Zend Avesta Part 03

SR No.: 007673
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: L H Mills
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1887
Total Pages: 2618
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 49 MB

Page 620

26
VEDIC HYMNS.
ruddy, and the arushasah vrlshanah, the red stallions, are distinctly mentioned. Here vrlshan may be translated by stallion, instead of simply by male, because arusha is here a substantive, the name of a horse.
V, 1, 5. gánishta hí gényah agre áhnâm hitáh hitéshu arusháh váneshu. Here arusháh is simply an adjective, red, referring to Agni, who is understood throughout the hymn to be the object of praise. He is said to be kind to those who are kind to him, and to be red in the woods, i.e. brilliant in the wood which he consumes; cf. III, 29, 6. Nothing is said about his equine nature.
In V, 12, 2 and 6, VI, 48, 6, we have again simply arusha vrlshan, which does not mean the red-horse, but the red male, the red hero, i.e. Agni.
In VI, 49, 2, divah sisum sáhasah sânúm agním yagñásya ketúm arushám yagadhyai, there is no trace of Agni being conceived as a horse. He is called the child of the sky or of Dyu, the son of strength (who is produced by strong rubbing of wood), the light or the beacon of the sacrifice, and lastly Arusha, which, for reasons stated above, I take to be used here as a name.
Next follow the passages in which, according to Professor Roth, arusha, as an adjective, is said to be applied to the horses, cows, and other teams of the gods, particularly of the dawn, the Asvins, and Brihaspati.
I, 118, 5. pári vâm ásvåh vápushah patangåh váyah vahantu arushah abhike. Here we find the vayah arushåh of the Asvins, which it is better to translate by red birds, as immediately before the winged horses are mentioned. In fact, whenever arusha is applied to the vehicle of the Asvins, it is to be understood of these red birds, IV, 43, 6.
In I, 92, 1 and 2 (not 20), árushî occurs three times, referring twice to the cows of the dawn, once to the dawn herself.
In IV, 15, 6, tám árvantam ná sånaslm arushám ná diváh sisum marmrigyánte divé-dive, arusha does not refer to the horse or any other animal of Agni. The verse speaks of a horse by way of comparison only, and says that the sacrificers clean or trim Agni, the fire, as people clean a horse. We
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