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 790

196
VEDIC HYMNS.
and that after calling together their followers, and adorning themselves for battle, they proceed to harness their chariots. Cf. I, 107, 2.
Note 2. Etån, in all MSS. which I consulted, has here the accent on the first syllable, and Professor Aufrecht ought not to have altered the word into etấn. If the accent had not been preserved by the tradition of the schools, the later interpreters would certainly have taken etân for the demonstrative pronoun. As it is, in spite of accent and termination, Sâyana in I, 166, 10, seems to take étåh for eté. In other passages, however, Sâyana, too, has perceived the difference, and in I, 169, 6, he explains the word very fully as prishadvarna gantaro va asvå vå. In this passage the Etas are clearly the deer of the Maruts, the Prishatis :
I, 169, 6. ádha yát eshâm prithu-budhnasah étâh.
In the next verse, however, éta seems applied to the Maruts themselves :
I, 169, 7. práti ghorânám étanam ayâsâm marútâm srinve â-yatâm upabdih.
The sound of the terrible, speckled, indefatigable Maruts is heard, as they approach ; unless we translate :
The noise of the terrible deer of the indefatigable Maruts is heard, as they approach.
In I, 166, 10, ámseshu étâh, I adopt Professor Roth's conjecture, that étâh means the skins of the fallow deer, so that we should have to translate : On their shoulders are the deer-skins.
In the other passages where éta occurs it is used as a simile only, and therefore throws no light on the relation of the Etas to the Maruts. In both passages, however (V, 54, 5; X, 77, 2), the simile refers to the Maruts, though to their speed only, and not to their colour.
Note 3. Máhah-bhih, which I have translated with all our might,' seems to be used almost as an adverb, mightily or quickly (makshu), although the original meaning, with our powers, through our might, is likewise applicable. The original meaning is quite perceptible in passages like
V, 62, 3. ádhårayatam prithivim utá dyảm mítra-râ gånâ varuna máhah-bhih.
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