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 768

174
VEDIC HYMNS.
a neuter medhå, but such a neuter does nowhere exist in the Veda. We only find the masculine médha, sacrifice, which is out of the question here, on account of its accent. Hence the passage III, 58, 2, ardhváh bhavanti pitára-iva médhah, is of no assistance, unless we alter the accent. The feminine medhå means will, thought, prayer : I, 18, 6; II, 34, 7 ; IV, 33, 10; V, 27,4; 42, 13; VII, 104, 6; VIII, 6, 10; 52, 9; IX, 9, 9; 26, 3; 32, 6; 65, 16; 107, 25; X, 91, 8. The construction does not allow us to take medhå as a Vedic instrumental instead of medháyâ, nor does such a form occur anywhere else in the Rig-veda. Nothing remains, I believe, but to have recourse to conjecture, and the addition of a single Visarga in the Pada would remove all difficulty. In the next line, if tuvi-dyumnásah be the subject, it would signify the priests. This, however, is again without any warrant from the Rig-veda, where tuvi-dyumná is always used as an epithet of gods. I therefore take it as referring to the Maruts, as an adjective in the nominative, following the vocatives marutah su-gåtâh. The conception that the Maruts stir up the forests is not of unfrequent occurrence in the Rig-veda : cf. I, 171, 3. That ürdhvá is used of the mind, in the sense of roused, may be seen in I, 119, 2; 134, 1 ; 144, 1 ; VII, 64, 4. The idea in the poet's mind seems to have been that the thunderbolts of the Maruts rouse up men to prayer as they stir the tops of the forest trees. Ludwig takes medha, masc., in the sense of lance, comparing it with Icelandic meidhr, but the two words cannot well be the same. Possibly vana may be meant for lances : 'May they raise our minds, like lances;' see note to I, 171, 3.
Note 2. On dhan in the sense of to agitate, see B. and R. S.V. The shaking of the stone may be the shaking of the stone for distilling the heavenly Soma or the rain ; but adri may also be meant for the thunderbolt. I now take tuvidyumna for an adjective referring to the Maruts, because it is a divine rather than a human epithet. Still, the passage is doubtful.
Verse 4. Note 1. The first question is, which is the subject, áhâni
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