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M. A. MEHENDALE
again it would be a reasonable guess that it was offered to Indra and Varuņa. The sacrifice was a horse-sacrifice.
The next stanza 9 reads as:
purukutsäni hi vām ådäśad dhavyébhir indrāvarunā námobhiḥ / átha rájánam trasádasyum asyā vrtrahánam dadathur ardhadevám 11
The stanza gives us some more details of the incident. It tells us that Purukutsāni (wife of Purukutsa) honoured Indra and Varuna by offering oblations and obeissance. Apparently this worship was something in addition to the sacrifice referred to in the preceding stanza, for it was only then (arhā) that the two gods offered her a son.
From the two stanzas it appears that the gift of Trasadasyu to Purukutsa's wife was the result of the joint effort made by the king and his wife - a yajňa (ayajania) by the king and a dás (adäsar) by the queen. This is made explicit by the following Itihasa-stanzas cited by Sāyana in his commentary on st. 8:
purukursasya mahişi daurgahe bandhanasthite / paryāv arājakam drstvå răstram putrasya lipsaya // yadrcchaya samāyātān saplarsin paryapūjayal / te ca pritaḥ punaḥ procur yajendravarunau bhrsam / sä сendrăvarunāv istvá trasadasyum ajījanar / itihasam imam janann rsir brute rcäy iha //
The stanzas tell us that at a particular point (of a sacrifice) when the daurgaha (horse) was already bound (to the stake), there arrived, by chance, the seven sages. (Immediately, the chief queen of Purukutsa, realizing that in her husband (who was probably engaged in the sacrifice referred to above) the kingdom was without a (future) king, and since she desired a son, worshipped the seven sages. They, pleased (with the hon
Madhu Vidya/168
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