dwell

1035among the Yajamanas”! He takes

here, as following

after in the sense of being devoted to or serving,

1040s

. But

1045tA

surely demands the plain natural sense for the verb.

vs y

1050#

Mandala Six

may mean “wealthy” from

or “those who are for the

1055vAs”

. Agni is accompanied by many powers that hold or amass

the wealth,

1060rEy,

or he marches to the

1065pd

with many

who, like the Rishis following him, have to be lodged there.

rEy

1070jAg

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

1075rEy

. Evidently

rEy

is governed by the sense of “going to” in

1080mn

, an accusative of the destination reached, — in literal

English, they followed Agni to the wealth, or in the wake of

Agni reached the wealth.

1085t

. S. “of a shining colour”.

zft

is opposed to

1090Z in

IV.3.9 and means bright of hue as opposed to black or simply

bright as opposed to dark.

t. S. says “beautiful”, his usual

1095interpretation.

t from

1100 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

1105. S.

does not here explain the word, but elsewhere he says

. See

1110Appendix.

vhA. S. “always”. It may however mean “in all

ways of light”,

hA =

1115dA or

hA =

DA or

TA.

Translation. In thy wake as thou travelledst as on a path with

1120thy 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

1125Power 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

1130literature, 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,

1135vy

. This plane, we find elsewhere, is the

home of the Truth,

1140-t

. I take it to be a symbol of the

supramental plane of existence,

1145b

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,

1150we 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,

etc. He is

1155bright and vast, a visible or a seeing might of the divine force

and consciousness, full of the body and substance (

vpAv

1160vp

1165) 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

physical altar; but how does the physical Fire march as if on a

1170path, — 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

say that it is a most amazing figure and a most excited, violent,

1175tortured, 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

1180d

t in the next verse? And if that means the altar,

what are we to make of the 7th rik,

1185v

Evfo

anyo

dFAno

Edvo

1190an

htA

rocn

n, where Sayana himself is obliged to translate,

1195thou 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

to the

1200d

and the idea of the shining god leading men to the

heavens, mean two quite different things? Absolutely, the only

1205difficulty in the way of the plain sense is the refusal to take

rAy

and

rEy

in a figurative significance. This plain and natural figure

1210is denied to the Rishis, but a much more violent figure forced on

them in order to arrive at a materialistic meaning.

1215vy

nmsA

2vyv

12202v

aAp3m

1225vy the seat (world) of the god

nmsA

t going to

by adoration,

12302vyv (sy2

EtkAmA) (they) desiring inspired

knowledge

12358t

aApn

(aDEq

sy2

1240Et

AJn

) attained

an inviolate knowledge.